♪♪ I can't ask for your permission

I can't wait for it because I was born free

I ain't taking shit

I do what I love and I love what I do ♪♪

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ [ I do what I love ] - [Ellie Goulding] 

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Kian turned off the ignition of his car and sighed as he looked up at his house. The weight of his reluctant promise weighed on his shoulders. He still hadn't thought of how to go about it.

The slamming of doors cut into his train of thought, reminding him he had come home with some other people. He shook his head to shake the uneasy feeling from himself and got down from his car.

"Isn't today such a good day to get off work early?" Petra squealed as she approached Kian who was just getting down from his car and Ronnie who was already by his side.

"I honestly don't get why you had to ask for an early leave for us," Kian mumbled leading them into the house.

"I didn't ask for an early leave for us, Kian. Uncle Hugh sent us home after that seminar. I think he said something about a break?" Petra answered with a chuckle.

"I'm sure Chairman Hudgens said nothing of those words. And what about you, Ronnie? You seem to get a lot of days off these days."

Ronnie loosened the tie around his neck and wrapped his hands around Kian's neck. "Oh come on mate, a day where we get to spend time with Esmé and get you to cook for us. There's everything special about today! Did you really think the moment I heard you guys had left work early, I wouldn't jump at the opportunity to join in?"

"Why did you guys chose today of all days?" Kian asked while he wondered if they knew about the conversation he had with his mother earlier that day.

Petra and Ronnie shared a smile, and that Kian caught. They knew. He groaned at that realization.

Ronnie wriggled his eyebrows at Kian. "Ah, well today just feels perfect, right Pet?"

"Why, yes squirt. You couldn't have said it better." Petra responded, giving her brother a smirk when he scowled at her new nickname.

Kian groaned and removed Ronnie's hands from his shoulder. He opened the door to the house, and they were greeted with a pleasant aroma the moment they walked in.

"Hmm." Petra breathed in, her nose pointed upwards, taking in the aroma.

"Looks like someone beat you to cooking, Kian. Did Persephone come over?" Ronnie asked with a grin. He rolled up his sleeves, ready to devour anything that was being made.

Kian frowned in confusion. Persephone couldn't have come to his home, not so soon. He walked further into the house and noticed the turned on television and empty living room, "Where are Esmé and Lucija?" he asked the siblings.

They snapped their attention from the blissful aroma to the importance of that question. They took in loud television, which was strange for the empty living room.

The trio looked at each other and shared a known expression for the direction of the smell and sizzling sound that came from the kitchen.

"Bollocks!" Kian murmured. They were in the kitchen?

The trio hurried in the kitchen's direction, Kian noticed Archie on the kitchen counter first and his widened at that fact.

"Miss Esmé!" Lucija shouted, and Kian snapped his head in her direction. He noticed the panic in her eyes. He turned to face the patient of his that was standing by the fire who had pivoted and her crutch had fallen. Before he knew it, she slipped and fell.

Adrenaline shot through Kian's body and the palpitation of his heart sped up with an overwhelming sensation of dread in panic. He moved forward with instinct, "Esmé!" he shouted with Ronnie and Petra who had also pushed their selves forward and Archie barked hysterically on the counter at the scene.

He swept in and caught her right before she could hit the ground. His heart drumming frantically against his chest.

The brunt of her weight hit him and they went down, but he manoeuvred them. Instead of crushing their weight onto the floor, they hit the edge of the kitchen counter. A sharp pain jolted up Kian's back at the impact while Esmé's other crutch fell to the ground.

Esmé and Kian stared at each other wide-eyed in shock, their breaths came in laboured at the whole situation. They remained like that for two seconds that seemed to last longer.

"Oh, my goodness!" Petra exclaimed and rushed over to their side. Everyone snapped out of the shock.

Wide-eyed, Lucija picked up the crutches instantly and handed them over to Kian, whose panic had turned to anger. He snatched the crutches from Lucija and placed them under Esmé.

"Are you okay?" Petra asked Esmé after turning off the fire. She held her face to check for any injuries, despite knowing Kian caught her just in time.

Esmé stared at her wide-eyed. She couldn't explain how she was feeling at the moment, everything happened so fast for her. Her heart was still beating fast. Just one minute she was enjoying herself cooking and the next minute she was falling to what? Her death.

She didn't get time to process how she was feeling as Kian, who was boiling, shouted, "I need both of you out of the kitchen right this minute! Have you both lost your damn minds!?"

Archie whimpered at his raised voice but Kian's eyes narrowed at him, "You need an invitation to get down from the counter too. What are you even doing up there?"

"Well, he can't exactly get down him..." Ronnie started speaking but shut his mouth at the narrowed look Kian sent him.

Kian grabbed Archie from the counter and made his way out of the kitchen. He lowered him down in the living room and turned off the television.

Petra gave Esmé soothing pats behind her as she led her out of the kitchen. Ronnie pulled her into a side hug and pressed a soft kiss to the side of her forehead in relief before he released her and they all made their way further into the living room where a livid Kian stood, his posture very stiff.

Lucija trailed behind them, cursing herself for agreeing to Esmé's persuasion.

"Lucija Božič!"

Lucija's head snapped up at her name. She groaned inwardly at the way she felt.

"S... I... r?" she stammered.

"Didn't we talk about where she should and shouldn't be!?" Kian questioned her sternly.

"Yes, we did."

"Then why..."

