Chapter 9

WORK PROBLEMS

I wake up to the sound of Christian's voice and him trying to shake me awake while he screams in a rather loud voice "GRACE WAKE UP!!" I groan in response and put the pillow over my head and the blankets, Christian laughs and says "Don't you ignore me Miss Grace Mia Rose I'm talking to you." And the next thing I know Christians on top of me, I groan again and say "Christian I just want to sleep for god's sake let me sleep!! And get off of me because I can hardly breathe." Christian gets off of me and lets me breathe again and says "Fine but you're gonna be late for work." As I lift the pillow and blankets off of my face I glance at his alarm on the bedside table, oh shit! He's right I only have 5 minutes to get to work. I jump up out of bed and grab my clothes that are now dry and run to the bathroom and lock the door behind me. As I change my clothes I can hear Christian laughing in the bedroom. My subconscious screams at the top of her lungs "That annoying bastard, it's not like he needs to work. With his dad being rich and his mum being a nurse and making good money, unlike my parents!"

I arrive at work 15 minutes late, and Paul screams at me "GRACE!! WHERE WERE YOU? WE LOST TENS TO THOUSANDS OF CUSTOMARS BECAUSE OF YOU!!" Christian is next to me and growls, Paul looks at Christian and says "Something wrong? Bastard." Oh no! He did not just say that to Christian, Christian growls again and I can see he's turning into a Vampire right in front of my boss's son. Christian says something that makes Paul rage with anger "Oh I didn't know you looked in the mirror dude. And right now you're my problem, I mean you're yelling at Grace just because she was a lousy 15 minutes late to your so called business." The next turn of events happen so fast it's just a blur.

As Paul tries to punch Christian he misses and punches me right in the eye, pain fills my eye. Christian says with anger and worry in his voice "Grace, are you alright?" I couldn't answer all I could manage was a swift grunt and moan of pain. Paul laughs and says something he should not have "Oh dudes, did you see that? I totally smashed her up." As Paul says that Christian gets up and punches Paul right in the jaw line and all of a sudden I hear a crack I then realise its Paul's jaw. Christians broken his jaw, shit! I realise everybody in the shop is videotaping it on their phones. One of Paul's friends screams a not so nice word at Christian and comes running at him, and tries to kick him, but misses and lands a swift kick on my stomach. Tears start to prick the corners of my eyes as pain swirls in my stomach Christian punches the guy in the cheek. I just wish I could make it stop. I try to stand up but I just fall back down and hit my head hard onto the tiled floor.

Next thing that happens Christian picks me up gently in his arms and says through gritted teeth, "Don't worry Grace you're gonna be alright whatever you do don't close you're��" I didn't hear the rest of what he said just sirens. As I close my eyes I see a bunch of bright lights but one catches my eye it's white and blank. I can't help it, I start walking into the light, and the pain in my stomach and eye start to go away, so I keep walking. I then lose consciousness.

Next thing I know I hear worried voices and crying but I can't see anything, I try to open my eyes but my body refuses to cooperate with my wishes. God danm my body! I hear a man's voice that I don't know, he sounds like a doctor. I make out "Mrs Rose and Mr Rose if it wasn't for Mrs Jackson's and Mr Jackson's son your daughter would be life threateningly injured. It was close, she only suffered minor but serious injuries, such as trauma to the head, intense bleeding and swelling in the brain, a bruised eye and lastly another bruise to her stomach." I then hear a woman start crying and I realise it's my mum, a man speaks who I think is Christian's dad "My wife and I just want to say we're sorry for your daughter, so for a favour we'll pay for everything including this suite." I'm in a suite, Jesus. I hear my mum speak "Thank you very much, but my husband and I can't accept this. Your son has already done enough for saving her, so thankyou Mr and Mrs Jackson but its fine." Christian's dad speaks again "No we insist." My mum and dad say through tears "Thank you." I'm then plunged into darkness again and I can't hear anymore, danm it!

