Heiress in Distress

•Chapter 33•

•Word Count: 2,200

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Careful! The drama might choke you!

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It takes seconds to make a confession, but hours or even days contemplating that confession. It takes seconds to put a call through, a few more seconds to ask how someone's been, and another few seconds to deliver either good or bad news.

Simple matters, unlike their complicated counterparts, take seconds to carry out.

It took Elias 2 seconds to kiss my forehead in farewell back in the hospital when my ear was being tended to, but took me 8 weeks to realize that it was a 'goodbye' kiss and he wasn't planning to come back.

It took the emergency physician 10 minutes to stitch the long gash on Elias' hairline, which he completely ignored until my injury was taken care of; while it took 40 minutes for the tinnitus in my ears to disappear, 10 minutes to examine the injury, which was something called 'Tympanic Membrane perforation', and 10 more minutes to irrigate my ear.

As it seems 'complicated matters' come in different shades.

My hands clench against the windowsill. Apparently, Elias finds so much value in his time that he can't spare a few seconds to put a call through and tell me he's okay, or better yet, ask if I'm okay.

I've been spending more time standing by the window watching the street, waiting for something, for a distinct car to pull by, but I'm turned down every single day.

I hear Clara's voice call from the kitchen, "Have you hung the decorations the way I instructed you?"

She's busy preparing for Élise's first birthday, and I've been busy trying to reach for Elias, through the men surrounding our neighborhood. Each one more tight-lipped than the other, claims that 'Sir Elias has things to take care of'.

Arms still crossed, I continue to watch Elias' men on alleyway, one of which talks through the phone and I curse the distance for my inability to catch a single word he says.

I just need to know what's gotten into him, why he's left suddenly, not even bothering to bring me back home himself, and most importantly, why hasn't he attempted to check on me. After the physicians cleared me to go, Helia came to collect me and take me home; not for a second, have I glimpsed Elias.

"We need everything ready by noon,"

His letters stopped coming in, he's stopped visiting to check on Élise, he's put a massive distance between us, and he's even gone as far as giving me a recovery leave from work. I received the notice from the company just a few days after the blast.

"M, are you even listening?"

Clara's voice pulls me out of my thought chain. When I turn to her, she has both hands on her hips and an apologetic expression on her face. I hate it when she looks at me like that.

Her voice goes softer, "I'm sure he has things-"

"Where did you want the 'Joyeux premiere anniversaire a toi' band to go?" I ask, avoiding her gaze and grabbing the carton material.

When she doesn't respond, I go to hang it myself. When I come back down, I immediately head for the box of decorative materials, but Clara intercepts my path and grabs my wrists firmly, silently demanding I look at her.

"Elias is not abandoning you, if that's what you're worried about," she pauses when she catches me swallowing with difficulty.

"Today is Élise's first birthday and he won't miss that for the world,"