Leilani.

I was restless.

For no reason, I was incredibly antsy.

It was no news that Jarek could be a handful sometimes, and while this was one of those times when he was just that, I was trying my hardest not to barge into that room and disrupt whatever meeting he was having with his lawyer at the moment.

I was worried that even now, with all of these going on, the first thought in his head was: work. And as the seconds passed by, turning into minutes then to hours, I gradually began to feel even more anxious.

"What is happening?" I couldn’t help hissing at Zevran who held me so close to his chest, you would think we had been glued together by some kind of gorilla glue or something. His warm fingers forked through my hair, massaging my tense scalp as well as untangling the knots in between the strands of my hair while he watched me with keen interest, and goddess, if the scenario was any different, then I would’ve found myself blushing.

I would’ve been scalding hot and everything in between.

But it was not.

So I sighed. "He has been in that room for over two hours now, talking about only the goddess knows what. And I cannot help but worry."

The sharpness and worry in my tone was impossible to hide. Hell, I had even come off as snappy but Zevran was undisturbed by my actions. If anything, he seemed... chill.

Just chill.

He combed his fingers through my hair one more time, cast me a look that was so soft, it made my stomach flip and drawled;

"Do you wish to go in?" He asked calmly— a little too calmly. I hadn’t even said yes when he continued;"Do you want me to come with you?"

His question made me lower my head slightly. My lower lip quivered as I smiled at him despite myself, then I shook my head. "He asked for some time alone, Z. Going in now would mean disrupting that."

At my response, he nodded in understanding and then looked like he was about to say something else until Kael and Caelum slipped in through the front door looking like equal portions of hot messes.

Their hairs were a mess, and their weary dark-rimmed eyes softened when they landed on me. As soon as I felt their stares, I felt a strange kind of warmth ease up my spine which increased when they came to stand beside me.

"How do you do, Lani?" That was Kael, and his breath fanned the corner of my face when he leaned down to talk to me.

The heat that sent rushing through my stomach made my face redden but pushing it away, I smiled softly. "I am fine."

"Any news about him yet?" That was Caelum and I can swear that he seemed extremely worried, judging by his appearance.

His eyes darted from my face to the vast space separating us from Jarek’s room door, and when he turned to look at me again, I could swear that there was something in his eyes.

Fear?

Worry?

A blend of both?

Horror?

I shook my head quickly. "None."

"I think it’s high time we crash whatever that meeting is," he drawled without looking at me, "I have a bad feeling about it."

At his words, I felt my stomach drop, mostly because I felt that way too and hated that he was only confirming my suspicions. A heavy kind of silence settled in the air, which was soon disrupted by my sharp intake of breath as I hissed;

"Don’t be obnoxious, Caelum."

"I am not." He hissed back at me. "That meeting has taken too long, especially for someone who needs all the rest he can get right now. I am not against him working. I am simply against the timing!"

His sudden outburst made me clasp my lips shut. I closed my eyes and dragged in a lungful of breath, and when I was done with that, looked up at him and tipped my head slightly.

"I understand you."

"I am glad we are on the same pag—" he began to say but stopped when we saw a doctor run past us and head straight for Jarek’s room. Another doctor did the same, ignoring us totally as he ran for the door. But it wasn’t the fact that they were running that made me suddenly nervous.

It was the panic in their steps.

The urgency in their tones as they called out to the nurses in waiting. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

My heart did a dip as I ran after them even before I knew what I was doing. But just as I arrived at his door and tried to step in, a nurse side stepped me, gently shoved me out and pushed the lawyer out as well as she muttered;

"I am sorry but you will both have to wait."

I froze. My eyes and head, already hot from the array of thoughts flooding my mind, swarm. I turned to the lawyer in one swift move, held on to his shirt and hissed; "What happened inside that room? What did he say to you?"

He sighed, looking at everything and everywhere but my face. "I cannot tell you. Not yet, Miss."

His words, heavens, his words made me see red. And by the gods, how I hated that. I hated that I was so worried and there was nothing to do and no place to channel all of these pent up emotions to.

My hands already fisting into the collar of his shirt fell to his sides just as my knees wobbled and I stumbled away from him only to fall straight into Caelum’s arms. I cried;

"I have a bad feeling about all of this!"

"I do too," his voice was soothing and his hands trailed soft circles into my scalp. "I do but all we can do is wait and be hopeful. I just hope that nothing happens to him."

When he said that, I noticed the way the lawyer turned to look at us and then lowered his head. The hallway was soon plunged into intense silence as we waited for the doctors to do their magic.

However, a couple of minutes later, the door was suddenly pushed open and the main doctor, a balding man, stepped out, his face grim and his voice as cold as ice as he drawled;

"Miss Leilani Sinclair?"

I lifted my head from Caelum’s chest, hope and fear creeping into my mind. "Yes?"

"We’re sorry."