His Wife (A Contract Marriage Story) by Heer Mangtani

Chapter 50
Healing is a slow process. Even slower when you are confined to a hospital bed for days at a time, cannot talk, and have a
husband who scares away everyone with his terrifying stares and glares.
Even a week later, I couldn’t talk more than a low decibel whisper here and there.
My Grandpa didn’t know about me. I don’t know how they convinced him that I left without saying bye to him, but they did. I
couldn’t talk on call still because of the no voice situation, so I texted him every day, making excuses for not calling. It felt terrible,
but still better than the alternative of telling him the truth. My phone- the one I had dropped when I was taken- was still gone. This
was a new one that Gabriel got for me.
Sam came in the day after I woke up to meet me. Gabriel sat by my side, glaring at him for the entire time that he was here. The
poor guy couldn’t say anything more than ‘you gave us a scare and I’m glad you’re okay’ under my husband’s killer stare, and he
left in under five minutes. I shouldn’t laugh, but I did.
Gabriel didn’t leave my side. Not for a day, not for more than a few minutes at a time to go to the bathroom and shower, and
even then, he made sure there was someone he trusts by my side- Anna, Zach or Alice.
I highly doubt he trusted Alice, but she was the only one who talked to me for hours and actually had my attention, so whatever.
He compromises.
I don’t know when he slept, if he slept at all. He was awake when went to sleep (which was a lot because of the pain killers) and
he was always awake when I woke up, no matter what the time.
He worked from here. He took work calls from here. He held meetings from here. I kept motioning to him that he didn’t have to in
hand actions but he pretended to not understand me when I knew he got what I was saying perfectly well.
He never left.
“Brother?” I whisper-ask, a little surprised when Gabriel told me where he was the past few days.
He nods, feeding me another bite of the hospital porridge, which was bland and terrible. But at least I get to eat Jell-O after that.
“He left when we were barely adults. I tried anchoring him to a different path, but he had his sight set on vengeance,” Phe adds.
I could see the adoration Gabriel had for his little brother clearly in his eyes, but I felt sad that all the while I spent with him,

he
Ver mentioned Damien once, especially since he clearly means so much. I couldn’t voice all that, so I settled on,
“Where?”
“He came here to meet you, Freckles. But he had to leave for home because he remembered something urgent that need to be
taken care of.”
“Thank him?” I ask. It had become a habit in the past few days. I often just muttered a few words of the whole sentence, but
Gabriel understood it just well any way.
Gabriel furrows his eyebrows. “For what?”
“Saving?”
“I saved you. I get all the thanks,” He deadpanned, “Not him.”
I wish he would let me thank him. But he hadn’t as much as kissed me since I woke up, and I was starting to overthink it,
wondering if this physical distance was because of me now knowing about Lily. Nonetheless, I roll my eyes, not letting those
thoughts corrupt the moment. “He’s your brother.”
“Eh, Gabriel shrugged. “He’s adopted.”
Chapter 50
I shake my head, holding hack a smile. This man was impossible
“Are you ready to go home?” He asks despite knowing the answer to that.
I bob my head, a smile spreading on my lips.
I was starting to think he’s only asking me this question again and again since morning to see the smile that spreads every time
he mentions home. I was so ready to get out of the hospital and forget every reminder of what had happened.
I had a lot of questions. How did he find me? What happened to the men who took me? Who were they and what did they
want?

I couldn’t voice them out. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for those answers either, because asking these questions would mean.
answering a few of Gabriel’s, and I wasn’t ready to talk about what happened just yet.
I couldn’t forget his face when the doctor came in and asked me if I had been sexually assaulted, and I shook my head. The
relief that spread across his features was unmatched, like someone had freed him from a big shackle.
But he still didn’t know about the details (not that there were many to give). I didn’t want to talk about it, not yet.
I’m taking up that promotion in the city next month, Alice tells me with a grin in a whisper when it’s time to leave the hospital and
she comes close to hug me.
I can’t tell her how happy I am or how much she deserves the greater pay that would come with the new job or how excited I am
to have my best friend around me again, so I just smile.
“Let’s go home, hm?” Gabriel interlocks his fingers with mine when we walk out of the hospital, and places a kiss on my temple
before I opening the door for me and putting me in, shutting the door behind me. Like I was a child.
I didn’t mind though, because he got in from the other side and then interlocked our fingers again, bringing my his lips and gently
kissing them.
knuckles to
I fell asleep on Gabriel’s shoulder on the way back, and woke up only when he picked me up in his arms to carry me inside when
we’d reached.
“Walk..” I demanded softly, and surprisingly, he agreed, putting me on my feet at the entrance.
I turned around to see Zach and Anna standing with wine glasses, and a ‘welcome home’ banner spread across the length of
one of the walls. Luna pecked from under it with a smile on her lips and tape in her hands.
“We helped ourselves to some top shelf wine, Anna snickered at Gabriel and then moved to me. I smiled, even when sl her
hands around me, placing a soft kiss on my cheek. “Welcome home.”
This place, these people and this safety... it really had started feeling like home.
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