Whew!
Celina finally let the breath trapped in her lungs escape. The moment the man left, the last thread of terror wrapped around her body seemed to snap.
She could breathe again.
She could move.
She could stop pretending.
That man had made her body turn cold. She had been so terrified of drawing his attention that she had barely dared to breathe, afraid that the slightest movement would expose the fact that she was awake.
Even though the doctor's presence had brought a strange warmth to her heart, she couldn't dismiss the danger she had felt standing so close to her.
She couldn't believe she had managed to pull it off.
But now, with the room finally empty, she inhaled deeply. Freedom had never tasted so sweet.
Yet one question refused to leave her mind.
Why had that man kept looking at her?
His eyes had lingered on her several times, sharp and unsettling, as though he had been trying to figure out whether she was truly unconscious. There had been something piercing in that stare, something that made the hairs on her skin rise.
And after feeling his violent nature, Celina had no doubt what he might have done if he had discovered that she was awake.
The thought alone made her stomach twist.
Opening her eyes had been tempting. Terribly tempting.
She had wanted to see his face properly. To study him. To find out whether there was any resemblance between him and her handsome stranger.
Maybe they were related. Maybe they weren't.
She would never know now.
She had been too frightened.
Even when she thought he had opened the door, she hadn't heard a sound. It was impossible for someone to leave without making a sound.
For one terrifying second, she had wondered whether he had already left, but the oppressive presence in the room had remained. It had been so quiet that she had almost made the mistake of opening her eyes.
Goddamn! What would have happened if she had dared? Her instincts had been smarter than her curiosity.
Because then she had heard it.
"She's beautiful." Those words still echoed faintly in her mind.
The man's voice had sounded different then. Almost shaken. Almost as though the words had escaped him before he could stop them.
There had been admiration buried beneath that dangerous tone. But that was over now.
And Celina had more important things to worry about. She sighed deeply.
The doctor had said she could wake up tomorrow or in a few days. If only he knew that she was already awake.
Celina glanced down at the drip attached to the back of her hand, without giving herself enough time to reconsider, she pulled it out.
A sharp sting tore through her skin, and she bit her lips hard. Blood immediately welled from the tiny puncture.
If she had done it slowly, she knew the pain would have been worse. At least this way, the pain had been quick.
She reached toward the small table beside the bed and grabbed the plaster lying there.
Her fingers trembled slightly as she noticed the hospital's name printed across it in tiny letters.
Well, curiosity got the better of her.
She narrowed her eyes, trying to read it.
Nothing! Her head immediately began to ache. "Forget it," she muttered.
She tore open the plaster with her teeth and pressed it over the bleeding spot.
The moment she moved her arm, her entire body protested, every muscle seemed to remember the accident before her mind could.
But she couldn't stay here, not when she had to find him. Her handsome stranger. She needed to know if he was okay.
The doctor's words returned to her, repeating over and over again in her mind. "He shielded her. That's why the impact was worse on him."
Celina's eyes burned, tears gathered, but she blinked them away. She had to be strong enough to see him, what's done was already done.
No. She wasn't going to cry. She couldn't. She had learned that lesson long ago. Or perhaps it had been months, depending on how long she had been in this hospital.
When her father had fallen into a coma, she had cried until she had nothing left. She had begged her stepmother. Pleaded. Held onto her like she was the last person in the world who could determine whether Celina would ever see her father again.
And her stepmother hadn't even blinked.
Instead, she had humiliated her.
Celina had convinced herself that if she obeyed their demands, if she did everything they wanted, perhaps there would still be hope.
But that hope had been crushed at the last moment by that word..."Security!"....had left her stepmother's lips.
The memory of that single word had sealed her fate.
The next thing she knew, she had been dragged out of the hospital like a piece of unwanted trash.
At the time, she had been too broken to notice anything else.
But now that she thought about it...they hadn't thrown her out through the main entrance.
They had taken her somewhere at the side of the hospital, away from the crowd. A place far enough from anyone who might notice.
Her stomach tightened, maybe her stepmother had paid them.
Maybe that was why no one had questioned why a distressed woman was being thrown out of a hospital.
And perhaps even worse, Celina didn't know the doctor in charge of her father's care.
How she wished she knew. Asoft sigh left her lips.
Maybe..just maybe...she would have been able to see her father.
But her stepmother was cunning enough to hurt him if Celina tried anything reckless.
So crying hadn't saved her then, it wouldn't save her now.
