Forever with the Billionaire

Hillary POVThis belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

I held his hands tighter until we reached the hospital, and even when he was wheeled away, I continued holding his hands until I couldn’t enter the restricted IU center with them. Tears welled up in my face as I paced around the hallways with Rotimi, who hasn’t said a word to me ever since we arrived at the hospital.

No one of us expected him to be triggered by a memory of his accident. I could have noticed him since I was his therapist, but I didn’t and left him all alone. “It’s my fault,” I whispered as I continued pacing back and forth in the hallways. My hands trembled and, unable to hold back the tears, I slid down to the ground and burst into tears. I didn’t cry because of Loukas’s attack but because I felt negligent towards him. I didn’t even notice that he was having a panic attack until he fell to the ground.

He made me remember my father and the first time he collapsed in front of me. If I had not ignored him when he needed me the most, then he would have been alive by now, but because of my stupidity, I left my father alone until there was no hope for him any longer. “Hey, hey, “Rotimi walked towards me and offered his hand for me to take. “Loukas will be fine, and I don’t think he’d be happy to see you sitting on the ground,” he tried to talk me out of it, but I refused to take his hand and continued crying.

“It’s all my fault,” I sniffled and hit my head over and over again until Rotimi stopped me and pulled me up. He pulled towards one of the seats in the hallway. He forced me to sit down, and he sat down beside me. When we were seated, he placed his hand on my shoulder and pressed it gently. He pulled me closer to himself and let me cry in his arms. “It’s going to be fine,” he assured me. “Loukas had survived worse situations,” he said and rubbed my head.

I raised my head and looked into his eyes with tears in my eyes. “What do you mean, much worse? What do you mean by that? ” I asked him.

Rotimi heaved a sigh and averted his eyes from mine. He rubbed his forehead and scratched the back of his neck. His actions showed that he was hiding something from me, but I wasn’t the type to force things out of people, so I didn’t bother to ask him again. Instead, I continued sobbing in silence.

Rotimi finally spoke up, “Loukas will be so mad if he finds out that I told you about this.”

“‘I’m not going to tell him anything if you don’t want me to,” I assured him and wiped the tears off my face. “What has happened in the past? What did his family do to him?”

“Loukas,” Rotimi started and adjusted himself in the seat. “He didn’t believe he could get better until you came along. His stepmother tried everything she could to make him cease to exist! ”

“Ceased to exist!” I sounded shocked and my voice was so loud that it resounded down the hallways. “You mean she tried to kill him?” I whispered and looked around in case anyone was snooping around.

“Not physically, but verbally,” Rotimi replied, causing me to sigh. Although Loukas’s stepmother didn’t abuse him physically, she deserved to be punished for attacking him verbally.

How could she have done that to a sick person? I thought and continued listening to Rotimi’s story. “Until you came along, Loukas didn’t believe in himself and lost all hope of ever getting better.”

“That’s terrible,” I said again because everything he said deserved a response.

“That’s the night you saw him on the rooftop,” he said, pausing to bite his lower lip.” Loukas was going to kill himself because his stepmother wanted him to die!”

I gasped and quickly covered my mouth. “That woman is terrible!” I stood up and looked to my left and right as if I was waiting for someone. Like Loukas’s stepmother could appear out of nowhere and I’d punch her in the face. “How could she do that?” I yelled, not caring that I could be disturbing the patients around us because my voice resounded in the hallways.

“Calm down,” Rotimi said as he dragged me to my seat and shushed me. “I did much worse than you did,” he sighed softly. “If you had not come that night, then Loukas would have been known as a suicidal man, but ever since you came along, you gave him hope and made him want to start living again.” ”

But,” I sniffled as tears glistened in my eyes. “But he hates me and spoke against every one of my words!” I pointed out everything Loukas had said to me, but Rotimi only laughed at my every word. “Why are you laughing?” I shouted at him. “It’s not funny because I thought that..”

