ZACK’S POV
Hours later, the surgery was finally over and we hastily waited for the doctor to come out and inform us about her state. But what we didn’t expect from her was the way she behaved after she came out of the OT. She had a bland expression on her face and was dead silent not even taking the initiative to tell us what was happening and her eerie silence worried everyone. Suddenly, her bland expression turned into a wide smile and it hit like a huge wave of relief in all our hearts!!!!
“Zoe is perfectly fine and her legs are in perfect condition. The clot had been removed successfully. With better rest and exercises the resurrection of the clot can be avoided” She proudly told Zoe’s mom.
“She has survived the disease and now she doesn’t have to worry about anything. She is a fighter and she has won against all odds” she again praised Zoe and we all broke into cries of happiness!!!!
This was one of the biggest happiness of our lives and we couldn’t contain our happiness and so we celebrated this news in the whole hospital. And as for me, I had literally gone crazy in my exhilaration. our Zoe was now backing to her life after her long struggle and we wouldn’t wish for anything better than that. What we were eagerly waiting for was to meet and so we asked the doctor whether we could meet her but was humbly refused as it was not good to visit a patient with a surgery done so early as it could lead to infections. This news did make us feel bad as we had to wait for two days to meet her but we weren’t sad at all as we had our girl back against all odds!!!!
Some days later, Zoe was shifted to her room. Finally, she was ready to meet her family and me. However, something very astonishing happened. Zoe’s dad came to me and asked me to meet her first as he deemed me to be the one who had brought her back. Though I was appalled by his shocking gesture, I felt like winning the biggest trophy of my life. Why would I waste such a blissful opportunity of getting to meet her first after what all that happened???
I ran my way towards Zoe’s room to meet her after her dad allowed me to and the moment I held the door, my body froze. Last time I saw her, she was in a very terrible state, surrounded by oxygen mask, ventilators and all. And now, now I had no idea what condition she was in. Though I knew she was alright, my body froze and my body trembled crazily.
Everything that we had went through in the past weeks' time flashed up in front of my eyes and after taking a deep breath, I flung opened the door and went inside the room. There she was, lying freely in her bed without any machines attached to her. Oh god...She was looking beautiful than before. I gulped down my nervousness and went to sit beside her. She was in deep sleep and not waiting to wake her up, I softly took her hand on mine, trying my maximum not to wake her up. But the opposite happened. Zoe opened her eyes gloomily and looked at me blankly. She didn’t know anything about what had happened to her and why she was there. So, it took her a moment to get back to her senses...
“What had happened?” She asked me.
“You were in deep sleep like a sleeping beauty and it has taken away all of your sufferings” I smiled widely at her and answered. Yes, she was utterly confused of what I said and gave me that disgusted look!!!!
“What day is it today?” she again asked me in a serious tone.
Inside my heart, I really wanted to burst out at her telling what all had happened so suddenly in our lives. It was so overwhelming for me but I had my limitations. She wasn’t in a state to take a shock and so, I handled it peacefully. And so, I told her it had been days since she had been sleeping. Hearing that, she felt really weak and also sensed something. She looked around her and felt an ache in her leg and that is when she noticed that her leg was dressed up and hung on a sling. That was a shocked for her and made her feel totally lost. Most importantly, it was in a bad sense and her heart raced in great worry!!!!
“What has happened to my leg?” she asked me with fear in her eyes.
Feeling bad on her confused state I couldn't handle it anymore and finally revealed to her about the night, how she had saved me, how she ended up in hospital, how I came to know about her story, how I won the tournament for her and how we had her PE surgery done. Once I concluded, Zoe was filled with tears and so was me. Time for some confrontations my love!!!!
“Why did you take up the sufferings??” she asked me in a guilty tone.
“Why didn’t you tell me the truth? Why didn’t you tell me about your love? Didn’t you trust me? Or am I not a worthy friend??” I shot my questions at her ruthlessly and tears ran down her eyes. Shit, now I felt really bad!!!!
“How could I I??When you had told me your story, I saw myself in you. I saw you suffering alone and wanted to help you. I know how it feels for an athlete to lose sports and I didn’t want you to suffer like me. That’s why I always stood by you and supported you. But then Caroline came and ruined everything. Still amidst all that, I wanted to give you everything that I could so that you had to suffer less than me and not commit the mistake that I had done. Not everyone could get a chance to come back from that mistake. I wanted you back to your life. That’s why I held you at every step” Zoe whole heartedly confessed to me after she knew that I knew everything and there was nothing to hide anymore!!!!
“When you let me share everything little bit of my feelings and pain with you why didn’t you trust me and share yours with me? We could have held each other” I was also guilty and asked her by holding her hands.
“When someone is in pain, the most important thing that person needs are love and support. When you shared yourself with me, I felt the same relief that you felt. You shared your pain with me so that you could handle yourself in those days. And at that time, I felt that it was not good to burden my feelings and pain to such a person. I had learned to live with it but you were just learning it. So, it was not fair for you to bear mine too. That’s why I never told you, my share” she confessed to me and her eyes reddened in guilt. Dear lord, why was this girl the perfect combination of a mature, strong and heavily innocent girl??
Her words made me grow more and more guilty of myself. If it wasn’t for Caroline’s entry in my life, everything would have been going perfectly fine. I had never seen such a selfless and humble human like Zoe. And above all, her these qualities were what made me fall head over heels for her in just a matter of time after my heart realized whom it genuinely raced for!!!
“What about your love? Why didn’t you propose to me in a romantic way??” I asked her in a teasing tone so as to smooth down the guilty vibe around us.
“Who told you such a blunder?” Zoe asked me in shock. However, her cheeks blushed in tomato red and she really struggled hard to hide her shyness.
“Oh really, you don’t love me right. That’s why you risked your life to save mine. Mike has told me everything.” He mocked her knowing she was felling really shy to express it suddenly in such a situation.
“Seriously...... tell me, why didn’t you tell me??” I became serious to know my answer and she smiled at me. This was very creepy of her to do!!!!
“At that time when you were in pain, what you wanted the most was support and love of a friend. I knew you had Dash and Will but at that time they were not with you. So, I turned myself into them, loved and supported you. That’s why I never talked about my love for you. And moreover, I had no intention in spoiling your peace by facing Caroline. Please don’t forget among all these that you were there for me when I needed you the most” she told me in a delighted tone and left me bedazzled!!!!
I didn’t understand when I did that nor why she said that. I looked back at Zoe in the same blank expression and she chuckled so damn cutely.
“You gave me Lee when you knew I loved him so much like you. From him, I got the love I imagine I would get from you. And moreover, you only said that it was you who arranged the money for my surgery. You had struggled to get over your fears and were back on tracks only for me. I am really happy that you have finally got back your life and that you did it for me” she explained her words and it amazed me. Did she really think all these even in this state??
With that confession, I broke down at those words. I had never seen anyone loving anyone the way Zoe loved everyone. She was a one-piece creation of God. Such people were rare to be found in the world and yes, I can brag to the world that I was one of the luckiest to have her in my life. And for that, all I could do was to promise her that now that she was alright, we would together start a new beginning.
However, the devil was someone who always entered people’s life in the worst time possible and so arrived the devil of my life. A knock on the door stopped me from making my promise. Who was that devil?????