She wiped the tear beneath her eye. "What is done is done."
Her voice trembled."If I want to know whether he's alive, I have to move."
Celina shifted toward the edge of the bed, the movement alone nearly broke her.
Her teeth sank into her lower lip to keep the cry inside.
Pain radiated from her ribs through her abdomen and down into her hips. Her shoulders felt bruised from the force of the accident, while the muscles in her back screamed every time she moved.
She placed one hand against her head. Breathed in.
Breathed out. Again.She needed to steady herself.
Then she lowered one foot toward the floor.
The instant her foot touched the cold tile, pain shot through her ankle. She whimpered. "It hurts..."
A tear escaped anyway. But her resolve was stronger, her other foot followed.
This time, she gripped the edge of the mattress so tightly her knuckles whitened.
Her legs trembled beneath her.
They didn't feel like hers.
They felt weak, heavy and strangely distant, as though the connection between her mind and her body had become unreliable.
The accident had left more than bruises behind.
Her muscles were stiff from lying still, especially the muscles in her legs. She didn't know whether the numbness would ease once she started moving or whether it would remain.
She swallowed, continued to go on, no matter the pain.
One.
Two.
Three.
And at the count of four, she pushed herself upright.
Her legs shook erratically beneath her. She could almost feel every pulse of blood travelling through them.
Her back was slightly bent, her fingers sinking deeply into the mattress for support. For one glorious second, she stood.
Then her knees buckled. Her fingers clawed into the bedsheet, searching for something stronger to hold onto.
There was nothing. Her body dropped halfway back onto the mattress with a soft—
"Mph!"
She sucked in a sharp breath, her heart slammed against her ribs.
She tried to stand again but couldn't.
Then she looked down. A bandage wrapped securely around her ankle, disappearing beneath the edge of her hospital gown.
Every attempt to put weight on it sent a hot, stabbing pain through her foot.
Was this one of the reasons moving felt so uncomfortable?
Her heart skipped.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The beats came again.
Once.
Twice.
Three times, then faster.Faster.
Until her heart was pounding so hard it felt as though it wanted to break through her ribs.
Because one statement rang through her mind.What if?..the thought didn't end.
For a moment, the remaining words refused to connect. Then they did, staring right at her like a nightmare she couldn't escape.
What if I can't walk anymore?
Her breathing became shallow, tears streamed down her cheeks.
"No..."She shook her head. She couldn't think that way.
Not now! Her knees jerked once. Twice and suddenly, her body was beyond her control.
She couldn't hold herself upright, her legs gave way, and she dropped toward the tiled floor.
Her body was exhausted, every nerve seemed to scream for rest.
If she was suffering this much from the accident...How much worse had it been for him?
She couldn't even finish the thought. Couldn't imagine how much pain her handsome stranger had endured.
He had used his own body to shield her.
He had taken the impact meant for both of them on his shoulders alone, protecting her at the cost of his own body.
The thought nearly broke her. "If this could happen to me..." Her voice died.
She couldn't finish. She couldn't imagine what her handsome stranger had endured.
The thought of him taking that same crushing force—perhaps twice, perhaps three times worse—made her chest ache.
Celina tightened her grip around the bedsheet, her fingers hurt, her head throbbed from the rush of pain.
Her ribs protested, sweat gathered at the back of her neck. Yet, somehow, she stretched one leg.
Pain. Then the other...more pain. Her lips trembled as she bit down hard to stop herself from screaming.
Again. One foot. Then the other. Her legs shook violently, but she kept going.
Unrelenting.
She reached for the metal frame of the bed and pulled herself upward. Her waist screamed but she didn't stop, trying to stand straight.
Her back felt as though someone had driven a hot blade through it.
Still, she stood, bent slightly. Shaking, breathing hard but standing.
Celina took one tiny step, her ankle screamed.
She grabbed the bed tighter.
Another step, her thigh muscles trembled.
Another. Pain travelled from the soles of her feet into her calves, then climbed into her knees and hips.
She stopped. Breathed out deeply and tried again.
Step. Pause. Step. Pause.
Slowly, painfully, her body began remembering how to move. She loosened her grip, one step without holding the bed.
Then another.
Her gait was nowhere near normal. She limped badly, favouring her injured foot, and every movement sent a sharp reminder through her body.
But she was walking. She was actually walking, her body screamed in pain, yet something inside her felt like celebrating.
Her lips uttered nothing.
