Chapter 22
Rose POV
"Give me that bottle", Mia ordered.
Jill gave the bottle of sparkling wine to Mia and she filled her glass. Again.
"Mia, that's your fifth glass."
"So?", Mia giggled. "I can hold my liquor."
I giggled too and looked around my living room. Lissa, Mia, Jill and Sydney came over a few hours ago with a few bottles of sparkling wine. We emptied them a while ago and now drank one bottle I found in the kitchen. It was like a scene from some movie. Five girls, drinking sparkling wine out of fancy glasses, sitting in a living room without a care in the world and too much money for their own good. I couldn't believe I was one of those girls.
"Are you sure about that?", Sydney asked skeptically.
"Suuuu-re", Mia slurred.
"You think it was a good idea to allow her to open the third bottle just for herself?", Jill asked.
"Definitely not", I laughed. "But now it's too late, I guess. The damage is done."
"Daaaa-mage! Damaaaaa-ge", Mia slurred.
"You will take her home, right?", I asked frowning.
"We'll see", Lissa giggled.
The evening was great. We all did typical girl things, laughed and chatted about everything and I mean everything. It was new to me, to have girls over, to have anyone over for that matter. I never had "girl time" or sleepovers or whatever before. But I liked it, I liked it a lot.
It was an hour to midnight and we decided the girls would stay over and sleep here again. I wanted to tell Dimitri the girls would stay and only then did I realize: He wasn't home.
"Hey, are the guys doing anything tonight?", I asked.
"No idea, why?", Sydney asked.
"I just realized Dimitri isn't here and I don't know where he is."
"Maybe Christian knows", Lissa said and grabbed her phone.
She dialed his number and waited for him to pick up, but he didn't.
"Why isn't he answering?", Lissa asked. "He is always answering my calls."
"Probably nothing", Jill said. "Maybe the guys are in some bar or something like that. It's too loud there to hear a phone, right?"
"But he is always answering", Lissa insisted and almost whined.
"Calm down, girl. He isn't answering his phone, so what?"
"He is always answering, something has to be wrong with him."
"There is a lot wrong with Christian", Mia mumbled.
I couldn't help but giggle.
"You think that's funny?", Lissa screeched.
"Sorry", I giggled.
It took us about half an hour to convince Lissa Christian was alright. She always said we just didn't understand their special bond and we didn't love 'our guys' like she loved Christian and so on and on.
Mia just decided to give Lissa more to drink and it surprisingly worked.
Another half an hour later, we all were sprawled out on the floor, painting our nails, braiding each others hair and all that cliche stuff.
Suddenly, our house phone ringed and I tried to maneuver my way through all the empty bottles, snacks, nail polishes and so on on the floor. When I finally reached the phone it was starting to get to voice mail.
"I'm here, I'm here", I said frantically. "Who's there?"
"Rose?"
"Yeah, who's there?", I answered.
"It's Eddie."
"Edddiiiiieeee", I screamed. "How are you, my friend?"
I giggled when Mia made kissing noises and teased Jill with it.
"I'm good, but Rose, something happened, something bad", Eddie said seriously.
My face instantly paled and my grip around the phone tightened. Suddenly, I was sober again and thought back to Lissa's concern about Christian.
"Tell me what happened", I demanded.
The girls stopped talking and all looked towards me, they heard the seriousness in my voice and Lissa's eyes began watering.
"Come to the hospital, it's serious. Call the other girls, some of them can drive."
"They're here", I said. "Eddie, what's wrong? What happened?"
"Just come, I have to go now, the doc is here."
"Eddie wait", I called, but the line was already dead.
Immediately, the girls were all around me, bombarding me with questions I had no answers to. We called a taxi, big enough for all of us and drove as fast as possible to the hospital. But it wasn't fast enough. We all were quite, all caught up in our own thoughts. Lissa was extremely pissed at all of us because she said she had known something was wrong with Christian, but we told her otherwise. When I thought about it now, she was right, but I didn't really care at that moment. All I cared about was Dimitri and the 'serious' condition he was in. I thought about the serious note in Eddie's voice.
And then we were there, we reached the hospital, paid the driver and ran inside.
"Eddie!", we all called. "Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!"
Eddie came from around the corner and we all ran towards him.
"What's going on?"
"Is Christian okay?"
"How is Ivan?"
"Are you okay?"
"What happened to you?"
"How's Adrian?"
"What's with Dimitri?"
"Is that a black eye?"
"Girls!", Eddie shouted.
We all went quiet and looked at him, not sure what his next words would be.
"Follow me."
We all followed Eddie through a long hall and then stopped in front of two doors.
