Chapter 188 - Back home (1)

Three days after Sarah's surgeries passed in a flash. She was spending days in the hospital room, but she was not bored. Aiden never left her side. JoAnna was often there, because she works at Franciscan Medical Center. Sophia and Felix as well as Stella and Edward stopped by at least once a day. Sarah was recuperating well and was ready to be discharged.

JoAnna was giving her instructions how to take care of the bandages and the wound. "I will come once a day to change your bandages and check the incisions. You need to rest and gradually increase your activity level. If you feel any pain or discomfort, stop what you are doing. Let me know if you need more painkillers... You are clear to shower, don't put soap where incision is. Once out of shower, dab it dry right away. No soaking the wound in the bath..."

Both Sarah and Aiden listened carefully.

When JoAnna finished with her doctorly-advices, she moved on to personal ones: "I recommend you stay in Seattle at least one week. In case something goes wrong, I will be close. Decide if you want to go to Sophia's home, or to our family villa. Dad wanted me to make sure to tell you that you are very welcome to go there... but it's up to you."

Sarah looked at Aiden. "What do you think?"

Aiden kissed back of her palm before answering. "I will leave it up to you to decide. I will follow you either way. In my opinion, villa is better. There are maids that can also help you out if needed."

Sarah laughed. "What maids? You are not letting anyone touch me."

"I just want to take care of you. Is that wrong?" Aiden looked pitiful, asking to be coaxed.

Sarah was coaxing him. "Of course not, I'm grateful."

He flashed a mischievous smile and leaned in for a kiss. "How grateful?"

Sarah's eyes locked on his, and the mood instantly changed into a heated one. It seemed like they will eat each other up any minute.

JoAnna cleared her throat. "Hello? I'm still here..." She sighed thinking how these two are foolish. "Should I take that as you are going to the villa?"

Sarah looked at JoAnna and nodded in confirmation.

"OK. I will make arrangements for your stuff to be moved from Sophia's apartment to the villa."

...

They reached Hill family villa, and Sarah was hesitating before entering.

"Everything OK? We can go back if you want...", Aiden held her hand.

"No need. I'm fine.", Sarah said. At that moment front door opened and old butler greeted them. "Welcome Miss Sarah. Rooms are ready."

"Rooms?", Sarah raised her eyebrows.

"You room and guest bedroom." Old butler explained.

Sarah shook her head. "Move all his things into my room."

Old butler hesitated for few seconds before confirming. "Yes, Miss Sarah."

...

Sarah was watching Aiden arranging things in the closet. When he finished, he looked at her proudly, waiting to be praised. She smiled, "You did good."

"Only good?", he wanted to be praised more.

"You are childish sometimes, you know?"

He made a silly face and it made her laugh.

Sarah was happy that Aiden is with her. Spending time with him was never boring. She knows that he doesn't mind being goofy just to get her to laugh. And that makes her love him even more.

"Come, let's start working." Sarah wanted to work.

"You are not allowed to work until you recuperate." Aiden was taking it seriously. She needs to recuperate first.

"What does that mean?"

"See this?" Aiden lifted his arms straight above his head. "When you can do this without any pain, then you are cleared for work."

Sarah lifted her arms in front of her and winced. There was no way to lift them higher, she felt that her insides are tearing apart. "That might take a while."

"Then... it will take a while for you to do any work." Aiden told her with a smirk.

Sarah pouted in protest, but Aiden's expression told her that there will be no compromise.

He almost lost her, again. He will make sure that she takes her time and recuperate. This was serious. Aiden thinks that Sarah is not aware how close she was to dying this time. Or maybe she just choses to ignore that fact. But he can't forget the agony he felt when she fell in the mall, while he held her in the cab, watching her hooked up to those machines, waiting for her to come from surgery… He was in hell until she called his name and pulled him out of it.

...

Dinner was lively. Besides Stella, Edward, Sarah and Aiden, JoAnna, Sophia and Felix were also there.

"When are you going to New York?", Stella asked Sophia.

"After dinner we will head to the airport. Company jet is already waiting."

"You will come back with Sophia?" Stella looked at Felix.

"Yes, madam.", Felix responded.

Edward was looking at Felix. "What are you... in the company?" He wanted to ask what he is to Sophia but changed his mind in the last moment.

"He designs security devices. You two should have a lot to talk about.", Sophia responded instead of Felix.

Sophia turned to Felix, "Dad is director for software development, but in his free time he works on all kinds of gadgets. Also, his department will develop software for your creations."

Stella looked at her husband. "It seems you will get to meet each other often, if nothing else then for the meeting of directors once a week."

Edward nodded. He wanted a confirmation if Felix and Sophia are dating, but he was not sure how to ask.

Stella looked at Sophia and Felix, "Will you be back by next weekend?"

"Definitely" Sophia confirmed.

Stella smiled and shook her head. "That settles it. Next Saturday we will host a party!"

Everyone looked at Stella.

Edward was first to speak. "What party?"

"We didn't host one in a while... let's celebrate Sarah's recovery." Stella responded.

"How about we don't advertise that I had a need to recover." Sarah protested. "This is not something I'm proud of."

Stella understood and scaled down her excitement. "OK. Then we celebrate that Sarah is finishing last semester at University."

Sarah shook her head. "Do you need a reason?"

"Not really... but it will give us a theme." Stella smiled.