Chapter 22: Ultimatum

Hades called Alice to tell her that he will bring Nina to the hospital and she needs to be there just in case the other doctors would ask for Nina's medical records.

Hades carried Nina to the emergency room. He was asked to wait for a while, after about half an hour the doctor who checked Nina's condition told him that Nina is safe now and what happened to her is just a normal reaction for women in their first trimester. Hades was relieved but he still needs to be sure so they will stay here overnight for further observation.

"What happened?" Alice asked when she arrived. She doesn't have duty at the hospital today so she's in her clinic when Hades called, she finished the check up of her scheduled patient first before going.

"Nina had bleeding, the doctor said it's just normal for her to have that since she's on her first trimester" Hades answered

"Yes, that's true" Alice nodded "Anyway, I'll talk to her attending physician now to let me handle Nina's case"

"Thanks"

"my job" Alice said then she walked away to talk to the doctor who is currently checking Nina's condition

After all the procedures, Nina was wheeled towards a private room. She's already asleep after all the panic and fear she experienced.

Hades sat beside Nina and held her hand. The doctor said that what happened was normal, but for Hades he feels that it was all his fault. He wasn't able to take care of Nina. He's thinking that he should have just lied, but he also understands why his father reacted like that.

When he was young, his dad told him that it's fine to make mistakes but if made a mistake that includes the welfare of innocent people, he would not help him. His father will let the other party decide what would happen to him so if he wants to walk sideways, he needs to have strong connections, strong enough to oppose his dad.

After many years, Hades can say that he already has enough power to oppose his dad but he allowed him a while ago to bring him to the police station because he knew that his dad sympathizes with Nina.

Nina is an orphan. No one will help her to send someone like him to prison. Maybe his father was thinking that Nina was just afraid to make the matters worse so instead of looking for him and filing a case against him she just ran away. That's why he is willing to hand his only child to the police. His parents are that cruel and upright, and he is proud that he was raised by them.

But now, Hades is sure that he would oppose his parents. He can't let them scare Nina anymore. He was thinking that his dad will just let him experience prison life for a week, but he thought Nina will be alone for a week, he already wanted to back out and when he heard his mom screaming Nina's name he already decided not to leave. He'll just let his parents make him suffer later.

"You are here" Nina's weak voice woke Hades from his thoughts

"sorry" Hades can't think of any words to Nina, it was his fault

Nina sat then she held Hades' face "Why didn't you clean the wound?" Nina asked while touching Hades' wound

"You are more important than that"

Nina's eyes began to cry again. This man really values her. He value her enough to even allow his dad to send him to jail even if she's not asking for it. She just realize that he can really do anything for her.

"don't cry" Hades said then he hugged Nina "I'm sorry, it was my fault"

"You knew right? You knew that your parents will react like that but you still said it. Are you an idiot?!" Nina asked while crying

"I don't want to lie to them, and they are right. You don't have anyone to condemn me, so I let them do that for you"

"you are crazy" Nina sobbed "I never thought of sending you to jail even before I knew you"

"maybe you didn't want to do that because you think no one will support you"

"So do you want to be in jail?"

"No, I just wanted to be with you. But I also knew that the circumstances were unfair for you…"

"don't do that again" Nina continued to sob weakly on Hades' chest "You made me feel what it's like to have someone with me,then in just a short time I thought everything will be taken away from me, including our child"

'I was so afraid to be alone again'

"It will not happen again" Hades said while patting Nina's back

When Nina calmed down, Hades asked her to rest first. When he saw that Nina is already asleep, answered his phone that keeps on vibrating

"Young master! Master Cronos and Madam Karen brought people here. We can't block them anymore" Jerry reported

Hades asked them to not let his parents come here first because he doesn't like Nina to be scared again but his parents are really stubborn.

"Just let them" anyway, Nina is already asleep. He will try to have peace talk to his parents first to let this matter slide for a while.

A few moments later, Hades heard the door opened

"Is Nina okay?" Karen asked whe she saw Nina asleep on the bed

"Yes, she is" Hades then stood up "Let's talk outside, she just fell asleep"

The two agreed so they all went outside Nina's room but before they can start the conversation, Alice and Ares arrived.

"Brother, I heard what happened from aunt" Ares immediately said, he is afraid that Hades will think that it was Alice who told him what happened. He doesn't want his cousin to lose his trust to Alice.

Hades just nodded after hearing his cousin's explanation then he looked at Alice, he knew that she's here to give Nina's laboratory results.

"The results says that Nina is healthy and there are no signs of miscarriage. The bleeding was just normal especially for her who is carrying a twin"

"What?" the four people asked Alice simultaneously

"The bleeding was normal?"

"No, after that" Karen looked excited but her husband pulled her

"I mean, did I hear it correctly? Nina will have a twin?" Karen composed herself, she can't let her son think that she approved what he did. She likes to have grandchildren but that doesn't mean that he can force a girl to make one or two!

