Love Worth Fighting For

101 Only Elena

Muller Hotel International 2.30 PM

Without daring to ask, Elena compresses Christian’s cheek and the corner of his lips whose blood she has wiped before. Elena was self-conscious enough not to ask what just happened, Elena knew that calm was the only thing Christian needed right now.

“You just finished showering?” Christian asks quietly, breaking the silence in the room.

Elena, who had just placed the compress bag on top of the bowl of cold water smiled. “Ten minutes before you come back to be exact.”

“No wonder.”

“What?” Elena teased trying to melt Christian’s mood which was so messed up.

“The cherry blossom scent you usually use smells stronger,” Christian replies honestly, actually Elena doesn’t really like the cherry blossom scent. However, because Christian likes it, Elena is forced to keep using the scented soap when she is near Christian.

Elena smiled. “Do you want to take a shower? I’ll prepare the hot water.”

Christian shakes his head slowly. “I want to sleep, tonight we will go to my sister’s event.”

.....

“Sleep? Shouldn’t I be waiting for someone to prepare clothes for me, huh?”

“No need, let Kainer take care of everything. You just sleep with me,” Christian replies quietly, as he gets up from the sofa.

“But...”

“Just sleeping, Elena. I wouldn’t look for an opportunity like before.” Christian tries to reassure Elena with his eyes starting to tear up, it’s obvious that Christian is trying to cover up his sadness. “Please...”

Elena turned her gaze to Christian’s hand that was outstretched to her, although she actually hesitated but Elena couldn’t bear to refuse Christian’s request. After taking a deep breath, Elena finally takes Christian’s hand and follows him towards the still untouched bed. Unlike the previous two nights, this time Christian lay on his side with his back to Elena staring at the large glass whose curtains were not opened by Elena.

Feeling that Christian’s condition is not okay, Elena finally got up the courage to ask. Seeing the perverted Christian become quiet made Elena seem not to recognize him.

“Want a story?” Elena asks quietly with her chin resting on Christian’s left arm.

Christian doesn’t answer Elena’s question, he still chooses to keep his disappointment to himself. Just as he did three years ago when his father gave him a slap in the face when defending Asher and this time he got slapped again from his mother for the same reason, Christian’s hatred for Asher is even more intense today.

Elena gulped when she realized that Christian had ignored her words. Elena really prefers to face the grumpy Christian over the quiet Christian he is now.

“Well, if you don’t want to talk, I will give you time,” said Elena again, Elena slowly moved her body away from Christian and started lying on the other side of the bed right beside Christian.

Even though Elena had said she wanted to give Christian time to think, Elena, who had a very high curiosity, couldn’t wait for Christian to speak. Elena wanted to grab Christian’s body and force him to speak, but Elena’s courage wasn’t that great. Elena was self-aware enough not to go that far, because carried away by the quiet atmosphere, Elena slowly began to be tempted to sleep, her drowsiness suddenly came. And just as she was about to fall into a dreamland, Elena was suddenly startled by Christian’s big hands that hugged her.

“Christ...”

“Let me sleep hugging you like this, Elena, please...”

Elena immediately stopped her hand which was about to remove Christian’s hand from above her stomach, Christian’s words that sounded so pleading made Elena not have the heart to refuse the man’s request.

Elena slowly caresses Christian’s hand that is wrapped around her stomach. “Go to sleep, you’ll be better when you wake up.”

“You sleep with me.”

Elena chuckled. “Yeah, of course I’ll sleep with you. After you hug me this hard there’s no chance for me to leave, right?”

Christian shakes his head. “Even if you can get away from me then I will immediately chase you back and chain you in the room so you can never leave me again.”

“It’s..it’s...don’t talk nonsense, now let’s sleep. I’m already sleepy too.”

Christian doesn’t respond to Elena’s words, all he does is tighten his grip on Elena, keeping her close to him. And Elena didn’t put up any resistance at all, she chose to let Christian do whatever he wanted at this point. Elena knew that Christian would never be able to touch her again like yesterday when he was in such a chaotic mood.

