Chapter 9 - What do I call you?

"Yes, yes. Go freshen up." Amelia answers, waving her hand, dismissal.

She then turns to Michael once Marilyn is out of earshot. "Look, Michael. I know her well. She's gonna try to push you away. I have a feeling you're right for her. Most importantly, she finds you comfortable. She's rarely this relaxed with someone other than me and my husband. She's... been through a lot."

"I'm not gonna ask for much." She continues. "Just one thing. If you're gonna enter her life, don't leave. If you plan to leave, don't enter. If she gets hurt because of you, you're gonna be better off dead."

She gets up as Michael processes her words. "I'm still on duty. I'll drop by again later. Keep her in the hospital until I allow it. She hates it here, so she'll try to leave."

Marilyn enters the room again to find Michael sitting alone, deep in his thoughts. "Where's Amelia?"

Michael lifts his head with a smile. "She's still on duty so she left. She left after repeatedly warning me to keep you from leaving until she allows it."

"Damn!" Marilyn curses as she seats herself on the bed. "That's fine, I guess. She's already very mad. If I leave now, she'll kill me."

Michael chuckles. He unwraps the parcel and hands her a box of porridge. "Here, have this first. I'll get something you like in the evening." He hands her a spoon. "Go on. I'll be watching you finish that bowl."

Marilyn groans as she almost shoves a spoonful into her mouth. "Oh? This isn't that bad."

He watches on gently as she eats. He hands her the drink.

"Hey." He calls once she's done eating, taking the empty bowl and bottle from her, tossing them into the trash.

"Hm?" She looks up at him.

"..." He hesitates for a bit before softly asking. "What do I call you?"

She lifts her eyebrows in recognition as she remembers that he'd stopped calling her Marilyn and didn't know her name. "Didn't Amelia tell you? I thought she would."

"I told her not to." He responds.

"You must've seen my hospital records, or my current doctor's report...Not that it lists my actual name." She persists.

"Didn't look at the name."

She blinks her eyes in confusion. "Why? Weren't you curious? Don't you want to know if I intend harm?"

"You don't want me to know." He says, lowering his head, reminding her of a sad dog. She could almost see a pair of drooped ears.

She almost giggles at her thoughts, before catching herself. "Hmm... Let's see... Do you want to know my real name or-"

His lifts his head and interrupts her. "No need. Just something I could refer to you as will do."

She smiles teasingly. "Why? I said I wouldn't tell you because I thought that there's no way for us to get married... Now that you agreed, don't you want to know my name?"

He blinks repeatedly, trying to make sense of her words. "So you're actually gonna go through with it? From what I heard from your sister, and the feeling you gave off, I thought you'd try to leave sooner or later..." He pulls out a strip of tablets from the package on the table, not forgetting her medication.

"And you thought that it didn't matter what you said, so you said yes?" She asks.

"No." He shakes his head, passing her the tablets along with a glass of water. "I'd decided to let you stay the moment I said yes." He looks into her eyes with a smile. "You can try your best to leave. Unlike yourself, I never leave the people that enter my life. That's one thing you can count on. I said I'll marry you and I will. Unless you genuinely don't want to."

She stares at him with an open mouth. Her eyes slowly tear up as she felt her frustration from the morning dissolve into nothing. "You're such a... You bastard." She mumbles, tears tumbling down her cheeks.

He chuckles. "Why, thank you." He lifts his hands to wipe her tears with his thumbs. "Shh... Take your medicines first. Come on." He says softly.

She swallows the tablet under his urging and after a short length of silence, she mumbles, "Sky. You can call me Sky. Amelia calls me that."

He smiles widely as he echoes, "Sky."

"Hm?" She looks up.

"Sky." He repeats.

"What is it?" She asks, about to get irritated.

"Sky, now that you've agreed. Don't you think of leaving me. Ever." He grins.

She looks at his happy expression for a short while before smacking his arm. "The way you said that irritates me."

"I don't care. You're not leaving." He says, not the least bothered.

"Mm." He hears her mumble.