Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Shield and the Chatterbox
Isabella stood deep in the hospital corridor, her mind completely gripped by the lingering echoes of the priest and the astrologer's ancient predictions.
She clenched her hands into tight fists, a fierce and unyielding maternal vow settling deep within her heart.
"I will get Leo married at any absolute cost."
"I am not going to listen to his arguments or his rejections anymore."
"I will search the entire world for that specific girl who holds his destiny."
Inside the quiet room of the intensive care unit, Leo lay resting on the elevated hospital bed, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling as his thoughts drifted entirely to Elsa.
He spoke to himself in a silent, frustrated murmur.
"Where could this stupid, crazy girl possibly be right now?"
"She is completely occupying my mind, and I simply cannot force myself to forget her."
"What on earth did you do to me, Elsa?"
"When you are not by my side, I find myself going completely crazy for you, and even when you are with me, I start behaving like an absolute fool."
"You are, without a doubt, the biggest mistake of my life."
Leo shifted his gaze slightly toward the transparent window glass, noticing Amy standing just outside, staring at him with a wide, painted smile.
A heavy wave of irritation washed over him, and he groaned silently to himself.
"Oh God, this Amy is already irritating me to no end."
"I am already deeply frustrated with Elsa, who just left me without a word and vanished somewhere into thin air."
"The moment I find her, I must deliver a harsh warning to Elsa and tell her that she must inform me wherever she goes, so I can go along with her."
"Because that girl is a complete, walking mess; she always manages to fall somewhere, slip over nothing, and get herself hurt."
The vivid memory of Elsa's bright, innocent smile suddenly flashed across his mind, causing a genuine smile to break across his own face.
He recalled their very first chaotic meeting inside his private room, shaking his head at the memory.
"I don't even know why I instantly smile the very moment I begin to think about her."
"I usually do not smile often at all, but ever since this strange girl entered my life, I feel a sense of true peace and happiness."
He remembered the moments he spent teasing her, deliberately flirting with her just to watch her jaw drop in utter shock as she stared at him with wide eyes.
Leo chuckled softly beneath his breath.
"I don't know why I feel so genuinely happy whenever I am around Elsa."
"But why do I feel like she is so deeply familiar to me, as if her smile and her eyes are something I have known for lifetimes?"
"It gives me an actual chill, making me feel as though my heart already recognized her long before my eyes did."
"Yet, the truth is, I don't know a single concrete thing about her past."
"Who exactly is Elsa?"
"Is Elsa a part of my world already, or was she a profound part of my hidden past?"
His thoughts were abruptly shattered as he looked back at the window, seeing Amy smiling widely, waving a massive bouquet of fresh flowers to gain his attention.
Leo pressed his back deeper into the pillows, his frustration peaking.
"Someone please save me from this devil who looks ready to eat me alive."
"Oh God, how am I going to save myself from Amy's clutches today?"
Feeling completely trapped, Leo quickly closed his eyes and adjusted his blanket, pretending to be fast asleep on the bed.
The heavy door of the ICU creaked open, and Amy walked inside, clutching the colorful bouquet tightly against her chest.
She marched directly toward the bedside, looking down at his still form with an overly sweet expression.
"Baby, how are you feeling?"
"I felt so incredibly bad when I heard the news."
Without warning, Amy leaned down and wrapped her arms around him, hugging Leo tightly against the mattress.
She smiled fiercely into his shoulder, making a dark promise to her own heart.
"I will make you fall completely in love with me, Leo."
"I will use every bit of my charm on you until you are mine."
Trapped beneath her weight, Leo gasped, his eyes flying open as he struggled to find a single pocket of clean air.
"What kind of stupid, suffocating perfume does she even use?" he thought in sheer panic.
"I literally cannot breathe under this scent."
"And oh my God, is she secretly a bodybuilder or something?"
"She is absolutely smashing my arms into the mattress."
Using all his strength, Leo carefully managed to push himself out of the tight embrace, clearing his throat as he spoke in a polite, controlled tone.
"Thank you, Amy, for saving my life at the scene of the accident."
Amy immediately shifted her posture, her face morphing into a dramatic mask of profound worry as she began to act like a theatrical actress.
