Burn.

"I'm sorry. About everything. I'm sorry I never appreciated the love that you gave me and I brought up problems. I'm sorry I was a horrible wife to you. And I'm sorry that I don't have any family so you're going to have to deal with the inconvenience that is burying me."

Aaron frantically made his way past the many people in the casualty department of the busy public hospital.

"My wife. Where is my wife?"

He'd shouted as soon as he reached the reception desk but it came out as a whisper.

He'd made it to the hospital as soon as he'd heard, unfortunately that wasn't soon enough.

He couldn't wait to see her, his baby girl. He needed to be next to her and make sure she was ok. He needed her to be ok otherwise he wouldn't be. He'd be broken. His wife was his life.

But he'd felt his patience running thin when,

"Sir. Please have a seat, someone will come and assist you soon."

The busy lady in reception had said to him as she'd continued navigating the switchboard.

Although Aaron understood that other patients needed to be attended to too, he didn't know them. He didn't care about them, he cared about his wife.

That was why,

"Have a seat? Do you know who I am?"

He'd internally cringed at his response. He'd never used his status card before nor did he ever think he would. He was a known humble man. But this was his wife.

So,

"Can I please speak to your manager?"

He'd ignored the terror in the young lady's eyes. He could tell it was because she was finally realizing who he was. She'd only raised her head to look at him when he'd asked to speak to the manager.

"Mr. Miller, my sincerest apologies. I didn't at all know it was you..."

"Where's my wife?"

He'd cut her off. He wasn't trying to be rude at all, his wife's life was on the line and he needed to get to her before it was too late.

But when she'd responded saying,

"Sorry Mr. Miller, but who's your wife?"

He'd felt a slight tightness in his chest.

To the world, Aaron Miller was a single man. To the world, he'd given up on love after his fourth and final divorce.

He'd had very public relationships in the past and that wasn't always a good thing, it was almost never a good thing.

So with Kayla, he wanted to do it differently. He wanted it to just be the two of them. She wasn't his secret, not at all. He'd just preferred to keep their personal life out of the media.

He'd never thought that would ever come back to haunt him.

If the world knew who she was then they would've been able to contact him way sooner. He would've been there immediately after the accident, not a week later.

"Kayla Miller."

He'd said softly. Partly to stop the tears that threatened to leave his eyes.

The lady then made an 'o' shape with her lips at his response. Clearly because she'd known of the patient.

"Please follow me, sir."

She'd said and Aaron conformed.

"She got here a week ago, no form of identification whatsoever. Apparently they couldn't retrieve anything from the accident, partly because there wasn't anything. It's a miracle she's alive."

She'd continued saying as they made their way into the ICU department.

"Then how did you know her..."

"She had on a necklace that said Kayla, but we still didn't know who she was. Or if that was even her name."

She'd said cutting him off. Clearly already knowing the question he was going to ask.

Aaron knew exactly what necklace she was talking about. It was the first jewelry he'd ever bought for her. He'd made her promise to never take it off, no matter what. Even if they'd fought or were not together anymore.

She'd kept his promise through the years.

"We didn't know she was married, she didn't have her ring on."

Aaron ignored the recent memory of his wife throwing him with her ring during the fight they'd been having.

It was because he was leaving again, after coming home just a few hours before. She'd cried saying she missed him and begged him to stay. He didn't.

"Mr. Miller, is this your wife?"

On an old bed with a Jane doe sign by the edge, lay his beautiful, unconscious wife.

Her beautiful dark skin had turned pale, she was a little thinner than the last time he'd seen her. Her body was full of marks, bandages, and bruises.

Aaron finally stopped forcing his tears in.

"Baby,"

Was the only word he was able to utter as he got closer to the bed and kneeled right by her head.

The receptionist took that as an answer.

"I will leave you alone sir,"

She'd then said before making her way out.

When Aaron had gone back home two days after he'd left, his wife wasn't there.

That made sense to him.

They'd fought before, many times. But the last fight they'd had was so intense that he'd assumed she'd left.

He'd missed her desperately but he knew she was going to come back. She always did.

Not just because she had nowhere else to go but because she loved him, more than words could ever describe.

He'd called her countless times but her phone had been going to voicemail.

He'd then started finding it weird that she didn't take anything with her. Her clothes, passport, and other important valuables she would've no doubt taken with her were still in the house.

She'd taken out food, clearly to cook that evening but they'd been left on the counter, something else that was extremely strange. The tv was also on, the windows were open and there were clothes in the washing machine.

But Aaron was never an observant person so it took him about a week to realize that his wife had definitely gone on an errand, she didn't leave him.

And then fear struck. Did she get abducted? That certainly wouldn't be impossible. When you were as well off as he was, people went through crazy measures to get something out of him.

So frantically, he'd made phone calls. To everyone they'd ever known, even the people they hadn't seen in years. His next actions required him to make sure that she wasn't just at one of their friends' house. He needed to make sure that she was really kidnapped because people were going to die if she was.

He'd gone up and down, was on a phone call after phone call.

That went on until he'd finally listened to his voice messages.

"Baby I'm so sorry."

He'd continued crying as he held on to his wife like she would disappear if he let go.

"For everything. I'm sorry I failed you."

If he'd just gone back home to his wife. If he'd listened to her cry about needing him at home more. If he hadn't left, then she would still be ok. She would still be at home with him watching stupid romcoms and not in a hospital bed fighting for her life.

What kind of a husband was he?

"Mr. Miller is it?"

He'd heard a voice disturb his sobs.

"My name is Dr. Moodley and I have been looking after your wife."

The short brown man said now moving his eyes from him to the unconscious lady.

"Your wife suffered some extreme injuries to the head and we'd had to operate her on arrival. We obviously didn't know who she was so we couldn't get ahold of anyone to approve the procedure so apologies for that Mr. Miller. But I'm happy to say that because of the procedure, your wife is now stable. Now it might take a bit of time for her to gain consciousness but.."

"Thank you for saving my wife Dr. Moodley."

Aaron had said softly cutting him off. Partly because he was afraid of hearing possible bad news but also because he was genuinely thankful. If they'd waited for his approval then she might not have made it.

"Mr. Miller, while we were able to save your wife..."

He took a small nervous breath and then,

"We regretfully couldn't do the same for your son."