Elena’s eyes began to close when the sound of Christian’s breathing sounded more regular, with lips that curved into a smile Elena slowly followed Christian into the cradle.

***

Jack’s hopes of seeing Suri laugh after he picked up Asher from the airport vanished when he found Anne and Suri hugging each other with puffy faces. While Anne was talking about what had just happened an hour ago, Jack didn’t dare interrupt. Jack let Anne let out all the tightness that plagued him.

“Christian must really hate me right now, Jack. I’ve never seen him act like that before,” stammered Anne. “He let go of my arms without speaking, he just left without giving me a chance to apologize to him sob.... just got my daughter back and now my son is away... what should I do, Jack?”

Jack, who was already sitting on his knees in front of Anne, moved his hand slowly, wiping the tears that were again streaming down Anne’s pretty face, which was slightly pale. Never having hit Christian in her life made regret so tormented Anne at this time.

“Give Christian time, Christian isn’t a kid anymore. He’s an adult, I’m sure he’ll understand if you hit him on purpose.” Jack tried to calm Anne.

“But Christian looked so mad at me earlier, Jack. What if Christian hates me, what if Christian doesn’t want to come home again? We’ve only been able to get together again after so long, Jack...”

“Anne.” Jack stroked Anne’s cheek gently. “Christian is twenty-seven years old, his age is ripe. There’s no way he hates you over a small matter like this, you’re his mother...a person who loves him so much. I’m sure Christian knows that, so please don’t be sad anymore. . Tonight after the party we invite Christian and Asher to talk together, we can resolve this long-standing misunderstanding. We must reconcile the two of them, even though they are brothers.

Anne nodded slowly. “I just want to see Asher and Christian go back to how they used to be, I want to see them both laughing together like when they were kids.”

“Yeah, we can definitely see them getting back together like they used to. What we need to do now is be patient, I also need to talk to Christian one-on-one because I’m the cause of all this mess.”

“No Jack, you are innocent. Neither Asher nor Christian, this is purely a misunderstanding,” said Anne quickly, she didn’t want to hear Jack blame himself for the tension between Christian and Asher that had been going on for more than three years.

Jack purses his lips with a wistful look, the memory of the night he hit Christian on the head with a bottle that made him bleed unintentionally is so regretful to this day. Even though Christian did not suffer any life-threatening injuries, Jack knew that what he had done in the past had left a deep wound in his first son.

Christian’s accusations against Asher that were so cruel that night made Jack lose control, Jack, who was dizzy because Suri had not been found, had to listen to Christian’s words saying that Asher was just an ungrateful child who was undermining Muller Finance International. Jack, who knows Asher very well, can’t accept Christian’s words, Jack grabs the bottle of wine in front of him and immediately swings it at Christian without thinking twice. Jack’s consciousness only returned when he saw Christian who was covered in blood, fall to the floor and since then the relationship between the three had really become increasingly strained.

“I wish,” said Jack hoarsely. “If I could turn back time, I would definitely go back to that night, the night I lost my son.” Recalling his biggest mistake to Christian made Jack’s cheeks suddenly fill with tears.

“Jack...”

“I know Christian definitely hasn’t forgiven my mistakes that night, I’m sure of that, Anne.”

Anne, who knew how tormented Jack was because of the incident, immediately got off the sofa and immediately hugged Jack tightly. “No jack, Christian would have forgiven you. He wouldn’t hate you either. Christian wouldn’t hate us either.”

Jack, who was again filled with guilt, could only silently hear Anne’s words, he was really so sorry for hurting the child he was so proud of. Unbeknownst to Jack and Anne, behind the door where they are currently talking, Suri has heard all their conversations. Suri, who initially wanted to ask her mother’s opinion about the shoes to be used for tonight’s event, could only remain silent when she heard that her parents were mutually reinforcing each other.

“Actually, what happened at that time? Why is Daddy like this,” said Suri in her heart. “Something big must have happened in my absence.”

Fearing that her parents would find out that she was eavesdropping on their conversation, Suri immediately walked away carefully from the front of her parents’ bedroom to the first floor where Asher was. Suri also intends to find out what has made Christian, their father and Asher’s relationship worse.