"I will always save you, Leo, because I love you so much."
"I have been expressing my deep love for you since our very college days."
"I would gladly save your life a thousand times over, Leo."
Leo stared at her blankly, his internal thoughts dripping with pure sarcasm.
"To get saved by you a thousand times, does that mean I have to fall into mortal danger a thousand times?"
"I always knew she was a bit mad, but is she now behaving like a complete psycho?"
"She is a psycho devil."
Amy noticed his intense, unreadable stare and pouted, crossing her arms tightly.
"Why are you looking at me like that, Leo?"
"I am serious about this!"
"I am damn serious!"
"I truly love you, and I am the only one who will always save you."
Leo forced a tight, artificial smile onto his face, his inner frustration reaching a boiling point as he murmured a quiet prayer beneath his breath.
"Save me, Amy..."
"Please, just get out of this room and save me from this absolute torture."
Amy thrust the heavy bouquet into his hands, breaking his train of thought.
"I brought this beautiful arrangement specifically for you."
Leo offered another polite nod, immediately setting the bouquet aside onto the distant bedside table without looking at it.
Amy's expression instantly soured, her tone turning sharp and accusatory as she leaned against the metal railing of the bed.
"You told everyone that you loved a certain girl, but that girl still hasn't even shown her face at this hospital after discovering that you were severely injured."
"That girl must be incredibly selfish."
A dangerous fire ignited in Leo's eyes, his face instantly hardening into an expression of pure, defensive anger.
"Amy, Elsa is absolutely not selfish, and she is certainly not a gold digger either."
"She must be incredibly busy with her own life, and it is highly likely she has never even heard about my car accident."
"I will not tolerate a single negative word spoken against her in my presence."
"I am genuinely thankful to you because you saved my life from that burning wreck, but I will not sit here and listen to absolute nonsense or allow you to speak bad words about the person I love."
Amy gasped dramatically, clutching her chest as if she had been physically struck.
"What kind of dark magic did she use on you to make you blind, Leo?"
"I am the one who actually saved your life tonight!"
"I love you so much!"
She threw her hands into the air, her voice rising in a highly theatrical, melodramatic declaration.
"I am completely ready to sacrifice my own life for you at any given time, even right now!"
"Because I love you more than life itself!"
Leo stared at her flapping hands, his eyes narrowing as he analyzed her dramatic outburst with sheer disbelief.
"I always knew you were completely mad, Amy."
"But I never realized you were entirely insane."
Amy stepped even closer to the mattress, repeating the exact same line with desperate intensity.
"Why can't you see that I am ready to give my life for you and for your ultimate happiness?"
Leo rubbed his temples, his mind screaming against the relentless barrage of dramatic cliches.
"What on earth does she think the word 'life' even means?"
"I think she must carry her heart and her life around in her handbag, just like the flower bouquet she brought in here."
"Using these cheap, trashy filmy dialogues is only making me more and more frustrated."
Leo pressed his palm firmly against his forehead, entirely irritated by her loud presence.
Amy sniffed loudly, looking down at him with a superior expression.
"The girl you mentioned doesn't care about you at all, Leo, and I am far better than her in every single way."
Leo kept his gaze fixed on the wall, a small, knowing smile touching his lips as he answered her inside his heart.
"Elsa is far better than you will ever be, because she is never selfish like you are, Amy."
"She has never once made me feel uncomfortable, and she has always been there, protecting me from every danger like a silent guardian angel."
Amy immediately launched into a non-stop, rapid-fire conversation, her voice transforming into a loud chatterbox as she spoke about random topics.
Leo completely ignored the sound of her voice, folding his arms tightly across his chest as he closed his eyes, asking a single question to the emptiness of his soul.
"Where exactly are you, Elsa?"
A soft, beautiful romantic melody seemed to hum through the very atmosphere of the room, completely unheard by the living.
Standing just behind the heavy white privacy curtain, a translucent figure materialized out of the morning light.
It was Elsa.
She stood perfectly still, watching Leo from a long, heartbreaking distance, her spiritual eyes filled with a deep, wordless devotion.