Chapter 16

She woke up in the hospital, again. Carole felt the same feeling she felt when she woke up from the hospital bed. The only difference is, this time, she was in a solo room.

"Her vitals are normal. I already checked her blood pressure," The Doctor examining her, said.

Carole blinked and opened her eyes widely, finding a tall handsome man beside her hospital bed along with the Doctor. They were busy talking and she only got the chance to talk when the Doctor left the room.

"Why did you take me to the hospital?" She asked.

Of all the people, why is it always Royce who is also always present in times like this. She felt embarrassed by bothering the man a couple of times. They are not even friends and yet the man is always willing to help her.

"You fainted," Royce said, pulling a chair closer to the hospital bed. "In front of me," he added.

Carole turned her head away. She didn't fully know this man and yet he is always bothered by her. Hearing that she fainted, her eyes widened and her heart almost jumped out from her chest.

Did the Doctor tell Royce that she is pregnant?

"What did the Doctor say?" Carole asked. She didn't want to tell Royce straight from her lips that she is pregnant. She still wanted to keep it a secret for now, away from no one.

"The Doctor said that you fainted because of stress," Royce answered. A smile secretly escaped his lips when the nurses thought of him as Carole's husband earlier.

He didn't lie. The Doctor indeed told him that the lady fainted because of stress. However, Royce didn't mention that it was because Carole is pregnant. Even though he already knew, he didn't want the lady to feel more uncomfortable around him.

Carole breathed in relief. Royce didn't really need to bring her to a private hospital. She can rest at home. She just fainted because of what happened earlier.

"Thank you," Carole said with a faint smile on her lips.

Royce quickly felt his heart jump because of joy after hearing this from the lady. It was enough to make him smile too.

"You don't need to thank me. I just did what I needed to do. Don't worry I already paid the hospital bill," he said.

Carole didn't want the man to pay for her, but right now her budget is quite tight. She didn't take any coin from Aston and promised herself that she would earn her own reputation and money. She wanted Aston to see that money is not the only thing in this world that binds her to him.

"I will not ask you to pay me back," Royce said. "I just want to return the favor you did to my niece and nephew." He said, completely averting the topic to not let Carole feel bad.

Hearing this, the woman on the hospital bed chuckled. She remembered how cute the kids are.

"How are they?" she asked.

Royce smiled at her, didn't believe that she would ask about them because Carole looks so quiet and secretive around him.

"They are always asking about you," the man replied.

Silence.

The atmosphere was filled with silence because Carole didn't know what to say to that. She is happy because the kids are asking about her but it was sudden and embarrassing to ask why. She is still poor in communication, the reason why she only has one friend.

And that one friend betrayed her.

Royce noticed the sadness slowly emerging from Carole's eyes. He didn't mean to say anything bad or offensive. Right now, his goal is to get close to the lady and gain her trust.

"I'm sorry, are you crying?"

Royce quickly took the tissue box and put it next to the woman. Carole suddenly cried and she didn't know why.

Carole immediately turned her head and wiped her eyes when she noticed that she was already crying. The Doctor mentioned that this pregnancy will make her emotional sometimes even without any reason.

"Do you want to be alone?" Royce asked, showing his soft worried eyes. "I can leave you for a minute if you like." He suggested.

Carole nodded her head. "Yes, please. I'm sorry."

The tall handsome man stood up and fixed his polo shirt. He smiled. "It's okay, I understand."

As soon as Royce left, Carole felt her heart clenched. She took another tissue and wiped her eyes. She got so emotional that she again embarrassed herself in front of Royce.

****

"Where the heck are you?"

Dion's voice rang very loudly through Royce's phone speaker that the man needed to put it away from his ears.

"The director is very angry. You left the shot without any permission. You know this is the last day, right? You need to get this one right." Dion continued to scold the man.

Royce couldn't help but chuckle. He headed to the lobby and sat on the bench with crossed legs.

"Can you please calm down, Dion?" he said with a smile on his face. "I already called the management and talked to the director. You don't have to worry about it." Royce confidently said.

"Oh really?" Dion raised an eyebrow. He is driving right now going to Royce's father because the old man wanted to ask him about his stubborn son. "And what kind of excuse did you use to lie?"

Royce chuckled. Dion knew him very well. "You're accusing me already," he said. "I told them I'm in the hospital because I accidentally bite my lips,"

"And do you think you can buy me with that kind of excuse?" Dion snorted. "How about I break your ankles instead to make your excuse more reasonable?"

Royce couldn't help but laugh. Dion is always this bad mouthed but he is not angry at all. His assistant is just concerned about him. He grew up seeing Dion like a brother and not just someone who is working under him.

"Don't worry, I will talk to my Father. He will not scold you." He said.

Dion wanted to throw a fit so bad inside the car, but he valued his life so he remained calm while driving. He wanted to give Royce a punch on the face already. The handsome man didn't know that he was already on his way to talk to the old man.

Royce had a lot of advertisements he needed to shoot by the end of the month and the contracts are already piling up. As an international actor, a lot of entertainment companies wanted him so bad because of how perfect he was. However, Royce sometimes ran away if he didn't like the conditions, this affects Dion because he is the assistant and he needed to mend things for the actor.

Though Dion is still thankful to Royce. Even though he had a bad temper and wanted everything to be perfect for the actor, Royce still understood him. This opportunity working under him was enough for Dion. Without Royce, he will still endure the poor life he had back then.