A Little Bit Married

Funeral Flowers

I slept off on the couch again, forgetting about the food that I had put out, leaving Gray to dress up on his own. I had a smile on my face even as I slept, my heart feeling extremely light.

It felt extremely different now hearing just how I was hurting myself by constantly reminding myself about things that had passed. I could have just pushed it behind me, put everything behind me, and let myself move on.

I woke up to the sound of talking, and I stirred, turning towards where the voices were coming from.

Gray was standing next to me, his hands in his pockets, a solemn expression on his face. He was on the phone while another man stood right next to him, carrying a large bouquet of funeral flowers.

I immediately sat up, turning towards the bed. Kris was eating slowly, and I let out a small breath. That was when it hit me. Aunt Althea was dead. I haven't even seen her dead body.

I hated how the allure of Gray and the sway of my heart pushed me to forget about all of the bad things that had happened, Aunt Althea's death included.

Gray sighed and pushed the phone back into his pocket.

"Leave," he said, looking up to the other man. His eyes were cold, his hair falling partially on his left eye.

The man only nodded and walked away, leaving Gray standing right there, his eyes closing for a brief moment.

He sighed and slowly turned to me. I sat up, my eyes wide, my chest heaving as I let my eyes dart across his face.

"What's wrong?"

"Samantha sent me funeral flowers."

I bit down on my lips. "For aunt Althea?"

"She is never that f*****g sensible!" He said, his voice rising a little bit, his chest heaving. His teeth gritted, and I saw him turn towards Kris, who, luckily, was too engrossed in the howl of food that he was eating that he hardly seemed aware of his environment. "She sent it for my son!"

I gave a small gasp, my hand covering my mouth. "How the f**k?"

"Exactly," he said meeting my eyes. "How the f**k?"

"Gray. I am so sorry. Just...calm down, okay? We will be fine. Kris will be fine."

He nodded, then turned to Kris, his eyes taking him in. For a long moment, silence fell between us before he let out a small sigh and turned to me.

"I don't want him to stay in the hospital anymore. Let's go home."

"But... he hasn't fully recovered, Gray."

"He will," he said, walking towards our clothes. He started to put them into a large bag, his chest heaving. "I will bring the hospital to him. He doesn't have to stay here."

I covered the distance to him, my hand resting on his shoulder. He stopped and slowly turned to me, his eyes taking me in.

"Did something else happen?"

He shook his head. "I am just so f*****g angry right now, Angeline. Let us just... go home. Okay?"

"Did she come with Sylvia?"

He froze, then turned to me, his chest heaving. "What?"

"Are you like this cause of Sylvia or Samantha?"

He straightened. "How hard is it to believe that I just don't want to stay here knowing they will just keep sending funeral flowers to my child?"

"How much longer will you run for? Till when will you... "

"There is nothing to fight," he said, closing the distance to me. "We don't even know who killed Althea. We don't know who dropped Kris in that house right before it burnt to the ground. We don't know what this person can do. Am I supposed to feign bravery and endanger a three year old I only just found? Am I supposed to be foolish and endager you, Evangeline?"

I swallowed hard, and without a word, I wrapped my hand around him, my fingers caressing the nape of his neck. His breaths were all over the place, and he hugged me back tight, his hands wrapping around my entire frame, his breaths fanning my skin.

"I can't lose you. I won't forgive myself if something happens to him under my watch. If the wise thing to do is to avoid it till I get to the very bottom of this, as long as it keeps you both safe, I am willing to play the coward."

I nodded, then slowly let him go. "I will pack up, okay? Process the discharge, okay?"

He nodded, then let go of the shirt he was holding. Kris was now looking at us, his eyes wide. I gave him a small smile as Gray covered the distance to him, then lightly kissed his forehead.

"I will be back."

I knew just how hard Gray was having it now. Knowing someone who used to be so close to him was killed so brutally, and then receiving funeral flowers for yet another person and not even knowing for sure who was behind everything... it had to be extremely hard.

I turned and continued to pack up, putting food away, clothes, ice cream, and all. I was almost done when a knock came on the door.

I thought it was Gray, although he doesn't usually knock, but when I turned, a nurse walked in. She was wearing the typical nurse outfit and had a mask on her face, covering the lower half of her face, her eyes averting mine.

"I am here to administer the medicine."

Her voice was different, almost forced or strained, and it was almost like she was having a cold or something.

She was usually a cheery woman, and I exchanged a few words with her yesterday, too. It was weird that she suddenly looked a lot less familiar.

I took her in as she slowly approached the drip connected to Kris's arm, then pulled out a syringe from her pocket. Wait. Don't they usually bring sealed packets and burst it open in here?

My brows furrowed, and I took her in. She looked a little shorter than the other nurse, and she was a lot slimmer. The outfit didn't quite fit well either, and it seemed... borrowed.

Her hand lightly trembled as she reached for the drip, then started to bring the syringe to it.

"Shouldn't that be put down here instead?"

She turned to me, then gave a nervous laugh. "This is a different sort of injection and..."

"Why would he suddenly need a different type of injection? And no matter what, I don't think any sort of injection or medication will be applied inside the drip bag itself, don't you think, nurse?"

She swallowed, then nodded and slowly started to move back. I had lowered my guard when she suddenly launched forward, pushed the injection into the drip bag, and emptied the contents. It all happened so fast, and before she could even finish, I forcefully grabbed the butterfly IV point in Kris' arm and yanked it off, drawing blood from his arm.

Seeing that she still didn't succeed, and with Kris now crying on the bed, she immediately bolted for the door, attempting to escape.

I cursed under my breath and ran after her, only to find Gray right outside, his arms holding her down, his brows furrowed with confusion.

He seemed to think there was something fishy, top, and that was probably why he was holding her in place, ignoring her struggles. I swallowed hard, my eyes holding his.

"You were right," I said, a little breathless. "That isn't a nurse."

He looked down at her, and she reached for inside her pocket. Before she could grab whatever it was, maybe another suspicious injection, Gray overpowered her, pinning her on the floor.

He had her hands behind her in a split second. "Go back in," he said to me, then forced her downstairs with him, as she struggled hard, saying some unintelligible things under her mask.

I squatted to the floor, my face burying in my hands, my chest heaving. What is this? Who could be doing this, and why were they targeting Kris? Was it just to hurt Hray and make him lose someone? Was it some sort of sick rivalry between the sisters, or was it... something else? Something more?

The thought sent shivers down my spine, and I immediately went back into the room, my mind still a little shaken by what had just happened.