WAKE UP AND LIVE.

      When Faith woke up, Ethan was seated by her bedside, holding her hand and his head was placed on the bed beside her. He was asleep and she didn't want to wake him from sleep. She wanted to look at him for a while. He had been watching her sleep all this while and had spoken to her in her unconsciousness and she had heard him. She squeezed his hand. He opened his eyes and they widened when he saw that she was awake. 

    He sat up, his face was all surprised.  "Oh, my God. You are awake," he said trying to contain his joy. 

     She smiled.  "What happened to me?" 

    Ethan held her hand with both hands and placed his head on them.  "Oh, God, you pulled through, you pulled through. You scared the hell out of me." 

       Faith who was still groggy and confused asked,  "I did?" 

     Ethan raised his head and looked at her, his eyes were filled with tears.  "The hell you did. Oh, God, you pulled through. Do you remember what happened?" 

      Faith appeared thoughtful.  "Not precisely...no."

      "You haemorrhaged and passed out. Do you remember that?"  Faith still looked confused.   "Alright, don't stress yourself, just go back to sleep, okay, rest." 

     Faith smiled. She had never seen anyone excited that she made it through anything like this before except Nora. 

      "What of Nora?" Faith asked. 

      "Nora is on her way coming. A lot of people were scared. The doctors said you didn't even have a fifty-fifty chance..." His words trailed off as he covered his face with his palm, trying to prevent the tears from falling. 

       "Hey, are you crying?" Faith asked. She might not know how grave it was, but seeing Ethan in that state awoken a new kind of feeling in her, a feeling that was not pity, a feeling of certainty. She reached up and wiped his face.  "Shh," she hushed him. 

      His phone began to ring and he took it out of his pocket. It was his mother, he answered immediately.  "Mom, she is awake," he said with suppressed joy, stood and walked towards the window. 

       "Really? She is?!" his mother exclaimed. 

      Faith managed to sit up looking at Ethan's broad strong structure by the window. 

       "God, I thought I would lose her," Ethan said. 

     It must have been serious, Faith thought. Ethan walked back towards the bed and handed her the phone. 

      "Mom wants to talk to you." 

    Faith took the phone from him and placed it in her ear.  "Hello, mom." 

      When Faith was done answering the call, Ethan was staring at her like she was just too marvellous to behold. It made her shy and she handed him back his phone. 

      "Are you hungry? Do you feel pain anywhere?"  he asked. 

      She smiled.   "I am sure you would be the first to know if I ever feel pain. I'm hungry." 

      Ethan went to the table.  "I got you some food earlier." 

      Faith was astonished.  "You never knew I would wake today. Did I show any sign?" 

      He dropped the little table on her thighs and put the dish on it.  He sat down and stared into her eyes.  "I didn't need to see a sign that you would wake up, I had to put my faith to use. I brought you food every day, hoping that one day you would make it." 

      Faith smiled and nodded her head.  She opened the flask and saw jambalaya, she sniffed in the aroma. 

     "I wanted you to eat your favourite first, so I always brought jambalaya." 

       "Wow, so what happened to them all? Don't tell me you threw them away." 

        "I didn't. Sometimes I end up eating it alone, sometimes I eat with Nora and sometimes with that your gay friend, Charlie." 

        "Oh, Charlie. He comes often?" 

       "Often than necessary. Dr Adriana came to visit you yesterday." 

       Faith looked sharply at him.  "Really? Wow, I must be more loved than I imagined." 

       "You are loved, Faith you just chose not to see it." 

    Faith put a spoonful in her mouth to avoid saying any other thing. Ethan watched her eat and she tried to pretend she wasn't seeing him but she was too shy to continue. 

      "You know if you keep staring at me like that, I might just disappear," she said. 

      "You are really awake." 

    Faith dropped her spoon.  "Ah, I suddenly feel too tired to even lift a spoon, can you help me put the food in my mouth?" 

     Ethan smiled a knowing smile and took the dish from her and started feeding her. He fed her some spoons and said.   "I'm sorry." 