Alice doesn't know Karen and Cronos so she looked at Hades first, when she saw him nodded, Alice took out the ultrasound and other lab results and explained it to them

"This is the ultrasound of Nina. These two black sacs here are gestational sac which indicates that Nina is carrying a fraternal twin, uhm, fraternal twin means twin that was conceived with two different egg cells"

"And this one shows the heartbeat of the twins. The first one has 115 beats per minute while the other one is 110, don't worry about the difference of their heartbeats, it's also normal"

"Like I said, Nina's overall results shows she's healthy. Just don't stress her too much. Stress may not be too harmful for the babies, but the accumulation of it over time might be an alarming factor for miscarriage."

Hades thanked Alice while his eyes were so engrossed looking at Nina's ultrasound. These are his and Nina's children.

Alice left after saying other things that he needs to do for Nina. Now, his parents and Ares are left together with him.

" I won't hand you to the police but you should marry her" Cronos finally said after staring at Hades

Ares wanted to ask why his uncle wanted to bring his cousin to the police but he knows that if his uncle wanted to do that, his cousin really did something bad.

"No" Hades firmly said

Hades' parents looked angrily at him, even Ares wanted to smack his cousin. He already made Nina pregnant but he still doesn't want to be responsible and marry her?!

Cronos is already controlling himself not to punch his son. He is afraid that when Nina sees Hades with another bruise she will be stressed, what will happen to his grandchildren then?

"Why?" Cronos asked while gritting his teeth

"I've already made a mistake to her. She doesn't deserve to experience that. She deserves to be pursued until she agrees, not to be forced"

"you knew it but still!" Cronos looked at his son unbelievably that he couldn't finish his sentence "Marry her! Give her your name! Then pursue her for the rest of your life!" Cronos angrily said then he dragged his wife with him as he stormed out of the hospital

Ares doesn't know if he should stay here or follow his uncle and aunt. When he saw Hades going inside the room, Ares just decided to leave, wait Alice is here so he'll just annoy her at her office.

Nina woke up when she heard the voice of Cronos outside. Since she started eating the fruits from her space all her five senses became sensitive, especially her eyes and ears.

She heard that Cronos wanted Hades to marry her but Hades disagreed, making Nina feel lost but when she heard Hades' following words, she smiled. A man who knows he is wrong and tries to correct it, a man who can have everything but still wants to suffer hardships just to be with her, what more can she ask for?

Hades entered Nina's room, she can see that he looks like he is carrying a heavy burden

"you woke up?" Hades said smiling but Nina knows it was not a genuine smile. Nina just nodded and smiled back at him

"The results say that you and the babies are healthy"

"The babies? Plural?" Nina blinked her eyes, did she hear it correctly?

"Yeah, plural" Hades smiled when he saw Nina's dumbfounded look "We will be having twins" Hades said then he kissed her forehead and hugged her "So we need to be extra careful next time okay?"

Nina can't still believe that she's carrying twins.

"then you should not allow yourself to be imprisoned! If you go there, I will look for a man and let him be the father of the twins" Nina threatened Hades, then she felt his hug getting tighter

"Marry me Nina" Hades said, why haven't he thought of that? What if Nina finds another man? What will he do? He feels crazy by just thinking of another man holding Nina like what he is doing right now. He already forgot that a while ago he disagreed with his father's ultimatum.

"why?" Nina became confused, didn't he tell his dad that he will not marry her first? What is this?

"I'm afraid that someone will take you from me. What if you really did find another man? What will I do? I might go crazy"

"Marriage is just a piece of paper…"

"That piece of paper can help me legally make the other man suffer to hell"

"What about me?"

"I will tie you to me so you won't think of looking for another one" Hades stopped for a moment, he blurted his dark thoughts! He looked at Nina, will this make Nina afraid of marrying him?

"Too possessive" Nina said then he cupped his face "You can't be like that. If we get married, make me breathe. Don't make our lives too suffocating"

Hades held Nina's hand and kissed it "I can't help, but I will try"

"Fine, then let's get married" Nina said, though the proposal was sloppy, she only knew this man for a couple of weeks, she will take the gamble. The fear of losing him this afternoon was so real that she still felt like shaking in nervousness.

She knew that her decision right now was abrupt and she might be confusing her fear of loneliness to fear of losing Hades, but she doesn't care now.

"Are you sure?"

"uhm" Nina nodded

"Once you married me, you can't throw me away, you can't leave me"

"Okay"

"if you marry me-"

"if you give me another reason I will no longer marry you!"

Hades just hugged her, he knew she doesn't deserve this kind of proposal, he is now planning to give her the proposal that would let everybody know that Nina is his, the only wife of Hades Keiro Clemonte.