The Royal Contract

She had to blink a couple of times to clear her eyesight. When she could finally see the man in front of her, she was suddenly disgusted with his touch. 

She panicked and shoved him with her two hands. But he barely budged from his position, still standing close to where she was sitting. She scanned the area for a way out. She felt the need to escape. 

When her eyes landed on the crowd, they cheered and applauded, but she could not see their faces anymore. She wondered how Jacky could betray her as tears ran down her face. 

"You just made me the happiest man alive." He responded with a smirk on his face, unmindful of her mournful cries.

Then, he grabbed her hands, showing her the ring on her finger. Her eyes almost came out of their sockets. She stared at the enormity of the diamond in her hand.

She did recognize the ring that he gave to her. She felt confused with the situation. She could not believe that she was still wearing his ring.

"It can't be. I already threw this away. I am not marrying you." She hysterically said, shaking her head in denial. 

She wanted to run, but her body could not move. It was as if something was holding her in place. She struggled in the invisible force that pinned her feet to the floor. 

"But you are. You already said yes." He insisted, stepping closer to her. "You can't take it back." He grabbed her by the hand again, pulling her closer to him. 

"I already said no." She pushed hard against him, determined to be free. 

She was not letting him get what he wanted from her. She swatted his hands away from her until she eventually escaped his hold on her.

Finally, she was successful in evading his grip. When he tried to grab her again, his hand landed only on the side of her arm, only grazing it mildly. 

"You are not getting away from me that easily. Not this time." He pounced at her, his face contorted with anger.

But once again, she avoided him. As she shifted her body to the right, she found an opening, an opportunity presented before her. In instinct, she kicked him in the groin. 

With a satisfied smile, she stepped away from him. Confident that he would never recover from the blow that easily. "But I already did." 

She could feel her lips widen as she remembered the way he twisted in anguish. She wished she could have inflicted more pain as payback to all the terrible things he had done.

She was not going to let him bully his way back to her life. She was finally free. She was already happy with her new life in the arms of a good man.

"She needs help." Several voices shouted in the background. It was vagued, but the noises kept coming and going. 

"No, I don't." She told them. "I am capable of handling the situation." She continued to inform them as the noises persisted around her. "I already took care of Nick." She shouted this time to make them stop.

Then, silence.

She smiled contentedly, thinking that finally, they had listened. She had proven that she could take care of herself. She could protect herself from a man like Nick.

Then, black shadows took over her consciousness. She could not hear or feel anything. She was neither confused nor conscious as her mind turned blank.

After a few hours, she finally felt her arms ached, remembering the bruise that Nick had given her. "That's ok. It is just a scratch." She uttered, barely audible even to her ears. 

She struggled to open her eyes, but something had placed a weight on it, making it hard for her to move even her eyelids. She might have been exhausted in her struggle to escape Nick's hold.

She kept finding an explanation for everything that hurts in her body as she searched her brain for what happened next. All she remembered was going to the party, discovering the trapped waiting for her inside.

It was supposed to be her bachelorette party, but instead, Nick was there to sabotage everything. But the worse part, Jacky had been a part of it.

"No." Her smile faded as anguish replaced her expression. Tears began to fall on her face, landing on the pillow underneath her hair.

She suddenly realized that she was lying on a bed, feeling the soft cushion on her head and back. Then, she felt the warm blanket that covered more than half of her body.

This time, she forced her eyes open. She slowly saw the white ceiling above her. Then, the beeping sounds and the various voices around her became more evident. She was not alone in the room.

"Where am I?" She wanted to ask, but her voice remained trapped inside her vocal cord. No sound came out of her lips, no matter how she tried.

She was not in her room, nor was she at home. She wondered if she was dreaming or was this real. She did not understand as she strained herself to hear what was going on.

She could hardly move her neck as if something was preventing her from twisting it from side to side. All she could do was let her eyes wander from side to side, seeing what was only on her peripheral vision.

"What is this place?" She tried again, but she was disappointed with the same result as she felt her lips move, but no words came out.

She could see blue curtains surrounding her, but she could not tell what it was for as she felt a thirst she had never felt before. "Water." She uttered again. This time, she heard a breathy sound come out of her lips.

Somebody might have heard it as the curtain swished and opened, a figure appeared in front of her, wearing a blue uniform that she finally recognized.

"You're awake." He gently said, trying not to spook her still dizzy mind. "Do you have any idea of what happened to you?" 

She only looked at him with puzzlement. She was confused more than ever. Why would this stranger ask her where she was?

"In the hospital." She answered quickly as if that was a dumb question. 

Of course, she knew that she was in a hospital, seeing the uniform he was wearing and the familiar beeping and curtains that she recognized earlier.

"Good." He answered her. "Do you know your name?" He asked again.

"What kind of question is that? Of course, I do. My name is Daniella Hamilton." She said in her tiny voice.

"Hi! Daniella." He greeted her. Then, he questioned her again. "Do you know what happened to you?"

This time, she furrowed her brows, thinking of the answer to his question. That was what she was asking herself earlier. But until now, the answer seemed to be out of her reach.

"I don't know." She finally answered him as she searched her muddled brain for answers. "What is going on?" She once again asked the same question.

The stranger finally answered her, looking at her with kindness.. "You were involved in a car accident."