'She walks away

Colors fade to grey

Every precious moment's now a waste.'

*ALTHEA'S POV*

October 12, 2023.

Finally, I had stayed.

Then, why did my legs buzz with as much heaviness as if I'd run thousands of miles, and my breath was shorter than someone ending a marathon when I stepped out of the elevator?

I knew why: because I might not have fled, but I'd been the same coward, spending all day drawing and playing with the kids to avoid the thoughts that were now catching up with me. And maybe also the lack of sleep.

Though if I could blame the latter for the reflection I glimpsed through the glass door of the entrance, behind my strained eyes, my mind was too alert to retreat, and I surely wouldn't get any sleep when—if I reached my hotel room.

The idea of sitting alone with my thoughts paralyzed me so much that I would probably stay frozen by the front door of the clinic.

Or I would run away and never come back.

Through the glass, between the illuminated pathway leading to the parking lot and the dark sky, I didn't see any other possibility.

With Asher, there was no in-between, and coming back for the kids while pretending he wasn't here wasn't conceivable.

Even from the other end of the large building, I could sense his presence pulling on all my nerve endings and tugging the knots of my stomach tighter.

Besides, the doctor Rollings would be waiting for my answer, and if I stayed, I would have no excuse to say no.

Did I have any excuse to say no, anyway?

It was a chance for him to get better... to move... to open a yogurt tub... to smile... to walk? I didn't know exactly, and I would never know if I didn't try.

He'd never hesitated to help me, whether it was skipping his lunch every Friday to be at the art club, taking a rocky detour to make sure I could breathe, even if he was heavy-laden, or faking his death to let me realize my dream.

Although this was the cruelest and most stupid act he'd ever done, he'd done it for me. I couldn't forget it, like I couldn't forget all the grief he'd caused for me.

Would helping him mean forgiving him? Because I wasn't sure if I—

"I can!"

Interrupting the whisper of doubts in my mind, a little yelp made me jump out of my stare at the glass door, and I almost believed I'd dreamed it when a man's voice echoed from somewhere down the hallway.

"Did you forget the last time you tried to take the elevator alone and got stuck, Muni?"

"S'different! Now, I know," Munisa replied, or at least, I guessed it was her because she sounded more confident than the shy angel I'd met yesterday. "And I don't wanna miss story time..."

It was Munisa indeed. I remembered very well the young girl hiding behind her huge book as I'd approached her carefully. In fact, I found myself walking with the same cautiousness towards the sound of their voices to try to hear what was upsetting the little angel so much.

"We've already explained to you with Mamma that tomorrow you have your surgery, and it's important we finish all the papers with the doctor." The same man sighed, probably struggling to keep his resolve. "I'll read to you later if you're nice, I promise."

I could easily imagine the puppy eyes he had in front of him before I even arrived by the door of a therapy room, and just the glimpse of her bouncing ponytail on the other side of the room pulled at my heartstrings, as much as her next words.

"No, it's Mr. R'bot who reads!"

"Aw, honey, we'll try to be quick, so then, your dad can take you there, and I'm sure Mr. Robot won't mind reading again for you."

I recognized the patient tone of the doctor Rollings, and soon, also her long nose and brown bun across the desk separating her from Munisa and her dad. However, none of them had noticed me standing here like a stalker.

I hadn't realized it myself until I stepped into the room.

"Or I can do it?"

With the three pairs of wide eyes snapping towards me, I did take in how creepy I must have looked and sounded, though I still glanced over my shoulder, doubting these words had come out of my dry lips. As if there could have been someone else on this floor, past the opening hours.

It explained the suspicious look I got from Munisa's dad, while Doctor Rollings appeared mostly curious, and Munisa was as lost as I was.

"Um, I was leaving when I heard you talking. I'm sorry it's really indiscreet. But I can..." I rolled my lips together, trying to weigh the extent of what I was about to say. "I can walk Munisa there, so she doesn't miss the story time."

"Oh, it's a great idea!" Doctor Rollings instantly grasped the meaning of my words—surely more than I did—her gaze lighting with a knowing glint as it traveled from me to Munisa and finally to her dad. "Althea here is the new volunteer, and she knows Mr. Rohan very well. I fully trust her."

"Okay, then... if Munisa is fine with it?" The man turned to the little girl, and my fate and my breath rested in her small wringing hands as he asked her if she wanted to go with me.

Did I want her to say yes or no?

I didn't get to think about it as she nodded, and my chest deflated, before filling with an even shakier breath when she rolled her wheelchair towards me.

"Let' go!"

Running away wasn't a possibility anymore in front of her sparkling brown eyes, nor staying frozen on the spot with her commanding tone urging me to push her wheelchair.

"Gotta hurry!"

I couldn't even dawdle through the hallways, as she gave me the detailed directions to Mr. R'bot's room. To Asher's room.

This fact settled a little bit more into my chest, disturbing a little bit more the erratic pace of my heart, with each step I took along the way I'd run through last night.

My mind wasn't much clearer, but at least, I wasn't alone, and my shaky hands tightened around the handles of Munisa's wheelchair like I held on to the thrilled inflections in her many thank yous.

