He jabbed at the elevator's button and paced, the three words echoing in his senses again and again. Fire! Hailey! Trapped! This was a lie. It couldn't be. This was a dream. How could there be a fire? Where did it come from? And what kind of a big joke was the Butler playing on him?Hailey wouldn't be trapped! She couldn't be! She must be alright. She had to be alright. He cursed out loudly and punched the damned doors. He'd be damned if anything happened to her. If even a hair on her body was hurt. If even a hair—He'd be so damned!The elevator reached the parking lot and the doors slid open. Kendrick sprinted out. The bodyguards were on standby, they had the car ready. The expression on their faces showed that they were already aware. And he didn't wait for the driver to open the door. He waited for no one to approach him. He grabbed the car keys from the driver's hands and zoomed out of the company.On the road, those three words kept echoing. His eyes fixed ahead, his h
"Master—""Take the others with you and go to the hotel." Kendrick opened his mouth finally. He wasn't going anywhere. Not until he found Hailey. He was going to stay here until she appeared from nowhere and told him that this was all a joke. She was alright. And their baby was alright.The Butler sighed heavily and patted his arm. "Then we won't go anywhere, Master. We will remain here with you."The maids never stopped crying. Their sobs were heart-wrenching."No, take them and go." Kendrick shook his head. "I'll stay here... Alone," he added. "But, Master—""Take the cars and go," Kendrick interrupted him. "It is an order."The middle-aged man lowered his head and slowly nodded. Then he turned around and the maids, who were standing from not far away and still searching, followed him out.Kendrick squatted on the floor and reached for what seemed like a bottle. A disfigured feeding bottle. He wiped the black smoke away and stared down at it. And apart from the bottle, many oth
The voice was frantic and it mentioned something like "Hospital?" Kendrick echoed the woman's words.The reply from the other end was affirmative. And Kendrick didn't wait to hang up. He grabbed a car key from one of the bodyguards and drove away. And he put down the phone after getting all the information he needed. Hailey was at a hospital. The foreboding feeling became stronger, suffocating him. The woman didn't give him any more details apart from the location of the hospital. She didn't tell him how she was or what condition she was in at the moment. She seemed to be in a hurry. There were so many noises in the background. Kendrick sped along the highway. She had to be fine. Hailey must be fine. She had to be alright with the baby. This new hope of knowing she was alive wasn't that promising. From the woman's tone, Kendrick was plunged into more depths of horror. And when he arrived at the local hospital and hurried down the hallway jammed with people, his eyes darted to ea
The doctor joined the others and as the doors to the operating room closed, Kendrick paced around.He didn't stop pacing in the empty hallway until a figure approached him. "What is happening, Son?" Bella stopped in front of him, holding a file that contained Hailey's health information. And Kendrick gave her a summary of what was happening. The elderly woman looked flustered. And she didn't wait for him to finish explaining. She dashed inside the operating room muttering rapid words. Words that only weighed heavily in his heart. Words that had him sitting on one of the chairs and cupping his palm together. A few hours passed by, it was two in the morning. Kendrick's eyes never left the operating room. He never blinked even once. And he jerked up from the chair when the door opened. He expected to see her being wheeled out. To see her now stabilized. What he didn't expect was the doctor that came out instead. With his bloody gloves and a sour expression, Kendrick braced himself
She fought through the darkness once more. With all her might and all her heart, she had to know where that voice was coming from, who it belonged to, and why it sounded familiar. And she fought. She kept on fighting, winning and losing. She didn't stop until a surge of energy burst through her, until a blinding light invaded the darkness, until those heavy weights lifted gradually. And the lights dimmed and her eyes fluttered. This time, she could hear new voices. Foreign voices. Voices that were all clear and coherent. They weren't only calling out to her, they were also conversing in the background. "Hailey, can you hear me?" This voice belonged to a female. "Please don't faint again, Hailey. You are strong, I know you can fight it."But Hailey wasn't strong. The pain was still there. The boiling tears scalded her cheeks and her grips tightened around that soft thing. Where was the male's voice? The darkness took her again. Where was that familiar voice?It hurt. She wanted
Her heart bubbled with excitement and her lips quirked up. "Kara." Her eyes kept searching the place. No sign of a crib. Where was her baby? "Kara, where is my baby?" Hailey returned her attention to her friend and asked. And Kara sighed and sat back in her chair, her expression didn't look promising. Hailey's smile faltered a bit. Why didn't Kara look so happy? Did she give birth to a boy? However, that wasn't Hailey's problem at the moment. All she wanted was to see her baby. She might have given birth somehow during those painful periods. Her baby must have come out at that time. The sharp pain below her abdomen explained that. The doctors must have cut open her stomach and removed her baby. "Kara, answer me." Hailey didn't care that her voice was hoarse. And she shifted on the bed to get down.Her baby must be in the nursery. Wasn't that where they kept newborn babies in the hospital? She had to find her baby immediately. Kara looked sideways and avoided her eyes. That ma
"Oh my goodness, you're awake." She gave Hailey a quick hug and frantically wiped her tears. "It's alright, Baby, please stop crying." She hushed her and hug her again. "You need to keep strong. Some things aren't meant to be."Hailey's lips trembled. They hurt. How could this be? Why did things have to come to this? She didn't lose her baby. She would never lose her baby. "Hailey." Kara took her hands, grabbing her attention. "Don't cry, okay? Please take heart. Our little one sacrificed its life for you. You have to be strong. You have to keep on living."Hailey shook her head and sobbed harder. No. She couldn't keep on living. She could not live without her baby. And her baby didn't sacrifice its life for her to live. Kendrick did that. Kendrick sacrificed their baby's life. Hailey's sob filled the ward and she wrapped both arms around her stomach. If the doctor's explanation was true, then there was only one answer to why she was still living. Kendrick prioritized her life
~~~Hailey's gloom didn't subside in the next few days that passed. In fact, the grief expanded in her chest, numbing her and rendering her into a state of dazedness. Throughout the next few days, she would imagine that her baby was with her. She'd imagine a little crib beside her baby. She'd imagine the tiny cries of her baby. Those thoughts had become hallucinations. And her eyes never left the door. She would always stare at the door, her heart skipping whenever someone pushed it open. But her hopes would dampen whenever she realized that it wasn't him. The last four days that passed by were filled with hopes of seeing him. And hopes that everything was still a dream and she would soon wake up. Apart from her grandfather, no one else had visited her. No one else had come to see her. And she began to wonder if no one else was aware. Her mother had passed the information to her grandfather and for that, Hailey was grateful. But she wasn't ready yet. She wasn't ready to see her