The first thing I heard was beeping sounds.

I slowly opened my eyes and blinked a few times to adjust my blurry vision. I noticed I was wearing a white t-shirt which was a size too big for me, smelt something resembling fresh linen, felt something pricking into my arm and in my nose as well.

I could barely move my arms when I reached for the button at the side of the bed and pressed it so that I could sit upright. But I stopped when I felt some discomfort around my abdomen area.

Right, I still have a stab wound.

At least now I'm able to see the surroundings of the hospital room. There was a couch directly in front me leaned against the wall, with a small pillow on it which I recognised to be one of the pillows on the couch back home and a blanket. To my left, there was a huge window with the blinds pulled down, but I could tell it was night time as there was no light passing through the blinds. And on the desk against the window, there were two helium balloons along with cards and flowers.

My alone time was cut short when a nurse walked past my room and immediately rushed in when she noticed I was awake. She looked at the monitor next to the bed and I could see her nerves relaxed.

She gave me a small smile. "Blood pressure and heartbeat look good. I'll call the doctor to check in on you, do you need anything?"

I was about to respond back when I realised I couldn't find the strength to speak, so I just shook my head and she replied an 'okay' before leaving me alone in the room.

A minute later, the doctor walked into the room. He used his stethoscope on my heart, lungs and abdomen area before walking towards the nurse and whispered something to her. She then started typing on the computer as he approached me.

"Hi there Tiana, I'm Doctor Haung, the main surgeon in your surgery for the stab wound and has been watching over you while you are unconscious for the past five days." I widened my eyes.

I was out for almost a week?

He noticed my alarmed expression. "Don't worry, it's normal for patients to be out for a couple of days after losing a lot of blood as the body needs time to recover from the shock your brain received."

I didn't know what to do, so I just nodded and he continued, "So I heard from nurse Anika that you were having trouble speaking?" And I nodded again.

"That's completely normal after the situation you went through. I've asked the nurse to pump increased dosage of glucose into you, I couldn't do that when you were unconscious as your condition was very fragile. I'll also notify your guardian and the police that you've woken up. Depending on whether you're able to speak tomorrow morning, the police will come to question you. And if you feel any discomfort whenever throughout the night-" he took a step towards me and held a string that was connected all the way into the ceiling,"-just pull this string. You just rest, okay?"

I nodded once again as the doctor and nurse left the room and it didn't take me long before I fell into a deep sleep.

"Are you going to help me finish mixing it?"

Walter: You free to hang out?

"Tiana?" I looked up from my phone to meet Nikita's eyes from the kitchen. She was wearing a crimson red apron with white polka dots. I've told her it looked ridiculous but she insisted on wearing it during this holiday week.

"Sorry, coming." I made my way to the kitchen and placed my phone on the dining table before standing back at my station, pouring in some milk and continued to mix the cookie mixture.

I saw her pour a cream mixture into a rectangular oven dish and stacked her previously cut potatoes in it."What are you making?"

"Potato gratin," she replied before popping the dish into the oven and setting the timer, "Haven't made this dish in a long time."

"Is it enough for three people?" I asked and she looked at me with confusion. "I was wondering if it's okay Walter came over for dinner?"

She raised her eyebrows at me, "And who is this Walter boy?"

"We have three classes together and went on a date last week." she widened her eyes at that and I beat her to it before she could say anything, "Relax, it was not a romantic date! We call it the get-you-each-other-in-a-non-romantic-and-non-friendly-date."

She narrowed her eyes at me, "If it was a non-friendly date, why are you inviting him over for dinner?"

"Okay, maybe there were some changes in the non-friendly part. And technically I haven't invited him over yet, since you haven't agreed to it yet."

She put the cloth back on the hanger and turned her head back at me, "Yes, you can invite him over."

I squealed in excitement. I'm finally doing what normal people do, inviting friends over for dinner. I thanked and hugged Nikita before replying back to Walter.

Me: Yep

(2) Want to stay for dinner as well?

(3) I asked Nikita and she agreed to it

He replied seconds later.

Walter: You know I'm too nice to turn down an invitation

Me: Yeah yeah, such a 'gentleman'

Walter: :p

(2) I'll be there at 5?

Me: Sure, see you then :)

And exactly on the dot at five, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" I shouted from my room before rushing down the stairs, passing Nikita in the kitchen; doing some final preparations for dinner.

I heard her mumble an 'of course' before I opened the door to see Walter dress in a white polo t-shirt paired with dark blue jeans with his hair neatly combed back. I can't help to notice the bouquet of flowers in his hands. He must've noticed my staring.

