CHAPTER 35: WHY DID YOU HIDE IT FROM ME. (⁠✯⁠ᴗ⁠✯⁠)

(3 a.m)

"Hmm," Leo murmured in his sleep, a deep sense of comfort. He reached out an arm, expecting to find Sarah, to pull her closer. But his hand met nothing but the empty space of the hotel sheets...

He opened his eyes slowly, blinking in the darkness. The room was quiet. Very quiet. He sat up straight, the sheet pooling around his waist. She was gone...

Then he heard it. A faint, shuffling noise came from the bathroom. He looked over and noticed the bright line of light under the door. It was on. A wave of relief washed over him for a second, but it was quickly replaced by a sense of unease.

Leo stood up and started walking over, his steps slow and steady, not wanting to startle her...

"Babe?" he called softly, knocking once on the wooden door.

"Don’t come in," she shouted from the other side.

Leo froze. Her voice wasn’t normal. It wasn’t sleepy or annoyed. It was shaky, thin, and strained. He stepped closer to the door again, his hand hovering over the metal of the doorknob. "Are you okay?"

There was a pause, a stretch of silence that added to Leo’s uneasy feeling.

"I’m fine," she said, but her voice cracked on the second word. "Babe, go back to bed. I’ll join you in a minute."

"You don’t sound fine." Leo’s hand closed around the doorknob. He turned it, but it was locked. His stomach twisted. "Sarah... open the door now."

No reply. He could hear her breathing now, quick and shallow.

He waited, his own heart starting to race, his eyes fixed on the door. He imagined a hundred different things. Was she sick from something she ate? Was she having a panic attack after the fight in the lobby?

"Babe, please, don’t. I’m begging you, don’t come in," she responded, her voice tight with a kind of desperation he’d never heard from her before...

Leo’s hand froze on the doorknob. It wasn’t a request... it was a plea. It was the sound of someone in pain. He stepped back from the door, his hand falling to his side. "Alright," he said quietly, his own voice unsteady. "I won’t."

A long pause followed. Then he heard it clearly...a soft, choked sound. She was crying. Not just crying, but trying to hide the sound of it.

"I just... I just need a second," she added, her voice barely holding together.

He couldn’t just walk away. He couldn’t go back to bed knowing she was in there, hurting. Leo lowered himself to the floor, the carpet rough against his legs, and sat with his back against the wall just outside the door. "I’m here," he said, his voice just loud enough for her to hear. "I won’t leave."

Silence again. Minutes passed, each one stretching into an eternity. All he could hear was the noise of the hotel’s Air conditioner and the sound of his own heart pounding...

Then, the lock clicked.

Leo stood up slowly, his muscles stiff. The door creaked open just a little, a bright white light spilling into their hotel room. Sarah peeked through the gap. Her eyes were red and swollen. Her face was pale, making her look like a ghost...

"I’m sorry," she whispered, her voice was lower this time.

"What’s going on?" Leo asked, his voice gentle. "Talk to me."

She stepped back, opening the door wider, and the sight that met him made the air leave his lungs. He looked down. There was blood on her hand. A small, white towel was stained light red. The bathroom mirror was fogged from a hot shower, but he could still see her reflection, see the way her whole body was shaking...

"I didn’t want you to see me like this," she said, her voice trembling. "I thought I was fine for today. I didn’t think... it would come back this fast." She bit her bottom lip, her nervous habit he’d always found endearing, but now it just looked desperate...

His eyes widened as he rushed into the bathroom. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Sarah dropped to the cold tile floor, her legs giving out from under her. She curled into a football, trembling, tears falling freely down her cheeks...

"Sarah, talk to me!" Leo dropped to his knees beside her, panic rising in his chest, but he held it in. "What happened?"

He quickly scanned her arms, her legs...anywhere for signs of injury. He thought of the fight, of the men. Had one of them hurt her in a way he hadn’t seen? But there were no cuts. No marks. Nothing on her wrists. Nothing on her thighs...

Then he saw it. On the counter, next to the sink. A small packet of pills from that same black bag he’d seen back at his apartment...

And the next thing she observed was a thin line of blood at the corner of her mouth...

His heart slowed down. It felt like it had turned off.

"Did you take something?" he asked, his voice filled with fear. "Sarah, answer me...did you swallow anything?"

She shook her head weakly, her hair falling across her face. "N-No... I didn’t... I swear..."

"Then what happened? Why is there blood?" His voice cracked as he gently cupped her face, turning it towards him. Her skin was hot...too damn hot. She was burning up.

"Come on," he said, standing quickly, his decision made. "We’re going to the hospital."

But she grabbed his wrist, her grip surprisingly strong. "No...please, babe... just stay with me," she whispered, her eyes widening. "I’m scared..."

Leo knelt beside her, frozen. He didn’t know what to do. His mind was a chaotic mess of fear and confusion. She tried to stand up, gripping the edge of the sink for support...but her legs gave out almost immediately...

Leo rushed forward and caught her just before she hit the floor. "It’s okay, I got you," he muttered, his voice low as he stood there.

Carefully, he lifted her into his arms. She felt terrifyingly light. He carried her back into the bedroom, her head resting weakly against his shoulder, her breathing was shallow and mild...

He set her gently down on the bed, propping her up against the pillows so she was sitting up. Her hands trembled in her lap as she tried to steady herself...

Leo crouched in front of her again, his hands on her knees, forcing her to look at him. "Sarah... tell me what’s going on. I need to know."

She didn’t respond at first. Her eyes were distant, like she was looking at something far away, trying to keep a terrible secret locked inside...

"Please," Leo said, his voice shaking. "If something’s wrong, I need to know. I can’t help if you keep hiding it from me."

She looked at him slowly, her lips parted like she wanted to speak, but she hesitated.

Finally, she seemed to make a decision. "Leo... I love you, I really do," she said, her voice thick with tears as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer into an emotional hug...

His own voice felt trembled. "Don’t worry, everything is going to be okay..."

But it didn’t feel that way. It felt like the world was ending. Leo held her close, but his mind kept racing wildly.

Something was terribly wrong, and he had a sickening feeling that it wasn’t something that had an easy fix...

"I didn’t want you to find out like this," Sarah whispered again, her voice barely audible against his ear...

Leo felt his throat tighten. "Find out what? Sarah, explain it to me."

She pulled back but wouldn’t meet his eyes, staring at the floor instead. Her hands clutched the bedsheets like they were the only thing keeping her from floating away.

"I’ve been sick, babe," she exclaimed, the words heavy and full of pain. "For a while now."

His heart dropped. "Babe, what do you mean, sick?" he asked, his voice barely above the room’s air condition

Finally, looking up, she explained. "The doctors think it’s my heart. Some kind of disease. I don’t know the full details yet... just that it’s serious. They said if I ignore it, it could kill me."

Leo froze in the moment.

"I didn’t tell anyone," she continued, forcing the words out one by one. "Except for my parents... I made them promise not to say anything to you. I just... I didn’t want you to start treating me differently."

Leo stared at her, his jaws clenched up. His eyes were watery, but no tears fell. He couldn’t afford to cry...not now. Not in front of her. He was a man, and right now, that meant being her anchor, not adding to her fears with his own...

If she saw him break, it would only make things worse. So he swallowed the pain in his throat and forced his voice steady...

"I wouldn’t, okay," he uttered quietly. "I’m yours. And you’re mine... that’s the promise we made to each other, remember? You don’t shut me out when you’re in pain, Sarah. That’s not how we do this."