       She looked at him.  "Sorry for what?" 

      "I am sorry for what I said to you the last night you remembered." 

    Faith chewed fast so that she would be able to answer him. She swallowed.  "I should be the one sorry for pushing you away and letting it get to me." 

       "Still, I shouldn't have called you selfish when I know what your situation was like." 

     Faith looked down.  "I am always scared of hurting you, but I never realized that I am hurting you in more ways than I can ever imagine. I..." 

      The door opened and Nora came in interrupting her. They both looked at her. Nora dropped the bag she was holding when she saw Faith awake. 

     "Oh, my God!" she screamed and ran toward Faith's bed, Ethan smiled.  Nora fell on Faith and hugged her.  "You are really awake!" 

       "Nora, you are going to scare other patients with your scream." 

       "Oh, my God! You even remembered me." 

     Faith frowned as Nora pulled away.  "Am I not supposed to remember you?" 

       Nora was too excited.  "No, not that. You know these kinds of things, people always  lose their memories." 

     Faith glanced at Ethan and looked back at Nora.  "Please, remind me again, was it an accident or a health issue?" 

      Ethan chuckled and looked at Nora.  Nora looked at them. 

     "What? Those kinds of things happen." 

      "She just haemorrhaged, she didn't hit her head or something." 

        "You never can tell. She might have hit her head when she was falling." 

         "I'm sure if she did, the doctors would have told us,"  Ethan replied. 

        "Whatever," Nora said and sat down beside Faith.  "Do you believe in God now? The doctors said that you were going to die but here you are still living." 

      "Nora, please not now," Faith whined. 

   Nora looked at Ethan.  "She still doesn't believe in God after everything." 

      Ethan was quite confused. He never knew whether Faith believed in God or not. Faith looked at him. 

       "I just don't feel that a god should let the things he created suffer and a god that is so stiff with his rules—sorry, but can we stop talking about this for now?"

       "Alright, I'm just happy that you are awake. I will call Charlie now and break the news to him, he would be so excited." 

       "Do you have to call him?" Ethan asked.  "I'm sure he is at work right now." 

        "No, he isn't. He is off work today." 

       Faith was discharged the next day and was asked to get enough rest. Throughout her resting period, Ethan was an angel. He did everything for her, even when she was strong enough to do things on her own. She spoke with his mother often and Nora, Danny, Charlie, Axel and Camelia always visited and they have dinner together which was always filled with laughter. 

       Danny and Nora announced their wedding date and preparations for the wedding started taking place. Faith and Ethan became closer and closer. Douglas kept stalking Faith and whenever Ethan saw him, he pretended he didn't see him. 

       "I'm glad you are strong now," Charlie said and slid into the chair next to her. 

       She had called Charlie to ask after Joshua since she can't see him. Nora had told her that he came to visit her when she was in the hospital. 

      "I am stronger now. I will resume work tomorrow and I will also resume therapy." 

       "That's good. Have you ordered anything yet?" Charlie asked. 

       "No, I don't want to drink. I am completely staying away from alcohol." 

      Charlie grinned.   "So, how are things going with you and Ethan. You know he hates me right?" 

        "Ethan hates you? How would you know that?" 

     Charlie shrugged.  "It's just a feeling though. I think he feels insecure around me." 

        "What? You are not into women." 

         "Ethan doesn't seem to believe that. He thinks I might have hidden feelings for you." 

       Faith guffawed and then stopped and looked at Charlie.  "You don't have feelings for me, do you?" 

      Charlie looked at her and scoffed.  "Don't be ridiculous. I can never be into you." 

        "That hurts." 

          "I meant it this way. Even if I were to be bisexual or whatever, I am dating your brother, so that takes you out of everything, but I am strictly into men. I don't find women attractive, not that way though." 

         "I think I will accept that apology," Faith said with a smile. 

        "Other than having that sick mindset, he is a pretty cool guy.  He is the kind of guy I would want for my sister."

      Faith said nothing to that. There was silence for a while.  "What of Joshua?" she finally asked.