Everlastingly Loving You - Chapter 133

“Clarisse?” Sophia asked confusedly.

She had to turn around to see for herself.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Sophia yelled from one side of the beach.

“I’M HERE TO TALK TO YOU!” Clarisse answered.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?” Sophia questioned, crinkling her nose.

Clarisse said even louder, “I SAID, I CAME HERE TO TALK TO YOU!”

“OH!” Sophia exclaimed.

She glanced at Nicholas.

He nodded, “Go ahead.”

She chuckled before she rushed over to the side of the beach to Clarisse’s side.

“You better have a valid reason for interrupting our bonfire date, Claire,” Sophia said sternly.

Clarisse apologized for crashing their date so unexpectedly before she asked, “Could we go somewhere else to talk?”

Sophia placed a hand on her hip.

“Is this place not private enough?”

Clarisse took a look at everything around her.

She hadn’t realized she’d been at a beach, she was too focused on finding Sophia.

“What a beautiful view,” she said, before Sophia set her straight.

“I swear, if you merely came here to talk nonsense and give me all kinds of invalid excuses…”

Clarisse insisted, “I didn’t.”

“It’s important, really,” she added.

“Important enough to barge in on my bonfire date?” Sophia asked, to which Clarisse nodded.

Sophia narrowed her eyes, “Then out with it.”

“Tell me what it is you flew here simply to tell me and then we can return to our lives.”

“Me especially, I’ve a bonfire date to return to and smores to ensure Nicholas don’t burn,” Sophia crossed her arms.

“I think Blaine’s boring!” Clarisse spat.

Sophia facepalmed.

The audacity.

The sheer audacity.

“THAT was what you came here to tell me?!” Sophia asked.

“Sweetie, Marcus is awake you could’ve gone and told Louis for god’s sake—”

She let out a sigh of exasperation.

“Okay, so you think Blaine’s boring, and?” Sophia asked, coaxing more out of Clarisse. She couldn’t be left at that.

She resisted the urge to grab Clarisse by the front and grill her for more details.

‘Don’t do it, just don’t do it,’ Sophia said to herself.

“I feel horrible.”

“He’s perfect, but at the same time there’s this… feeling that was buried deep inside of me.”

“Alright, so what feeling or feelings are buried deep inside of you?” Sophia asked.

‘Don’t look back, don’t look back, don’t look back,’ Sophia uttered to herself.

Nicholas was waiting for her to finish her conversation with Clarisse.

The bonfire was waiting for her, the smores too.

“What do I do, girl?” Clarisse questioned her all panicky.

“What do I do about it, wait for it to go away?” Clarisse inquired, seeking validation.

“Tell him?”

“Tell him what, that you find his perfectness and overall lack of flaws unamusing?” Sophia scoffed.

“Great point,” Clarisse said.

Sophia took one glimpse of the bonfire and one glimpse of Clarisse.

“Smores?” Sophia offered.

Clarisse blinked.

“Are you asking me to be your third wheel?”

“A Winbrose third wheel?” Clarisse questioned.

“That’s not a thing,” Sophia insisted, albeit the fact she found the ship name ‘Winbrose’ quite adorable.

Clarisse looked as though she and Sophia were sharing some sort of inside joke with each other.

“Sure, girl, sure.”

“I’m taking you up on your offer, but the minute things get all lovey dovey, I’m leaving.”

Sophia laughed softly.

“Sure,” she said, before she and Clarisse sprinted towards the bonfire area.

(Author’s Note: The hospital scenes are inaccurate to how patients are treated in real life, how nurses talk to patients, the recovery time, etc. Keep in mind, this is a fantasy romance novel, not a nonfiction one, I implore you not to confuse the scenes with reality. Right, back to the chapter.)

A week later… at one of Beldovia’s finest hospitals…

“And you’re sure he’s perfectly fine?” Louis grilled the nurse for details.

If something went wrong… if he began exhibiting symptoms… Marcus would be doomed.

“Yes, he’s perfectly fine. His stats are amazing and there’s really nothing to worry about.”

“Although I’ve got to remind you of a few things.”

“You’ve got to make sure he follows all of his doctor’s instructions, and see to it he keeps all his follow-up appointments. He has to stay hydrated and remain on a healthy diet to minimize common complications. In the case he has any… say, trouble breathing or any other worrying symptoms, make sure he’s brought here right away,” she repeated, telling Louis the exact same thing she’d previously told Marcus.

