twisted » á. morata & p. dybala

doce // visits

isabella

I felt very weak. Not only weak, but also helpless. I couldn't even move my head without groaning in pain. Luckily, Valerie and Paulo had been taking turns taking care of me. 

"Or maybe I should buy the green tea latte," Paulo chimed in, completely snapping me out of my daydreaming. "Or maybe just a glass of lemonade," he was sitting on a cushioned chair next to my hospital bed and we were talking about what he should buy from the cafeteria.

"Just get both," I suggested.

"Yeah, maybe we can share them," he finally closed the room service menu which he had been staring at for the past thirty minutes.

I had been thinking about something, but I really didn't want to ask Paulo about it. The question had been nagging at me for a long time. I hesitated for a long time before finally asking him, "hey, has Álvaro been around?"

"He was, on the first night. Why?" He wrinkled his forehead.

"It's just that," I hesitated again. "I think I saw him right before I passed out. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong."

"You're not wrong. He's the one who found you that night. He brought you here," Paulo's face turned rather flat. I could tell his mood had also changed.

"He saved my life too? I have to thank him then," I croaked out. I knew that Paulo saved my life by giving me his blood when I required it, but I just found out about Álvaro's part in saving me.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll come around here soon," he assured me. I nodded lightly at Paulo's reply, and suddenly the door to my hospital room bursted open, revealing Valerie, my dad, his evil wife, and Anya the little devilish bitch. 

"Isabella, oh my God! I have no words," my dad ran to my bed and hugged me tightly, but I didn't hug him back. When he let go of me, I saw Paulo slowly backing away to give my 'family' some space, but I held him back.

"Please stay," I pleaded in a whisper, and he nodded. He backed into the wall to give my dad some room next to my bed.

"Oh Isabella, you poor little thing," Anya finally spoke up with a dramatic pout plastered on her annoyingly pretty face.

"Oh shut up, you fake bitch," Valerie snapped, her face reddening with fury. I didn't know what happened between them before they went into my room, but surely something did.

"Valerie!" My dad didn't hesitate to snap back at her.

"What? She's making me internally throw up," Valerie yelled again, sending a menacing glare Anya's way. 

"Don't you dare talk about my daughter like that," our stepmother stepped up and looked at Valerie with disdain.

Valerie shook her head in disbelief and annoyance, but she said nothing. She only left the room, not forgetting to slam the door behind her.

"Can you please just go?" I snapped at my father without intending to do so.

"What? But I just got here. I want to be with my daughter—"

"Oh, so I have to get hit in the back of the head with a rock first to get your attention?" I snapped yet again. "Just go," I growled and refused to make eye contact with anyone.

My father finally shook his head in complete disbelief, and he walked out of my room, taking his family with him.

"That was... a lot of drama," Paulo peeled his spine of the wall and sat back down on the chair next to my bed.

"Please, you haven't seen the best of it," I closed my eyes and winced in pain as my head hurt again, but it was more of a headache than the wound hurting.

"You okay?" Paulo asked, his fingers slowly grazing my left cheek to make me look at him in the eyes.

"Yeah, just a headache."

***

A few hours later, I was left alone in my hospital room. Paulo had to go to Vinovo because he had a private conditioning session with his trainer. It was Valerie's turn to babysit me, but apparently, she decided to be late.

When I was pondering to myself, there was a knock on the door. I knew it wasn't Valerie because she wouldn't have knocked. When the door opened, it revealed Álvaro standing there. He looked different. He looked almost... nervous. 

"Álvaro," I croaked out.

"Hi, how are you holding up?" He asked, handing me a plastic bag filled with a few books. "These are for you. I figured that you're not a flowers kind of girl, so I bought some books for you to read."

"Thank you. How did you know I like to read?" I put the plastic bag on the table next to my headrest.

"I didn't, I was sort of gambling," he put both of his hands inside his jacket pocket and just stood there at the foot of my bed.

"Sit down," I beckoned for him to sit on the chair that Paulo had previously sat on. He hesitated at first, but then he moved to sit on the chair. "Thank you, Álvaro. If it wasn't for you, I'd be dead by now."

"Well if it wasn't for Paulo, you'd be dead too. He gave a lot of his blood for you," he takes his hands out of his pockets and leaned forwards.

"So I've heard," I nodded.

"I was just grocery shopping that night. What can I say? It's the best grocery store in town," he shrugged. He was practically implying that it was only a coincidence. Exactly how humble was he though?

"Well, thank you for grocery shopping that night. That, and bringing me here, of course," I smiled weakly, but it was a smile nonetheless.

"Sure," he said. After that, there was only silence between us, and it was extremely awkward. That was the first time it was ever awkward between us. Usually, we always found a way to curse each other and fight, but I guess that had changed. 

"Have you been avoiding me? Why have you been avoiding me?" I blurted out. He hadn't visited me for the first three days I'd been in the hospital, which left me to wonder why.

"I haven't, I've just been busy," he looked taken aback and even more uncomfortable then. I pursed my lips, unsure whether or not I should push the matter further. "Anyway, I just came in to check on you. I should go now," he stood up to leave and put his hands back in his pockets. I almost held him back, but I remembered that we were supposed to hate each other, so I didn't.

"Thanks again. For the books, for coming in, and everything else," I said instead.

"Sure. Get well soon, Bella," he said one last time before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

"Goodbye Álvaro," I muttered to myself.