----------
💔 🌃 City Hospital, 9.00 PM
The air in Gabriella's private room at City Hospital was thick with the scent of antiseptic, a stark contrast to the volatile emotions swirling between the three people inside. This hospital, an imposing tower of glass and steel nestled in the upscale district, was usually a place of sterile calm, but right now, it felt like the stage for a silent, electrifying drama.
Gabriella sat propped up against the pillows, wearing a pale blue hospital gown that made her complexion look porcelain-delicate. Her normally sharp, intelligent eyes were wide with surprise, fixed on the man who had just made an outrageous claim.
Jake stood tall, a vision of controlled intensity. He was dressed in a dark, simple black t-shirt, the outfit of someone who walked the line between danger and devotion. His stance was rigid, every muscle radiating conviction as he locked eyes with the newest threat, Felix.
"Who are you to Gabriella?" Felix's voice, though initially just a cough at the entrance, was smooth and challenging as he stepped into the light. He was the picture of understated class—He wore a sleek, black leather rider's jacket, the kind that promised both speed and danger, zipped high against the chill. His hair, dark and perfectly tousled, was punctuated by three startling, crisp white color strips that cut across the side, making him look less like a fighter and more like a mysterious,concerned expression that seemed too kind for this confrontation.
Jake didn't flinch. His face was a mask of cool defiance as he delivered the blow: "I'm her Boyfriend."
Dona, who was hovering by the window, tending to a wilted flower arrangement, audibly gasped, her eyes widening into perfect circles. Felix's smooth façade fractured slightly, his brow furrowing with suspicion. Gabriella, the subject of the declaration, was utterly confused. Her heart gave a sudden, hard thump against her ribs. She hadn't expected this at all.
She quickly pulled herself straight, her voice level despite the inner turmoil. "He is my Senior," she clarified, injecting a note of simple professional respect into the tense moment.
Felix's mouth curved into a slow, knowing smile—a mockery. "Oh," he drawled, taking a slow step toward Jake. The gesture was a subtle invasion of personal space, a challenge. "You already have a fiancée, and yet you're here, pestering another girl? Is that your manly behavior?"
Jake's eyes, usually a cool grey, flashed with outrage, turning dark and stormy. "I think you are too interested in my life," he snapped back, the air around him crackling. He leaned in conspiratorially, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous whisper aimed at "Wait..Gabriella's life... do you?"
Felix scoffed, stepping closer until he was nearly toe-to-toe with Jake, staring directly into the stormy depths of his eyes. "I'm not usually interested in others' lives, but if I see you are troubling her, I will interfere."
"You don't know anything about us," Jake countered, a dangerous, victorious smirk playing on his lips. "But I'm telling you now, she is going to be my girlfriend soon." He turned his head slightly, his gaze piercing Gabriella's own, the intensity of his desire a palpable heat in the room.
Gabriella was speechless, her mind racing to reconcile the cold, calculating Jake she knew with this fiercely possessive man. Felix simply smiled knowingly, a tiny flicker of something unreadable—amusement? concern?—in his expression.
Just then, his phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, his smile vanishing as he answered. "Yes, I'm on the way."
He turned back, coming near Dona to hand her a bottle of medicine. Then, he looked at Gabriella, his gentle demeanor returning. "Gabriella, I have to go. Take care." His eyes, however, snapped back to Jake, locking onto him one last time. "If you need anything," he said, his voice ringing with a pointed sincerity, "you can call me anytime." He gave Gabriella a quick, warm smile before turning and leaving the room.
Gabriella blinked, thoroughly confused. Why was he being so overly friendly?
The door clicked shut, leaving a charged silence. Gabriella whispered to Dona , needing an excuse, "I need water." Dona, still wide-eyed from the drama, nodded and hurried out to the vending machines.
Jake moved swiftly, closing the remaining distance between him and the bed. Gabriella met his approach with a straight face, her voice cool. "Why are you behaving like that?" She let out a small, amused chuckle. "Am I your girlfriend?"