"Rose, Mia, you go in there", Eddie said and nodded towards the first door.
"Sydney, you there", Eddie nodded towards the second door. "Liss, I need to talk to you alone."
Lissa began crying. We all knew, if Eddie needed to talk to her alone, there must have been something really bad. I wanted to be there for her, I really did, but right now I just wanted to know what was wrong with Dimitri.
"You going to be okay?", I asked Liss.
"I- I-", Lissa hiccuped. "I-"
"I'm going to stay here with her", Jill offered.
"It involves you, too", Eddie said. "Go in there Rose, trust me."
Eddie nodded, telling me it was okay. I trusted him, gave Lissa a hug and together with Mia went into the room. Mia gripped my hand with a tight grip. She was scared, as scared as I was. Together we went into the room. It was white like every other room in a hospital. The room wasn't exactly big, but it wasn't small either. There were two beds in the room. On one lay Dimitri, on the other Ivan.
"Ivan", Mia gasped.
Both lay there, unconscious, not moving a muscle. But both were alive and breathing. And both looked pretty beaten up.
"Oh my gosh", I gasped.
We both ran to the sides of the beds. Mia pushed a nurse aside and told her to never touch her man again or she would be sorry. I zoned her out and reached for Dimitri's hand, all the while looking at his face. His face was covered in purple and red, the rest of his body didn't look any better. His leg was probably broken as well as his left arm, at least both had a cast, so I just assumed so.
What the hell happened to him?, I thought.
"Excuse me", I heard Mia ask the nurse. "What is wrong with Ivan?"
"Are you family?", The nurse asked.
"No, but -"
"Then I can't tell you", the nurse interrupted Mia, probably still pissed because Mia just tried to rip her head of only seconds ago.
"Sorry", I interjected. "Could you please tell me what is wrong with my husband? Please."
The nurse frowned. She probably couldn't believe Dimitri was my husband.
"My name is Rose Belikov."
The nurse's eyes went a little wider and she nodded.
"Your husband and his friend came in around an hour ago, they -"
"An hour?!", Mia screeched.
The nurse glared at Mia, but Mia only had eyes for Ivan. She mumbled something and began stroking his face tenderly.
"As I was saying", the nurse began again. "They came in about an hour ago along with five others."
"Five?", I asked.
"Yes", the nurse nodded. "One of them was found dead and only brought here for identification."
Mia and I gasped. Someone was dead? Who? Who died? Was it Christian? Was that why Eddie needed to talk to her alone? No, no, Christian couldn't be dead. He couldn't be.
"Another one died about 20 minutes ago."
Another gasp followed. Two people … Dead?! I couldn't wrap my head around the thought of someone I knew being dead. It just … couldn't be true.
"I'm sorry for your loss", the nurse said. "As for your husband and his friend, they both have several broken bones, bruises, scratches and what not. There both currently in a coma."
"When are they going to wake up?", Mia asked.
"We don't know. I'm sorry."
And with that the nurse exited the room and left Mia and me alone in a room with two men in a coma. Our men.
"A coma", Mia whispered.
"They're alive", I said. "And they're going to wake up soon."
"Soon", Mia said and nodded thoughtfully.
-o-o-o- Thrown Into His World -o-o-o-
*Two weeks later*
Dimitri hasn't woken up. Neither has Ivan or Christian. Yes, Christian was alive, thank God! I would never admit it, but I loved Christian like a brother and I couldn't bear to loose him. The only two persons who woke up were Adrian and Mason. Neither of them told us what had happened. I had no idea what Mason was doing here with all the others, as far as I knew he hated them, but he and Adrian seemed pretty close.
The good part, out of everything terrible that had happened, was that Eddie finally admitted his feelings and he and Jill were finally together. They always held hands or Eddie's arms were around Jill. After ... whatever had happened, Eddie couldn't let her go. It was really sweet, but whenever I looked into Eddie's eyes, I saw such deep love but also strong fear. I really needed to know what had happened that night.
The terrible part was … Jesse Zeklos died that night, as well as Andre Dragomir, Lissa's brother and Jill's half brother. Lissa was devastated, as well as Jill. But Jill had Eddie by her side and she hasn't been as close to Andre as Lissa has been. And now Lissa had to fear Christian would die, too. I couldn't even imagine what it must be like for her now. We all tried to cheer her up, but nothing worked.
Day and night, Mia, Lissa and I stayed at the hospital. Dimitri's family came and they stayed as well. We all were waiting for Dimitri to wake up, but he didn't. And it killed me, it killed me to see him like this, to see him so vulnerable, so … not in control.
