Two days, it had been two days since all that happened. People were terrorized and still shook remembering the face of cruelty that Xavier Lambordi showed. It was something that they would have expected from Luciano or even Anthony and Zach but not from the eldest of them.
"This-all this just is too much. Are we really gonna ignore everything?" Bella asked as she leaned against the wall of the bathroom, the slight trembling of her fingers wasn't missed by Julia.
"We don't have any another option. I'm glad Oliya is already out of this mess." She responded, looking at her reflection in the mirror.
"What would she say if she got to know about it? I wonder how is she adjusting. She hasn't called us since the last week." Just as Bella finished her sentence, her phone started to ring. A smile formed on her lips as she looked at the screen.
"Is it her?" Julia asked, already guessing, judging her smile.
No matter what Oliya had done in past, she would always be their wonderful friend since childhood.
****************
At private hospital of Lambordi family, Leila was gaining her consciousness back. The first thing she came aware of, that her head was pounding, though her entire body felt numb. However, her left hand was surrounded by a strange warmth.
Curious, she struggled to open her eyes. But it was extremely hard. The pain in her head and numbness in her body didn't do much help. It must have been quite few minutes, then she managed to pry her eyes open. Just as she did, pain hit her too hard that a little whine left her lips.
The warmth or even better putting, someone's hand tightened around her own.
"Oi. You awake?" The voice filled her ears.
She looked up to see Luciano's tearful eyes.
A frown fell on her features.
He had entwined their hands, she noticed while observing him.
His teary eyes just caught her off guard. She was surprised even more when he suddenly pulled her into a hug.
She held back a whimper at his sudden move but pain was all forgotten, when she let herself melt in his embrace. He was so warm. The numbness in her body was vanishing except the pain in her head.
"You are fine." He murmured.
She tilted the sides of her lips up into a slight smile.
"I'm g-glad to be fine."
As she finished this sentence, black spots started to cover her vision. The hammering in her head became unbearable. She tried to clutch her brother tightly in an attempt to escape the pain but it was in vain.
She fell unconscious. But at least she was warm entirely.
*************
The next time Leila woke up, the pain in her head had resided back. She was just having an uncomfortable cramp in her back for lying on it from several hours straight. She opened her eyes and it took less than a minute for her vision to adjust completely.
She moved her eyes across and paused when her gaze settled on Angelo. He was sitting at the couch situated at the far across her, against the wall. He had a laptop settled on his lap and he was frowning a bit while reading something through the screen.
Feeling eyes on him, he looked up. She watched carefully as the frown vanished from his face. His face returned to being passive but if she squinted, she would see warmth in his eyes.
"Good to see you awake." Placing the laptop away, he stood up and approached her. He placed his palm on top of her forehead.
"You are not burning up anymore." He said with a bit of relief.
"You hungry?" He asked only to get a small shake of her head.
The name of food was enough to make a vile raise up her throat.
"It will take little time for you to adjust back to your daily routine and meals." He concluded.
She sighed. She hated being sick.
"Me too." Angelo answered.
Her eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"D-did I s-say it loud?" She asked with an odd stammer.
"Not really. You are just easy to read." He answered.
"I feel tired." She complained almost coquettishly.
"It's just a side effect of the antidote." He responded briefly and patted her head.
His move no more surprised her. She just turned around to face him while still lying.
"Can you run your fingers through my hair?"
An odd request but Angelo without a hint of any emotion, complied plainly.
"It feels nice." She closed her eyes in content and fell back into deep sleep once again.
It took her three more days to wake up again. This time she was feeling a lot well. No more sleepy or dizzy.
Zach's grinning face brought a smile on her face as he greeted her cheerfully as she woke up. She was feeling oddly clingy as she tried to stay in his embrace for a period longer than usual.
"I'm glad to see you finally up and moving."
Zach was fun in more than one way. She liked his company a lot. Only ones who hadn't come to meet her were Xavier, Carlo, Antonio and Vincent.
Or maybe they came when she was not awake. She pushed this thought away because she got reminded of fact that Antonio still did not like her.
"Are you ready to go home?" Angelo asked. She looked up at him and Zach and gave them a small nod.
The doctors had given her a ok but warned her to not stress and move around too much.
"I can carry you." Zach offered sincerely, seeing her expression of distaste at the sight of wheelchair.
"I would like to walk. Can you hold my hand?" She added quickly.
Angelo wasn't paying attention to the whole interaction or that's what Leila thought as he was busy talking with the doctors.
"Sure. You can lean on me."
He helped her in getting off the bed. Her legs really felt like jelly at this moment. The nurses had helped her in washing up earlier and she was wearing a comfortable and loose sundress. It reached a little down her knees, so everyone could see her legs trembling slightly.
Zach helped her in walk out of the room with Angelo following closely behind. As they got out and reached their cars, Angelo got a call from one of their business attendants.
He went off to the side to answer while Zach and Leila stood talking with each other. Leila was feeling a lot better while getting out of the closed walls of the hospital room. The fresh air basked her unusual pale color.
Suddenly she felt goosebumps covering her skin. She felt a piercing stare fixated on her. It was enough to send a chill down her spine.
She looked around, trying to find the source but came up with nothing.
"What's wrong?" Zach asked.
"I don't know. Just felt a little weird. Maybe I'm just hungry or still tired." She shrugged off the weird feeling.
Zach pulled her closer to offer her some comfort.
"Let's go home." Angelo announced.
The siblings complied their older brother and entered in their vehicles. Angelo followed behind but paused. He looked back with narrowed eyes. Not only him Zach was also looking out of the window. His one arm was holding Leila while other resting comfortably on the window sill, a gun hung loosely in his hand.
They watched as a man came out of the shadows. A cruel smirk hung at the end of his lips as he mockingly bowed at them while tipping his hat.
A car stopped in front of him and he got inside but not before waving at the both brothers.
Angelo's fists clenched. He was about to move but Leila's voice stopped him.
"Angelo... What's taking so long?" She asked meekly.
Angelo turned to look back at her. She was looking at him curiously.
"Nothing. Let's get going."
Thank you for reading... I hope you like these updates... Do comment if you have any suggestion... Check out my other works if you have time or interest...
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