Celina stared at the door, her handsome stranger was somewhere beyond it.
That was all that mattered! She made her way toward the door, each step accompanied by a wince.
When she reached it, she placed her hand on the knob and paused.
She listened for any noise closer than she thought.
Nothing!
Slowly, she turned it, careful not to draw attention or open it in a way that would make a sound. The door opened slightly without a squeak.
Celina peered through the narrow opening.
The hallway was dim.
Outside the distant windows, the darkness had begun to soften into the faintest shade of dawn.
Somewhere farther down the corridor, she heard the muted sounds of a hospital slowly coming back to life.
A trolley rolling over the floor. A distant monitor bleeping and the soft murmur of voices.
Footsteps somewhere beyond the next corridor but her hallway was almost completely silent and that was what mattered.
Her pulse quickened. Any sensible person would have taken that as a warning. Go back and form a more coherent plan.
But Celina took the silence as an opportunity to see her handsome stranger to hold him. To know if he was okay, even if only for a minute.
The thought reinforced her urge to continue, especially now that she was awake and could walk a little, no matter the pain she had to endure.
Her steps were shaky, nothing like the way she had walked before the accident.
Maybe it was the injury to her foot. Maybe it was something else, whatever it was, walking was painfully difficult.
Even moving her body an inch felt like a thousand needles piercing beneath her skin.
The hallway was lined with dimly lit bulbs, not bright enough to hurt the eyes but bright enough for anyone to see and find their way.
Finally, she slipped out and carefully pulled the door behind her until it closed with a faint click.
She looked around, happiness surged through her when she saw no one.
No nurses.
No doctors.
No one walking past the patient rooms, maybe the night rounds had already passed. Mybe the nurses had changed shifts.
Whatever the reason, no one was there,no footsteps approached.
Relief swept through her but only for a moment.
As she stood with her back against the door, fear slowly returned.
What if she was being watched? What if there were cameras? What if someone was monitoring the hallway?
Would an alarm sound if she left? She had to find him. She reminded herself again and again. Had to.
Her gaze travelled down the corridor and there it was. A security camera mounted high near the ceiling.
Celina froze. "Oh, God." Her heart dropped.
If someone was watching the monitors, they would know she had left her room.
Her mind raced.
She remembered a scene from Mission: Impossible—the way the characters used timing, shadows and their surroundings to avoid being seen.
She didn't have Ethan Hunt's skills.
She didn't have gadgets and unlike a movie, as risky as this situation she had no idea where the security room was.
But she had one thing...A desperate reason to keep moving.
Celina pressed herself close to the wall and waited until the camera moved away from her position.
Then she moved, not directly down the centre of the hallway.
Along the edges, close to the walls, behind the shadows.
Whenever she heard footsteps, she slipped into a recessed doorway or waited behind whatever obstruction was nearby until the sound faded.
She didn't know if every camera had caught a glimpse of her.
She didn't know if someone had already noticed.
She only knew she couldn't stop, her ankle screamed as she hurried.
The pain travelled from her foot into her calf and up her leg every time she walked too quickly or tried to run.
Her ribs ached with every breath, her heart pounded so loudly in her ears that all she could hear was-- Bum. Bum. Bum.
Her entire body felt as though it had been beaten against concrete, but she kept going.
Find him! That was all she repeated. Find him! Her breath came faster.The blood in her veins seemed to heat with every step, uncertainty burning through her.
She reached the end of one corridor, gasping for breath, and held the wall close by to steady herself.
She mentally retraced the paths she had crossed.
The hallways, rooms, the cameras she had noticed.
The ones she hadn't.
A brief silence passed. Then she continued, a terrible thought struck her. What if someone had already seen her?
What if the cameras she hadn't noticed had caught her? What if an alarm went off? What would she do?
She hoped no one was watching, it would be humiliating. Worse, she couldn't imagine what would happen if that dangerous man found her.
Her imagination supplied the worst possibilities, maybe her head— She almost laughed at herself.
What am I thinking? This wasn't some ancient kingdom where someone could simply order her head chopped off for breaking a rule.
And escaping from a hospital certainly wasn't an unforgivable crime.
Still...that man had frightened her enough to make even ridiculous thoughts seem possible.
Celina forced herself forward. Her gaze lingered on the next set of doors along the hallway.
A while ago, while moving through the corridor, she had made sure to check the doors, trying to figure out which one might belong to her handsome stranger.
She had no room number. No name. No idea where he had been taken. Only instinct and somehow, she trusted it.