“Is that all?” Louis asked her nervously.

‘Say yes, say yes, say yes,’ he pleaded.

She nodded, shooting him a reassuring smile.

“It is.”

Once discharge papers were signed, Marcus and Louis exited the hospital building.

“Finally,” Marcus said.

“Fresh air,” he whiffed, taking a good look at his surroundings.

How he was glad to be back here and not stuck to the confines of his hospital bed.

“Does Eleanor know you’re being discharged today?” Louis questioned curiously.

Marcus had sent Eleanor packing after she pulled the last straw, they had enough of it, although that didn’t mean she hadn’t the right to know her son was being discharged that same day.

Marcus shook his head, “She doesn’t.”

“And I intend to keep it that way,” he uttered, his voice filled with utmost determination. His mother didn’t deserve the right to know, at least in his opinion.

“So, where to, the palace?” He questioned.

Louis gave Marcus a cheeky look.

“You just want to return to the palace… without any detours?”

Marcus raised his brow.

“Detours, eh?” He asked.

“What do you have in mind?”

Louis placed a finger on Marcus’ lips, “It’s a secret.”

Marcus looked confused.

He and Marcus entered the car, strapping their seatbelts in before driving off.

__

“And you’re sure we have to spend our first ever bonfire date with your best friend?” Nicholas whispered to Sophia.

“Oh come on, Clarisse is my friend, and yours too.”

“She’s going through something,” Sophia shrugged.

“And it’d be a waste if she flew back to Beldovia after merely talking to me,” she added.

“Besides, I need another person’s opinion on whether or not the smores taste that bad or if they’re overcooked.”

Nicholas laughed.

“Kidding,” Sophia said unconvincingly.

Clarisse stared at the both of them.

“This is what I meant by lovey dovey,” she said, narrowing her eyes while shaking her head.

“And I still think Blaine’s boring,” she sighed, feeling pathetic.

‘If perfect was a clown, they’d be a whole damn circus,’ she mumbled to herself.

“I should’ve never agreed to the third wheel on the world’s most romantic goddamn couple’s date.”

“Why am I even here?” She said, an annoyed look on her face.

‘I should probably leave,’ she thought to herself.

An excellent suggestion, really.

‘The last place I should be is here.’

“Rethinking my relationship while being with this… perfect couple,” she mumbled bitterly, the words coming off the tip of her tongue.

‘I should go,’ she said, trying to coax herself to leave.

The helicopter wasn’t too far away.

She could leave in a couple of minutes, tops.

“Want me to leave, I always could—”

“S—”

Sophia gave him a look.

“Don’t leave,” Nicholas said, Sophia staring at him.

Sophia smiled.

Nicholas gave her a dirty look.

__

“He wants nothing to do with me, Jule,” Eleanor whined.

“He sent me away and banned me from visiting him in the hospital, the audacity,” she crossed her arms and huffed in frustration.

“He’s my son for christ’s sake, my son! And he wants nothing to do with me?!”

Julia watched intently. She was analyzing Eleanor carefully.

“You need to calm down,” she told her.

“And learn how to respect his boundaries,” she held a hand to her head exasperatedly.

“And set your own. If not, you seem desperate, short-tempered and clingy,” Julia said, taking a sip from her cup of tea both gracefully and calmly.

“I am not!” Eleanor said defensively.

“You threw a vase to the floor and demanded a change in nurses simply because they got his thread count and beverage choice incorrect, dear. I reckon you are.”

“Like a sad, sad piece of mouldy bread,” Julia said, shaking her head.

Julia being the only person who could talk Eleanor’s ego down, had anyone else told her this, she would have flown into a fit of rage.

“Help me, Julie,” she pleaded weekly.

“You don’t get to call me Julie,” Julia said.

“Julie,” Eleanor narrowed her eyes.

Julia stared at her some more.

“You weren’t joking,” Eleanor realized.

“Do I seem like the type of person to kid around?” Julia raised his brow.

“You don’t.”

“Problem solved then.”

Eleanor leaned closer to Julia.

“How are you after…”

“Right, you told me not to bring it up,” Eleanor reminded herself.

Julia remained deadly silent.

Eleanor apologized – something she did rarely.

“I told you never to discuss that with me,” Julia said, her expression turning grim.

“And I implore you to take that into account before you go on asking me how I’m doing after the loss of a loved one.”