His Beautiful Addiction

Tiana burst into tears after the door closed and she was left alone in the room. She didn\'t like it when he blamed himself too much and to think he was actually thinking of breaking it off with her. Was that even an option?!

She lay back on the bed and tried to move her legs for the first time. It hurt but she could move it a little, seems she didn\'t break a bone after all. Sighing, she lay back on the bed and closed her eyes to sleep.

She was awoken by some sounds in the room and she turned to see a male nurse fixing her drip bag.

\'\'you\'re awake, \'\' he smiled and she nodded, her eyes looking around the room to know if Nicklaus was there and when she did not see him, her heart sank. She turned to the nurse and forced a smile;

\'\'How are you feeling? \'\' he asked her as he put the bag on the stand; Tiana nodded;

\'\'I feel better now. \'\' \'\'Mm, that\'s good. \'\' the nurse took her hand and connected the drip, then checked the speed and when he confirmed it was okay, he nodded;

\'\'When will I get discharged? \'\' Tiana asked and the nurse smiled;

\'\'Why? this is the best ward in the hospital, you don\'t like it here? \'\'

Tiana shook her head; well no-one liked to be in the hospital but that was not why she was asking;

\'\'No, I just wanted to know; \'\'

\'\'\'Okay, I\'m not sure about that, but you\'ll be here for a while, a week or so. Your bones need to be examined and be kept on close observation so you don\'t hurt it again. \'\'

\'\'Okay; \'\' Tiana nodded;

They spoke briefly before the nurse left. Tiana lay back down on the bed and listened to the drops of the liquid; her eyes turned to the door and she watched it for a moment, after a while, she pouted.

Even though she told him to leave, does that mean he should leave?

She felt like throwing things but all her body hurt and there was a syringe in her hand so she stayed put.

She peered at the door for the longest time praying that he would push it open and walk in but he did not. Tiana pouted sadly. Now, she regretted telling him to leave.

She wanted him to hold her, but she had chased him away and now she was lying all alone in this huge hospital ward. She looked around the room to know if her phone was anywhere but it was not.

Wait… where is her phone?

 She remembered being dragged into the van forcefully, maybe her phone slipped from her hand, it was either crushed right now, or it was lying on the floor of the van. Either way, she was not getting the phone back.

Tiana sighed as she felt sleepy again, maybe a side effect of the medicine she was taking.

When she woke up, she felt an arm hugging her, and head nestled in her chest. A happy smile filled her face when she saw Nicklaus sleeping soundly hugging her around her tummy. She raised her hand to his hair and ruffled it, kissing his forehead. She was already feeling bad for sending him away like that, and when he didn\'t come back after so long, she thought he was mad at her.

Seeing him hugging her like this as though his life depended on it made her heart melt;

She just lay still watching him quietly not wanting to wake him up. Her eyes glanced at her hand and she noticed her drip was removed while she was asleep. After sometime Nicklaus opened his eyes and looked at her and she smiled at him;

\'\'I\'m sorry for chasing you away. \'\' Tiana said when his eyes met hers,

\'\'I\'m sorry for everything. \'\'

Nicklaus apologized; \'\'I was just so scared of you getting hurt; it didn\'t occur to me that I was hurting you in the process. \'\'

\'\'It is okay, I forgive you. \'\' She added with deep affection in her eyes; \'\' don\'t ever mention leaving me again, we\'re in this together forever, okay? \'\'

Nicklaus nodded; \'\'I missed you, \'\'

\'\'I missed you more. \'\' He sat up on the bed and kissed her lips;

\'\' do your legs still hurt? \'\'

He asked, pushing some strands of hair away from her face; Tiana shook her head;

\'\'No, I think it\'s healing pretty quickly. \'\'

\'\'Do you need anything? Are you hungry? \'\'

Tiana shook her head; \'\'I\'m not hungry, but I really need to take a bath. \'\'

Nicklaus laughed and helped her out of the bed; Tiana stood on her feet and tried to walk by herself, it hurt but at least she could take a few steps. Nicklaus finally carried her to the bathroom, placing her on a seat.