From everything she had seen, her handsome stranger was not an ordinary man.
Even the way he moved spoke of authority.
Money.
Power.The kind of power that made people step aside before he even asked them to.
If she had been placed in a VIP ward, then surely someone like him had been given something even more private.
Perhaps a room farther away from ordinary patients. Perhaps a floor reserved for people whose identities demanded discretion.
Celina continued searching. Her hand dragged along the wall whenever her legs became too weak, yet she didn't allow even a moment of comfort to slow her down.
She wasn't ready to give up.
Finally, as though it were a coincidence in her favour, she saw movement ahead.
A door opened and Light spilled into the corridor.
Celina froze, the doctor stepped out. The light from the room disappeared as the door closed behind him, leaving the hallway dim once again.
That should have been a warning. Yet it wasn't, her breath caught, that same head, that same white coat.
Those familiar movements. She knew him even from behind. It was the same doctor who had been in her room earlier.
The same doctor who had spoken about her handsome stranger.
This wasn't a mistake, not in the least. It was a sign. An unmistakable sign that had led her to what she had been searching for.
If it was the same doctor who had left the room where she had been feigning unconsciousness with that dangerous man, then there was a possibility...
This was where her handsome stranger was.
It seemed the doctor was walking towards her, a file tucked beneath his arm.
Celina's body shook. Once. Twice. Three times.
She held her breath for a few seconds before immediately pressing herself against the wall.
She bit her lips hard to stifle the discomfort as she pressed her aching body against the hard surface.
She wished the wall could swallow her whole.
The doctor continued down the corridor.
Celina peeked out carefully, watching him, fear had become a permanent feature stitched into her heart.
Then—He turned. Celina eart stopped and instead of walking toward her, he disappeared through another passageway.
Celina released the breath she had been holding. Phew! Her grip on the wall was beginning to hurt her fingers, yet she waited.
Then she noticed something, the room he had left.
It was different.
The lighting around it was brighter than the rest of the corridor, and the space seemed strangely isolated.
The other patient rooms were clustered farther away.
This one stood apart, private. Protected. Celina's heart began pounding. Could he be in there?
Then she heard faint voices from behind the door.
Low voices. Men. She couldn't make out the words.
She couldn't see anyone clearly either, only the doctor's body which was halfway in, halfway out, his grip still on the door before he completely closed the door.
But she could feel it. Aguarded presence, potection.
This her handsome stranger. Who was he really? Why did he have a room so far from the others?
Why was this particular room different? And who were the men outside?
One thing was certain.
From everything Celina had experienced, she knew her handsome stranger and the people surrounding him were men of standing.
Not ordinary men, men with influence, power. Dnger. Her pulse raced. And why had the doctor left through another passage instead of simply walking down the same corridor?
Celina waited, the hallway remained silent. Slowly, she pushed herself away from the wall.
Her legs shook, her fingers hurt from gripping the wall so tightly.
But she moved toward the door. One step. Then another. When she reached it, she hesitated.
The door looked ordinary. Yet somehow, it felt anything but ordinary.
Celina reached for the handle, She turned it slowly.
and the door opened. No alarm. No footsteps.
Nothing.
She slipped inside. Then the worst happened, the door made a faint scraping sound against the floor.
Celina froze, silence filled the room, yet no one came, not from the private doorway. Not from the corridor. Not even from the room the doctor had just left.
It should have frightened her, Instead, something about the silence felt different as though every security measure had been put in place for one door.
One person. Her handsome stranger.
Yet she brushed the thought aside. The door finally clicked softly behind her. She hadn't even touched it. Celina stared at it. How was that possible?
She brushed it aside again, her heart burned with one desire.To see him. Her handsome stranger.
That was the one thing urging her farther into the room.
Darkness greeted her not even a pin could be heard.
The air felt colder here. Different. Her heartbeat became louder, more apparent.
It was not just fear. It was the chilling awareness that she might not be alone or perhaps it was simply the darkness making her mind play tricks on her.
Celina took another step. Then another. The darkness seemed to swallow the faint light spilling in from the hallway behind her.
She stopped, her breath caught, something was wrong. This wasn't just fear. There was someone else here.
She could feel it, A presence. It was close. Silent.
Watching. Celina's heart slammed against her ribs, her fingers tightened around the door.
She swallowed hard and suddenly, she wasn't sure whether she had finally found her handsome stranger...or walked straight into another danger.