Several days passed, during which Fati stood as an impenetrable barrier against the old grandfather's desperate desire to be discharged from the hospital. No matter how hard he tried, and regardless of the heights of his fury and arrogance before the staff of doctors and nurses filling the corridors with his shouting, threats, and endless disputes the scales would completely tilt the moment Fati stepped into his suite. The second he caught sight of her white coat and commanding presence, his tempestuous rage would instantly die down, transforming him into a submissive, docile lamb before her orders.
Ultimately, however, the grandfather reached a point where he was utterly suffocated by the hospital walls. He could no longer tolerate staying, especially after Fati ordered the removal of all medical monitors and devices from his body, as they were no longer necessary. During her latest rounds to his suite, he looked at her with exhausted eyes carrying a strange plea, and murmured in a softened tone,
- Fati... my dear, your grandfather is in dire need of true rest, and this chaotic hospital atmosphere does not allow for that at all... I want to return home.
Fati examined him with clinical, discerning eyes, checking his vitals, and answered with her signature strictness,
- But Grandfather, you haven't finished your physical therapy program yet... You still require ten full additional sessions. Your muscles are still frail and need intensive exercises to regain their strength.
The grandfather deftly tried to bypass her decision, seeking her approval as he quickly proposed,
- And why can't they bring the necessary equipment and specialized nurses to the mansion?! Let them conduct the sessions there under my roof... That way, I will have fulfilled everything you requested of me without any shortcomings... What do you think?
Fati let out a deep sigh, a calm and emotionless smile tracing her lips as she spoke,
- Very well, Grandfather... you shall have your wish. Just three additional days for final check-ups to ensure your vital signs are entirely stable, and then I will authorize your discharge.
Fati had become completely closed off in her interactions with her grandfather since he regained consciousness. She no longer treated him with the warmth of a longing granddaughter; instead, her presence was strictly confined to that of a stern, professional physician. She never sat by his bedside, never initiated casual conversation, nor did she ever hand him food or a drink. Even her hands... they no longer patted his aged hands with the tender affection she used to shower him with daily, while weeping, as he lay comatose. She had erected a thick, steel wall of coldness between them, serving as a shield to protect her wounded heart.
At that exact moment, the door pushed open and Jaguar stepped in with measured strides. He moved across the room, leaving a palpable, distant space between himself and his grandfather, as was always the norm in their strained relationship. Jaguar was never a conventional grandson; he was worlds away from his grandfather emotionally. Yet, despite that coldness, he visited him at every single opportunity, never missing a single day.
Turning toward Fati, Jaguar caught her eye, offering a quiet, cool greeting. Over the past days, he had grown accustomed to her icy demeanor and silent wall, just as she had adapted to his rigid formality. However... despite all the calculated detachment, there was something rebellious that flatly refused to submit. Whenever their eyes locked in the narrow space of the room, a hidden, searing flame would ignite within their pupils... a mysterious, complex spark blazing with desire, remorse, and deep longing a flame Fati was utterly unable to comprehend within her fractured soul.
Fati found Jaguar's arrival to be a golden, irreplaceable opportunity to escape. Evading the siege of his scorching glances always required her to fling herself out of that room as quickly as possible, fleeing from emotions she couldn't comprehend. Before the door could fully click shut behind her, the grandfather's voice drifted to her ears, speaking to Jaguar with absolute rigidity:
- Fati has finally permitted my discharge.
Walking down the corridor, a faint, mocking smile traced Fati's lips. "Permitted him?" As if she had been keeping him imprisoned behind those medical bars! However, her thoughts suddenly veered toward the nature of the relationship between the two men. She wondered to herself why the grandfather was so intensely strict with Jaguar, and why he treated him with such blatant coldness. Was there a deep-seated flaw and an old wound binding them together? She didn't grant herself more time to dwell on it, for another appointment awaited her; she remembered that Grandmother Matilda Peter's grandmother was leaving the hospital today after making a full recovery. She decided to go bid them farewell and check on the old lady who belonged to her savior and the safe haven.
Meanwhile, behind the closed door of the grandfather's suite, a heavy silence reigned the moment Fati departed. The grandfather shattered the quiet, piercing Jaguar with sharp, interrogating eyes, and demanded,
- Tell me, Jaguar... what happened to Fati to make her act so harshly toward you? She utterly loathes you, and rushes out of the room the second you set foot inside... Even you, I don't see you treating her as your wife
Jaguar turned toward his grandfather. With hardened features and eyes burning with the bitterness of her years of absence and his own lethal remorse, he muttered in a low, dark voice,
- And whose fault is that, Grandfather?! Tell me... weren't you the one who demanded I take revenge on her and her family all this time?
