Chapter 5 The Crash

Ayla's phone buzzed on the bedside table, waking her up from the sleep-deprived mental state she'd been in all weekend. She blinked at the screen, which was blurry, and saw Lucas's name flash over it. Her stomach got tight. It was close to 10 PM. Why was he calling now?

"Hello?" she said, rubbing her eyes.

"Ayla, there's a problem. You need to come to the office right away.

She sat up in bed and grumbled. "An emergency? Lucas, it's the weekend. "Is everything alright?"

"Just get here as soon as you can," he added in a very serious tone. "I'll explain when you get here."

Ayla's tummy started to hurt. He had never asked her to come in like this before, outside of work. She looked at the clock and saw that it was already 10:30. She felt like something was wrong, but she couldn't ignore the feeling of urgency in his voice.

"Okay. She said, "I'll be there in twenty," attempting to seem cool. "But you'd better have a good reason for this."

"Just hurry," he said again before hanging up.

Ayla threw off the sheets and put on her jacket, her mind racing. The office was only 15 minutes away by car, but there was something inside her that told her to wait. It was too late for an emergency at work.

She took her keys and departed, putting the thoughts out of her head. She would know the truth when she got there.

Ayla pushed down harder on the gas pedal as she rushed down the calm streets. The yellow light from the lamps painted the road as they flickered by. Her mind was racing as fast as the car. Lucas's call, his sense of urgency, and the fact that he wasn't talking on the other end of the queue.

What was happening? Why had he made her come in now of all nights? And why did she sense this nagging worry in her stomach? It was too weird. Too fast.

As she drove through the familiar streets of the city, she tightened her hold on the wheel. The buildings got farther away as she got closer to the office. She knew Lucas could be fierce, but this was different. Was it for work? Or was there anything more personal going on?

A traffic light ahead went yellow, so Ayla veered to the left to escape a red light. Her thoughts drifted again. Was she just being paranoid? She had always trusted Lucas, but his secret was starting to break that trust.

The road ahead became less obvious when she turned the tight corner. A truck hit the lane hard, which caused a huge bottleneck. Ayla's heart raced as she swerved again, almost missing the crash.

The car's tires squealed across the pavement, and her breath caught, but she was able to regain control. She pressed on the gas, her hands shaking a little as she tried to get there and figure out what was going on.

She let out a faint, anxious whisper. "What is this?"

As Ayla got closer to the office building, her heart raced like a drumming in her ears. As she turned the last curve, the air at night felt heavy. She couldn't focus on anything because her body was tense with the need to get to Lucas.

Out of nowhere, the headlights of a car coming towards her filled her view, blinding her for a moment. She instinctively jerked the wheel hard to the right to avoid the crash, and the world appeared to slow down. The tires squealed, but the automobile kept spinning and skidding across the wet road.

She cursed under her breath and gripped the wheel tightly, as if she could navigate her way out of this catastrophe.

But it was too late.

The sound of metal hitting metal flooded her ears as her automobile crashed into another car. It felt like time stopped when the impact shook her body. She tried to scream, but the noise in her mind was too loud. Her eyesight got blurry, and everything around her spun out of control.

The lights went off.

As he ran to the hospital, his gut was in knots, and Lucas's voice repeated in his head. His heart plummeted as soon as he got the call that Ayla had been in a vehicle accident. His mind screamed at him to rush to her and make sure she was okay.

He couldn't let her go. Not after all that.

He didn't know what was going on, but now he had to deal with the results of what he did. Was it his fault she got stuck in this mess? Would she even get up?

As Lucas sat next to Ayla's bed, the sterile smell of the hospital room invaded his nose. The heart monitor's continuous beeping felt too loud in the quiet room, noting each second that went by. His knuckles were white as he held on to the edge of the chair. But his heart wasn't peaceful at all. It raced with guilt, a heavy feeling that wouldn't go away.

He saw her chest rise and fall, slowly and steadily, but that wasn't enough. He was to blame for the accident since he had gone too far. He didn't know how he would deal with it if she didn't wake up and he lost her. He had been too focused on his own problems and his own fight for control. Now Ayla was here, unconscious because of it.

He said, "God," in a voice that was hard to hear. "What have I done?"

His thoughts went back to the phone call, the hurried message, and the reason he had gotten her into this predicament. But none of that seemed to matter now. There was just one thing that mattered: her, lying here in front of him, scarcely breathing.

He wiped his cheeks and felt the sting of tears that he didn't want to let fall. He couldn't do it. Not here, not now. Not when she needed him to be tough.

Lucas's breath caught, and for the first time, he let his defenses down. He couldn't stop his tears from falling. He muttered, "I can't lose you, Ayla," his voice shaking. The words, even though they were quiet, seemed like they had removed a weight off his chest. He had been so careful and cautious, but this was too much. She needed to wake up. He wanted her to know how much he loved her.

He leaned out and brushed a piece of hair away from her face. He hoped she could sense him there, and his heart broke.

Ayla's mind was stuck between dreams and reality, lost in a fog of anguish and uncertainty. Her head hurt, and each pulse reminded her of the crash. The brightness from the room made her eyelids quiver and gave her a vague headache. She attempted to concentrate and figure out what was going on around her. Her vision slowly got better, and the first thing she saw was Lucas.

He was sitting close to her, his face pallid and his eyes full of fear and something else she couldn't quite put her finger on. He held her hand softly, yet firmly, as if he was terrified she would slip away.

"Ayla?" His voice was rough and urgent. "Please, Ayla."

She blinked to try to get rid of the fog in her head. It took her a little while to find her voice, but when she did, it was feeble. "What happened?"

Lucas answered hastily, "You were in an accident." His face lit up with relief when he saw her eyes finally focus on him. "You crashed. I- For a moment, his speech stopped, as if he didn't know what to say next. "I didn't think-God, I didn't think you would..."

He couldn't hold back his feelings any longer, and his words trailed off. Ayla saw the rawness in him for the first time. The man who had always been so strong and unyielding suddenly seemed weak and vulnerable.

Her heart squeezed in her chest. She had never seen him act this way before.

"I'm here, Lucas," she said softly, her voice barely audible. "I'm fine."

He gripped her hand tightly and leaned forward, laying his forehead against hers. The feeling of his flesh and the look in his eyes made everything feel too real and too close.

"Please don't leave me," he begged, his voice shaking as he looked at her.

Ayla's breath seized in her throat. She could see the anxiety in his eyes-the fear that he would lose her. And for a second, she thought he might care about more than simply her safety.

But in the middle of the suffering, uncertainty crept in. Could she count on him? Could she trust the man who had pushed her so far? But here he was, standing in front of her with his guard down, and something was changing between them that couldn't be ignored.

She gripped his hand back, but the doubt stayed. There was more to this than either of them understood, and neither of them was ready to deal with it yet. But for now, she was there with Lucas.