Waking up

You wake up, feeling extremely drowsy and weak. It takes a few moments for your vision to adjust as you open your eyes. You recognize the ceiling. You're in your bedroom in the mansion. Your entire body feels sore as you try to get up, before you notice the tubes in your arm. You pull them off, cringing as you do, before you slowly swing your legs to the side of the bed. You're wearing a hospital robe, and it takes a lot of effort for you to even sit up right.

You look at your hand. The rings are still there. Good, you think. You get up and make your way over to the bathroom, and the first thing you see is your reflection in the mirror. It makes you stop in your tracks and you almost forget to keep breathing. The person staring back at you is vaguely familiar, except for the full beard on your face. You also look thinner. You quickly pull the robe off to look at the wound on your shoulder, and you gasp when you see the scar of a bullet wound that completely healed.

Gulping, you rush back to the bedroom and find some clothes. Your strength is starting to return, but your mind is racing at the moment, trying to figure out what had happened. You don't recall a single thing after teleporting back to the mansion and collapsing.

Once you put on a t-shirt and jeans, you head downstairs, where the mansion looks the same as you remember it. Except for the sharply dressed man standing just inside the front door. He looks surprised to see you, as you are to see him. You don't recognize him.

"Who are you?" you ask.

"Oh my god, you're awake. Hi, I'm Nick. Nick Wyllt the III," he offers you his hand and you shake it.

"I'm-"

"John. I know. I've heard a lot about you. She's going to be so happy to see you," the man says. He seems well-mannered and pretty dashing with blonde hair and blue eyes. He also has a British accent.

"Who?" you ask, just about the same time when you hear Olivia's voice.

"Nick, I'm almost ready! I just gotta check on John, okay!"

Nick grins and shouts his reply, "Honey! You might want to come down here first!" You hear footsteps from above, and you and Nick both turn to the top of the stairwell, where Olivia shortly appears, dressed in a elegant pink dress and matching heels. She covers her mouth in surprise when she sees you, and then rushes down the stairs and hugs you. Her eyes are welling up with tears.

"You're awake!"

"I am..." you say, stunned and still confused. Olivia seems to be really happy to see you and maintains the embrace for a good minute or 2 before she finally lets go and steps back.

"The beard looks good on you," she says with a giggle. She moves to the side to hold Nick's hand, and your eyes go down to her left hand. There's a huge diamond ring on her wedding finger. She notices where you're looking and she smiles, raising the hand to your face for you to admire the jewel. "I'm engaged. Nick proposed last month."

"He did...? How long have I been...?"

Olivia takes your hand and leads you to the den. "You should sit down. I'll catch you up. Nick, give us a few minutes?" she says, and Nick nods and remains where he was.

In the den, when Olivia is sure that Nick is out of earshot, she sits you down.

"After you showed up, I found a doctor willing to come to the house and treat you off the books. We saw on the news that The Ringer caught the assassin, who claimed he shot you, so we figured we couldn't take you to the hospital. You had lost a lot of blood and went into shock. We thought you were going to die."

"What happened after that?" you ask.

"The doctor was able to remove the bullet and stabilize you, but she had to put you in a medically induced coma until your body was ready to wake up again."

"How long have I been out?"

"14 months."

"14 months?!?!?" you exclaim, now understanding why things had changed. Olivia holds your hand and waits for you to absorb the situation. "...and you're engaged now?"

"Yes. I met Nick about a year ago and we started dating. Don't worry, I trust him and he won't tell anyone about you. He's a really nice guy."

"What about the other girls?"

"Well... it seems like your ring's power must have weakened or worn off while you were in a coma. Jane went to beg her fiance to take her back. Elena moved back to Ukraine. And Melanie..."

"I didn't use my mind control on her."

"... she had an overdose a few months after you went into a coma. She's gone." Olivia starts to cry, this time in sorrow, and you have to hold her and comfort her for a while.

"What about the assassin?"

"They convicted him and he's in prison. There was a manhunt for The Ringer for a while, but all they had was a description from the bad guy and some of your blood, which they couldn't match to anyone. As far as the world knows, The Ringer disappeared."

"So... I have nothing. Again," you remark as reality starts to sink in.

Olivia laughs softly and squeezes your hand. "You have your health again. And the rings. And... this mansion. I'm moving to England with Nick. He's been hounding me to go with him after we got engaged, but I keep saying I have to stay to look after you. Now, I can go." Olivia smiles sadly and kisses you gently on the lips, before she gets up.

"I have to go. We're going to the opera. I'll see you later?"

"...Yeah."

"Shit," you say to yourself after you hear the door close behind Olivia and Nick.