Within an hour of her waking up, Kylie was surrounded by friends. Many were crying with joy because of her recovery. They were glad she finally woke up, and her friends, who were worried about her, felt relieved. She wanted to ask how they had survived, but she chose to remain silent. There had been no guarantee that she would ever wake up. Nate and Fannie were there. Lucas and Faith were there, and Ethan stood by the side of her bed, holding her hand. He was worried about her for the past few days that she hadn't woken up. Ethan's face looked haggard for several days that he had been taking care of her. He loved Kylie so much, though, he knew that their relationship was bound to have trials; he was still there waiting for her to get conscious and could explain everything to her.

Kylie said she was thirsty, so Ethan let her hand go and went off to prepare her a cup of peppermint tea, which was her favorite. With Ethan out of the way momentarily, Nate stepped forward and gave Kylie a gift basket filled with fruit. There was also a novelty card that read, "I am so glad that you didn't die! You made us all worried to death mostly, Lord Ethan,"

​​

Reading the novelty card, she felt sudden pain while staring at the last message. For her, it emphasizes that Ethan has been with her while she's unconscious. She threw a glance at her husband, who quietly prepared something for her. She caught him throwing glances at her, and she could sense that he wanted to have privacy with her.

Kylie tried to ignore him. She laughed at Nate's last words and said, "No one is happier than I am that I didn't die, but wouldn't you have felt like a fool if you'd bought this novelty card, and I'd died!"

Kylie put the basket aside and gave Nate a big hug. "Thank you for your gift!"

Ethan arrived shortly with the tea. Kylie took it, thanked him, took a small sip, and placed it on the dresser beside her bed.

Since Fannie had entered the room, Kylie felt that she could see that something was different about the girl. She couldn't discern what it was, but she determined that she would have to keep an eye on her. She felt paranoid because of what she had seen the day he followed Tom Thomas.

***

Once everything had settled down, Ethan looked to Nate and asked him what had happened to the men that had accosted Kylie and Faith. Nate looked at Lord Ethan and said, "You can rest assured that I took care of them. You don't need to worry about them anymore. They can't bother Kylie anymore," He patted his shoulder.

Ethan addressed the group and said, "I think we should all go and let Kylie rest. The doctor said she could only have two visitors at a time, and family only. We have clearly breached those rules, so let's get out of here before they throw us out."

Having said that, everyone left; once everyone was gone, Kylie rolled over, closed her eyes, and tried to fall asleep. Twenty minutes later, though, when the door opened, she was still awake. She recognized that the intruder's footsteps belonged to Ethan, but she feigned sleep.

Ethan walked over to Kylie's bed and took her dainty hands into his much larger palms. Feeling his touch on her skin, all of Kylie's doubts came rushing back to her, and she was angry. She still didn't know the name of the woman he'd been with, or what they'd been doing together. The whole thing, to Kylie, was a complete cluster fuck. More than anything, she felt like she wanted to run away. She wanted to scream and question her husband, yet she finds herself lacking courage to do it. She is afraid to know the truth. She can't bear the pain of being rejected again. Aiden had done it to her, and now Ethan also hid something behind her back. She felt tired of thinking about these thoughts that bothered her.

Ethan was still holding her hands when she fell asleep.

The next morning Kylie was discharged from the hospital. By then, everyone had gone home except for Ethan, who was sleeping in the waiting room. Kylie got her things together, snuck past Ethan, and took a taxi home.

On the way home, she noticed that there were many text messages from Lucas. The first one said, "If you are up to it, would you like to go to the Tea Maiden with me tomorrow?"

"Of course," Kylie replied. "Come and pick me up tomorrow. Faith is sick, though, and has to rest for the next two days – so she won't be able to join us."

"Sick?" Lucas wondered. "She was fine yesterday when she was at the hospital…"

"It's girls' stuff," Kylie lied. "You wouldn't understand."

"That is unfortunate," Lucas replied. "I couldn't even begin to imagine how bad menstruation can be. I hope that, as she bleeds, she doesn't lose too much blood. Anyway, let's not talk about that anymore. It makes me uncomfortable. I will pick you up tomorrow for tea."

With that settled, they exchanged pleasantries and said goodbye.

The next message was from Faith. It said, "Kylie, how are you? Has your fever gone down?"

Kylie chuckled. Apparently, Faith didn't know that she'd been discharged after being given a clean bill of health.

"I'm alright," Kylie replied. "I am back at home now. How are you?"

"I'm fine," Faith replied, "but you gave us quite a scare when you ran off in the way that you did. Please, never do that again."

Kylie said, "I won't. I promise."

As they were talking, Kylie happened to look out the window and see a Knight XV pulling up in the driveway. Inside, the vehicle she saw the one person in the world that she really did not want to see. It was Ethan Parker, and he didn't look very happy.