I suddenly feel a grip on my hand and a caring voice "Oh Grace, what have I done?" I realise its Christian and he's crying. I try to open my eyes, but I can't. Christian keeps talking "Grace I have something for you, it's a song." Christian picks up what sounds like a guitar and starts playing, the song is amazing. After about maybe 4 minutes and 16 seconds of the song he says "If you were wondering what the songs called it's called *I don't wanna live forever* by Taylor Swift and Zayn Malik." I then hear him sigh and say "Grace I miss you. Please wake up." I try again to open my eyes and this time it works. I look at Christian, he looks like his usual self, except he looks like he hasn't sleped in nights, hasn't brushed his hair or changed his clothes and hasn't had a shower in days. I turn my thumping painful head to see his face in his hands crying helplessly. I reassure him with "Christian I'm alright, don't cry." I then start to pat and run my fingers through his hair, its so danm soft considering he has not brushed or washed it in a long time. And as he looks up my hands stroke his soft smooth face. He smiles and says "Grace your awake. I thought you were dead." I shake my head but stop right away because of the pain. I moan and Christian says "Grace it's not a good idea to shake your head or nod it." I then say "Okay Christian."

I look around the room and see a bunch of flowers, get well cards, birthday cards, birthday presents and an ice-cream cake at the foot of my hospital bed which looks new. Christian smiles and says "Oh yeah I forgot to tell you, you sleped through your birthday and these presents are from your family members and friends." I look at the corner and realise a bag overflowing with birthday cards, presents and balloons that says *Happy Birthday, your 17 today* and another one that says *Get well Soon.* I look at Christian and ask him "Why do I have so much presents? And also didn't I say I don't like people spending money on me." He smiles and says "Well as soon as my relatives heard it was your birthday I couldn't stop them, they went on a complete shopping spree as you can see. And no you didn't Grace and anyway my family can afford all this so don't worry about it." He's right the rooms filled to the brim with presents. And I say with annoyance in my voice "Just because you can afford it doesn't mean you should get it for me Christian." Christian ignores my answer by saying "Grace if you don't mind I brought you a present as well." Christian walks over to the chairs that face the window overlooking Seattle, and grabs a box with white and grey wrapping paper over it and a red bow tied onto it and hands it to me and says "Open it." I open the wrapping paper and see a white box with a card on top of it that reads. *Dear Grace, Happy Birthday, well done on making it to 17 years old I hope you like this present. Love From

Christian. J* I take off the lid and I don't believe it Christian has brought me a black iPhone

11, a white MacBook Pro and a box of chocolates. I look at Christian and say "I love it Christian. Thank you so much. And I know you can afford all this but I don't feel comfortable with taking presents from you even though you can afford it." I can't help but hug him with all my might through my overjoyed tears. When was the last time I was this happy? But then again every moment I spend with him I'm happy and he makes me feel amazing and like I can do anything I want to do. I then stop because my stomach hurts. I then decide that this is too much and I can't accept it so I start putting the things back in the box, but Christian's hand stops me from doing just that and he says, "Grace, can you just accept these presents from me you don't have to do it with the other ones but I want you to keep these." I then roll my eyes and say with reluctance "Alright fine." Christian smiles and shows me how to work the MacBook Pro and the iPhone. I don't believe it, the MacBook is amazing and so is the iPhone and their so easy to work and use.

I then hear a distressed woman outside my door, I realise it's my mum. And without call mum bursts into the room crying, and runs to me and practically leaps at me. I moan in pain and dad says "Whoa Leila calm down she's awake and fine, you're gonna crush her." Mum says as she wipes the tears from her eyes "I know Ben I'm just happy our daughter is fine and alive, and it's all thanks to this young man." The next thing my mum does is hugs Christian and says "Thank you so much for saving her, I don't know what Ben and I would do without her in our lives." Christian gasps and I say "Mum you're going to kill him." Mum lets go of Christian and says "Sorry. I got carried away that's all." Christian nods and says "It's alright you have a strong grip that's all. And same with me I don't know what I would do either if she wasn't alive." I roll my eyes as Christian laughs at my expression. I mean I'm not special at all and I shouldn't even be alive.