I was here to be helpful and spread some hope, and the flutters of lightness compensated the heaviness of my legs with each of her giggles.

And there were a lot. I hadn't imagined the tiny girl could be so loquacious, although it was nothing in comparison to when she started describing Mr. R'bot's storytelling talents, and I wasn't sure if it was cute or scary to watch her excited gestures as she praised how 'great and funny' he was.

I guessed one thing hadn't changed: his charms... From 3 to 103, no girl could resist.

"You'll y'ove him." She tilted her head back, blinking up at me with a grin, so clueless yet so sure...

What could I even reply to this?

There was no word needed as we arrived at the end of the dorm hallway, and like Munisa's attention, my heart leaped to the half-open door, from where an AI voice was echoing.

It wasn't the one already imprinted in my memories; this tone was higher, surely to fit a feminine character, as Munisa had expounded how he changed his robot voice when he read.

But mostly, what was unusual was the silence around, not even a breath resonating through the hallway. If we were on time though, there should have been about ten kids in the room, and after spending two days with them, I knew they were never quiet for more than two seconds.

This AI voice must have had some hypnotic powers, which would have also explained why not even the heaviness in my legs, or the lack of oxygen in my lungs could stop me as I walked into the room.

At least, it was what I told myself until my gaze reached past the circle of kids and the tablet, just as he lifted his head, and the robotic voice and everything around halted.

There were only these magnetizing jade eyes lighting up more and more as he blinked, like he couldn't believe I was here.

I couldn't believe it myself, and yet...

***

*ASHER'S POV*

She was here, standing in my room.

Okay, it was the third time in 24 hours, but each time my heart leaped higher. Each time, I'd thought I would never see her again, and each time, I could have gotten used to the shot of adrenaline tingling in my veins.

"We're late?" A small voice pulled me out of my daze, and my wide eyes landed on the girl in the wheelchair Althea was gripping like her life depended on it.

Still, I needed a few seconds to remember...

Munisa... the storytime... all the kids around. Althea outshone all their sparkling gazes and colorful pajamas with only her dark doe eyes, and even as I typed a reply, all my senses were pulled towards her.

"No, don't worry. For you, we can restart."

"Thank yo—oh no, I forg't my book!" Munisa's expression jumped from relief to pure horror, just like my insides when Althea's lips opened with a 'where'.

"It's on my tablet already. The Princess and the Frog, right?" My fingers had never been that fast to type on the screen because there was no way I would risk letting Althea walk out of this room again.

And Munisa's big eyes staring at me like I was a magician, as I'd downloaded the book she'd shown everyone for the night before her surgery, was a bonus.

The young girl was the real good fairy though, because she had brought me my Peachy, and she even made a smile blossom on her lips with whatever magical formula she whispered,

"See I told you..."

I didn't hear the rest sadly, as the kids all welcomed Althea, arguing about where she should sit, and when she finally glanced at me, her lips had already twitched down, and I barely caught sight of a remaining blush on her cheeks before she turned to Francis and Ellie.

She'd been here for two days, and she already had a fan club here.

Not that I could blame the kids. My own gaze was glued to each of her movements as she pushed Munisa near me and sat shyly next to Gracie on the edge of my bed.

Mamma Mia...

Lucky that Munisa was here to remind me about the book because it wasn't the time to let my dirty mind wander.

Still, my eyes roamed a lot from the tablet, my focus getting sidetracked when at the 'once upon a time', her long legs shifted to get more comfortable in a cross-legged position. Then, it was my heart rate when I met her intrigued gaze again, and finally, the inevitable followed.

My fingers deviated on the screen, giving the poor princess a 60-year-old smoker's voice.

It pulled laughs around the room and even tugged the corners of these plump and peachy lips with a smile. But the problem was afterward.

I didn't want to blink away from the twinkle flickering in her brown eyes, while I also needed more, the sound of her soft laugh, a glimpse of her teeth as her smile grew until her cheekbones...

Yet all I got were horrified looks when I skipped three pages later, and trying to go back, I clicked on the translation button.

The Russian voice that came out of the tablet wasn't funny anymore. It was pathetic. Even more when Munisa's voice arose so little and confused.

"There's a p'oblem?"

All I had to fucking do was click on the panel on the screen to change the voices. I didn't read, even if my throat was as dry as the Sahara. I didn't need more than one hand, but my right one was becoming as useless as the left, which was trembling with spasms like every time I was tensing.

Hell, I wasn't 'tensing'. I was restless like a high-schooler in front of his crush, and I was sweating even more.

Or at least, I guessed because high-school Asher didn't have crushes. He was never nervous. He would have owned the situation, finding any way to get closer to his Peachy, and...

The right corner of my lips lifted into a smirk as I pulled out of the reading app and typed on my usual text-to-speech.

"Yes, there is. We need a real girl to read the princess parts. That will sound better. Do you think someone could do it?" I raised my gaze towards Althea, and the rest, the kids did it for me.

"Oh yes, Althea can!"

"Yes, yes! Please, 'Thea!"

I may have lost my charms, but 12 pairs of puppy eyes were an even stronger asset, and she yielded in no time.

