Chapter 276: Chapter 276

"I’m sorry that I could not protect you.... again!" Ian’s voice choked as he gently enveloped Shelby in a tight hug. His raw emotions poured out of him, making the adults in the room, Suzie and Currey, uncomfortable.

Shelby also wrapped her arms around him helplessly.

’You don’t have to beat yourself over something that we had no control of. It was my fault for trusting blindly!’ She sent via their mind link to him even though that did nothing to ease his distress and self-blame.

The two remained like that until the doctors poured in. A flurry of activities ensued after that, during which Ian literally remained stuck to Shelby’s side. One cannot say that it was surprising to see Ian glued to his wife’s side.

It did not take long for the quiet hospital room to turn into a bustling place. The doctors were surprised beyond anything for the simple reason that the patient they had been raking their minds on, having sleepless nights combing all medical books and journals, woke up with a clean bill of health.

That was just impossible, by all means. However, that was the reality presented to them.

Not long after, Alex came along with Geneva, Ava, and Brad, and their relief was immeasurable. To put it lightly, the past few days have been incredibly nerve-wracking for all involved and even the bystanders. Despite this, they all showed their affection for Shelby in subtle but not intruding ways, allowing the couple to have time for themselves.

A couple of hours after Shelby awoke, Rocky, the last of her visitors, arrived, drawing all eyes onto him, temporarily.

Rocky had received the call just as he was about to head to a lecture. Rocky’s gaze landed on the couple on the wide hospital bed, and Shelby propped up with Ian, feeding her a bowl of soup.

Rocky did not regret his outburst at Ian one bit. He knew that, at some point, Ian needed that reality check. Ian needed to understand that Shelby had some backing, no matter how weak that was.

Even though he still felt some guilt, Rocky would have still done the same if given the chance to turn back the hands of time. Not surprisingly, no one had held him answerable for that action against Ian as if they understood his actions then.

Rocky’s eyes took in the scene and its subtle details: Ian was in loose clothing that looked like a pyjama, but not. His facial features were, undoubtedly, outstanding.... Maybe a little too much as he sat on the bed with his back on the headpost while Shelby rested in his arms, and he continued feeding her slowly.

Ian looked gentle yet domineering at the same time. It was hard to imagine that tall giant of a man holding a dainty spoon and feeding Shelby patiently.

At the foot of the bed were Gabriel and Ingrid, whose eyes were glued to Shelby as if blinking would make her disappear from their sight.

To the side of the bed was Suzie, standing upright with a small napkin hanging on her arm like a stewardess or waitress in an elite restaurant waiting to serve her masters. Suzie would periodically hand things off a trolley to Ian as he attended to his wife.

"Master Ian, I can do this for Miss, you don’t ne-"

Suzie let out another sigh for the thousandth time. Since Shelby had awoken, Ian had not let anyone touch her in the least, except for Gabriel and Ingrid, who had crawled their way into Shelby’s arms but had also been pushed back by Ian after merely minutes.

The scene was too touching. So, despite Rocky’s lingering dissatisfaction with Ian, he had to let go. Rocky had gone through the motions of anger, bewilderment, self-blame, and all other emotions he was unsure of. Still, one thing was clear to Rocky: ’His sister was above all, and he would never tolerate any grievances towards her even from the most powerful man on the island.’

At that moment, however, he couldn’t help but think that there was no need to speculate about the type of woman who would suit Ian; the answer was right in front of their eyes!

Rocky’s anger had been cut short that day when Ian had also collapsed. In his love-struck mind, Rocky thought that Ian had succumbed to his sentiments. In other words, Rocky thought that Ian loved Shelby so much that the attempt on her life had taken an adverse effect on him. Rocky was not far from the point though.

Rocky looked on in mixed feelings and consoled himself that, at least Shelby was cared for there and his sentiments had been hammered home to his brother-in-law. If his sister felt cherished, then Rocky was fine with it. ’Let’s keep watch for now. Sis is awake and that is all that matters.’

Rocky thought as he walked briskly to the bed, his eyes still trained on his sister. However, he first picked up Shelby’s medical chart to look at. An involuntary sigh of relief left him at the details. All the monitoring machines had also been taken off Shelby which added to the relief.

"Are you okay, sissy?" Rocky asked, tugging the guilt he felt aside. He had more important things to deal with.

Shelby paused and nodded at her brother with a bright smile that could melt hearts. She still looked slightly pale, but the colour was fast coming back to her cheeks. Ian only waited a moment before he nudged Shelby slightly with the next spoon of soup, "Have more...." Ian said

’My sissy is back!’ Rocky thought, passing a glance over Ian, just as his phone rang. Rocky pulled out his phone and only briefly glanced at it before silencing it and shoving it back into his pocket.

It was from his mother. Rocky had only communicated with Angela for the past few days. He did not want to see Clara even when she was admitted to the hospital. Call him cruel but he did not want a mother who was also that heartless! Everyone had their ways on how they treated such people and Rocky chose to ignore. It was not a hard decision to choose between his mother and his sister!

Rocky had only been able to go through the past few days because of his ’moment’ with Ava.

The thought of that passionate kiss between them gave him fluttering butterflies. He had been on cloud nine since then, even though Ava had been giving him the cold shoulder since then.

Rocky had neither seen her, nor had she been picking up his calls but he still had that goofy grin whenever he thought of that morning.

After Rocky confirmed that Shelby was okay, his eyes gravitated to Ava automatically, at the back of the room, but she averted her gaze. Ava was surprised and embarrassed. She knew it was not fair to Rocky, but she could not help it.

’This is not the time, Ava! Let’s concentrate on Shelby and her only!’

At that moment, Shelby only felt touched and truly appreciated with all the people around her.

"What are you still doing here?" Ian asked suddenly, his eyes trained on a doctor, who was hovering by the door.

The question startled the man who looked as if he had been caught doing something bad. He opened his mouth and closed it with an aggrieved look. ’Why is it that I feel like a criminal caught doing something when I only wanted to check on the patient?’ He thought. However, with that question from Ian, Currey stepped up before him and gestured to the door.

The doctor looked from Currey to the rest of the eyes in the room that were all looking at him and turned, leaving without a word.

Ian dubbed Selby’s lips with the napkin given by Suzie as she cleared the bowls.

"You okay?" He asked again and Shelby let out a helpless smile. She looked at the expectant gazes and rather asked,

Ian leaned her back on his chest so that she could be comfortable.

As if on cue, the door pushed open as the doctor got to it and in came Murray and the person that was not on anyone’s favourite list.

The doctor watched in horror as Murray dumped the young woman like a sack of potatoes.

The doctor turned back in panic heading for the unconscious woman but was blocked by Murray.

"You will be called if your services are needed."

"Is of no concern to you!"

"I-" The doctor could literally feel the room go colder as all gazes turned hostile all at once. Even the two kids on the bed looked threatening – a very ridiculous notion, no matter how he thought of it. How could two kids do any harm to a grown adult like him? He did not want to test that theory or how that notion found its ways into his mind. The doctor stumbled back, wondering why he had even stayed back in the first place.

"Your services are not needed!" Murray repeated word for word as if to hammer his point home.

"Please?" Murray gestured towards the door in a respectful tone that still sounded like, ’If you don’t, I’ll break your neck!’

The man turned tail and run.

Murray closed the door and then turned, bowing to Shelby. That bow spoke volumes and very few people in the room understood it. Again, all eyes turned from the door, to Shelby, this time. It was eerie, no matter how one looked at it.

"Thank you, Murray, please help me wake her up!" Shelby’s melodious voice rang out in a seemingly polite request but gave shivers to the ears that heard it.

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