“That’s because he hates you?” Rotimi asked, and I nodded in response. “He doesn’t hate you, Hillary. He trusts you instead because you are the only one besides me who could speak sense into him. You are his savior, Hillary, and you should be happy that you made a man want to start living again.” He squeezed my hand gently and smiled at me. “It’s you, Hillary! You are his savior. ”

It’s you. That word resounded in my head and I tried not to cry out as I thought about the things that I had said to him. I thought he was being a jerk, even though his comments about my job were most of the time annoying. I didn’t know that he trusted me so much and that made him want to start living again.

I’m a hero, I thought as I stared at the ceiling. I am a hero, I said to myself over and over again. The door leading to the ICU units opened, breaking me out of my thoughts. I jumped to my feet and tapped Rotimi on the shoulder. “They are here,” I informed him, and he also jumped to his feet. Hand in hand, we both walked toward the doctors.

“How is he?” I quickly asked the doctor.

“Your husband is stable now,” the doctor answered, making the mistake of calling Loukas my husband.

“He is not my…” I tried to correct him, but Rotimi interrupted me and asked another question.

“Is he going to be fine?” He asked the doctor. “Do we have to worry about anything?”

The second doctor shook his head in response. “He had a panic attack that shouldn’t happen again because it could cause a heart attack and worse, he could die!”

I gasped and exchanged looks with Rotimi. “I hope that he is fine now. There is nothing we should worry about, right? ”

The first doctor nodded in response. “He is fine, but he is going to have mild difficulty with speech for a few days once he wakes up!” He announced

“Why?” I asked him. “Has this happened before?” I asked Rotimi, and he nodded in response. “What? ” I shouted. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” I palmed my forehead. “You could have told me about it and I could have…..”

“Let’s not worry about that right now, Hills,” he said, resting his hand on my shoulder. ” Can we see him now?” Rotimi asked.

The first doctor answered, “Yes, you can,” and then turned to leave, but then he remembered something and turned back. “I have shocking information to give out about your husband. ” He made the mistake of calling Loukas my husband yet again, but I didn’t care about that. My heart beat hard against my chest as I anticipated what he was about to say. “Mr. Whitemore moved his right finger,” he announced.

I turned to face Rotimi and squealed. “Really?” I asked again to make sure.

The doctor nodded in response. “Yes he did,” he said. I’ve treated him for years now, and I didn’t know that he would make a recovery so fast like that! He had only left this hospital a few months ago, right? ” He asked Rotimi, and he replied with a nod. “Whosoever his therapist is, I must commend him. He did a great job,” the doctor said and walked away, leaving us alone in the hallways.

“I told you that you are Loukas’s savior,” Rotimi said to me, and I jumped into his arms and hugged him pretty tight. “Oh, no! You are going to choke me to death,” he joked and patted my back.

“I’m so sorry!” I laughed and let go of him. “I’m so glad that he is improving in such a short period!”

“You are his angel,” he said and I couldn’t stop laughing.

His angel, indeed. A few moments ago, I was crying and blaming myself, and now that I heard that Loukas was fine, I was glad that nobody had to die on my watch again.

We waited for a few minutes after Loukas was moved from the ICU to a VIP ward. After he was settled in the room, Rotimi and I visited him. His face was whiter than snow, and at first, I thought that he had died when I first saw his dark lips and pale face until I moved closer to him and touched his hand. They were still warm and not cold like my father’s when he died a few months ago.

“He is fine now,” Rotimi assured me as he stood behind me. “I told you that he was going to be fine, didn’t I?”

I nodded in response and wiped a few tears from my face. I was so glad that he was fine now. I chuckled and stared at his face. “He’s fine,” I sighed with relief.

“You should get some rest now that you know that he is fine.”

I shook my head in response, refusing to leave his side. “I’ll be with him tonight,” I told him, and all I got was a nod.

“Don’t tire yourself out tonight, Hillary,” he said to me. “I’ll be back in the morning once I’ve settled things.” He patted me on the shoulder for the last time and walked out of the room.

“Loukas,” I said, kissing his hand. “I am going to make sure that you are fine and nothing will ever happen to you again,” I assured him and laid my head on the bed beside him. “I’ll be here.”