I had this picture-perfect of Dimitri in my mind – strong, manly and untouchable. I thought he would be there whenever I needed him and right now I god damn needed him … And he wasn't there ...
-o-o-o- Thrown Into His World -o-o-o-
*A month later*
"Mrs. Belikov?"
"Yes", Olena and I answered.
"The younger Mrs. Belikov", the doctor said.
Olena nodded and I stood up and went to the doctor. Still, all the other Belikov's could here everything we said.
"Mr. Belikov's condition hasn't changed yet. We wanted to see if he wakes up by himself, but apparently he does not."
"Okay", I answered slowly. "What does that mean?"
"We need this room if I'm being brutally honest, so you now need to decide what's going to happen with him."
"Excuse me, what?", Olena asked.
"There are a few options. We could turn off the machines, the ones who keep him alive. Maybe he will live on without them, maybe he won't. We could transfer him to a private hospital or home. But then you need a nurse or doctor who checks on him every day."
"We will bring him home. I will look after him", Olena said immediately.
"I'm afraid that is not your decision to make, Mrs. Belikov", the doctor replied and looked at me.
Olena turned towards me and grabbed one of my hands.
"Rose, you know I love you, but what's best for Dimitri right now is for him to stay with his family. You understand that, don't you?"
"If I may", the doctor interrupted, before I could answer. "Mr. Belikov needs an operation on his arm or he might lose it. There is something we didn't see before, blocking the nerves between his throat, shoulder and upper arm. If we don't operate him now, it's going to be too late."
"Then do it", I said.
The doctor nodded with a small smile.
"The thing is" The doctor took a deep breath. "This operation is really complicated. It's near the cervical vertebra."
"The what?", I asked.
"Those belong to the backbone. The cervical vertebra is in the neck and the nerves we need to fix are near by. The problem is, there is a high chance of not succeeding and ..."
"And what?", Olena asked.
"It's possible that after this operation Mr. Belikov won't be able to move any muscles, he will only be able to move his head. It's possible he becomes a tetraplegic."
"What? No, never!", Olena screamed.
"The chances are 50:50. The risk he will die is by about 32% right now. The longer we wait, the higher the risk will be. It's your decision Mrs. Belikov. But the longer you wait ..."
"Yeah, I know", I said. "Do it."
"What?", Olena screeched.
"Do it", I told the doctor again.
The doctor nodded and turned around, telling me he would get the formulas for me to sign.
"You can't do this, Rose. You can't", Olena said. "There is a chance he might die, do you realize this? Die! Or he won't be able to move anymore, do you really want this for him? You can't want this for him."
"I don't, okay?", I screamed right back. "I don't want any of this. I'm thinking about what he would want. And there is a 50:50 chance nothing will happen. We can't let him stay in this bed forever and let him lose his arm. You know he wouldn't want this."
"Rose, he could die!"
"I know."
"You can't do this", Olena whispered. "You can't. He is my son. This isn't right. You can't."
"I'm sorry, Olena, but it's my decision."
The doctor called for me to sign the papers and I left Olena standing there. She began crying and screamed at me to not do this, to make the right decision. I just went on and signed the formulas.
"We will prepare everything immediately."
"Am I doing the right thing, doc?", I asked, now a little unsure.
"Yes, you are", he replied fiercely.
"Thank you."
He nodded again, but this time he smiled at me.
"Don't let him die, okay?"
"I won't", he smiled.
He lay a hand on my shoulder, squeezed a little and nodded encouraging.
"She isn't his wife!", Sonya suddenly screamed.
The doctor and I turned towards her and frowned. What the hell was she talking about?
"She isn't his wife and therefore it is not her decision to make", Sonya said.
"Is that true?", Olena asked, her eyes full of hope.
"Yes", Sonya said. "There aren't really married. It's not legal."
"Mrs. Belikov?", the doctor asked me.
"We are married", I replied. "Legally married."
I glared at Sonya. What was she doing?
"Show me your certificate", Sonya said. "They aren't legally married."
"Sonya, I don't know what you're trying to achieve, but -"
"Operate my son and I will take you to court", Olena interrupted me. "I don't know who is saying the truth and who is not, but you don't know either and if you operate my son without any proof I will make you lose everything you have."
Olena looked like a wild animal, which didn't surprise me at all because this was her son we were talking about. But … she was making the wrong decision. Dimitri wouldn't want this.
"Olena, don't. You know Dimitri would want us to try everything."
"He would want us to save his life", Olena sneered. "You don't love my son, you just want his money."
I gasped. It was like a slap in the face. Olena, the kind-hearted woman I met, was gone. And with her, Dimitri's chance to save his arm.
"Olena, Dimitri would live with only one arm. Do you really want this for him? Think about this, Olena, please."