He winked, "I told you I'm a gentleman."

"Yeah, whatever." I smacked him lightly on the shoulders. "Come in."

I closed the door behind as he walked towards Nikita. "Hi Ma'am, I'm Walter and these are for you." He handed her the bouquet and shot me a smirk.

"We'll be down for dinner in an hour," I told Nikita before pushing Walter towards the stairs.

"Your room is as simple as you are, as I predicted," Walter commented as soon as he stepped into my room.

I scoffed, "And I predict your room has posters of planes and books about it, to feed your obsession with planes."

"It's more of an ambition than an obsession, actually." His tone was serious when he said this.

Then it clicked. "You want to become a pilot?"

"Yeah," he was blushing now, "I've known that's what I've wanted since I was little."

"Good for you, I've never really thought about what my ambition is." They don't exactly ask you to think about it in foster care.

"It'll come to you, like true love. When you know, you know."

"You believe in true love?"

He nodded his head slowly, gathering his thoughts. "Yeah, I think my parents have true love so I know it's real. Don't you?"

Flashes of Adrian hurting Nikita appeared in my head. "No, I don't think I do."

The first thing I heard was a ringtone. I opened my eyes slowly to adjust to the blinding light from the windows. Then I heard shuffling sounds before the ringtone stopped. Breton was on the couch, with his phone placed next to his ear.

"What is it?" The sleepiness from his voice is evident enough. That made me feel guilty about how many sleepless nights he has had since I was stabbed. His dusty blonde hair was all messy, shirt crumpled which means he was probably tossing and turning all night and very distinctive eye bags.

"Ask Vincent or Finn to stand in for me. I'll probably drop by in the afternoon." He hung up the phone and started to fold the blanket he used.

"Breton," I said softly and was shocked that I could speak again.

His eyes quickly snapped towards me and walked towards the bed. "Hey, how are you feeling?" He gave me a small smile.

"Better, I can speak again." I feel my voice getting stronger now.

"Yeah, the doctor filled me in. You know that the police will be coming at around noon?" I nodded in response to that.

"A lot of people want to know what happened that night," he said it in a whisper before looking to see if anyone was outside. "Helena is dead."

I can see him getting a little teary as he continued, "She was killed from two gunshots in the chest. Police say it was from a silencer."

How can I break it to him that the woman he loved was faking their relationship the entire time just to get back at me for my parents' doing?

He shook his head, "I-I just can't believe she knocked me out. Leah as well."

"How's Leah?" I asked, changing the subject.

One thing at a time. Also, better safe than sorry to talk about it here.

"Still baffled that her mom stabbed you. And eager to hear from you about what happened."

Should I tell Leah the truth what happened? If so, how much should I tell her? What if she hates me and her hatred for me will turn her into like it did with her mom?

Ugh, I just woke up a few minutes ago and my head is spinning from all these problems I've to deal with already.

Even worse, Doctor Huang then walked into the room with a different nurse. He greeted us and took a look at my blood pressure and heartbeat before whispering something to the nurse as she types it out.

"So your voice has come back, which is a very good sign. Today you'll start with a soft diet to not stress your digestive system since it hasn't been functioning for five days. The police will come over to question you in about three hours. You should be on bed rest for at least today and tomorrow, to prevent opening up your wound. And once again, if you feel any discomfort around the wound area, just pull the strings. Any questions for me?" He was rambling, probably having a lot of other patients to attend to.

"How long will I have to stay in the hospital?"

"Ah, not a fan of hospitals are you?" He chuckled and I nodded shyly in response. "Well, I would say at least a week and at most two weeks."

Doctor Huang then left the room, while the nurse went through with us my meal plan for the day and changed my wound bandage. She applied a type of cooling cream which stung a little, and also brought me back to when I was held captive by Felon's man without him figuring out who I am.

After eating breakfast, which is chicken soup with various types of vegetables in it, I fell into a deep slumber. My guess is they're still injecting me with antibiotics which is making me extra drowsy.

When I woke up, Breton wasn't in the room. I noticed on the desk that he left a note saying that he went down to have lunch. However, there was another thing on the desk which is a burner phone. I knew exactly who had it put there.

Nicandro.

I looked through the phone; it was completely clean except with a contact saved. I chuckled at how he chose to save it before sending him a text.

Me: Still alive here

I knew he wouldn't reply for another few hours as it was in the middle of the night in Spain now. I was thankful that I put the burner phone in the drawer as the next thing I heard were footsteps followed by a radio sound.