Hidden Passion
Chapter 34

"Nath, I can explain everything to you. Please, just calm down. You really don't need this shock. Please, calm down." She gestured with her hand as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Calm down? Oh, my God! Did you just tell me to calm down? You lied to me, Lillian. You have been deceiving me and making me believe that you are not the one. You fooled me!" He shouted and a tear fell from his eye. She started weeping. "I am sorry. I am so...so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I swear. I just want you to be happy. I never..."

"How long have you known? You couldn't have known from the very beginning because I remember asking you to show me your arm, but you refused. I remember clearly-" His head began to spin and all images before him became blurry. "I have known from the very beginning, but I can explain everything to you if you can just calm down, please. This isn't good for your health, please, Nathaniel."

"From the very beginning? From the moment I saw you on my dinner date with your best friend, you have known?" He questioned. "How could you? Lillian, I..." He staggered from one point to another.

Lillian rushed to him and held him. "Please, Nath. Calm down," she cried and watched as he cried and shook his head. He held his head in his hands and started groaning in pain. "Let's go to the hospital," she pleaded and temporarily left him to grab her purse and phone and took out her car key.

As she turned to him to help him to her car, he collapsed.

Lillian could not stop crying at the hospital. She had managed to carry him to her car and had driven him to the nearest hospital which luckily happened to be the hospital he had been using.

The doctor had told her about his illness and how fast he should get operated on and how huge the level of failure of the surgery was likely to be. Lillian had been shocked and kept on crying. She could not help but keep blaming herself for everything that was happening to him. It was all her fault.

"He had planned to go on with the surgery and had filled all the necessary paperwork." The doctor had told her.

"Then, why haven't he gone through with it?" Lillian had asked the doctor.

"It was because of the slim chance of its success. He told me to give him some time to find someone. According to him, he might never make it through the surgery, so he wanted a chance to meet the person before his last breath." Lillian grabbed her hair hard in her hands as she sat in the waiting area and sobbed uncontrollably. Nathaniel knew he might not make it. That was the reason he had been so desperate to find her, but what had she done to help him in the process? She had to hide herself even more and give another person the chance to impersonate her.

She had ruined him. She had destroyed him by her so-called act of selflessness. In the process of making others happy, she had sacrificed her happiness. Why would she hide her passion for him just because she wanted to please another person?

Did she regret that? Millions of times over and over again. He would not have been going through this trauma if she had explained everything to him from the very beginning. Everything had gone wrong from the beginning. It was all her fault. This was where being good led her. It had left her in the lurch where she least expected. It would always be her fault. She prayed silently in tears that the surgery ended well. She brought out his cellphone and thought of calling the number of his mother as the doctor had suggested. She knew that was the last call he received.

His phone was locked. There was no way she would be informing his mother anytime soon. She wiped her tears and sat back on the chair. She called her mother and told her she would not be coming home for the night but assured her that her assistant at work would take care of the company the following day.

"But why can't you come home? Is there a problem?" Her mother asked. "It's Nath, mum." She forced back the urge to start crying all over again.

"What happened to him? Is he alright? Why are you crying?" came her mother's question.

"He is in the operating room right now. I was with him when he collapsed..." She was saying but sighted Nester and the fake Lillian, Linda, as Nathaniel had told her. "I will explain everything to you later, mum. Is dad back from town?" "Yes, he is. He is even talking about seeing one of his neighbors and all, but I don't understand. He said he would tell you about it when you return."

She sniffed. "Okay, mum. Talk to you later," she said and ended the call as Nester stood before her with anger written all over her face. She said nothing but leaned back on her seat and folded her arms.

"What did I tell you, Lillian? I warned you not to say a word to him, but for your selfish reasons, you thought I was kidding," she vented with a raised voice.

Lillian looked from Nester to Linda who removed her gaze on her as soon as she met her eyes. She looked at the young woman from head to her toes before she returned her gaze to Nester.

"If anything should happen to Nathaniel, I" Nester was saying.

"You will what?" She asked, not taking her eyes off her. "What will you do? Kill me? Having her pretend to be me isn't enough for you, right? So, what else do you have in mind?"

"Lillian-"

Lillian looked at the other woman. "And you, how much were you paid to pretend to be someone else, huh? I guess your parents will be very proud of you if they hear this."

Linda looked at her angrily at the mention of her dead parents, but she was right. Would her parents be proud of her if they were to know about what she was doing? Fresh guilt seeped through her veins to her heart.

"I will make this easier for you two. I have told you before, Nester. If you want to successfully carry out your plan without any ounce of failure, it will be best if you permanently take me out of the picture." Linda gasped and she looked at her. "You know what that means?"

Linda said nothing.

Nester stepped closer to her and muttered. "If that is what I have to do, I won't have the slightest hesitation."

Lillian smirked. "I dare you."