Stressed and anxious

Petal PoV

When we woke up it was almost . Ethan ordered dinner for us. While we waited for the food to arrive, we enjoyed the beautiful view from the window while we waited for the food.

I was sitting on Ethan's lap as he hugged me from behind. He must have certainly sensed how uncomfortable I was when he was swimming but as always he did push me to tell him, I was glad that he didn't, because I needed time.

"Do you like the view? Ethan asked.

I nodded my head. Who wouldn't, the hotel view was mind-calming. I'm glad that Ethan brought me here.

Knock… Knock

The hotel service brought our meals. Ethan placed the dishes on the table and I reached to pick the spoon but he stopped me.

"I will feed you." Ethan said and picked up the spoon, feeding me.

I could only laugh at how he spoils me, but I love it when he treats me like this, as any woman would.

While we were eating, Ethan was casually speaking to me about our day, asking me if I had become less scared now that I started to learn how to swim. He was trying to make me open up to him. He wants to know what was holding me back and why my mind was distracted and I think I should tell him.

"I had an accident when I was young." I said, signaling.

Ethan lowered the spoon and looked at me, reaching to hold my hand, he waited for me to continue.

I took a deep breath as I started to tell him the details.

"I was eight years old when my mother took me to the beach for the first time. I was playing on the shore when a group of kids started to hate me for no reason." I was still feeling frightened by what happened that day.

I closed my eyes, letting the tears fall. I had never shared this with anyone, so sharing it after all these years brought all the locked-up emotions from the past.

"It's okay now, no one can hurt you. I'm here with you." Ethan's assuring words comforted me. It gave me the strength to continue.

I continued "I couldn't hear what they were saying, so I pretended that I ignored them and this made them angry. They grabbed me and tried to drown me in the water. I couldn't scream for help, I was so scared, I couldn't breathe and I thought I was going to die. I don't remember what happened after that. The only thing that I remember is that I woke up in the hospital and my mom was by my side."

I saw the rage and the anger that Ethan started to feel but tried not to show it and tried to look at me with his gentle –living eyes.

Ethan pulled me to him, sat me on his legs, and hugged me as if iI were a baby, it was his way of comforting me. Sharing this with him made me feel relieved, though it might seem that it's a trivial thing for me it wasn't but somehow it affected my life

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Ethan POV

Holding her in my arms, I kissed her on the forehead trying to mend her soul, fully knowing that this was not going to happen because it had already affected her.

The fact that she was feeling about something that I didn't know. The anger inside me was getting bigger, someone hurt her when hurt her and they will pay. I know exactly how I'm going to find them.

After the meal, I took Petal for a long walk on the beach and it helped her to clear her mind. She became cheerful again and smiled again.

I noticed that she preferred taking a walk on the beach then swimming. It's understandable due to the trauma she went through. But. Slowly I'll try to heal her to the point that this trauma will no longer affect her.

"I'm alright now." Petal said l, signaling. Trying to make me not worry about her.

I smiled at her gently and pulled her closer to me as we continued to walk on the beach. Tonight I learned something new about Petal who doesn't share her feelings easily due to her disability and the investment she grew up in.

After we returned home, that night Petal had a fever, stress, and anxiety that exhausted her body and she fell ill.

After checking her temperature, I replaced the IV drip. This wasn't the first time that this happened, it happened a couple of times after she woke up from the coma. Sometimes she has nightmares about the night of the accident and wakes up shaking and frightened.

The doctors advised us to be patient as the trauma of what happened isn't something easy to forget about.

When anyone says Petal, they think that she's fine while the truth is she's just pretending to hide her suffering.

Due to Petal's illness, we postponed inviting Alexander and Amber over to dinner. I wanted to wait until she fully recovered but Petal insisted on inviting them.