It had been 6 weeks since Adriano had last spoken to Ximena and also since he had seen her vibrant blue eyes opened.

When he heard about the accident, his heart stopped and his entire world came crushing down. Although he had been slightly drunk at the time, the shocking news made him sober up immediately. It was like ice cold water had been poured into his bloodstream, along with fear.

Granted, receiving a phone call telling you that your wife had been involved in a serious accident and she was in the ER undergoing surgery to save her life wasn't a matter to be taken lightly. He himself almost died on the way there with the alarming speed he had been driving at. If the cops had pulled him over for that, he certainly wouldn't have complied.

Apparently, someone had driven straight into the driver's side due to her not having stopped at a red light, which was highly unusual. Ximena was an excellent driver; an even better one than him so how in the world have that happened? What was doing out at that hour? It was well past office closing hours but she was still on the road. Had she been looking for him? That would explain the numerous messages and missed calls.

Adriano didn't have to be told that this was his fault; he knew it well. The fight they had had that day caused all these damned events and now the only person that he ever cared so much about was in a coma...one nobody knew when she'd come out of, if she'd ever come out of it.

But he didn't want to think like that. No, he chose to believe that she would wake up one day and come back to him. He would have to do a lot of apologizing since he hadn't done that till now, oh how stupid he had been! The last words he had spoken to her were cruel and heartless. He should have never dealt with the situation in his anger. Silence will always be golden.

He had even resorted to praying, something he didn't do much of since his childhood years. You see, he had prayed multiple times before for his mother to come back but she never did. After that, he pretty much had given up on his faith but the recent tragic events had brought it back. Every other hour he found himself saying a silent prayer to God, asking Him not to take his wife away from him so soon.

It really does take almost losing someone to realize how much you love them, his conscience mocked him relentlessly. If those subconscious thoughts had a mute button, he probably would have pressed it by now. Why couldn't he get a break? The guilt was basically eating him up; inside and out. He had put his work on hold, rarely ate and only ever left Ximena's side when he needed to take a shower.

It pained him to no end to see her sunken eyes and hollow cheeks, not to mention how she had looked after the surgery. The bandages, the casts on one of her upper and lower limbs, the bruises, the blood...it was all too traumatizing for him. Adriano had cried in silence when he got to first see her, her family also joined him in the suffering. Dolores had been in hysterics; he could only imagine what it felt like for a mother to see her child in such a state. Andrea looked broken, being held by her twin brother Salvador who looked no better. For the first time everybody got to see that he did love his older sister, despite that sibling rivalry.

Emilio was the worst of them all. Not once did he shed a tear but Adriano didn't miss the wetness brimming in his eyes. He had been angry, downright furious...at Adriano. He had marched up to him and grabbed him by the collar. "You were supposed to be by her side, to protect her. Where the hell were you when this happened?" His father-in-law growled in his face. Santiago had been correct, Emilio was frighteningly intimidating. He had almost crapped his pants then and there.

But he couldn't give a response. Call it cowardice or whatever but there was no way in heaven or hell he could have possibly answered that question. What was he going to say? Mr. Dos Ramos you daughter and I got into a fight and some bitter words were exchanged. At the time of the accident, I was drowning my guilt and misery in alcohol... Emilio would have probably put him in the hospital room right next to hers!

And so, he had remained quiet, which resulted in him being shoved away. Emilio threw him a look of disgust before going to comfort his wife. The doctors came out a couple of hours later and informed them that they had managed to save Ximena's life, but only by a whisker. She was still very much in a critical condition, having suffered severe trauma to the brain, multiple fractures, internal bleeding, massive blood loss, perforated organs...the list was terrifyingly long. She had to be on life support for a while, until last week when she finally became stable.

But she still hadn't woken up yet.

And the suspense was killing everybody. A couple of other people had come to visit her, including Humberto. He was cryptic and evasive on those occasions; it was damn well suspicious but Adriano had no time to question him or his actions. His sole focus was on being by Ximena's side all day, and all night. He'd spend the rest of his days in that hospital room if he had to.

Santiago and Chelsea, and Omar, had also come to visit as well. They were a great comfort, telling him encouraging words and even having unrequited conversations with Ximena's comatose form. One visit that he hadn't anticipated was from Dominic.

