When There Is Nothing Left But Love

The rain got heavier in the middle of the night, and I jolted awake when thunder cracked across the sky like a whip.

When I turned on my side, I realized with a start that there was someone lying down beside me.

Before I could release a scream, a hand shot out to grab mine and then came a man’s soothing voice. “Calm down. It’s me.”

My chest heaved as I tried to recover from my shock. “Ashton, what are you…” I trailed off.

His unexpected presence had brought scared the daylights out of me, but gradually, I regained my bearings and furrowed my brows. Shouldn’t he be with Rachel now? Why is he here?

I pursed my lips and uttered icily, “What are you doing here?”

His lips remained sealed, seemingly having no intention to answer me. Right then, another clap of thunder boomed overhead, and I flinched closer to him. However, he didn’t seem to notice the subtle movement as he stuffed a pair of earplugs into my ears.

My surroundings instantly became quiet and for a while, I merely stared blankly at him in the dark.

Throughout it all, he didn’t utter a single word. Instead, he hugged me and coaxed me to sleep by gently patting my back.

I was really sleepy, to begin with, I gradually dozed off in his arms and slept through the entire night.

The sky was already bright when I woke up the next day, and the morning air was slightly humid due to the heavy rain from the previous night.

Subconsciously looking to my side, I felt slightly incredulous when I found the space empty.

wind. I would’ve thought I

my temples. Hence, even after waking up for a while, I remained in the same position. When Nora came into my tent and saw me lying down

shook my head and parted my lips to answer. “My head… hurts.” My throat

I may be

touching my forehead with the back

a haste and spoke to someone. “We should pack our things right now and go

but my throat hurt

walked into the tent and scanned my face with his ominous eyes. Then, a frown appeared between his brows when he touched my forehead.

should take her to the base to see a doctor first.

pounding headache. I knew that nothing I said would make a difference,

Ashton brought me straight to the base

getting into the car. My body felt light, as though I was floating

I was plagued by an unending stream of

face came into view, I reached out

was on the verge of breaking down after several failed attempts. As my emotions spiraled out of control,

voice reached

tries, I realized that I couldn’t open my mouth, let alone speak. Hence,

indistinct. One thing they had in a common was that they felt like

and emotions felt so tangible that

finally opened my eyes, it was to see everything white. I’m in