CHILLS

Elena's POV:

It was a chilly night, and the heavy rain falling made me drained, both physically and emotionally. It'd been hours since I had escaped, and now I strode along the street, lost in thoughts, devastated, and lonely. I had no idea where I was heading because I had nowhere to go or run to. I yearned to lie on a soft bed and a soft pillow and knowing I had nothing made me driven to depression.

Lost in my devastating thoughts, I kept shuffling along the street, hands in my pocket. The street itself was only, I imagined life to be unfair, to have taken everything away from me. I jumped at the blaring of a horn and glanced upwards to see the car zooming in my direction.

Oh no. I thought. They found me, they're coming for me. My eyes widened as I remained paralyzed in the spot when the car zoomed past. I sighed in relief before proceeding. For more than three minutes I continued walking till I sensed another car approaching from behind. Fear swelled between her once more, I pulled my hoodie to cover my face, hoping they wouldn't recognize me.

The car zoomed to my side and slowed down a bit.

Oh God, I'm dead.

'Hey.' A masculine voice called.

Just leave me alone, please.

'Where are you going in the middle of the night?'

No reply, instead she walked a bit faster this time. People couldn't be trusted, this might be a trap, and they might want to capture her too, to use her.

She heard a door open, and then close, but that didn't hinder her.

'Do you need a place to sleep?'

With that question, the girl stops in her tracks and then whirls.

'We can help if you need one.' I turned and there...I saw Derek. My eyes widened, and the tears dropped.

Derek and I on the other hand were in the pet shop searching for a cute pet when Lamas barged in with a gun, his face was unmasked, but his gun was upward, and visible for everyone to see. They all were rushing out of the store when Derek and I noticed this. My eyes widened on their own accord. Lucas brought his phone out to call the police, he'd said a few words when Lamas pointed the gun towards him. He cut the call and tucked his phone into his pocket before bringing me behind him.

Lamas notices. 'You know this wasn't our agreement Derek.'

'You don't have to do this, we can settle all of this.'

He laughs. 'Settle? I'm not settling anything. You took everything away from me and now you have Amelia. I gave you everything, I cared for you, loved you, and then you ran to him. Was it because of your uncle? But I'm not gonna let you have her Derek, if I go down, you're going down with me.' He pulls the trigger, but the bullet doesn't hit Derek. How? I pulled him behind her and took the bullet instead. I fell, unconscious causing Derek to fear I was dead. He bent down and pulled her to himself.

'Elena.'

'Well, I thought I was going to kill her after you, guess now you have to die second.' Derek doesn't hesitate this time and shoots him down. Lamas was dead, unmoving and unconscious on the ground. Why did I have so much relief just because he was dead?

In no time, siren sounds were audible, the ambulance had arrived, and I was given an oxygen mask before they carried me into the vehicle. Derek entered as well, holding Amelia's warm hand tightly. He'd never felt so frightened before, he feared he was gonna lose her, the part I was shot was critical.

In the hospital, I was moved into a ward where I can be operated on. So many things were happening while I was unconscious. But I could hear everything. I was worried about my child. I hoped it was safe. I'd rather die for my child too.

I heard some people hurrying into the room.

"Derek."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not. I've never seen you this way before. Everything is going to be fine." Jessie assured him.

Hours later, they were informed one of my neck arteries was damaged, and I'd lost a lot of blood due to the torture. I was in shock. I didn't even care, what about my child? There was a 50% chance I was going to live, and if she does she may undergo memory loss or thinking problems. That didn't make matters better for all of them, their hopes were waning, including Derek. I thought about everything they'd been through together, the memories we both created, were they all going to end this way? I'd never loved any lady this much before, I wanted to create more memories with him.

The next morning, I heard nurses and doctors rush in, ordering things and holding tools. They had a patient to save, and they were going to the ward where I was.

'You have to save her, please!' I heard Lucas yell.

'Sir we're going to need you to step outside.' The nurse said respectfully and he reluctantly obliged, still struggling to get a glance of what they were doing. He was distracting the operation that was about to commence and had to leave the ward.

When he was out, he kept pacing the corridor, his grandma tried her best to calm him down even though she was unsettled.

Three weeks after the operation

It was declared that I went into a coma, and if I ever recovered, I wouldn't remember anything. Other than that nobody could guarantee that I would live through the coma.

My unconscious face appeared a bit pale, as well as my lips. I slept so soundly that Derek couldn't help but kiss her on my forehead and my hand like he always did when I was well. He held my hand to his lip as tears rolled down his eyes, his gaze was on my sleeping face the whole time. My heartbeat was faint, and he sobbed the more. What if I didn't live, he would never see me again, they would never be able to have more memories. He would never be able to live through the pain, he probably would be miserable throughout his life.

'I hope you can hear me as I say this. Me not being with you seems like an eternity. With all the memories we've created together, all the times you sobbed on my shoulders because of the pain you felt, those times you clung to me so tightly because you were happy. Are you gonna make all those days end like this? You know, I've never felt this way before towards any woman, nobody made me feel the same way you made me feel....and I couldn't understand the meaning of it at first. You remember the day you got me scared when you fell down the stairs and you got really bruised, or the day you pecked me on the lips and ran away.' He chuckled at the thought, wiping his tears with his index finger. 'Or the day you told me you love me, even though I didn't say it back. I didn't say it because I didn't have the guts to. I was stunned because it didn't end up being a one-sided love.' He tightened his hold on my hand passionately. 'I don't care if you lose your memory and remember nothing, we can always create new ones. But I wouldn't be able to stand the sight of you being dead. Because I love you with all my heart Elena.'

A few minutes later, Derek fell asleep, but little did he know that his statement caused the heartbeat monitor to beep faster.

The next morning, Lucas was still asleep and he didn't see my index finger move, my eyes shook and slowly opened. I turned to him, sleeping soundly, and looked upwards, turned to him again and looked upwards, but this time, I smiled, my eyes closed before the words escaped.

'I love you too Derek.' I whispered, not loud enough to wake her up before I drifted to sleep as well.