If it wasn't for the fact that they were in the hospital or than Ximena was unconscious, he would have not hesitated to rip him to shreds. How dare he show up after what he had done. Kissing another man's wife is just plain stupid and can get someone killed. The same adrenaline rush he had experienced back in Ximena's office paid him a visit that day too, and the exchange between the two almost resulted in another altercation.

"If you value your life, or you have any shred of respect for Ximena, you will get the hell out of here right now before I murder you for real this time," Adriano sliced icily, seeing nothing but red.

"You can't keep me away from her, Adriano. I care about her and I love her as well," he had responded infuriatingly.

Adriano let go of Ximena's hand and stood up, making his way to Dominic. He squared his shoulder and look slightly down into his hazel eyes, as Dom was a couple of inches shorter than him. "I get that you care about her, but only I am allowed to love her. So let me repeat myself, since you seem not to understand-,"

Dom chuckled humorlessly before cutting him off. "That I don't understand what? If I remember correctly, you're the one who made her cry because you never told her how you actually feel. I bet you weren't even aware of it until the accident," he mocked and Adriano took a menacing step forward.

"Watch yourself, Dominic. I would hate to break your face...again," he warned lowly, almost nose to nose with him now.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want that now, would we? I get you're threatened by me and all but that's just you being oblivious and foolish as usual. Ximena loves you to death, but you definitely don't deserve her. You'll never deserve her. I hope you know that, Dos Santos," with that, he gave Ximena one last look before he stepped out of the room.

And he didn't return after that day.

Now that brings up to the present moment; Adriano was still seated by Ximena's bedside with one of her hands held firmly between his large ones. His head was facing downwards, exhaustion taking its toll on him. He was one breath away from succumbing to sleep but he just needed to stay awake. He was the only one there with her, the others having gone to their homes to catch some sleep as it was already well past midnight.

It was increasingly becoming harder and harder for Adriano to stay awake. As he was about to shut his eyelids, he felt something twitch in his hands. At first, he thought it was just his imagination, but when he felt fingers move around once more his head shot up. Ximena's face contorted once, then twice and gradually her eyes opened. His chest felt like it was going to explode with happiness. He could feel his heart soar as she blinked a couple of times before her vibrant blue eyeballs landed on him.

He rose from his seat and leaned forward towards her. "Ximena," he whispered still not quite believing that she had woken up. When he wanted to kiss her forehead, she moved slightly back and winced in pain at her own sudden movement. Adriano moved back and looked at her in confusion. Why had she done that?

Slowly she detangled her hand from his and brought it up to her head. She whimpered lowly and grimaced. Adriano rushed out of the room and rushed out to fetch a doctor. He also decided to dial Dolores number in order to inform her that Ximena had woken up. Going back into the hospital room, the doctor and a couple of nurses checked her vitals, gave her some water for her dry throat and asked her a few questions. Her voice was groggy but to Adriano it was music to his ears.

After a few more minutes, they left saying they would keep running tests and observations until they were sure she would be better. Adriano went back to her side but Ximena wouldn't make eye contact with him. She started at her hands, twaddling with them. "How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"How do you think I feel, huh? I just found out I was in some freak accident and went into a coma for some weeks. I'm peachy!" she droned sarcastically and then wiped a few tears that had escaped her eyes. Wait, was she crying? Had he said something wrong?

He made a move to pat her head but she stopped him. "Don't you dare touch me, Adriano. You...y-you're going to come in here and act like everything's okay. That accident didn't give me amnesia. I was so stupid to think that you could ever love me back. If only I had known that your heart belongs to another," she sobbed and finally looked up at him with puffy eyes.

"Ximena, what are you talking about? I don't love anybody else but you-,"

"STOP LYING!" she screamed. "Amanda told me everything, so just stop treating me like I'm an idiot. I want you to get out of here right now," she said and leaned back in her bed. A second later the door opened to reveal her family members.

Adriano felt his heart squeeze. What did Amanda have to do with this? Damn, is there something that had happened that he wasn't aware of? "Ximena, please just let me explain. I love you-," he began frantically but she slapped his hand away.

"I said get out. I want you out of my life. Don't come near me."

"You heard her. Leave, Dos Santos," Emilio's deep voice echoed in the room. With one last lingering look, Adriano walked past the other family members and left the room.

He stood by the wall nearby and sank down on it in defeat. Everything was spiraling out of control. He had never felt so helpless. He held his head in his hands and cried silently.

What was he going to do now?

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