\'\'The doctor said you shouldn\'t wet your bandages, so I\'ll have to clean you up. \'\'

He brought a towel and soap and filled a bucket with warm water. Helping her take off her hospital gown, he tied her hair up in a bun.

\'\'What happened to him? \'\'

Tiana asked as she watched him clean her up slowly and carefully;

\'\'Liam?\'\' He looked at her with a flash of anger in his eyes;

Tiana nodded;

Nicklaus paused for a second; \'\'when they realized we\'ve surrounded the area, he escaped through an underground channel, he should thank his stars he was able to escape because I would have given him the most painfully slow death he could ever imagine. \'\'

Tiana swallowed and the scene of him kissing her flashed through her eyes; he was a maniac just like his mom;

\'\'They\'ve struck first so I\'m going after them now. I sent my men to their home, but they could not find him nor his mother, they\'ve gone under hiding. They should never come out from wherever they are because I\'m going to chase them to the ends of the earth. \'\' Nicklaus scoffed;

\'\'they dared to come after my woman… ha! \'\'

Tiana rubbed on his arm bringing him back, Nicklaus breathed out heavily, stabling himself,

\'\' don\'t worry, we\'ll get them, okay, for now, let\'s not think about them.\'\'

He was already so angry about this, what if she told him he kissed her? Tiana didn\'t want to imagine the look on his face.

After what looked like hours, Nicklaus finished cleaning her up, he dressed her up in another hospital gown and lay her on the bed like a baby;

\'\'what do you want to have for dinner? \'\'

Tiana smiled; \'\'I don\'t know, I\'ll have whatever you want to eat. \'\'

\'\'Tch, okay. \'\' Nicklaus called the attendant line on the telephone and in a few minutes, she walked in.

…

Three days later…

\'\'Leo did you hear Tiana is in the hospital? \'\'

Claire asked as she barged into his office as usual.

Leo looked up at her with a worried expression; \'\'what? What happened? \'\'

\'\'I don\'t know, I think she was injured or something, I\'ve been trying to reach her, but her phone has not been available, she just called to tell me today.\'\'

\'\'Oh, that\'s so sad. We\'ll go see her later today. \'\'

\'\'Yeah, we should. \'\'

She sighed as she sat down on the couch; her mind zoning out for a moment.

\'\'Tomorrow is mom\'s anniversary, are you coming? \'\' Claire asked after much hesitance. With their current strained relationship, she wasn\'t sure what his reply would be, everything that left her mouth these days was after much thought.

\'\'Yeah, haha, Claire, do you need to ask? \'\'

Claire smiled and nodded; \'\'Thank you; I would really need a friend. \'\'

\'\'Claire, I\'ll always be there for you no matter what, okay? \'\' Leo said, sitting down beside her on the couch and passing a hot cup of tea, it was cold outside.

\'\'Thank you; \'\' she smiled; \'\'and thank you for the tea \'\'

Her mother died when she was five. The memory was still evergreen in her mind. That fateful night, her father returned drunk again. They always fought but that day was more extreme than any other day they had ever fought because that was the first day her mom raised her voice back at him. Now she was all grown up, she understood how much her mom had to hold her pain in.

Her mom kept her locked away in her room during these times but that day she had forgotten to lock the door and she sneaked out;

And to this day, she wished she never did.

Her mom was standing at the end of the stairs screaming and crying at the same time, her father was throwing things around angrily, and then it happened so quickly.

She remembered her mom saying something that irked her father and he dashed towards her, pushing her over the stairs.

The glass in her hands shook slightly as she blinked back into reality. Funny how her dad changed so much after that; every single time she looked at his face, she wondered what her mom did so wring to deserve such wickedness.

He had asked her for forgiveness but how could she bring herself to forgive someone that killed her mom, quickly married another woman and treats her like a queen? haha. 

Sometimes she wondered if it was her mother\'s fault, but no matter how she thought about it, it wasn\'t. Her mom was just unfortunate to marry the wrong person.

\'\'I\'m meeting the director, did he send for you too? \'\'

Leo asked, snapping Claire out of her thoughts;

\'\'Yeah he did, that\'s even why I came. \'\'

\'\'Alright, let\'s go.\'\'