Flashbacks

Noah and Mr. Lavins were in my hospital room with me, talking to each other. I say each other because I was pretending to be sleeping. Basically, I was sleeping until Mr. Lavins came into the room and began holding my hand, squeezing it once in a while.

I wanted to ignore the squeezing and go back to sleep however he began apologizing to me over and over again for not knowing I existed and for being absent in my life. He kept saying he would do anything to make it up to me. To be quite frank, I was extremely close to crying. My stomach was filled with butterflies that I didn't know how to calm down.

When he began crying, I was about to pretend to wake up and speak with him but Noah entered the room, interrupting Mr. Lavins. They began talking about how Noah should become my personal bodyguard and how he should report to Mr. Lavins about anything that's even mildly concerning happening in my life.

They then talked about how they opened an investigation to find out who attacked me. As soon as I heard the news, my heart dropped. I didn't understand why they would do that. Nor did I want to.

I began panicking to the point where the heart monitor began beating rapidly and a nurse had to come in and check up on me. She told them everything was okay then left, allowing them to keep talking about what they wanted to do with me.

Mr. Lavins told Noah that he didn't care if I consented to live with him or not and that I'd have to live with him so he could protect me. But like I said before, I'd rather die than go with them. Mr. Lavins and his family. I don't want to interrupt his life or be a burden on him.

No matter how badly I wanted a family, I knew I wouldn't get one. At least not one with Mr. Lavins being my father.

After talking about the whole living situation, Mr. Lavins spoke about how he didn't like the lifestyle I lived in. That was when I had enough of them talking behind my back.

"I honestly don't care if you like my lifestyle or not. It doesn't concern you at all," I told him before adding, "Besides, you're the last person whose opinion I want to hear." Both the men looked startled. They turned to look at me.

"Sweetie, I didn't know you were awake." He, Mr. Lavins, smiled sympathetically. "How are you feeling?" Likewise, he was wearing an expensive black suit that fit him perfectly. His eyes were a luring dark brown, and he had short black hair. He wasn't as tall as I assumed, standing at about 6'0. His lips were thin yet full and his eyes were bushy but also a bit on the thinner side. He was pretty muscular, too. My eyes lingered on Mr. Lavins for longer than they did on Noah. After all, this was my first time seeing my sperm-donor.

Noah, on the other hand, looked more relaxed. He was wearing khaki pants and a tight white shirt. Unlike the last time I saw him, he had dark eye bags under his eyes. I immediately felt guilty.

Was I the reason he wasn't getting sleep? ...It doesn't even matter. It's none of my concern.

"Don't call me sweetie," I told him, rolling my eyes. I didn't even mean to say that, it just slipped past my lips. But can anyone even blame me for not wanting a father anymore?

Mr. Lavins shifted from one foot to the other. It was clear he was a bit uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Noah stared at me as if I was a puzzle ready to be solved.

"What do you want me to call you then?" Mr. Lavins asked.

"My name, which is Eleonora if you don't know since, after all, this is our first time meeting and talking to each other." Maybe I was being too harsh on him, but at that moment, I didn't really care. Why should I?

Mr. Lavins sighed. "I understand

where all this is coming from, okay?

el the

But please act a little more mature. At least for now, since we have a few things to discuss. You're getting discharged from the hospital today and we have your room at my house ready, so you'll be coming over today. Now, I'm going to go sign the papers to get you out of here."

Before I could argue with him, he left the room, leaving Noah and I alone. Together.

I noticed Noah had a bag in his hand. He handed it to me. "These are some clothes you could change into, unless you'd prefer to stay in that hospital gown," he joked.

I sighed. I didn't really feel like being happy but I gave him a small smile anyways. "It's been a few days already?" I asked him.

He nodded his head. "Time's been going fast. It's been three days. The doctor said you're ready to go, we just have to keep close watch." That's when I noticed I no longer had all those needles stuck into me. They were all taken out, probably while I was sleeping.

I began trying to get off of the hospital bed but my legs felt numb since I haven't used them in a few days. I was about to fall off the bed but Noah's hands wrapped around me.

"Be careful," he said. "I don't think the doctor would like it if you stayed here any longer." He chuckled. I couldn't help the smile that came across myself despite me trying to not be happy. Noah was just the type of person who made everyone smile by smiling.

"Thanks for saving me again," I quietly whispered to him. He helped me get to the bathroom where I cleaned myself up and wore the clothes - which happened to be a sweatshirt and sweatpants, thankfully. God knows I wouldn't be able to wear jeans.

Before leaving the bathroom, I gave myself a small pep talk. I couldn't go back to my own place, which sucks but it is what it is. I'll have to ask Dan to get me a few of my things so I couldn't go get them either...I hope he and his girlfriend are okay though.

"Whatever you do," I told myself, "don't get in the way of his family. You have no right to just pretend like they're your family, too." I walked out of the bathroom with the bag that now had the hospital clothes. "I'm ready," I announced.

"Before you go, wear this hat and scarf. Make sure to keep your head down and hide your face, okay? We don't want your identity to be revealed yet."

I looked at him, my eyes wide. "What?"

"The press is outside the hospital. People found out Mr. Lavins came to visit someone in the hospital and now they want all the details," he explained. "What the hell is the press doing outside?" I asked.

"What? Your father is a big social media figure," he said nonchalantly.

I slowly began panicking but Noah instantly calmed me down, telling me that I would be fine and he would be by my side. A part of me trusted him so we walked outside the hospital and to a black car together. When we were outside, I kept my head down and scooted closer to Noah.

The press were yelling all these questions and had their cameras pointed at Noah and I. Finally, we made it to the expensive looking car and Noah and I sat in the backseat of it. As soon as we sat down, the car began moving. I noticed Mr. Lavins wasn't in the car se assumed he was going to go on a different car.

Taking a deep breath, I began thinking about how me being seated in that car was going to forever change my life.