✧

Daisy laid flat on the hospital bed, her cheeks streaked with black tears as she reflected on the events of the previous few hours.

She had awoken in a hospital bed after passing out, absolutely confused until it all came back to her.

She'd gotten out of bed, desperately looking for her Angel. Tyson was there to help her calm down when she was practically screaming at the doctors to let her see him.

Back to the present time, It's been five long hours since the incident occurred.

Daisy felt restless, and the pumping anxiety of finding out if he was okay was eating her alive.

At one point, she even believed she was going to throw up.

Angel's mother, Marina, sat in the waiting room along with her husband, Carlos.

Marina was devastated; her only child, her baby, was dying, and no one knew whether he would survive.

Her mind flashed back to all of his childhood memories.

As she recalled every moment with him, his bright smile and laughter filled her head. He used to beg her to prepare her special chocolate chip cookies when he got home from school.

His once-bright eyes, which were filled with nothing but happiness, joy, and innocence, were now empty like his fathers.

Although she hoped those eyes would lighten again, she knew as his mother that the girl he was currently with was regaining the happiness and light he had all those years ago.

More tears streamed down her flawless bronze cheeks, revealing the normally composed woman to be as vulnerable as she had ever been.

Carlos comforted his wife, despite the fact that his heart was as cold as ice and he had never expressed any affection towards his son, deep down he held concern.

Marina's thoughts were all over the place as she considered how foolish she could have been.

She knew what she was getting herself into when she married Carlos, and yet she still loved him.

But the one thing she regretted was allowing him to bring Angel into the Mafia, despite the fact that she knew she had no say in the matter. She thought to herself that if she had run away from him all those years ago, she might have been able to save her Angel.

She dismissed her own thoughts, thinking how absurd it would be. Even if she despised his lifestyle, there was no going back, and her love for her family was limitless.

Tyson took a seat across from where Daisy was lying.

He despised seeing his cousin in this state, and it pained him to the core.

He realised how broken she was without him, and how this boy could make her eyes light up just by the mere sound of his voice.

Every time she spoke to Tyson about Angel during dinner or when they cleaned the house together, he could see how happy she was with him.

Tyson watched his cousin, who was still and stared lifelessly at the ceiling with red glossy eyes.

Daisy's usually beautiful smile had vanished completely as her heart had broken into a million pieces.

Daisy had hope, though; he had promised not to leave her, so she held tight onto that promise. She clutched it as if it were the only thing that kept her head above water, the only thing that assured her that he would be okay.

The saddened girl carefully rose from the bed, sat on the bed's edge, and raised her head to Tyson.

"I'm going to the restroom." She announces, her voice is hoarse and quiet.

Tyson snapped his head towards her and stood up abruptly.

"I'll come with you."

She stood up from her bed with a shake of her head.

"I'll be fine, Tyson." She says flatly, leaving no space for debate.

Tyson didn't want to leave her since he didn't know what she'd do or where she'd go if he did. Daisy had a habit of making quick decisions without considering them through, and he didn't want to upset her any further, so he let her leave.

The heartbroken girl walked out of the room, her head down, on her way to the restroom.

"Daisy?" From behind her, a gentle voice whispered.

She mentally sighed and turned around, only to be greeted by the mother of her boyfriend.

Marina embraced her with open arms and Daisy instantly wrapped her arms around the beautiful woman.

"He'll be okay, mio amore." She whispered as she brushed her palm over the sobbing girl's head.

Translation; My love.

Daisy, who had thought she couldn't cry anymore, turned out to be able to.

Marina soothed her with her arms until Daisy backed away, giving the sweet woman a fake small smile.

"Thank you, Marina." She whispered softly.

Marina kissed her forehead and smiled at her with blurry eyes.

Daisy took a step back and turned around, headed for the bathroom where she was previously going.

She opened the creaky door and flinched as it slammed closed behind her.

The girl moved up to the mirror, her trembling hands clutching the bathroom sink for support as her body slumped.

Her head slowly rose, and her gaze swept across her features.

Her eyes were red and puffy, with dark circles under them. Her pale complexion appeared to be even whiter as if she hadn't seen the sun in days. Her lips were swollen and red from the tense biting, and her gaze was drawn to her brown eyes, which were empty.

Daisy hadn't recognised herself staring back into her eyes.

She didn't look or act like herself, and she certainly didn't feel like herself.

This was a feeling she despised. It was the same feeling she experienced after her parents died; she couldn't eat or speak properly for months.

Tyson had done everything he could to make her happy, including cooking her favourite meals and simply making her laugh whenever he got the opportunity. Even though he was in pain himself, he made sure that the only family he had left was taken care of.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, jolting her from her trance and prompting her to reach for it.

She pulled the phone out of her pocket and blindly ignored a message from an unknown number, just as she had ignored all the previous texts her friends had sent her.

Instead, her gaze was drawn to the background of her phone, her broken heart cracking impossibly further.

It was a picture she had snapped of Angel the morning after their night together. Silent tears streamed down her swollen cheeks as her aching body slid down the wall.

As he slept, his angelic features were serene, his eyes closed as long dark eyelashes brushed against his high cheekbones, brown locks of hair falling down his forehead and his full lips upturned into a little pout.

As she sobbed uncontrollably, memories of everything they had done together rushed through her mind, every kiss, touch, every word he had ever given her flashed like lightning shocks.

She clutched the phone to her chest as if it were him, promising her that everything would be fine.

"Please be okay, Angel." She whispers as her eyes were screwed shut.

She got up from the restroom floor and walked back to the waiting rooms after wallowing in her pit of despair.

As she entered the room, she noticed Lycian, Elio, and Drake all have frowns on their faces, worried about their leader and friend.

Daisy sat down in the empty seat between Tyson and Elio, Elio had only just realised her presence as he turned his direction towards her.

He felt pity for the girl, it was evident that his closest friend was in love with her and would possibly kill anyone for this small girl.

He hadn't had many interactions with her, but when he did, she was possibly the brightest person he'd ever met. She reminded him of his mother; Elio's mother was a bright, happy woman who remained so even during her battle with cancer.

Elio's light went out when she died, and his father became the enemy after that.

Elio's father wasn't a horrible person; he was a loving, caring father who cared about his only child. Though something inside him snapped, and he became into a terrible, vicious human.

Elio would be abused, and he would be physically and mentally destroyed by him. That's why he's so quiet and closed off; he reads because it relaxes him and allows him to reconnect with his mother.

She read to him every night as a child, and he developed a habit of reading because of her.

So in some way, Daisy reminded him of his mother.

He and Angel had become friends when he was thirteen, when Angel saw him abandoned in a park, his face battered and beaten.

That night was traumatic for both boys, Elio being abandoned by his abusive parent and Angel committing his first murder.

Angel happened to be strolling around the park, trying to shake the image of the man's lifeless body from his mind; his father had forced him to murder the man, and that was the day his last shred of innocence was taken from him.

Elio shook his head, removing the memory from his mind as he focused on the girl next to him.

He smiled sympathetically at her and placed his hand on top of Daisy's shaking one.

"It's going to be okay, Daisy." He assures her.

Daisy grew tired of hearing those words, and the more she heard them, the less they meant anything to her.

She sighed and put her head against his shoulder, her eyelids drooping as they felt heavy, not from sleep but from mental exhaustion.

The emergency room doors slammed open, causing everyone in the room to stiffen and Daisy to jolt upright.

A doctor emerged with a folder in his hands and a sympathetic expression on his face as he turned to face everyone.

Daisy, like everyone else in the room, waited impatiently for the good or bad news.