"Fine..." She sighed, shaking her head, while her narrowed gaze still found my victorious smirk. "What do I have to read?"

"It's here." My finger pointed to the tablet attached by the side of my wheelchair, leaving her two possibilities: sitting on my lap—dreaming was one of the few things I could still do—or taking the seat Matteo offered her.

Easy to guess which one she chose, and as she slid the same chair she had been on this morning but much closer, my stomach already flipped like a love-struck teen, while at the same time, her warmth so close reached each of my strained muscles, soothing me like only she could.

That was one of the few things that remained the same, like the electrifying softness of her skin against mine when reopening the reading application, I 'accidentally' brushed her arm, and the dulcet tone of her voice as she started with the princess lines.

However, so many things had changed in her: her deep brown eyes not framed by glasses anymore, the ponytail keeping her curls in place, her darker clothes, makeup, and snickers, her slimmer silhouette, the shiny diamond at her finger...

I had grown familiar with all of those already, but through photos, you couldn't catch the fancier hints of her new perfume, nor how hollow her cheeks were, like I did from my sideways glances.

It had to be said the exhaustion and redness of her eyes were also accentuating it, and I was sure she had lost a pound or two since last night.

The more the story went on, the more I peered at her between my lines, and the more it hit me how much damage I'd done.

She was still gorgeous and incredibly sexy; there was no doubt. But it was in a broken, darker way. All of that because of me...

"Maybe the Prince hasn't been fully transformed yet... Maybe he still speaks frog?" Her smooth voice, and a not-so-smooth nudge brought me back to the present with all the kids giggling at her improv. "Ribbit. Ribbit?"

Something else hadn't changed: her creativity and her talent to always amaze me.

In comparison, any voice option my finger hovered over on the screen sounded so dull, and even when I mixed two effects, it was no match for the croaking princess.

She needed a prince who...

"Croak. Croak," I spoke, my low and slurred voice perfect to imitate a toad, and I could have almost tolerated the sound when its echo was engulfed by the chuckle she let out under her breath, and her large eyes snapped toward me.

That, for me, resonated more hopeful than the 'they lived happily ever after' the AI voice ended with and louder than the applause that followed. Though there was more than the usual cheers the kids gave me.

When I followed Althea's gaze away from me, I realized Carol, Oliver, and the night nurses were already waiting by the door to bring the kids back to their rooms—and take a peek at the talk of the town—meaning we were late.

Still, it had never gone by as fast, and the tensions in my limbs had barely melted when the warmth of Althea close disappeared, so she could help the kids get up from their seats and, mostly, get away from me.

A lot might have changed about her, but not the way she pursed her plump lips together when she was nervous, and it pinched until my ribcage as I turned away to wave goodnight to the kids, who by the way were even more excited than usual.

The nurses would have one more reason to hate me.

That, I was used to. However, the frown on the small brunette girl approaching me in her wheelchair, I had never seen it, and it froze my right hand above the tablet.

"I know your segret."

I'd never imagined those words could sound so scary from a four-year-old until Munisa's glare slid toward Althea, and a drop of cold sweat ran down my back. I was ready to plead the fifth when she leaned closer, a hand shielding her mouth to whisper her 'segret'.

"'Thea's your princess!"

Fuck, that explained her frown; she'd been concentrating on the photos of Althea behind me, and I don't know what I'd expected from the little chipmunk, but my sigh of relief was so heavy, it pulled a chuckle with it.

I surely should have explained to her that Althea wasn't mine anymore, but I didn't want to dim the twinkles we'd just lit in her eyes now, and maybe I wasn't ready to go back to the dark reality either.

"Shh, it's a secret." I put my finger over my lips, not even lowering the volume of the tablet.

Everyone around had already heard the whisper that came from under Munisa's hand, including the princess in question, even if she did a great job pretending she didn't and joining us with her lips rolling together as Munisa blew me a goodbye kiss.

"I walk you back to your dad?"

"Oh no, no worry. You've done enough. I'll do it." Carol spoke up before I could lift a finger, and even if her knowing smile was as discreet as Munisa's giggles, I would owe her forever for these few seconds she offered me with Althea alone.

Althea and I, alone. Once I'd promised Munisa she would choose another book for the story time when she would be back, and the chipmunk had surprised us all, hugging Althea.

No, actually, I wasn't surprised. If I could, I would have, too, wrapped my arms around her and never let her go.

But all I did was stare at her, struggling to move one finger as the silence brought back the crippling weight of our last talk.

SHE CAME BACK!!! Who's as excited as Asher? 😉

Speaking of our Mr. Robot, what do you think of his POV? He has changed a lot, hasn't he? 🥺 Though some things never change... 😏

I want to hear all your thoughts on this chapter! Tell me who do you think was the cutest: Munisa or Asher and Althea together? 🥰

And don't forget to vote ⭐ if you liked it and want more!

By the way, I'll probably post next chapter by the end of next week too, instead of Tuesday because there's a lot to write *wink wink* and I have a busy week! 

In the meantime, I love you my little peaches!! 😘💕🍑✨🥰