Nearly an hour drifted by, during which a gradual silence crept into the suite as the tempest of agony receded, and the sound of her shattered weeping vanished entirely. Fati had succumbed to a deep sleep from sheer emotional exhaustion, her fingers still feebly cradling her grandfather's hand, while she pressed herself against the woolen rabbit as if seeking sanctuary from the cruelty of the world.
At that moment, Jaguar pushed the door open with soundless strides and slipped inside. He stood over her, his bloodshot eyes bearing the heavy traces of tears and sleeplessness studying the scene with a solemn, majestic stillness. He gazed at the rabbit nestled between her palms and the old man's hand, feeling a sharp lump rise in his throat; it appeared as though she had placed her departed mother's soul as an emotional bridge connecting her to her grandfather. He spent minutes observing her relaxed features, murmuring to his own soul with a tone flooded with pride and aching tenderness:
"You were never weak, Fati... and I will never allow a past you had no hand in to crush your defiant spirit."
He bent down slightly, seized by a consuming urge to gather her into his arms, to carry her back to her apartment and lock the door of their room, holding her against his chest in their bed until her pain dissolved into his warmth. Yet, his noble restraint checked him; his heart would not allow him to disrupt the reunion of this family that had finally gathered in the darkness of the night a family composed of two sleeping figures and a lingering soul hovering between them.
With slow, deliberate care, he slipped off his heavy overcoat and draped it over her slender frame to shield her from the hospital's chill. Turning away, he navigated toward the sofa opposite the grandfather's bed. He stretched his massive frame across it, shutting his eyes while his mind boiled with thoughts. His heart simply would not permit him to distance himself from his only true family in this world... especially on this endless night.
In the early hours of dawn, as the pale gray light crept softly through the curtains of the suite, Fati awoke to find herself still slumped in the chair beside her grandfather's bed. She sensed a heavy, warm weight draped over her shoulders, shielding her from the hospital's chill. Looking down, she instantly recognized the luxurious fabric of Jaguar's black overcoat. Shifting her gaze toward the opposite sofa, she saw him stretched out, sleeping with a frame that was simultaneously towering and exhausted. She rose with silent, drifting steps, approaching him with features completely devoid of expression. Lifting the heavy coat from her own shoulders, she gently spread it over his body to restore his warmth, then turned and exited the room in absolute silence, leaving behind the dim stillness of the suite.
Her strides through the cold hospital corridors synchronized with the rhythm of her hollow thoughts. She bitterly communed with her own soul,
"He continues to treat me with gentleness... but all this tenderness is nothing more than pity he showers upon me to mend my brokenness. His emotions are volatile and shifting like the seasons; in the past, they were a catalyst for revenge, and now they have dissolved into mere pity... If only he would cease this!"
A pang of wounded pride pierced her chest as she continued,
"I have begun to detest his emotions entirely; they no longer move me or stir a single pulse within my veins, whether they are dark feelings of hatred or otherwise... All those sentiments have fallen outside my calculations and mean absolutely nothing to me, no matter how refined they are by remorse, and no matter how beautifully adorned with tenderness."
She reached her private office, the one sanctuary where she felt in complete possession of her own destiny. Slipping inside, she locked the door behind her to sever her connection from the rest of the world. Kicking off her shoes with an air of relief, she sank into her plush chair, stretching her weary legs over the footrest nestled beneath her desk.
Extending her slender hand, she meticulously placed the deformed, ancient woolen rabbit directly beside the photograph of her late grandfather resting upon her desk. She studied the arrangement for an interlude, a warm, pure realization igniting within her mind:
"I must secure a photograph of my grandfather from my mother's side to place here next to this picture... for they are my only true, authentic family in this existence. And I shall also ask my grandfather to grant me a photograph of my late mother, Rosie, to nestle between them."
At that exact moment, Fati felt as though she were drawing the definitive borders of her new universe a world belonging solely to the oppressed and the departed, a world with absolutely no room for Jaguar.
After several hours had dissolved in diligent labor, Fati was navigating the hospital corridors, concluding her swift, customary rounds to check on her patients, meticulously reviewing their statuses and prioritizing their treatment with high professionalism. She proudly discharged four patients today from the hospital following their complete recovery, and with the heart of a devoted daughter and an earnest physician, she was contemplating making her grandfather the fifth to depart.
However, the moment she slipped into his private suite alongside the nurse, her strides froze, and absolute bewilderment seized her. She found her grandfather sitting up in bed with an uncharacteristic, profound calm, his gaze anchored outside as he studied the city skyline through the glass window. She had fully expected to find him raging, issuing threats, and unleashing his fury upon everyone in his stubborn desire to be discharged as was his strict custom. Instead, he sat entirely relaxed, resting his weathered palm against his face in an eerie, solemn stillness.