"Leave Rose. Leave and don't come back. You don't have any right to be here, anymore."
-o-o-o- Thrown Into His World -o-o-o-
I left the hospital then and there. Outside the building, I began crying. It's been a while since I cried this much in my life, but at that moment I cried and cried and couldn't stop.
I don't know when, but suddenly there was an arm around me and a soothing voice. It was Vika, Dimitri's youngest sister.
"Everything is going to be fine. My mom, she just … he is her only son, she is just afraid. She didn't mean what she said."
I didn't answer, just cried into her shoulder. Vika told me, she would still let me see Dimitri when she was with him in his room. I was glad, she was still being this nice to me and still believed me and didn't push me away, like the others.
So that night, around 2AM, I went into the hospital again and got back into Dimitri's room. Luckily, without anyone noticing me.
"Rose?", Vika asked.
"Yeah, it's me", I whispered.
"Come on in, I'm alone."
"Thank God", I sighed in relief.
I instantly went to Dimitri's side and took his hand in both of mine.
"You have to wake up Dimitri. Please, you have to wake up. The only one who can stop your mother now is you. Please, wake up."
… He didn't.
"Could have worked", Vika said and shrugged.
Vika and I sat side by side the whole night and talked and talked about nonsense. If Dimitri could hear us, he would probably tell us to shut up. But this way, we wouldn't think about the next day. And around 4.45AM it happened.
"His hand moved!", Vika suddenly shouted.
"What?", I screeched.
We both stared intently and wanted to see a reaction, wanted to see a moving muscle.
"Come on, Dimitri, please, please move a muscle", I begged. "Just a finger, please."
But something else entirely happened. Suddenly Dimitri's eyes opened wide and he tried to breath, but the tube in his mouth bothered him.
"Oh my God", I called.
I grabbed Dimitri's hand and his eyes immediately found mine. His eyes were wide with fear and his hand squeezed mine hard.
"Call a nurse", I told Vika.
I heard her running out of the room in the background, calling for a nurse. Still looking into Dimitri's eyes I also pressed the "Call nurse" button just in case and squeezed Dimitri's hand.
"Shh, calm down, Dimitri. Don't fight the tube. You're in a hospital, a nurse will get that thing out. Just a moment, calm down. Everything's fine."
But Dimitri didn't calm down, he struggled against the tube, against everything. Finally a nurse came rushing into the room and thankfully got straight to work. She freed Dimitri of the tube down his throat. He dry vomited a few times, but nothing came out of his mouth.
"Water", he whispered with a rough voice.
The nurse gave him a cup filled with water and Dimitri drowned it with only one gulp. The nurse gave him another one and he again, gulped everything down.
"Thanks", he said and lay back down.
His breathing became regular again. I squeezed Dimitri's hand again, smiling a broad smile. A tear was running down my cheek, I felt it but didn't care.
"Come here", Dimitri said.
I came nearer and he kissed me. I sighed in relief and kissed him back. He was okay, he was okay and he was alive. Everything was okay, he was fine.
"God, I've missed you", I told him.
"Missed me?", Dimitri asked.
"Yeah", I answered. "We have to tell you a few things."
Dimitri frowned and looked at me and Viktoria. The nurse was first, so she asked Dimitri a lot of things, how he felt, if anything hurt or whatever. And when the nurse was out of the room, Vika and I began telling him what we knew. We told him about the time he was in a coma, about Adrian, Mason, Ivan and Christian. About the deaths of Andre and Jesse.
Dimitri wanted to know what was wrong with Ivan, who still lay next to him. Mia wasn't here, she wasn't allowed to because she wasn't 'family'. But she would come back in about 3 hours when visiting hours began.
"Dimitri, what happened?", I asked.
"Nothing you need to worry about", he said.
"Dimka, this is serious. The police was here. People died and you were in a coma", Vika replied.
"I can't tell you", Dimitri said shaking his head.
"Dimitri, seriously, you -"
"Rose, stop", he interrupted. "I won't tell you, not now. I want to -"
Suddenly Dimitri's eyes widened and looked away from my face and down to his arm. His brows furrowed and he looked deep in thought.
"W- Why can't I move my arm?", Dimitri asked. "Why can't I feel it?"
Silence filled the room. Vika and I looked at each other. Who would tell him? Tell him he would lose every feeling in his arm, tell him he would losse his arm all together and would only live with one arm for the rest of his life.
In the end, Vika and I both told him. We told him what the doctor told us and what his chances were.
"I did get the operation, right?", Dimitri asked me. "You let them do it? There is a possibility I get the feeling back, right?"