"Let. Her. Be!" Esmé said. Her low-pitched voice came out dangerously low, firm, and authoritative that stilled the sound in the room.

Although she still hadn't fully processed what happened, she could at least process what was going on at that moment and she couldn't let Kian scold Lucija.

Everyone snapped their attention to her in surprise, Petra's eyes widened, and Ronnie's mouth fell open as he stared at her with a dazed look, Lucija's breath hitched and Kian's eyebrows arched upwards. 

Kian was the first to snap out of it. "This doesn't concern you, Esmé. Stay out of it." He turned away from her to Lucija, he wasn't ready to deal with her. "Your job is to keep her safe and help her when she needs help and not lead her into harm's way!"

Esmé closed her eyes, and her fist tightened on her crutches. That was just about how much she could take. Before Lucija could reply she stepped forward and sent a menacing look Kian's way, "I told you to let her be, didn't I? You want to blame someone that badly? Blame me, but you're going to leave Lucija out of this. I wanted to be in the kitchen."

Petra and Ronnie shared an amused look. They took a step back in intrigue. They wanted to see how the whole thing would unfold.

Kian was definitely surprised at her stance, but it did nothing to calm his anger. "That doesn't make it better!"

"I don't care if you feel it makes it better or not. You cannot just come in here and start scolding Lucija for something she didn't do!"

"She didn't do!?" Kian scoffed and pinched the edge of his nose in frustration. "You think she did nothing? She didn't do her bloody job!"

"Really? And pray tell, what is her job, dear doctor of mine, huh? Pamper and tell me to just sit around and do nothing!?"

"If it had to come to that, yes!"

Esmé couldn't believe what just came out of his mouth, "Sin od... Jebote. You've got to be joking. What kind of person are you? Standing there all high and mighty ready to scold someone. You do not get to be the one to scold someone, not Lucija, and definitely not me. (Son of a... Fuck [I can't believe this])

"I wanted to do something that wasn't the boring life that I've been living since I got into this house where I feel more like a prisoner than anything! You know what; I don't even care or mind that I've felt like a prisoner. It's your house, your rules, and I know you have issues with me staying here."

"Esmé," Petra called out with a sympathetic tone. She stretched out her hand to reach out to her but pulled it back.

Esmé took a deep breath in to calm herself down. She didn't want to seem ungrateful, she was just pissed. "The thing is I didn't hold a gun to your head for you to say yes. You did that on your own. And believe me, I'm grateful. It's why I've given you your space and done everything you've asked, but I'm allowed to do what I feel like once in a while."

"Really?" Kian scoffed, his eyes hard in anger and posture stiff. Her words had jabbed straight at his self-respect, but it didn't change the fact that she could have been in danger and so he would not let that slide.

He always knew when to back down, but at that moment he couldn't bring himself to, "Even if it endangers your life!"

"For God's sake! We were doing fine before you walked in!" 

"It still doesn't make it right!"

Alright, she was done with this banter. Esmé groaned inwardly and sighed dejectedly. She let the fight leave her body, and her features turned blank. She bit her lips and looked up at him. "I just need to know one thing, why do you care?" 

Her question shut Kian up instantly. All anger drained from him as he saw the raw, dejected expression on her face.

"All you did since I came in here is to put up a boundary and avoid me. So why do you suddenly care?"

"I haven't been avoiding you," Kian mumbled, looking away from her.

"Right, because I'm such a dummy. I just lost my memories, Doctor Lincoln. I know what avoiding someone entails." Kian opened his mouth to respond but closed it as Esmé gave him a challenging look., "I know my presence repels you a lot, so don't stand there and pretend as if you care. We both know you don't."

Kian opened his mouth to retort but Esmé interrupted, "Don't even bother pulling the doctor card anymore. It's getting old and tiring. I'm getting better, we all know that so go on not caring like you've always done and I'll be out of your hair in no time. Just don't go about scolding Lucija when you don't even care. You're just not that kind of person."

Kian stood speechless. The plain truth of how detestable he had treated her laid down right in front of him in plain sight and it ate at him, but it didn't make him any less angry.

Esmé's eyes watered at the truth she laid bare. She felt like life had left her body. Suddenly the room became stuffy, and she felt chocked. She needed to get out of there. She turned to the direction of the door to leave.

"Esmé!" Ronnie and Petra called out to her to stop her.

Kian closed his eyes for a short while and held her crutch to stop her.

She sent a curt look to him that had him releasing the crutch he held. She laughed crookedly and turned to Petra's direction where she stood wide-eyed by Ronnie's side.

Esmé bit her lips and fought the tears that were about to spill. "I'm just going for a walk. I need some air. I'm just this angry somebody that can't even properly storm off and never come back when I'm pissed off because I have nowhere else to go," she said and not waiting for any moment again, stormed out of the door.

Heat flushed through Kian's body and every muscle in his body quivered in anger as he watched her leave. In frustration, he picked up the vase close to him and threw it halfway across the room. The sound of it smashing to pieces filled the entire room. 

"Kian!" Petra shouted as Lucija shrilled in fear.

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That was intense.😬

What's kickin little chickens?!

No I know you're not chickens, I just... never mind.

So, that was some chapter, right?

Before you tell me what you thought of the chapter and the part you loved the most, I want to try something new, I want you all to rate this chapter with an emoji. You think you can do that, here's mine 😲

Alright throw your thoughts at me, let's hear it. Don't worry, I'm a big girl, I can handle it!😉💭

Till next time!💕