Unpleasantly Painful

Arissa sighed as she looked at her expression in the restroom makeup mirror. She smiled forcefully before watching her face again.

She had just come back from the restaurant. She is now at the hiding hospital Adele is transferred to and with what the doctor said, Adele would be in a coma for two months or more.

It is already unpleasantly painful, and with the marriage, and stuff added, she weakened as they all drain her down greatly. Even breathing became hard for her with each passing second and her eyes stung badly with unshed tears.

Her eyes passed on to look at her ring finger and the sadness watched over her inner self again. She never planned early marriage but each time she does, she always had this plan of a beach wedding with just a simple ring on her finger.

But here she is.

With no ring and not only that, she had no wedding but only lots of signatures on different sets of documents and blackmail at the front of the agreement.

Her eyes blurred and she fastly brought out her small face towel from her bag the moment she realized she was about to cry.

She washed her face softly before using the face towel to wipe her face. She was no crybaby and for the past years, she can perfectly count her tears which are not up to twice but now, those bastards are all playing with her emotions. She sniffed a little teardrop before dabbing it off. 

"You don't have to cry Arissa. This would be one hell of a battle ride and if you are to cry do it with a smile of victory when you trample against bloodsuckers," her inner walls spoke up, communicating with her as usual in her anxiety and distressed state.

Arissa smiled with a stiff jaw before nodding her head to her reflection as if it was the one that just spoke to her.

She turned to her bag but stopped midway because something caught her eye.

She had by mistake wiped her neck also and now, her hickeys are showing again. Not glaring red as in the morning but one can still see it with a closer look at it.

And immediately, a genuine smile came up to her lips and reached her eyes also, "You made sure I don't forget you easily, huh?" she asked with an unknown smile on her lips before facing the mirror again and tracing the lines of the hickeys.

"Arissa, what are you smiling at?" Jocelyn asked as she walked into the door and closer to Arissa.

"Lyn. You are back!" when she came back earlier, Jocelyn was out but she is back again when she hadn't even taken her clothes off, or was she too drowned in her life thoughts?

Jocelyn looked around at Arissa curiously before asking, "How did it go?" she inquired leaning against the shower wall.

The bathroom is really clean and an okay size so it's only natural to be able to chat here for a moment.

"I'm married," Arissa said carefreely with a wired smile on her beautiful lips, and immediately, her emotions crumbled as her once okay look changed, "I got married without seeing my groom. Isn't that wonderful?" she continued breathlessly when Jocelyn said nothing but just looked at her deeply, "Look," she stated raising her ring finger to Jocelyn view, "there is no ring either," she pointed out with sarcasm and low chuckle at the end of her speech.

"I would be with a fucking stran_" and she wasn't able to control her tears because Jocelyn already wrapped her in a warm embrace.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I can't help with this," Jocelyn apologized the moment she hugged Arissa. This is all so messed up and she is also confused about what to do.

She felt so horrible sitting in a corner and doing nothing while someone she said is her best friend is going through something as difficult as this.

Arissa exhaled into Jocelyn's body before parting away, "You don't have to be sorry. Thankfully, it isn't someone old and gross," she muttered keeping her tears in check so she don't flood them out.

Jocelyn looked up at Arissa's face, "Come on. I bought your favorite lemonade and chips with me," she announced shifting the topic of marriage away to lighten the mood better.

Arissa chuckled as her mood lifted with the mention of what Jocelyn said, "You are always thoughtful,"

"You have them every morning and you skipped them yesterday and today so I decided to remind you of life few sweetness," Jocelyn said with a shrug of her shoulder lightly passing the message of 'it's nothing '

Arissa said nothing more but just walked out of the bathroom before taking a seat directly opposite Adele as she watched her sister's body that was supported with tubes.

The ward is a high standard and single so it was almost like a room because there is even a bed visitors can sleep on with two of you around and you can say Arissa does not like it because, if not for the black box in a corner with a few cloths, this place can be said to be all white.

"Here," Jocelyn said passing a can of lemonade over to Arissa.

Arissa only gave it a side glance before rejecting it lowly, "I don't want it,"

Jocelyn smiled thinly before dropping the lemonade back on the lampstand beside the bed, "Your one-night stand is extraordinarily handsome," Jocelyn said with a teasing voice changing the atmosphere as she drooped herself on the couch.

"Huh?" Arissa turned fully to Jocelyn as she raised her brow hearing Jocelyn. She hasn't talked about him yet and, how did Jocelyn have a picture of him when she wasn't even chanced to snap a glimpse of him?

"And your hickeys are pretty. I guess you had a great night for the marks to still be there,"

Arissa blushed immediately and took her hand to her neck as she unknowingly rubbed on the hickeys,

"You are blushing," Jocelyn stated in disbelief as she brought her hand to her mouth and closed them; using her palm.

Arissa's hand jolted off her neck before she rolled her eyes, "I'm not blushing Lyn," she affirmed but at the same time, wondering why she still feels this way without his presence.

"Oh my! Arissa did he use some kind of charms on you?" Lyn asked seriously this time around because for Arissa to blush this way over a stranger, she can't take it positively.

"He didn't," Arissa answered with a drop of irritation added in her tone. She's not irritated by the question but by herself because of how her body is reacting to her memories of that stranger.

"Is he the one?" Jocelyn asked with curiosity as she showed Arissa a picture trending all over the platform

"How did you_?"

"Here, there are more shots taken," Jocelyn said swiping sideways and Arissa's face paled seeing them all.

One is from the angle when she took his glass and from how the photo was taken, one from outside would say it was very intimate when it wasn't.

She looked at the other two but there is no difference. Both looked as intimate as the first and there were already some comments under them.

"Let them say," she snorts out passing the phone back to Jocelyn. Initially, she was scared that her parents or worst still, the groom's parents would get a hold of the picture but after a thought, Adele is now out of her parent's watch, and her groom's parents, she is too lazy to care about them.

"Don't you want to know who he is?"

For the fact that butterflies erupted through her lower abdomen recalling the night, she knows that it would be a very bad idea to have a glimpse of his information because she is not sure she can stay away.

Adele might be out of her parent's sight but it doesn't mean that they would not use connections to get Adele back if she messes up.

"No," Arissa replied and stood up from the couch to the stool behind her sister's bed.