I began crying again. I knew it. I knew he would have wanted it. And right now, with tears streaming down my face and looking into Dimitri's chocolate brown eyes, I shook my head. Dimitri let my hand go.
"You didn't?", he asked.
"I- I- I-"
"How could you?", Dimitri asked. "How -"
"She wanted to", Vika interrupted him. "She wanted to, but Sonya told the doctor your marriage wasn't legal and the doctor couldn't do anything. Mom told him not to do it."
"Can I still do it?", Dimitri asked.
"We don't know", Vika said. "I can ask."
"Ask", Dimitri said. "Please."
Vika nodded and left the room to find a nurse who could call the doctor. Dimitri took a deep breath and let it out. He did it twice and closed his eyes.
"Everything will work out", I said.
I wasn't so sure myself. How could I be? But I had to convince him. He had to fight and he had to be optimistic to win this fight.
"How do you know?"
"I know you", I said. "And I know you won't leave me here alone."
-o-o-o- Thrown Into His World -o-o-o-
It was possible to still do the operation. The risk of Dimitri becoming a tetraplegic was higher than before and the chances of him …. not surviving also, but he still wanted to do it. So the doctor came extra early and rolled Dimitri away from Vika and me. We were left alone in his room with Ivan and Mia. We told Mia everything to keep us occupied with something.
Everything went down at 8AM when Olena and Sonya came into the room.
"Rose", she gasped. "What are you doing here?"
"Where is Dimitri?", Sonya asked.
Sonya glared at me and Olena did the same after she noticed the absence of her son.
"Where is my son?", she growled.
"In the operation room", I said monotone. "I don't know the name for these rooms, but the doctor is operating him right now."
"What?!", Sonya screeched while Olena just gaped at me.
"How could you do this?!", Sonya screamed. "This wasn't your decision to make. You signed his death. You stupid bitch, you -"
"It was Dimitri's decision", Vika shouted.
And Sonya shut up, gaping at her sister.
"He woke up?", Olena gasped.
"Last night", Vika nodded.
Instead of being relieved or happy, Sonya – again – tried to rip my head off.
"What did you tell him?"
She pointed an accusing finger at me and glared furiously.
"Did you lie to him? Didn't you tell him what could happen? Why would you -"
"I was there, okay?", Vika yelled. "We told him everything and Rose didn't pressure him or anything. He wanted this. And it's his life, not yours."
"We're going to lose our brother, Viki and you're still on her side?", Sonya asked looking sad. "I thought you were smarter than that."
And with that, Sonya turned around and left the room, going only God knows where. Olena stayed where she was. She was still looking into space, her mouth agape, her eyes glassy.
"Mom?", Vika asked. "Are you okay?"
"No", she said.
And suddenly she fainted.
"Olena", I cried surprised.
Vika and I tried to catch her and we kind of did, but went to the floor with her. We tried to talk to her, to get her to wake up, but she didn't. Mia ran outside and got another nurse.
-o-o-o- Thrown Into His World -o-o-o-
Jill POV
"Hey", I whispered. "I've got something to eat for you."
"I'm not hungry", my sister answered.
Her voice was hollow, monotone. There was nothing in it. No happiness, like there used to be, but no sadness either. Just ... monotone. Her face was, too. She was just there, nothing more. Just present.
"Please Liss, you need to eat something."
"No, thank you Jill."
Even now she was still being polite. I sighed and looked at Christian's face. He was still unconscious, but he was breathing on his own and his broken leg was getting better and better with each day. He looked better, too. But he still wouldn't wake up and the doctors had no idea when or if he ever would.
"I will leave this here for you, okay? Maybe you will change your mind."
I placed the little basket on Christian's bedside table and left the room. Eddie was waiting for me in front of the room and at the moment I stepped out of it, he was by my side.
"Are you okay?", he asked and wrapped his arms around my waist.
"Yeah", I sighed and let my head fall onto his chest.
"How's Lissa?"
"Bad", I said. "She still won't eat anything. Christian looks better, but he is still not waking up."
"He will wake up when he's ready."
I nodded and sighed again.
"I want to leave", I told him.
"Okay."
I pulled away from Eddie and looked up. He smiled affectionately down at me and his thumb caressed over my cheek. I saw such longing and sadness in his eyes and I didn't know how to get rid of it, how to help him get rid of it.
"Are you okay?", I asked Eddie.
He smiled a little more and gave me a quick peck.
"I'm okay, Jill."
He took my hand and we both began walking out of the hospital. What was going on with Eddie? Ever since that night, the night we finally became an item, he was different. It was like he felt responsible for the conditions of all the other guys. But why? And why exactly Eddie of all people?