A tempest of thoughts swirled within her mind, and suspicion aggressively invaded her logic:
"Did he awaken last night in the dim darkness while I was weeping at his feet, merely playing the part of the slumbering patient?! No... impossible, he didn't, for I would have caught the slightest movement from him... Or perhaps he opened his eyes when sleep claimed me and I collapsed onto the chair beside him, witnessing my shattered state?!"
She realized with her innate intelligence that she would never grasp a definitive answer unless she asked him directly.
Stepping forward with gentle strides, she spoke in a quiet tone carrying the faint outlines of hidden anticipation,
- Grandfather... did you wake up?
The old man turned toward her slowly, a tender expression carving its way onto his weathered features, and he murmured in a warm voice brimming with an unfamiliar softness,
- Yes... my darling.
Fati approached his bed with gentle strides, attempting to dissipate the lingering mystery and mask her internal turmoil behind her customary facade of playfulness. She spoke in a teasing, laughing tone, her voice sweet,
- What makes you so quiet and submissive today, grandfather?! Have you finally surrendered to the idea of remaining in the hospital, declaring a truce with the physicians?
The grandfather turned toward her slowly, his relaxed expression unaltered. He murmured in a low voice brimming with the solemnity of sorrow,
- No, my darling... I have not surrendered. But last night... my precious daughter, Rosie, visited me in my dreams.
In a single fraction of a second, Fati's smile dissolved, and her tone altered completely; her chest tightened, and her entire mind became aggressively anchored to the shocking words uttered by the elder. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she urged in a hesitant, exploring whisper,
- And... what did you dream about, grandfather?
The grandfather averted his gaze back toward the window, letting out a deep, bitter sigh as he feebly shook his head,
- I do not know for certain... old age and medications have denied me the capacity to recall the details of the dream. Except, I remember one thing with absolute clarity... I was holding her hand tightly, as if she had never departed from my side.
Then, with a spontaneous gesture saturated with pure agony, the elder raised his weathered palm to his nose, inhaling deeply from his fingers. He continued as his eyes flooded with silent tears,
- But... her scent is still clinging to the palm of my hand until this very moment. It is the exact same sweet perfume she used to wear before they stripped her away from me... My nose could never mistake her scent.
Those words struck Fati's ears like a thunderbolt, freezing the blood in her veins and completely shattering her composure. At that exact moment, her mind traveled back to her office, recalling the scent of the tiny, deformed woolen rabbit. She remembered how its fragrance had been sweet and distinct, like candies, interwoven with another warm, cryptic aroma she hadn't fully comprehended yesterday. The stunning truth finally anchored into the depths of her soul... It was the scent of her late mother! That modest woolen toy was concealing within the folds of its uneven stitches a second gift far more precious and profound than ancient wool... Her mother's living breaths and perfume were captured right there, transferring onto the grandfather's palm last night as Fati had wept, holding his hand.
At that emotionally charged micro-second, Fati could no longer feign indifference. Turning abruptly, she thrust the tablet wherein she had been documenting the patients' medical records into the hands of the nurse standing beside her in a sudden, catching motion. She bent over the bed, throwing her frame against her grandfather's chest, enveloping him in a tight, prolonged, and profound embrace, pouring into it all her unspoken agony, longing, and suppressed remorse.
The grandfather froze in his place, initially failing to comprehend the unfolding reality. His granddaughter had been cloaked in absolute strictness and detachment since she awakened from her coma; to suddenly find her nestled in his arms, clinging to him with such raw warmth, felt to his exhausted heart like a divine blessing dropped directly from the heavens. After an interlude of silence laden with racing heartbeats, the elder whispered in a perplexed, warm tone,
- What are you doing, Fati?... Have things finally settled back into place between you and Jaguar?
The abruptness of his query struck her like a sharp blow, momentarily paralyzing her emotions, yet she gathered the scattered remnants of her pride within seconds. Stepping back, she stood tall, a calm and cryptic smile carving its way onto her lips, while she extended her hand to reclaim the tablet from the nurse who remained frozen in absolute shock by this dizzying transformation. Fati spoke in a confident, even voice,
- No, grandfather... it is not what you think. This is merely a farewell embrace; because you are finally being discharged from the hospital today
Without waiting for his response, her fingers navigated the digital screen with swift, clinical professionalism, logging the official discharge orders and appending the detailed prescription for the medications that needed to be secured from the pharmacy to ensure his comfort at home. She bid him farewell with a sweet, practiced smile, then spun on her heel and exited the suite with rapid strides, leaving behind a bewildered grandfather and an astonished nurse. She was racing against time, her entire being pulling her toward her fortress... toward her private office where that tiny woolen rabbit awaited, desperate to gather it against her chest in her isolation, and finally bask in the lingering, sacred scent of her late mother, dissolving into the warmth of her remaining breaths.