Chapter 36: Forgiveness

"Pain medicine? Why? Does your head hurt?"

She was trying to avoid him yet here he was, barging into her room unannounced.

"What are you doing here?" She asked but Xavier was quick to pull her up and dragged her to the bed.

It was only then that she recalled that Xavier asked her.

"How did you know that my head hurts?"

She never recalled mentioning it to him.

Zarah got up and looked Xavier in the eye.

Meanwhile, he inwardly cursed himself for slipping. Now, he had to find a perfect excuse to cover it up.

"Oh! I saw you holding your head while you were checking your bag. And you asked for pain medicine and so I thought your head hurts." He explained but Zarah doubted him. However, she decided to let go of the topic as her head still hurts.

Zarah groaned in pain as big beads of sweat formed on her forehead with her face turned pale at the same time.

Xavier panicked as he didn't know what to do.

He called for help and Julie rushed in. "Where were you? I told you to keep her company!"

"Don't scold her. I sent her away as I want to rest." Zarah defended Julie against Xavier and he felt irritated by it.

"Call the doctor," Xavier said and Julie was ready to leave the room when Zarah stopped her.

"Wait! Doctor? Why? No. All I need is pain meds. It's just a migraine." Zarah said despite the pain she felt.

"What are you doing?! Hurry up!" Faced with Xavier's anger, Julie left the room in a hurry.

She didn't know who to obey and so she decided to do both.

"Stop talking you stubborn woman!" Xavier scolded her and Zarah became upset.

"No! You should leave. Leave me alone!" Zarah said while using every ounce of power she had to push him.

Xavier was baffled by her sudden anger.

However, instead of obeying her, he decided to stay and hugged her.

He ignored the fact that she might hurt his sprained arm in the process. All he cared about was easing her pain.

"I'm sorry. Okay?"

He thought that by hugging her, the pain would ease a little. His mom used to do this for him back when he was a child.

It seemed to work as Zarah stopped squirming. However, when he looked down, he saw that she passed out.

"Zarah!" He cried.

He removed the support sling and with no hesitation, he carried Zarah out.

Rupert was surprised to see Xavier carrying Zarah in his arms.

"Master! Your injury!" He cried but his words entered deaf ears as Xavier asked him to drive the car.

"The hospital."

"St. George?"

"No. W Doctors Hospital."

It's closer to where they are and the facilities were not behind St. George even though it's relatively small.

Xavier didn't want to meet any members of the Irving family for now as he did not want her to be stressed.

"Okay, Master."

After fifteen minutes, they finally arrived and the stretcher was already waiting for them.

They had already expected their arrival.

"She passed out due to severe headache." He told the female doctor who came to respond to the emergency.

"Headache. Any history of injury? Or the possible cause of the headache?"

"She had a car accident four years ago. She has constant migraines and she would drink pain meds for it."

"Do you know what pain meds she's drinking?"

"I don't have any idea."

"Okay. We'll do some scans to see what's going on."

"Patient name?"

"Zarah Jansen."

The doctor then wrote it on the chart and they prepared Zarah for the scan. Just to make sure.

Xavier helplessly waited for Zarah to come back to the emergency room.

However, the scans came back clear.

"There was no abnormality like clots on her brain scans. However, we saw hyperactivity in her hippocampus region. By any means, is she suffering from amnesia?"

"She did. Why?"

"Well, she might slowly regain her memories anytime from now."

Was it good news?

Definitely!

Xavier's face lit up when he heard about it.

"Should her headache happen again, I'll prescribe her pain medication. And also, if the patient suffers from any traumatic experience, I suggest for the patient to undergo counseling with a psychologist. I can recommend one."

"There's no need. She already has one." Xavier told her.

"Oh! Okay. Then, once the patient wakes up, you're good to go. Just settle the bills before you go."

"Okay."

Xavier grabbed the chair and sat on it.

He could not help but look at Zarah's peaceful appearance.

He would be lying if he'd say that what the doctor said didn't excite him in any way.

He was looking forward to this day to happen after he learned that Zarah had amnesia.

Despite knowing that Zarah might recover her memories sooner, Xavier decided to not rush it and be patient with her and the situation with her.

He just had to make sure that Josh would never show up in front of her so she would not be confused.

Xavier left the room to call Chris.

He had to eliminate everything that would give Zarah stress.

First on the list were his two good-for-nothing brothers.

