One Night in Santiago/Football Under Flashing Lights (Neymar Jr. Fan Fiction)

96.

Playlist (listen in order): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5lkEPnEOnMhLFG2hAFngEq?si=9567aebef7844028

-Katerina POV-

My hands were gripping the wheel so tight that my knuckles were white as I drove to the Santiago Medical Center. I had been in the middle of a press interview when  Anada called me and gave me the news and immediately ended the interview and left. I got there 20 minutes later. I didn't give it a second thought whether or not to go to the hospital, though now that I was walking into the lobby, the thought of what Damon would do to me when he found out who I was visiting hit me like a brick. However, it didn't stop me.

"Welcome, please sign in," a nurse greeted me without looking away from her computer screen. She looked up and realized who she was greeting and cleared her throat. "Katerina Vera, welcome to Santiago Medical. How can I-"

"I need to know which room Oscar Opazo is in," I said.

She had a sympathetic look on her face but glanced over at her computer screen, where the Opazo Medical Group logo bounced across the screen. The irony of the circumstance was that Oscar was a patient in one of his family's owned and operated hospitals. "Miss Vera, I'm sorry but the hospital has a strict policy on visitation-" she tried to tell me.

"Ma'am, respectfully, I'm not asking," I firmly cut her off. "Now."

She swallowed and frantically looked for her hospital badge before she came around her desk and said, "Yes, Miss Vera. You can come with me but please don't tell Mr. Oscar that I broke protocol."

"Believe me, he'd be glad you did," I assured her as we stepped into the elevator. My phone was vibrating in my pocket off the hook and it was Damon. I turned it off and hastily followed the nurse to a private suite.

The beeping of a heart monitor was the only sound in the room when I walked in. Oscar was asleep in the bed in the middle of the room, with an IV in his left arm and his right one in a cast. As I approached the bed, I could see his busted lip and other scratches on his face. Javier got up from the armchair beside him when I walked in. "Oh my god, Javi, what happened?" I asked as my hand covered my mouth in shock.

"Katerina, hey, it's okay, he's going to be okay," he assured me as he pulled me into a hug. I couldn't hold in the tears or the emotion that seeing Oscar like this invoked in me. It was terrifying. Javier rubbed my back and handed me a tissue to wipe my eyes. "It was a bad car accident last night. Apparently, some drunk driver ran him off the road. His car was totaled. When the paramedics brought him in, he went straight to surgery and the doctor said everything went smoothly. His folks are out of the country on business so the doctor called me since I'm his emergency contact and I called Anada and now you're all caught up," he explained. Hearing the seriousness of his tone told me the gravity of the situation because there were very few moments Javi wasn't laughing or making someone else laugh.

"Has he been awake at all?" I asked, looking at Oscar again. I went to his bedside and smoothed his hair.

"He's been in and out. The last time he woke up he told me to go home and shower but I wanted to wait till you got here so he wasn't alone," Javi answered. I nodded and his phone started ringing so he quickly silenced it as to not disturb Oscar. "Fuck, it's Clara again. She's been calling me nonstop ever since I broke up with her as though I'm the wrong one for ending things after she slept with my cousin?! Psycho. Anyways, I'm gonna head back to my place, shower and I'll be back in an hour or so. Are you okay to stay?"

"I'm fine. Thank you, Javi," I nodded at him. He gave me a reassuring smile and one more hug before he left.

I felt tears in my eyes again as I looked at Oscar's face and thanked God he was going to make a full recovery. As I ran my fingers through his hair, his eyes opened slowly as he groaned and shifted in discomfort. When he looked up at me, his brown eyes opened wider. "Is this heaven?" he asked groggily. I chuckled through my tears and put my hand in his open one. "You look too beautiful to cry, Rina," he whispered.