Chapter Eleven: Not Human

Valerie's eyelids fluttered as she slowly opened her eyes. She first saw the white ceiling of the hospital and she closed her eyes and opened them again

She still felt drowsy.

She tried to get up but her head swayed and she felt herself falling back onto the bed but before she could do that, she felt a pair of strong arms holding her in place

"Hey! Be careful, you just woke up!"

Her heart skipped a beat when she heard that voice and she turned towards the source. The man in front of her had a disheveled look. His black hair was messy and his pale skin looked even paler.

Somehow, she still found him attractive despite this appearance

"You just woke up in a hospital but you still have this perverted behaviour of staring at hot men"

His comment broke her out of her reverie and she blushed unintentionally as she turned her face away from him and bit her lower lip.

Aiden smiled lightly to himself when he saw the rosy red on her cheeks. His eyes travelled all over her body. She looked sickly and her body looked like it didn't even have any flesh on it. This picture broke him that he felt like holding her and comforting her, but he couldn't.

Suddenly, she turned to him with wide eyes "I have so many questions"

Aiden smiled again. He expected that

"I know that, but before we proceed, I want you to know that no matter what you hear, I'm still the same person you know. I will not and will never change, got it?"

He tried to assure her and allay her fears of whatever she would hear. The last thing he wanted was her freaking out and distancing herself from him. He wouldn't bear it. He couldn't live with that.

She nodded her head earnestly, her big brown eyes twinkling in anticipation as she paid rapt attention to him. He sighed, closed his eyes and spoke

"I'm not human"

Valerie blinked.

Wasn't it obvious that she already knew that? Why was he telling her the irrelevant piece of information then? She just needed the whole thing.

Aiden noticed her glare and chuckled inwardly. She looked so adorable that he wanted to pinch her cheeks but he restrained himself

"I'm a vampire, as was Stella"

If he had said this to her two days ago, she would have laughed and called him crazy for saying such.

But after witnessing everything that transpired last night and the way Stella's body turned to ashes and-

Wait!

Last night!

She turned to him with nervousness in her eyes "What day is it?"

"Relax, it was last night it happened, you didn't sleep for a century so stop worrying" he assured her but she couldn't stop

May would be extra worried about her and must have called her phone countless times. Valerie cursed within her when she remembered that her phone was not in her bag, she was holding it when Stella ambushed her so she must have dropped it. She really needed to get home, but she still had so much she needed to hear from him.

Aiden looked at the conflicted expression on her face and sighed "You can go if you want to, the doctor said you just had a broken rib and so, they bandaged you up. Nothing serious got broken and you didn't have any concussion, so they discharged you. You better hurry on home, we can discuss this later in the office. Take the rest of the week off"

Valerie stared at him as he stood up from his seat and walked outside her room. She saw the look in his eyes just before he turned to leave. They spoke one word; helpless. She sighed and laid back on the bed.

She really wanted to hear his story but May mattered most to her, she couldn't wait to get back. She held her pounding heart, Aiden's story could wait till another day, she was so sure she would hear it again.

When she got discharged and went home, she was surprised to see May standing by the roadside. May's eyes widened when she saw Valerie

"Oh my God! Val!"

She cried and ran to hug Valerie, sobbing as she held her tight in her arms. Valerie tried her hardest not to wince and bit her lip instead. She didn't want May to worry herself for something as small as that.

May might be a tomboy, but she was soft hearted towards her bestie and so, she bawled her eyes out as she hugged Valerie even more

"Where have you been?! I've been looking all over! I even went to your workplace but security threw me out. I tried calling your phone but it wasn't connecting! Then I went to the police but they didn't attend to me. They just told me that it isn't up to 24 hours and so, I can't make a missing person complaint! I'm just coming back from there this morning, I went to try again. I couldn't eat or sleep! It was horrible! I was so scared Valerie!"

She cried and held Valerie who patted her back lovingly "it's okay May, I'm fine. I just went to my boss's place because there was something we were supposed to do but it went through the night, so I had to stay to help. Besides, my phone got spoilt so I just threw it away. I'm planning on getting a new one" Valerie lied through her teeth and May seemed to believe her as her body stopped trembling

"B-but that phone is all you have Val, you spent all your life savings on that phone. Why not just repair it?" May argued and Valerie sighed

"It doesn't matter May, the phone was outdated anyway, nothing more than a piece of junk. It's fine, I'll get another one" she tried to convince May and May finally calmed down.

Valerie scolded herself. Of course she loved that phone to death! All her contacts, projects, everything, gone!

It was really painful for her, but she had to accept the fact that some things were not meant to be for her. She would try and get a new one.

May dragged her inside the house after reprimanding her for not telling May that she wouldn't be around.

After series of reprimanding, Valerie retired to her bed, lying down carefully so as not to upset her ribs again. Her eyes sparkled when she thought of Aiden and she bit her lip.

Next week, she couldn't wait for it. She couldn't wait to hear the truth that he had always been hiding from her...