"Do you even know who he was, Venelope?!" Jay snapped, her voice sharp and shaking. "How could you bring someone like him in front of me, without even knowing?!"
Venelope stood still, her eyes locked on Jay, silently absorbing the storm of her fury. She didn't speak right away. But after a heavy moment, she finally exhaled.
"Jay… I don't know what happened between the two of you. And honestly, I don't want to get involved in your personal business. But what I did… I did for you."
Jay's breathing slowed a little, though the fury still lingered in her eyes.
"You didn't see what that man was doing for you at the hospital," Venelope continued, gently but firmly. "He practically took the place on his shoulders. Argued with the staff. Fought with your father. He was fighting for you, Jay."
Jay's eyes narrowed. "He fought with my dad?"
"Yes," Venelope nodded. "With your father."
"So don't say I brought a stranger to you out of nowhere," she added. "I watched how he acted, how he cared… and I decided. You two needed to sit down and talk. Jay, you have no idea how protective he is about you. It's... intense."
She moved her stool closer to her bed, her voice dropping just slightly. "He told your family, told them, that they couldn't even take care of their own daughter. He said he'd take you with him. That he couldn't wait any longer. That he'd marry you right now if that's what it took to protect you."
Jay froze. Her hands tightened around the blanket. "Marry me?" she whispered.
Venelope nodded solemnly. "Yes. His exact words were, Where is my wife?"
Jay blinked, stunned. Her eyes searched Venelope's face for some hint that this was a joke. "He… he called me his wife?!"
"Yeah," Venelope said with a half-smile. "And your dad snapped at him, told him, She's my daughter! And you know what he said back?"
Jay didn't speak, she couldn't.
Venelope continued, "He said, And you were about to kill her! Jay… believe me when I say this, he's not a bad guy. I don't know how well you two know each other, or what your relationship was, but from what I've seen? It deserves a real chance. You need to talk. Just… talk to each other. And then whatever you both decide, I'll support it."
Jay sat there, her mind spinning, the weight of everything crashing in. Her hands trembled faintly. Words didn't come easy. But then, softly, she whispered, "Venelope… he called me his wife?"
Her voice was laced with awe, fear, and something even she couldn't name. Her eyes were wide and unsure, like a child trying to solve a puzzle with missing pieces.
Venelope couldn't help but smile. "Of course, he did."
"No, I mean…" Jay hesitated. "Why would he say that?" Her voice lowered to almost a whisper. She was afraid, afraid of hearing the very thing she had been denying to herself all along.
"Jay," Venelope said with a small, almost incredulous laugh, "Don't tell me you don't know by now…"
Jay stared, breath held.
"He's your fiancé."
"No…" Jay's voice cracked as she shook her head. "No. He can't be!"
Venelope's expression softened. "Yes, Jay. He is. The same guy you're supposed to marry next week."
Jay's eyes widened, her jaw trembling. She looked completely shattered, confused, betrayed, and overwhelmed all at once.
Everything in her world had tilted, and nothing felt real anymore. She couldn't speak. She couldn't even blink. The room around her blurred into a dull, foggy silence. Her thoughts screeched like tires skidding off a cliff.
He… him? HIM?!
The one who shadowed her steps, watched her from across rooms, who always appeared when she least expected, when she most needed. The one she'd convinced herself was a stranger… a threat… a stalker.
The same one she once imagined running away with.
And now… he was the same man she was engaged to?
The revelation didn't land like a bomb. It landed like a void, sucking everything else into it.
"I, " she opened her mouth, but the words came out crushed, weak. "No. No… it can't be him."
Venelope had gone quiet again, watching her from the chair beside the hospital bed. She looked ready to argue again, but this time, she stayed silent, sensing the fragility of Jay's composure.
Jay looked down at her hands, then up at the wall. Then at nothing.
She was seeing the flashes again. Of him, standing in the shadows. Of his voice whispering her name. Of the warmth of a hand holding hers in a moment of fear. She was even imagining the way he might had spoken to her father. The way he had watched her.
All this time… she thought she was living in a fractured fairy tale. Where a stranger would save her from the life being forced upon her. She had even imagined him taking her away from the circle of misery and running away from the marriage…
But now?
Now it turned out he was the marriage.
Jay laughed.
A broken, helpless laugh that echoed hollowly off the walls.
Venelope shifted in her seat. "Jay…"
"I pinned my escape on him," Jay said, still laughing, though her eyes were glassy with tears now. "You realize that, right? I imagined him saving me. From my family. From a forced marriage. And now... he is the groom."
"Jay, "
"And I thought he was following me because he was obsessed or, creepy or I don't know!" she cried. "I was terrified. I hated him. Then I, God, I hoped he'd help me."
She turned sharply to Venelope, voice cracking. "What the hell am I supposed to do with all those feelings now?! They're all wrapped around him. Every last one. Fear. Hope. Hate. And now this, this grotesque, messed-up, twisted destiny!"
Venelope opened her mouth, but Jay raised her hand.
"No. Don't. I don't want another pep talk or a just give him a chance lecture. You don't understand." She gritted her teeth, pushing the tears back. "You don't know what it's like to be afraid of someone… and still secretly wish they'd rescue you. And then find out that all of it was orchestrated by fate. Or family. Or God knows what else."
There was silence.
Jay leaned back against the pillows, exhausted and suffocating.
Venelope finally said softly, "You don't have to figure it all out right now. You just have to take the next step."
Jay didn't look at her.
She stared at the ceiling, lips parted slightly like a question had been left on her tongue for far too long.
And finally, she whispered it.
"I want to meet him."
Venelope looked up.
Jay turned her face toward her. "I want to talk to him," she said again, stronger now. "Not as his fiancée. Not as someone he rescued. But as myself."
"Are you sure?" Venelope asked.
"No," Jay admitted. "But I need answers. I need to know who he really is, not just what everyone says he is. Not what my family decided. Not what you saw. Me. I need to see it for myself."
Venelope stood up, her lips twitching into the ghost of a smile. "Alright then. I'll go find him."
Jay said nothing more. She just lay there, still, as if trying to gather the courage from the air itself. Every breath was heavier than the last.