Chapter 48: Chapter 48

KIAN

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you take it easy." Gabriel seems surprised by my appearance. Even he just can't stop with the already-you shit.

"I can rest when I'm dead...". Gabe rolls his eyes and pours himself a whiskey.

"Well, you're really trying to do that right now," he replies scornfully. "Don't tell me you're not in pain."

"Where is she?" I ask him, skillfully ignoring his words.

"Who?" As if he has no idea who I mean, he looks at me with raised eyebrows.

"Heaven!" I growl, making him laugh.

"Path." I look at him questioningly. "Don't you remember what she said? She said when this is all over she'll be gone." I squint and rub my temple.

"Where did she go?"

"She didn't say that." Gabriel clears his throat and ext downs the whiskey in one gulp.

"Did you talk to her before she left?"

"Yes ... "

"And?" What is he hiding from me?

"I'm supposed to tell you a speedy recovery, whatever else," he replies sarcastically.

"Bullshit!" Gabriel now slams his empty glass down on the table.

"Kian, listen! She killed her father to save your ass! She saved your life twice that night! What do you want from her now?" He comes up to me irritably.

"You should tell me what it was like to kill him!"

"You're a bloody jerk, Warren!" he says scornfully. "You should get some sleep to regain your sanity. Go to your mother's funeral on Friday. Now get out!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" I growled angrily. I take a few steps towards him, but Gabriel doesn't back down.

"Get out of my sight, Warren. Now!" Challenged, I look Gabe in the eye. Provoking him fills me with power and as a way to vent my anger. I miss the shot. As if he saw it coming, he backs away. Gabe grabs my wrist and twists it so that it hurts quite a bit. Boxing has taught me to deflect attacks and throw perfect punches, but with this damn injury, I'm clearly at a disadvantage here. And admittedly, Gabe is not an easy opponent. "I'm not going to fight you, idiot!" he snarls, pushing me back in the chest. I'm boiling with so much anger that I ignore his words. I charge in and punch him hard in the face. "You damn it motherfucker," he chokes, clutching his chin that should be pounding right now. Now, finally, aggressiveness flashes in his eyes and he hits me hard on the temple. I just grin and my fist comes up for the second punch, which he dodges and hits me instead. I feel the blood spurting from my nose and give it back to him. But my next movement causes a painful pulling sensation in my stomach area. I groan loudly and bend over. Putting my hand over the wound, I watch my shirt turn red. "Shit, man!" Gabe hisses, putting his hand on my shoulders, but I quickly slap them away. He can shove his care up his ass. "Sit down!" he orders, not exactly gently pushing me down by the shoulders onto the couch. "I'll call the doc he should look after the wound. You don't want to go back to the hospital." Swearing, he fishes his cell phone out of his pocket and firmly dials the number of that Dr. Quinn, who also treated Estrela when she suffered a concussion because of that motherfucker Matthew. The thought of it, staggers I get a deep blow and I have a bad conscience...

"He'll be right here," Gabriel growls in my direction and disappears into his open kitchen. He comes back with two cooler bags. He tosses one in my lap, the other is for himself. He sits down in a chair across from me and puts the bag on his chin." If you don't want to hear it, you have to feel it first. What?" he growls at me.

"Why are you protecting her?" I ask him. Gabriel pauses and looks at me silently.

"What makes you think I'm protecting her?"

"You seem very much like it."

"I'm not protecting you, Kian," he simply says, averting his gaze. I eye him thoughtfully.

"Now she's gone. Just like that?" Gabe sighs and leans back.

"Yes. She left the very next day." He's good at hiding what he's really feeling. But I would almost assume that Heaven has done something to him. What exactly that is, however, is unclear to me.

When finally Dr. Quinn appears, let's put the subject of Heaven aside. She is finally gone and whether we will ever see her again is uncertain. To be honest, I don't really know what to think of it. I'm not even close to her. And I don't feel the feeling of being her brother.

I hissingly lift my shirt for the doc to look at. The old man grimaces slightly. "The wound has opened. I'm redressing it so it doesn't get infected any more," explains Quinn. I watch him silently as he tends to the wound and then bandages it again.

