Zuri's POV:
My eyes stung from the relentless brightness above. What is with this brightness? I blinked rapidly, my lashes brushing against the air as the haze slowly cleared, revealing the white ceiling above me. But something was wrong—this wasn't the same creamy white of my home. No, this was different. Strange and foreign.
I turned my head to the right, and my eyes landed on a figure covered in bandages, his arm immobilized in a cast. He looked almost unreal—ghostly pale as if life itself had drained from him. To my left, another patient lay motionless, an IV drip hanging from his arm, the tube snaking down into his hand.
Hospital!? What am I doing here? The question echoed loudly in my head, but what shocked me the most wasn't the unfamiliar room or the sterile scent in the air. It was the sunlight. The harsh, blinding sunlight streaming through the window. It was daylight. I had last remembered it being night!
My chest tightened as panic swept through me. I reached for my purse on the bedside table, desperate to check my phone. Maybe Asher had tried to reach me. My trembling fingers fumbled with the clasp, and when I pulled out my phone, I wasted no time unlocking it. And my heart sank.
No messages. No calls. Not even a single missed call from Asher. I stared at the screen like a cruel joke played by fate. My breath caught in my throat as an icy chill crept into my bones. Tears stung at the corners of my eyes.
A bitter laugh escaped my lips, a hollow sound that bounced off the walls, turning other heads in my direction. I shook my head in disbelief. The ache in my chest was a constant, sharp reminder of what I already knew.
Of course, he didn't care. He was probably with her—Lyla. That beautiful, insufferable bitch. I could almost see them together, entangled in each other's arms, his laughter filling the bedroom. I could hear it—carefree, cruel, as if I no longer existed in his world.
Bitterness burned inside me, threatening to suffocate me. Every day was another revelation, another disappointment that chipped away at the fragile illusion of love—that he loved me.
And then the truth hit me hard. If something happened to me—if I vanished or was gone—he wouldn't even blink. He wouldn't care. He wouldn't search for me. Alive or dead, it wouldn't matter to him. And that thought, that cold, hollow realisation, burned through me.
Was it rage? Was it heartbreak? Or was it both? The fire inside me surged, more vigorous, hotter with every passing second. It consumed me, leaving nothing but the raw, gaping wound of betrayal.
My fingers tightened around my phone, nails digging into my palm, as the thoughts swirled relentlessly.
'Asher,' I called his name silently, 'If I didn't disrupt your little playtime with Lyla and the rest of your favourites, I would do the one thing you never expected—divorce. I will release you from this farce.'
Not that he has ever been imprisoned by this marriage, unlike me. I was stuck in this cage of shattered dreams, a prisoner of my own making.
A sigh broke through my thoughts just as a nurse in light blue trousers and a half-sleeved shirt approached.
"How are you feeling?" Her voice was soft and calming.
"I… I think I'm alright. But…"..." my words faltered, my voice shaky. Thoughts flickered through my mind like fireflies in the dark, restless and scattered, leaving every word jumble of confusion out of place, much like the disarray of my own life.
"H..how did I get here? I can't recall anything."
She began checking my vitals and her touch light, "A man brought you here," she explained, her eyes glancing down at her clipboard. "He said you lost consciousness after witnessing an accident."
'Accident!' The word struck me like a bolt of lightning. The fragments of the memory crashing through—screeching tyres, the sickening crunch of metal, and then… Kevin?
"Kevin?!" My chest tightened at the thought, 'Is he Alive? No. No, that's not possible. Probably I hallucinated him.'
Kevin had passed away long ago, and since my recovery from the accident, I have visited his grave numerous times. I often found myself asking his lifeless form, resting six feet under, why he had attempted to take my life before ending his own. But no answer came. He even didn't appear in my dreams to explain to me it was all a misunderstanding and that he was sorry. Eventually, I buried that question deep within me after marrying Asher.
But now...? Why do I feel the old wounds are finding a way to make their presence known, only to turn my life upside down?
"Nurse," I croaked, my voice coming out more urgent than I intended. "Where is that man...? The one who brought me here?"
She shook her head slightly. "He left after making sure you were being taken care of."
"Did he leave his name or contact information?" I wanted answers. Who was this man? I was tired of living with so many unanswered questions. I was done being patient.
Before pressing further, the nurse added, "Please rest for now. The doctor will be in soon. And your bill has already been taken care of."
"Paid?" My voice caught in my throat. "By that man?"
"No," she replied, her tone as neutral as ever. "By the doctor. It's all settled. He will be here soon."
I blinked in shock and the nurse offered a quick, polite smile before she walked out of the room, leaving me to stew in confusion.
Soon, a man appeared before me, glowing in the sunlight streaming through the window. His smile was dazzling, and his teeth gleamed like a toothpaste ad. My eyes struggled to adjust as I blinked rapidly, trying to focus on his face.
"Good morning," he greeted, his voice warm and confident. "I'm—"
"Kevin Dale," I interrupted him, completing his sentence. The words slipped out before knowing it.
His eyes widened in surprise, and then his smile grew wider. "You do remember me!"
"You are a doctor? Are you the one who paid my bills?" The disbelief in my voice was almost laughable, but I couldn't hide it.
"Yes, and yes," he replied, clearly amused. "You might wanna breathe before you go unconscious again." He chuckled at his own joke, but I wasn't laughing.
"And you are?" Kevin asked, his tone turning professional.
"Wait—were you at the bridge last night?" I shot back, ignoring his question.
He tilted his head, his brows furrowing slightly. "Unfortunately it was not me. May I know your name, please? I need it for the hospital's formalities."
"Zuri Voss," I answered, though my voice was quieter this time. Something about his demeanour left me feeling off-balance.
"Ms. Voss—"
"Just Zuri," I did not want to hear him calling me Voss. Why, I was not sure.
"Ms. Zuri. Someone else brought you here." His tone remained calm, almost jovial, as if he were discussing the weather rather than the unsettling circumstances that had led to my arrival.
I stared at him, my mind spinning, "Why would you pay my bill? You do not even know me."
Kevin's gaze didn't waver, his tone calm but pointed. "I stepped in because we didn't have your identity. And...., well, let's just say I recognised you from the restaurant. You ran away after seeing me. For days, I kept looking at my face in the mirror to see if it was scary... And besides, you left a restaurant after ordering a $600 meal... without paying, which I ended up paying."
He paid my bill? That's right, I bolted without settling my bill all because of his face. If he had not brought it up now, I probably wouldn't have recalled a thing. It's such an embarrassment.
"The nurse checked your purse for identification but only found a little cash and your locked phone. So, I wasn't sure if you could afford the bill—this is a private hospital. So, I decided to take care of it."
"A 'thank you' would suffice."
"Thank you, Kevin Dale! I mean Doctor!"
Was this a coincidence? Was it a cruel joke by the universe that I ended up in a hospital where my ex-Kevin's look alike was a doctor? The man I ran away from that day only to be met again? Or was he lying about not being at the bridge?
Is the Universe playing some twisted game, throwing Kevin—or a version of him—back into my life when I was least prepared to face him?