chapter 37 - The End?

Lara's P.O.V. :

Right now we are flying back to New York. Everyone on the plane is worried about Mrs. Adams. I remember how panicked Shane looked when I first met him at the Beijing airport. His tie was loosely hung, his handsome face was covered with sweat beads, his eyes were red shot and he was continuously on his phone trying to get updates about Mrs. Adams. He really loves his mother.

We couldn't meet Mr. Chang and aunt Suzie personally for the last time as we all were in a hurry. Though we all face timed with the couple. They sent their good wishes for Mrs. Adams. They even wanted to join us but we insisted them not to as they had the whole lot of important guests in their house.

*****

We all entered the Adams mansion and found Cameron along with the other family members seated on the large couch.

As soon as everyone noticed us, they stood up and Cameron came running slowly holding her belly towards Shane. The siblings hugged each other and Cameron hid her face in his chest crying.

"Cammy, is mom okay?" he asked caressing her back

"She has been sedated by the doctor. She's sleeping. Doc said he can't say anything about her condition right now, we'll have to wait until she wakes up." Cameron said sniffling

"Don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine. " he consoled and walked towards the couch along with Cameron. He made her sit on the couch and Mr. Parker gave a glass of water to her. She drank the water.

"How did this all happen?" Jake asked as we all settled on the sofa.

"Mom was playing with the kids around the pool area when suddenly her legs slipped and she fell into the empty pool. Her head collided with the pool floor with great intensity and she fainted right there with blood ozing out of her head. Doc has given all the medication to mom, he said he can't say much right now." Mr. Parker explained while rubbing Cameron's back consoling her. Crying is not good for her and the baby.

"Where's dad?" Shane asked standing up.

"He is with mom in their bedroom. He is not willing to leave her side." he replied.

"I'll go, see mom and dad." Shane said and went away to their bedroom.

"Mommy...I missed you!" Cara came running towards me and snaked her small arms around my neck and his her face in the crook of my neck.

"Oh honey...I missed you too." I said kissing the top of her head.

"Mommy, grandma fell in the pool and injured her head." She said crying.

"Shhh...she's gonna be okay baby. Don't cry." I said wiping her tears.

"Lara, go and take her to the room. She is traumatized right now and so is our Josh. The accident happened in front of their eyes. Make sure she sleeps peacefully. " Cameron said rubbing Cara's back

"I guess you're right. I will take her up." I said as I scooped Cara in my arms and walked upstairs.

*******

I came down about 2 hours later after making sure that Cara sleeping peacefully.

While I was descending the stairs I saw the whole Adams family seated in the hall excluding Mrs. Adams. Jake and Angie were also there. Though Ian and Ash were nowhere to be seen..maybe Ian went to drop Ash to her house.

I slowly descended the stairs and quietly sat beside Cameron. Shane's face was void of any expression. He was looking straight nowhere in particular and was in a deep thought.

"Did your mother wake up?" I asked Cameron.

"Yeah. Doctor is examining her inside." She said looking at the door of their bedroom

Soon the doctor came outside the room and closed the bedroom's door slowly trying not to produce any noise.

We all stood up and looked at him waiting for him to speak.

"Is mom alright?" Shane asked.

"Yes, Shane. She's perfectly fine." He said smiling

We all sighed in relief.

"And the good news is that her memory is back. " the doctor added making everyone's eyes widen with surprise.

"Really?" Cameron and Shane's father asked

"Yes. She has regained her memory." He confirmed

"Can we meet her?" Shane asked

"Yes, but make sure you don't stress her much." He advised

"Of course, we'll make sure of that." Shane's father said and they all entered her room.

I too tagged along them.

"Mom!" Cameron cried softly and hugged her

"Oh..my baby..don't cry. Mom is okay. I am fine.." Mrs. Adams said caressing her hair, lovingly

Both had tears in their eyes.

"Mom I thought I lost you." Cameron said still holding her mother close to her fearing she might lose her.

"Oh..my poor baby." Mrs. Adams rubbed her back.

Mr. Parker walked to his wife and took hold of her pulling her gently away from Mrs. Adams

"Don't stress honey, you need to take care of our princess as well." He said rubbing her belly. She chuckled and nodded her head. Mr. Parker wiped her tears and kissed at the top of her head. I didn't realize when a single drop of tear rolled down my cheek looking at them.

Shane slowly walked towards his mother and knelt in front of her. He took her hands in his and kissed them

"Mom, never ever think of going away from me, do you get me?" He warned like a kid which sounded more like complaint

It made all of us chuckle. Mrs. Adams hugged her son.

"Mom is totally fine. She's not leaving you anytime soon. She has so many things to see before she dies. She needs to see your wedding, your kids and the kids of your kids" Mrs. Adams joked. We all laughed at that but I could sense that Shane looked tensed after hearing his mother's words.

What happened?

Shane's father walked towards his wife and kissed her forehead and they talked for a while.

"Mom, now you need to take rest. We will talk later on." Shane said and made his mother lie comfortably on the bed and covered her with the quilt.

Everyone left the room. Except for Shane and I. He was into deep thoughts and somehow seemed tensed.

"Shane...she's fine." I said smiling and was about to keep my hand on his shoulder assuring when he backed away and nodded his head slightly. He then left the room without even glancing at me for once. What happened to him? Why is he behaving so distant?

It must be due to his mother's accident. Maybe he needs some time to come out of this trauma.

Yeah..he must be under trauma and stress. Nothing else...right?

I also exited the room slowly making sure that no noise is produced. Everyone was seated at the dinning table and were enjoying their lunch. I walked towards them. Where is he? I searched for him but he wasn't there.

"Lara, come join us." Cameron called me as soon as she saw me.

