The Faceless Billionaire Celebrity Wife-Chapter 330: Loved You First.

Ethan agreed there and then.

Relaying the news to others had been much more easier than he had expected, and since everyone that Jordan’s presence in the city might affect was present in the hospital at that moment, they were able to give their unanimous agreement all at once. Not like Ethan wouldn’t have found a way to force any of them that might have wanted to disagree.

Even as he watched Jordan and Krystal together with the team of doctors he had previously assembled carrying out an overall check on Shikera for the fifth time that day, his nervous system was still on high alert to react if anything suddenly went wrong.

"She’ll be awake in a few hours," Jordan’s words, directed to Krystal, had Ethan releasing his first breath of relief in 27 hours.

’She’ll be awake in a few hours,’ he repeated, effectively reassuring himself inwardly.

~

Ethan sat in on the first team meeting for the surgeons to discuss the surgery, together with Noah, Liam, and Cyprian. All four of them, with the surgeons, made up a room of 34 people.

Krystal sat at one end of the table, Jordan right beside her, while the rest of the doctors filled the rest of the seats. Krystal kick-started the meeting with a mini presentation of the current situation and Jordan took the mantle from her the moment she was done.

"She’d have to wake up before we are sure but from what I see, El—" the words got caught in his throat at the chilling glare from Ethan, prompting him to rephrase, "We will have to swap out multiple organs from the patient’s body. Since we can only do this after getting the babies out, we will have to plan the surgery as carefully as we can."

"What is the time range she has left...until the surgery, I mean?" Liam asked. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Jordan’s tone was informal when he replied, "I’d say a month or two. If the aim is to save both mother and children, then it has to be as early as possible. But like I said earlier, we can’t be sure until she wakes up and undergoes another overall check."

The meeting continued, transitioning from one point of discussion to another, until they arrived at the most crucial topic. Setting the formation for the surgeons that were expected to oversee the surgery.

It went without saying that Jordan was the chief surgeon for the first part, which was getting the babies out, with a well known gynecologist as his assisting surgeon; and for the second part of the surgery, the assisting surgeon was replaced by Krystal.

Refusing to exit the room until he was sure all important plans had been made and concluded on, Ethan left only when the doctors began discussing the steps of the operation, leaving the others behind. Within minutes, he found himself in front of the private room that was dedicated to Shikera in the hospital.

How much he wished to demolish the fucking room!

Pushing the door open, he stepped into the room, his heart heavy with worry. The room was immaculate, bathed in the soft, sterile glow of recessed lighting. Large windows allowed sunlight to filter through the sheer curtains, casting a golden hue over the polished floors and the white linens covering the bed. Monitors and medical equipment lined one side of the room, their soft beeps creating a rhythmic background, while fresh flowers sat in a vase on a nearby table, their bright colors a stark contrast to the otherwise clinical setting.

He expected to find Shikera unconscious, her face obscured by wires and tubes, but instead, what he saw made him freeze mid-step. Shikera was sitting up in bed, her hair slightly tousled but otherwise looking alert, her brown eyes sparkling as she listened to...what the hell was going on?! Raine, Esther, and Mignon were gathered around her, chatting in hushed tones.

"Kera?" he called out loud, his voice cracked with surprise. At the same time, the shock on his face quickly morphed into fury, his jaw tightening as he crossed the room in long, swift strides. His eyes darkened as he looked at the women around her. "When did she wake up? Why didn’t anyone inform the doctors?"

As she was the one sitting closest to Ethan, Mignon adjusted herself to give him space, her hands raised in a calming gesture. "Calm down, Ethan. We didn’t want to interrupt your meeting with the doctors. We had another doctor on standby check her out. She’s fine now. At least, enough to talk to us like this."

Ethan’s eyes softened as they shifted to Shikera, his hands clenched at his sides, but before he could say anything more, she spoke up, her voice soft but firm.

"Please, Ethan," she said weakly, a small smile on her lips. "Mignon says to calm down so calm down. Why don’t you come over and let me tell you what I just found out." She patted the bed on her side, inviting him with the earnest gaze in her eyes.

Raine and Mignon exchanged a quick glance, sensing that this was their cue to leave. They gently guided Esther out of the room, leaving Ethan and Shikera alone.

Ethan’s expression softened as he leaned closer to the bed, his fingers grazing her arm. "What you found out isn’t important right now," he murmured, his voice low and strained. He leaned in closer, his breath catching in his throat as he hugged her gently. "How are you feeling?"

Shikera chuckled softly, though the sound was weak. "Perfect... apart from a slight headache," she teased, her eyes twinkling mischievously. "You need to chill. Stop being the icy king I got in the accident and you brought me back, don’t stress."

Her laughter seemed to melt the tension Ethan had been carrying since the previous day. The worry, the anger, the uncertainty, and the bottled up fear that everything might just go wrong—it all faded in that moment. Without a word, he leaned in and captured her lips in a passionate kiss, his hand cupping her face tenderly. He kissed her like he had been waiting a lifetime, only pulling back when her fingers dug into his chest, causing him to wince slightly.

Shikera still smiling as he pulled away from her, this time with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Look at that, I knew you wanted to cry at the thought that I’d leave you alone here," she whispered.

"You can still joke about it? Doesn’t look like you know what my actual reaction would have been," Ethan argued. She was right. Maybe he would have cried if he had let himself think of that possibility even once. Brushing a strand of hair from her face, he changed the topic immediately, "Now, what did you want to tell me?"

"It’s nothing much," Shikera beamed, "Just wanted to tell you that I loved you first."