Jake's expression was serious, devoid of the earlier aggression. "Are you thinking I'm joking?" he asked softly, his gaze penetrating hers. "My feelings towards you are true, Gabriella. No one can change it."
Gabriella paused. Her eyes, the windows to her carefully guarded soul, locked with his, searching for the lie. Then, a small, genuine smile touched her lips.
"Your behavior is completely different from the character I saw before," she observed.
Jake smirked, a devastating flash of masculine charm. "Do you like it?" He leaned closer, his scent—spicy and undeniably magnetic—filling her senses. "My lover side?"
Gabriella's breath hitched. "You…" Her cheek instantly flushed a deep, tell-tale red, and she quickly averted her face. "You didn't answer my question yet," she said, quickly changing the subject, her voice a little shaky. "The one I asked you yesterday."
The smile disappeared from Jake's face. His head lowered momentarily, and the earlier tension returned, but it was now laced with regret.
"Gabriella, I thought you knew the value of friendship," he said, raising his head to meet her gaze, his eyes intense. "When you were worried for your best friend's death… still, you are asking me to choose one of you from both."
Gabriella's sharp face softened, a brief flicker of pain crossing it. Raina, who killed my friend Kevin. She knew the stakes better than anyone. "You are right," she conceded in a low voice. "I… I know the value of friendship. But standing beside a bad friend is wrong."
Jake's expression hardened with his own conviction. "In friendship, there are no differences in bad or good. A friend means a friend. Whether they are good or bad, doesn't matter."
Gabriella's smirk returned, this time sharper and knowing. "So you are defending for them."
Jake inhaled deeply, closing his eyes for a second as if bracing himself. "Listen, Gabriella. I can guarantee you one thing: just as I am desperate not to leave my friends, I won't leave you either. And I won't allow them to harm you. More than that, I will stand for you in any situation."
Her eyes locked with his. You don't know the whole truth about me, she thought, the heavy weight of her revenge plan pressing on her.
"Whoever you are, it doesn't matter to me," Jake said, his voice sinking to a clear, deep register, unwavering. "I want only you. Only you."
Gabriella's voice softened, the armor around her heart cracking a little. "If you… know that I'm not the person you believe, what will you do?"
Jake looked confused for a moment, waiting for an answer she wasn't ready to give. Then, he smiled. "I don't mind. I believe the person I'm seeing now. And I know she does everything for a reason."
A genuine, beautiful smile bloomed on Gabriella's face. She leaned forward, closing the final inch between them, and pressed her lips against his.
When their lips parted, she looked him straight in the eye and said, low and firm, "Once I've decided, no one can change my mind."
"Then me too," Jake murmured, a triumphant fire in his eyes. "I don't like to waste time."
He swiftly leaned back in and sealed the deal with a kiss that was passionate, consuming, and utterly real. They were opposites, revenge and devotion, yet their lips fit together perfectly, melting into the moment. His hands roamed her face and tangled in her dark hair, pulling her closer, while his other hand found her waist, holding her as if she were the only stable thing in his world. Gabriella's hands found his shoulders, pulling him down, matching his intensity. He kissed one side of her mouth, then the other, and she kissed him back, the long, breathless kiss finally parting them away.
They were both breathing hard, their eyes shining with a shared secret, a mutual understanding deeper than words.
Jake hugged her tightly, burying his face in her neck, a protective, fervent gesture. Gabriella hugged him back, feeling the solid strength of his body, her mind alight with conflicting truths.
I always with you, Gabriella, Jake thought fiercely, his heart pounding against hers. And I won't let you do anything against Raina too.
The confession and the passionate kiss had sealed a pact, a bond forged in contradiction and desire. But as Gabriella held him, her eyes remained wide open, staring at the sterile white wall. The revenge plot was a ship she had already sailed, and now, the captain of her enemy's fleet had just vowed to stand beside her, loving the enemy he didn't know existed.
----------
To be Continued....
-----------