The old grandfather's features contorted, his eyes widening in genuine panic as he cried out in a choked voice,
- What?! What on earth did you do to my granddaughter while I was in a coma?! This was never your plan... and now you want to implicate me in this guilt all by myself, Jaguar?! You are the one who did this to her!
Jaguar took a single step toward the bed, his eyes burning with the fires of harsh realities. He spoke in a low, razor-sharp tone,
- Grandfather... have you forgotten your old desires?! Have you forgotten how you explicitly demanded that I treat her with the exact same cruelty and humiliation that my aunt's husband used against Aunt Rosie?! I executed your wish down to the letter!
The grandfather's face turned ash-pale, his lips trembling as he tried to defend his past sin,
- I know... I know I asked that of you... but that was before I discovered the truth! Before I knew she was the daughter of my precious Rosie my long-lost granddaughter!
A heavy, suffocating silence descended upon the suite. The grandfather locked his lips together before continuing in a cautious tone, terrified of losing her,
- Does... does Fati know that I was the one who asked you to harm her and take revenge on her in the past?
Averting his gaze toward the window, Jaguar answered in a husky voice weighed down by burdens,
- Don't worry, Grandfather... I haven't told her. That truth has never left my mouth.
The grandfather exhaled a slight sigh of relief, then asked further,
- And when... when exactly did you find out that she was my missing granddaughter?
Jaguar replied, his eyes snapping back to anchor on his grandfather's frail features,
- Right after the surgery that saved your life and woke you from your coma... Around that time, Fati went to visit Aunt Rosie's old maid. And there... through that maid, I discovered the entire truth. I found out that Fati is Rosie's daughter.
The grandfather nodded helplessly, gripping the bedsheets with a weak fist, and spoke in a pleading, advisory tone,
- For six years, while I lay in a coma, you treated her with coldness, unaware that she was my granddaughter which explains why she is the way she is and why she never drew close to me. You endured such humiliation in your home to become the person you are today, and the fault is entirely mine; I was the one who asked it of you.
He placed his hand over his aged heart as if to quiet the heart consumed with grief for that flower which had withered before its time and continued.
- Fine... the past is gone. But do not harm her anymore, Jaguar... Try... try by any means to make her love you again.
Jaguar's lips twitched, and a faint, shattered smile traced his face one overflowing with utter helplessness and bitter self-mockery. He lowered his head, genuinely possessing no answer... How could a man who had incinerated a woman's heart, shattered her pride, and within whose office her terrified screams still echoed just days ago, ever find a way to make her love him again?! How could they ask him to rebuild a soul he had masterfully reduced to absolute ruin?
Another half-hour slipped by with Jaguar still seated beside his grandfather's bed. He peeled an apple with practiced, steady fingers, handing the slices to him while they discussed corporate matters and the company's booming market expansion. Despite the rigid coldness enveloping their bond, Jaguar could never deny, deep down, that this harsh old man was his only remaining family in this world after his parents' demise. He was the one who had once pulled him from the depths of misery, teaching him how to be unyielding, resilient, and as solid as stone against life's brutal blows. For that alone, he peeled the fruit himself out of deeply buried respect, ignoring the private maid stationed in the corner of the suite. Yet... if the grandfather had taught him how to freeze, Fati had taught him entirely different things; she had taught him how to soften, how to feel, and how to bleed as a human being.
Jaguar swept out of the luxurious suite, heading toward the hospital's main exit where his high-end vehicle awaited to transport him to his vital meeting. The moment the grandfather had awakened, Jaguar's life shifted back to its old track, heavily flanked by tight security details. Though he had dismissed his personal bodyguards for the past six years in pursuit of isolation, the grandfather had fiercely compelled him to reinstate them the second he learned of their absence.
On his path to the exit, Jaguar's strides suddenly froze. His sharp eyes caught sight of Fati standing near the gateway alongside the elderly Mrs. Matilda and her grandson, Peter. Fati was smiling with a purity he hadn't witnessed in years, enveloping the old woman in a warm, tender embrace that he starved for.
A roaring fire ignited in his chest, and his movements were steered by a blind, possessive instinct. He advanced toward them with confident, booming steps under the watchful eyes of his guards, obliterating all distance until he was standing directly behind Fati. Without a single warning, his powerful arm draped tightly over her shoulder, pulling her back flush against him with a firm yet protective force forcing her frail frame to align completely against his overwhelming, masculine build, as if sealing his eternal mark of ownership over her right before the other man's eyes. Anchoring his defying gaze squarely onto Peter, he murmured in a deep voice dripping with dark amusement and mockery,
- Darling... aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?