"I am not hungry. I'll better go and get freshen up." I said

Everyone nodded their head and I walked towards our room.

It feels so good to call his bedroom 'ours'. I smiled at my own thoughts and entered the bedroom.

"Baby, you're awake?" I asked as soon as I opened the door and found her seated on the bed in Indian style and rubbing her eyes.

"Yes, mommy." She said excitedly and jumped on me. I caught her and scooped her into a bear hug. I kissed both her cheeks. She kissed me on my nose and giggled.

"Wanna join mommy for the bath?" I asked to which she excitedly nodded her head in agreement.

"Let's go then." I said and we both entered the bathroom. Whilst bathing, she told me each and every details about what she did while we were in China.

"Mommy, when are you and daddy going to give me a prince or a princess?" Cara asked while I was washing her hair.

Prince? Princess?

"What do you mean?" I asked as I carefully put water on her head to wash the shampoo away.

"Yes, grandma told me that when you'll return back from China daddy and you will give me a prince or a princess." She said looking at me hopefully

I looked at her in confusion and when her words processed into my head completely my eyes widened automatically in shock.

She's talking about Shane and my baby. Oh Mrs. Adams!

But it isn't her fault either. Mrs. Adams was not in her right state of mind when she might have told her about our baby.

"Baby, we'll talk about it some other time. Now let's take bath first, okay?" I asked and started gently rubbing shower gel on her back using the scrubber.

She looked at me, disappointed and made a pout.

I giggled looking at her.

******

"Have you seen Shane?" I asked, Angie

"Already missing him, huh?" She teased

I rolled my eyes and blushed.

She giggled. "I don't know. You should better ask Jake." She said

I walked towards Jake who was now playing with Josh and Cara and asked him the same question.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him since lunch. " he said and looking at me.

"Oh okay. He must be somewhere around. I'll find him." I said and walked from there.

Where are you, Shane?

I walked outside the mansion and reached the backyard.

As soon as I stepped a foot on the grass, the breeze of chilled air kissed my cheek and made my semi dried hair cover my face. I slowly pushed the lock of hair behind my ear. I looked up and there I found him standing by the huge fountain looking at the water.

I walked and stood beside him. He noticed my presence but didn't speak anything. We just stood there looking at the water coming out of the fountain. It was peaceful...though I sensed that something bad was going to happen .

"Shane...I was searching for you inside." I told him. He looked at me and kept staring at me without uttering a single word. I could have read his face only if it had any expression on it. He expressionless. He looked at me without any expressions though his eyes were screaming different emotions which was difficult to comprehend.

I looked down consciously because I could no longer handle his gaze. My heartbeat rose and my cheeks started growing hotter.

Why is his gaze affecting me so much?

Because you love him dumbo!

Lara...what are you waiting for? Just tell him your feelings. Confess to him that you love him.

"Uh...Shane...I wanted to tell you something." I stuttered.

I looked up at him for a mere second and then again looked down on my hands. He was still expressionless.

I waited for him to say something. When he didn't say anything, I took a deep breathe and continued.

"Actually, I..." It's now or never Lara. Just tell him.

"Uh..I Lo-" I was cut off mid way.

"Shane.." he walked past me pushing me a little by his shoulder in the process.

I looked up and my gaze followed his foot steps which stopped just in front of a beautiful blonde girl who encircled her hands around his neck and kissed his cheeks. She smiled looking at him adoringly. He too encircled his hand around her small model like waist protectively

"Meet my fiancé, Tiara Fernandez." He said proudly? looking into her eyes.

They both started staring into each other's eyes lovingly?

I couldn't feel anything around me. My skin couldn't feel the cold air neither could my brain acknowledge anything. My mind was continuously replaying his words, my eyes started replaying their kiss and my heart started throbbing inside my chest. I felt a strong pang of pain inside my chest.

Meet my fiancé!

His words were continuously being replayed in my mind that I didn't even realize when the girl came and stood in front of me still holding his arms. She was looking at me smiling and so was Shane but the only difference was that his smile couldn't reach his eyes.

I ignored the girl and kept staring into his eyes with my tear filled eyes. I looked into his eyes hoping to get answers to my questions but got none.

"Nice to meet you. You must be Lara Jones, right? The one who helped Shane during his mother's memory loss?" She asked ,smiling genuinely

I shifted my gaze from him and looked at the girl.

I again looked at him but he was ignoring my gaze and was looking everywhere but me.

Is this the end of our unnamed relationship? Is this how our relation was supposed to end?

I looked down and the tear that was threatening to erupt fell straight down on the ground. I looked down at my feet for few seconds and tried to control my tears.

I slowly looked up and smiled at her trying to hold back my tears.

"Yes, I am Lara Jones. Nice to meet you too." I said and extended my hand for the hand shake which she gladly accepted.

"Thank you so much for helping my future family. Uncle Brookly told me how you helped to overcome the problem. It really means a lot." She thanked me genuinely and hugged me.

I accepted her hug. I looked towards him through the hug. Finally he was looking at me...still I was unable to read his eyes. I don't know whether he had regret or disappointment or sadness or happiness in his eyes. I just couldn't read his eyes.

We parted from the hug.

"Congratulations for your upcoming wedding." I congratulated them both. He looked at me with shock but hid his shocked expression as soon as I noticed it.

"I wish you a happy life ahead." I wished them. I blinked my eyes several times trying to restraint my tears.

Tiara smiled and thanked me whereas he kept staring at me shocked?

With that I walked from there and let the hot tears roll down my cold cheeks.

So finally, this is how it was supposed to be.

This is the end of our story.

What was I even thinking?!

Why would a man as rich as Shane would fall for an ordinary girl like me?

So foolish of you, Lara. So foolish of you!

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