I lean back on the couch while Gabe escorts the doc to the elevator. Then hear Gabriel's muffled footsteps approaching me. He stops in front of me and looks down at me grimly. His chin and eye are already swollen blue and I certainly don't look any better. "I hope that was a lesson for you. I called Ela. She'll be right here." My whole body tenses up.

"You what?" I growl and want to sit up, but the wound throws a spanner in the works.

"She's the only one who can calm you down, Kian. Besides, she's really worried because you just left earlier." I close my eyes and exhale audibly. Fuck! Estrela shouldn't see me like that. I can't look back at her worried and sad expression.

It surprises me all the more that she storms into Gabe's suite neither worried nor sad, but very angry. "What were you thinking?" she hisses, standing in front of me with clenched fists. She looks at my battered face, then my injury. Bewilderment spreads across her face.

"I'll leave you alone," Gabriel says quietly and retreats to one of the rooms in his loft.

"Estrela..." I begin.

"No!" she interrupts me sternly. "Why did your wound open?"

"I was just fighting with Gabe."

"Why?"

"Because that's what I was aiming for. I wanted him to smack me," I admit.

"You're such an idiot," she murmurs softly. She ruffles her auburn hair and turns away from me to look out the window. "I'm really trying everything to make you feel better, Kian. But if you behave like that, fight for no reason and that with Gabriel, I don't know what to do anymore. Yes, I understand that you are incredibly angry and hurt about what happened..." She turns back to me and looks me in the eye intensely. "He is dead, Kian. And what he did is not easy for any of us. But you have to finally start letting go of your anger towards him. He got what he deserved. There's nothing more you can do." She takes a seat next to me and strokes my arm as she continues more calmly, "I'll give you time to think about my words. I'll sleep in my apartment until Friday..." I want to tell her she doesn't need to, but for some reason I don't. Maybe it's for the better. "I'm not asking you to be there on Friday to be. But I wish for you that you take the chance to say goodbye to her." Her green eyes silently ask me to do so. I sigh, can't hold her gaze for long. It tears me apart. can't hold her gaze for long. it tears me apart can't hold her gaze for long. it tears me apart

***

ESTRELA

Standing at the grave with my father, we watch as the coffin containing Kian's mother Kassandra is slowly lowered into the grave. Four days have now passed in which I neither spoke to Kian nor saw him. Meanwhile, I retired to my apartment and tried to bring some order back into my life. Yes, it hurts a lot to leave him alone, although I vowed not to. But maybe my father is right and I also have to take care of myself. Especially my heart, which threatens to break if Kian continues to be so cool with me. Hopefully my taunting at Gabriel the other day opened his eyes a bit...

"Rest in peace," says my father next to me, pulling me back into the here and now. He puts on his black hat after the coffin comes to rest in the grave.

"Rest in peace," I say too. For some reason I can't shake the feeling that I'm being watched. I look around the cemetery but can't see anything that evokes this feeling. We watch as the grave is closed and I put the flowers I had bought on her grave. "He didn't come," I say sadly, bowing my head as we walk across the cemetery to the exit. My father has his arm around my waist and is giving me a light hug. I snuggle into his shoulder and fight back tears that are brewing inside of me. I miss Kian so much. I didn't give up hope that he would appear today and that I could support him, maybe hug him... Or just stand by his side.

"He's a stubborn Ela. And often doesn't do what will really help him." I don't disagree with him.

"He had a fight with Gabriel," I blurt out. My father doesn't look particularly shocked by this.

"Everyone deals with grief differently. Kian would rather thrash about and be angry than mourn what happened."

"I'm just wondering what's worse," I murmur. My father smiles weakly at me.

"You've changed him a lot - for the better. He's finally allowing his feelings since he's known you. Only this is different now. Kassandra wasn't a good mother. But he grew up with her. He always had a connection with her , even when she became ill. He was probably prepared to lose her. But that was because of the illness and not because of..." My father lets the words hang in the air. But he doesn't even need to say it.