ENLIGHTENED

Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Really?

"He is sedated now. He will be awake very soon." the doctor says to me before walking out of the room.

I hold his hand gently, kissing it softly.

My phone buzzes and I take it out of my handbag.

"Hello Vadin." I say into the phone.

"Why are you with him at the hospital? Stay away from him." he says.

"I know you never liked him but I love him with all of my heart. He is the love of my life Vadin and the sooner you realize that, the better." I say, squeezing Austin's hand.

"Whatever, that man that came to your office building today, what did he want?" he asks, reminding me of the so-called date that I won't attend.

"Dude, I wanted to call you about that guy. He just walked into my office and flirted with me because he wants to go on a date with me. It feels off." I say and I can hear the wheels turning in his head.

"So that's their tactic." he mutters more to himself than to me.

"Who? You know him?" I ask and he sighs.

"Of course I know him, he is our enemy Andrea. His family attacked us. He probably knows that you are clueless about the mafia world and hence, scored a date with you." he says and now my instincts make some sort of sense.

Something felt off about him. And I could tell that something bad was going to happen. Perhaps he would have shot me dead in the restaurant to send a message to my family or something like that. Perhaps kidnap me.

"Then I'll cancel the date with him." I say, looking at my peaceful Austin who is fast asleep.

"No, go on that date. I'll handle everything else." Vadin says.

"I can't leave Austin, I just can't. I'll postpone it." I say and I hear him sigh.

"I don't think his family will be happy to find you there." he says, pissing me off.

"Good thing I didn't inform them." I say and I see Austin twitch.

"He's waking up so I'll get back to you later, let me tend to him." I say again, squeezing his hand.

I hang up before Vadin can say another word and I press the panic button near his bed and a doctor and two nurses rush in.

"He's waking up." I say and they nod, starting to analyze him.

He opens his eyes and looks at me.

I take a deep breath.

"Andrea, what's going on?" he asks and I frown, taken aback slightly.

"Uhm, you collapsed in my office when my security barged in." I say.

And he frowns, looking confused.

"Mr West, how do you feel?" the doctor asks, taking his attention from me.

"I just have a slight headache but I'm okay." he says, rubbing his forehead.

"The nurse will give you pain killers for that. Apart from that, you're absolutely fine. I can't seem to figure out what caused you to collapse in the way that you did." she says.

"Well, I'll be leaving now. Doctor, please call his family for me." I say and I get up, dusting non-existent dust off my dress.

"Stay a while longer babe." he says and I freeze, looking at him like he's crazy.

"What did you just call me?" I ask, squinting my eyes at him like I'm about to kill him.

"Uh, I called you what boyfriends call their girlfriends..." he says and now I feel like I'm next to collapse.