"Chris, prepare our men tonight. We're going to evict the freeloaders from the mansion."

"Okay, Master. Are you going to report to the office today?" He asked.

"No. Zarah's sick."

Chris understood it and didn't ask any questions.

After making that call, Xavier went back to Zarah's room and waited for her to wake up.

Six hours later...

Zarah groaned and she moved from her sleep. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw the room was painted white and the strong smell of disinfectant entered her nostrils.

Hospital.

"You're up. Does your head still hurt?" Xavier immediately asked as soon as he realized that Zarah was awake.

"No. What happened?"

"You passed out from the pain and so I decided to bring you here."

"Oh."

"How long was I out?"

"Eight hours. You must be hungry. You haven't eaten anything today. We should have eaten breakfast before we go home this morning.

He pointed at the food containers on the table.

Like on cue, her stomach growled in hunger. The next second, Xavier's stomach growled, too.

They both erupted in laughter as they were embarrassed.

After they have eaten, they finally left the hospital.

Rupert drove the car with Xavier sitting beside him.

Xavier did not sit with her in the back as he wanted to give her space.

Was he trying to make her miss him?

When they arrived at the villa, Zarah wanted to see Isaiah but she was told that he was already asleep and so she decided to do it tomorrow morning.

She was also reassured that none of them told Isaiah about her hospitalization and her long absence last night.

Isaiah on the other hand had a very long day as he discussed with his lawyer the revisions on his last will.

He had to take pauses as he got tired so easily and the lawyer understood the situation and patiently waited for him to be a little okay before they proceeded.

Xavier on the other hand received a message from the private nurse that Isaiah wanted to see him.

He contemplated before agreeing to it.

Isaiah was wide awake when he entered the room.

"You summoned me?"

"Yes."

"Son. Please forgive me."

He thought that Isaiah was going to tell him something very important. However, all he did was utter an apology.

"If that's all you wanted to say, I'll better leave. I still have things to do."

Though he was thinking of forgiving his father, he felt awkward talking to him.

"Son, wait!"

"Fine! I'll accept your apology and forgive you but never expect that I'll forget about what you did."

Healing was a long process and it's hard to forget when you're hurt for a very long time.

"I might recognize you as my biological father but I could not find in my heart to start over."

Xavier didn't mean to hurt him. He was only telling the truth. However, Xavier's words pierced through Isaiah's heart.

It was already too late to start over and he didn't know where to start. Even having this conversation felt awkward for him.

"I know. You don't have to force yourself." Isaiah weakly said.

Though his words were harsh, Isaiah felt relieved even though he also felt a little sad.

He thought that it was better than receiving a big no from him as a response.

"Anyways, I'm going to clean the mansion tonight. I hope you won't mind what I'll do to them." He decided to inform Isaiah.

Xavier thought that he should know about this since he was going to kick out those people.

"Do whatever you want. As long as you won't do something that would make you in trouble with the law, I'll allow it."

"No, Father. I didn't ask for your permission. I'm only informing you." He corrected him.

Isaiah looked at Xavier who was anxiously waiting for what he would say next.

"Son, I hope that one day you'll find in your heart to forgive the people who wronged you."

Isaiah meant well. He didn't want his son to be swallowed by hatred and revenge. He didn't want him to destroy himself in the process.

"*Ha!* I might have forgiven you but I'll never forgive them! I thought I'm your son! Then why are you still on their side!" Xavier became angry and instead of lashing at his sick father, he decided to leave the room as he didn't want to regret what would happen next.

He had to be careful around Isaiah as anything that would happen to him would greatly affect Zarah.

Isaiah was left alone in his room. He could not sleep the entire night and so he asked for a pen and paper from the nurse.

He decided to make a heartfelt letter for Zarah and Xavier.

The letter contained everything that he wanted to tell them.

"Chairman, please don't tire yourself."

"It's fine. I have to do this for them." He stubbornly insisted.

The nurse had no choice but to let him be. It was part of his responsibility to make the patient feel a lot better before he died.

Isaiah tried his best to write one letter but his hand would not allow him and so he ended up throwing the paper and pen on the ground in frustration.

"Chairman! What's wrong?!" He asked.

"It's useless! I could not even write one letter." He whined.

"How about I write them for you, instead?" He suggested and Isaiah's face lit up.

"Promise to give them the letters on the day that I die."

***