Silence fell upon Yelena's hospital room. As each second passed, the father was getting more and more impatient.

"Answer me, Felix! I want to hear the truth." Major General Ethan Arista growled. His gaze never left his daughter's fiance the whole time.

​​

Yelena was in a dilemma. She knew her father's nature well. He usually remained calm but once he lost his cool, it's the same as waking up a sleeping tiger! With his formidable aura adding to the tension, the Captain felt the atmosphere so suffocating!

"Father, please listen - " She couldn't finish her words because Felix finally spoke up, making her shut her mouth.

"It's fine, Yelena. I should answer him." He glanced at her and forced a smile. Then he turned to the father and rose from his seat.

"Everything is my fault. My cousin was the one who abducted Yelena. He has a deep resentment towards me which I never knew. I was careless and I failed to notice the danger that comes your daughter's way. I'm deeply ashamed." Felix lowered his head. Though he tried his best to be calm, the pressure was killing him on the inside!

Yelena stared at her father and noticed the anger that was forming in him. Compared to what she saw now, the anger she witnessed in his eyes when he entered the room was nothing! She never saw her father being this angry and it intimidated her!

"Though I know that this won't solve anything, I sincerely apologize. I don't have any excuse." Felix kept his head lowered but Mr. Arista remained quiet.

Almost a minute passed when the Major General finally spoke up, but his words shook the couple to the core. "Leave this room. I don't want to see you near my daughter." The father declared, his voice unyielding yet intimidating.

"Father, please! This is not his fault. His cousin abducted me but... Felix is innocent. I'm still alive because he came on time and save me." Yelena pleaded with her father. Given her father stubborn nature, she became desperate. The Major General rarely changed his mind once he made a decision!

"If he didn't come to your rescue and stopped his cousin, I might already beat him up for bringing this harm upon you!" Major General Ethan snapped.

"I love your daughter more than anything else in this world, Mr. Arista. I know that it's selfish of me but... I can't leave her. She's my life." Felix was serious but pain was evident in his eyes.

"I'm well aware of how you love my daughter, Your Highness. But do you know this? Sometimes, love is not everything. You love her but that exact feeling put her in danger. If you truly love her as you said, then you should know what to do." The father tightly clenched his fist. "If your love killed my daughter, what will you do?"

At his last sentence, the Prince darted his eyes to the father of his fiancee. If his love killed Yelena? He recalled how Cara died because she loved him. Then fear crept into his mind. His already unstable mental state was shaken once again!

"No. I can't let that happen." He muttered. As of now, his hands started shivering in the slightest bit but both the father and daughter didn't notice this, for now.

"It's best that you leave her. I don't want my daughter to suffer again." The father coldly said. Though he felt bad for the Prince, he was blinded by his daughter's suffering. What if she was in danger again? She might not be lucky like today! No matter what, he was her father and he didn't want his daughter to be in danger!

"Please, Dad. The culprit is already caught. Everything will be fine." Yelena tried to talk her father out of this but it's useless. Then she glanced at Felix who was quietly standing still. One closer look and she noticed his shivering hands! No! He's not stable for now! Her father pushed him too much!

"He has no idea that his cousin would do such a thing, Yelena. We can't guarantee that he didn't have more enemies! You might be in danger again! Nothing is guaranteed and I don't want you to risk your life for loving the wrong man." Mr. Arista firmly said, brushing off his daughter.

He inwardly tells himself to be strong. He must protect his daughter. He already lost his only son but he was determined to prevent history from repeating itself!

He turned to Felix who was standing still with a pale face. "Please leave for the better. You will end up hurting each other if this goes on. If that happens -"

"I understand what you said, Mr. Arista." Felix finally spoke up, shocking Yelena. He turned to her and saw her shaking her head. She didn't want him to leave her. "But as I said, your daughter is my life."

Turning his attention back to the father, he continued by saying, "I will leave, for now. I will return to my country and sort everything out. Once I ensure everything, I will come back. No matter how long it takes, I will seek your approval again."

The Prince declaration put the Major General in a daze. When he saw the fear on his daughter's face, he remained silent.

Felix glanced at Yelena and bent down to touch her face. "Please don't do this. Don't leave." She pleaded. She finds it so hard to suppress her tears! She didn't want to part with him.

"Don't worry, my love. This won't be the end for us. I will come back to you as a stronger man." He showed her his hands that were still shivering slightly. "You see this, right? I'm not stable, mentally and physically. I'm not good enough to protect you for now. But believe me. I will never give up on you. To give up on you is the same as giving up on myself." He calmly said, trying to persuade her.

Caressing her hair, he forced a little smile and then rose from his seat. "I'll be leaving." He said and bowed before the father.

He refused to take one more glance at her and the reason was the same as why he never wants her to see him off at the airport. He was not good at saying goodbyes! Then he stormed out of the room without looking back.

She wanted to stop him and lifted her hands but he was moving too fast! Besides, he suffered too much, mentally. How can she try to hold him back? Mental pain was more excruciating than physical ones and she knew that very well. He said he will come back and she must believe that! She should, in order to live on!

When he was out of his sight, Yelena felt like life was flowing out of her body. All at once, the tears which she tried so hard to suppress, forced their way out, wetting her eyes and face.

She saw her father staring at her. She saw the pain in his eyes. She couldn't even bring herself to hate him! If she was in his position, she can't say that she won't do the same. That suffocates her even more!

Felix stormed out of the hospital and Matthew was waiting for him inside a car. When the latter saw him, he quickly ran to him with an umbrella as it was heavily raining. Then he escorted the Prince to the car.

The Prince sat on the backseat and Matthew was repeatedly glancing at him through the mirror. However, the Prince doesn't utter anything. Then they remained that way for the next hours, quietly sitting still inside the car that was placed outside the hospital where Yelena was staying.

Once in a while, Felix would lift his head and stare at the upper floor where Yelena's room was located. He couldn't see her but knowing that she was near, he felt a sense of relief. When she went missing, it was the distance between them that he hated the most!

Whenever he recalled what happened to her, the fear of losing her crept into his mind. He wasn't okay at all! It was already a miracle that he survived four years ago. He thought his life was over when Cara died. He was so afraid that the same would happen!

"Your Highness, it's 4 in the morning. We need to go now if we don't want to be late for our flight." Matthew spoke up for the time in more than four hours.

He wasn't sure of what's going on but he could sense the Prince's pain and suffering. It's not a surprising sight. What the Prince went through the past days were too much for one person! Betrayal, death and fear; these three words broke the always strong and confident Prince, turning him into a mentally unstable person!

For one last time, Felix glanced at the hospital building. 'Goodbye, for now. I love you and that won't change.'

"Let's go." He finally muttered to Matthew while staring at the hospital for the whole time.....