His Wife (A Contract Marriage Story) by Heer Mangtani

Chapter 49
1 don’t know how long I remained asleep for, because every time I stirred, I could sense different people around me.
“I failed her, Damien. Gabriel’s voice.
“I need to go... take care of something. A foreign voice.
“You need to go?” Gabriel sounded... angry..
Then, I faded back to sleep. The next time, the voices were different.
“You need to freshen up.” A feminine voice was speaking, I think Alice.
“I’m not moving from here. Gabriel replied. “The doctor said shell wake up any minute now.”
I wanted to wake up, but I couldn’t. I felt like I was being pulled into an unending sleep cycle.
“Is there anything I can do?” Sam was speaking.
Yeah... leave. Gabriel again.
I wanted to laugh at Gabriel’s pettiness, asking him to stop being like that towards Sam. That we had resolved everything in our
past and both moved on.
I wanted to turn my body because my back felt stiff.
I wanted to turn to Gabriel, who I knew was sitting next to me, his hand often caressing my forehead. I wanted to put my arms
around him and never let go.
Once, he placed a little kiss on my head, whispering, Wake up now, baby?”
After what seemed like forever or trying and failing, I could finally manage to open my eyes.
There was pain.
My stomach was hurting. My head was hurting. My throat was hurting. My back was hurting.
Everything hurt.

I blinked, parting my lips, trying to call for the man who had saved me. But I couldn’t speak. Instead, I just croaked a sound. that
sounded truly inhuman.
My hand was squeezed, and I turned my head to my side, taking in the foreign surroundings I was at, that looked awfully like
every other hospital room
Alice looked shocked, as if she didn’t expect me to wake up. Sof. Sofia, oh, you’re awake. Oh, thank Jesus. She paused,
pressed a button, and then turned back to me, cupping my face Are you okay? Are you in pain?”
Itned speaking again, but all I could produce was another one of the inhuman sounds.
Just wait, okay? She continued striking her hand through my hair. “The doctor’s coming
I tried talking again, and this time, no sound came up. So I gave up, hoping Gabriel will hear fin awake and come along with the
doctor.
He didn’t
1a
Chapter 49
The doctor came. He asked me to not speak, just nod. He asked me if I knew who I was, what year it was, how I was taken. I
nodded in them all.
He went on to tell me that I had screamed too loud and had managed to swell my vocal cord. Nothing serious, nothing a few
days of rest and warm water wouldn’t heal. But I need to talk in whispers till then, if I talk at all.
I didn’t remember screaming that much. Just once, when the man hit me.
Or maybe more. Everything was a blur.
A pathetic, painful blur.
When the doctor tried touching my throat, quite possibly to palpate any swellings, I flinched.
I shook my head, looking at Alice with pleading eyes.

She understood what the man who kidnapped me didn’t.
The male doctor was sent away, and a female one was called.
I could see Alice holding in a sob while the female doctor helped me sit upright and then checked me, and once she confirmed
that the swelling had reduced and I would heal in a few days and left, Alice broke into tears.
Im so sorry. I promised myself I wouldn’t cry.” She sobbed. “I was so scared.”
I was scared too. I wanted to say, but I didn’t. I wanted to hug her while she cried, but I didn’t want to be touched. So I held her
hand and let her cry until the door opened.
It was Zach. And then his wife peeked from behind him.
Alice excused herself, and Zach and Anna stayed. They both said a few things, and I nodded my head to everything. Anna
kissed my
forehead and reminded me that she was always there for me, I could come stay with her for a few days if I ever wanted to.
I knew that was an indication to the Lily drama and although that she was just a week ago, it seemed like a lifetime back. It
suddenly seemed trivial now.
I stared at Zach a little longer, and I knew he knew why I was looking at him.
He sighed. “He didn’t leave your side for a minute since he found you, Zach told me, “He’s outside.”
Send him in, I pleaded with my eyes, the only way I knew how to
Zach squeezed my hand softly before he left.
Grandpa didn’t come, and a part of me wanted to believe he didn’t know I went missing. He would be the first one here if he
knew. I didn’t want him to know, I didn’t want him to worry.
The door remained shut for so long that I started believing he’d never come, but finally, he came. The man I had been waiting to
see since the moment I opened my eyes entered.
I had never seen Gabriel this way. He was always put together down to his last hair strand, but today he wasn’t. His hair was
messed up, his stubble was grown more than he maintained, his clothes looked worn out, but it was his eyes that drew my

attention.
His brown eyes were hollow even as he stared at me. Bloodshot
He walked to me, and didn’t sit on the chair next to the bed like everyone else did. He sat on the edge of the bed right in
front of me
Chapter 49
“I failed you. His voice was a broken whisper.
Maybe it was how he sounded, or maybe it was just seeing him, that my heart fell. My chest hurt. Tears that I thought I didn’t
have any more of made their way to my eyes, falling out before I could even try controlling them.
A sob escaped and I desperately shook my head.
His hands held my face, his thumb gently wiping my tears away. I failed you, Freckles.”
I continued shaking my head and sobbing until he leaned ahead to put his arms around me, and collected me in them.
1 completely broke down.
I wanted to tell him how scared I was, how I wished every second that he would come and save me and then he did come. I
wanted to thank him for saving me and tell him how everything was hurting. How I didn’t want him to let me go, ever.
But I couldn’t talk, so I settled on crying.
1 cried and cried till my tears ran out and held me through it all until I calmed down and only then he pulled away.
1 let h
him go.
Even then, I held his hands. I held his hands because I was afraid he’ll disappear if 11
He didn’t seem too keen on letting me go either. He kept his one hand intact around me, holding me as if collapse if he
lets me go.

He used his other hand to hold my face, placing a soft
fi kiss on my nose.
“Freckles,” he mumbled, and paused. “Sofia”
He doesn’t call me Sofia, he never has.
I blinked.
“You are my wife, Sofia. His voice was soft but firm, sounding like a promise. “And anyone who tries to take you away from me
will learn the hard way that I will never let you go.”