THE RISE OF THE APEX KING

Seven years.

That was how long the world Richard Carter had been gone. No one, not even the doctors and nurses who passed his room every day believed he would ever open his eyes again. They had already labeled him as the man trapped between life and death.

But on a rainy Thursday night, as the moonlight shone through the half-drawn blinds of Ward C14, Richard’s eyes opened faintly.

The heart monitor reacted instantly, beeping in a rapid rhythm. The nurses that had been assigned to the morning rounds, froze mid-conversation when they saw movement from the bed.

"He's moving," The first nurse muttered. "He's back."

The second nurse glared hard, thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her.

"No, that’s impossible. This man has been in a coma for seven years now.”

But Richard moved again, this time lifting his hand weakly to his chest.

“He’s waking up! Go get the doctor!” The first nurse cried.

Her assistant bolted out of the room while she approached the bed cautiously, as though Richard was a ghost rather than a human being returning to consciousness.

Richard’s lips parted, dry and cracked. His voice croaked like someone not used to speaking.

“W… water…”

The nurse scrambled to hand him a small cup, guiding it carefully to his lips and he grabbed the cup from her, downing the water in a few gulps.

A few minutes later, the second nurse had returned with the doctor.

“My God…” he whispered. “Richard Carter. You’re awake. Can you remember anything?"

Richard stared into space for a while before his eyes fixed on the doctor again.

"Very clearly," He replied with a nod.

"Tell me everything," The doctor said, settling down on the bed beside him.

"It was an assassination attempt," Richard said. "I remember the masked men. I remember taking a bullet for Isabella..."

His words trailed off and the doctor nodded in accordance.

"You're a very lucky man, Richard," The doctor said. "No one thought you would survive this."

Over the next thirty minutes, the nurses checked his vitals and finally, the doctor cleared him for discharge.

But there was one person on his mind and that was his girlfriend, Isabella. Seven years ago, he had planned a surprise proposal for her and now that he was finally awake from the coma, he was going to fulfil his lifelong dream of proposing to his childhood sweetheart.

"One last thing, doc," Richard said. "I need to make a phone call."

The doctor gave him a phone and he quickly typed in Isabella's number. The phone rang three times but she didn’t pick up.

The nurse glared at him, her arms folded.

"Not to burst your bubble but no Isabella came to visit you in the past seven years."

Richard turned to her and she nodded.

"You barely even had any visitors, except the kind lady who paid your bills."

The words were meant to sting but Richard only smiled faintly because he knew it was a lie. Even if everyone in the world abandoned him, he knew Isabella would stay.

Just then, the phone rang and he was overjoyed to see it was a call from Isabella. He answered immediately.

“Hello? Isabella?”

For a moment, there was silence. Then her familiar voice came through the speaker.

“Hello? Who is this?”

“It’s me,” he said, breathless. “Isabella… it’s Richard.”

“Richard?” she whispered. “Richard Carter?”

“Yes,” he laughed. “It’s me. I’m back, honey. I’m okay now.”

“I have a surprise for you,” he rambled on. “Something you’ll love. Please meet me at our favorite spot, the Garden View bar. The one close to Maple Street."

Without waiting for a response, he hung up the call, dropped the phone on the bed and bolted out of the hospital. After seven years in a coma, this was the moment he had dreamed of.

Richard bolted like a mad man, all the way to the Garden View bar. He made a reservation and washed up quickly in the restroom. He had to look perfect for the occasion.

However, after three hours of waiting he was getting worried.

He turned around to see that the waiter was smiling at him.

"Still waiting for her eh?" The waiter asked as he poured him a glass of wine.

"Yes I am," Richard nodded. "She would be here anytime soon."

The old waiter sighed.

"I wish you luck, boy. She sure does like to keep you waiting."

"She's a model," Richard replied smiling. "She's always busy with brands, endorsements and deals like that."

"I see," The waiter nodded and stood up. That must be your date coming over now. I'd better get back to work."

Richard spun around immediately and as soon as his eyes met Isabella's, he was lost for words.

Isabella was no doubt a stunning lady. She had a long blonde hair that curled down her back and stopped below her waist. Her hazel colored eyes always had this spark in them that could make a guy go nuts and her hips were slightly curved, accentuating her beauty. She wore a red dinner gown that stopped way above her knees showing off her fair, lanky and well shaped legs.

Richard assessed her and swallowed hard. She was a ten over ten.

"You're really alive," Isabella said as she stared at him. "When you called and talked about the outing, I thought it was some sort of sick prank from someone who knew about your accident."

Richard frowned. He wondered why she was still calling it an outing. For God's sake it was a date, and he was going to ask her out that night.

He stood up from his seat and attempted to peck her on the cheek and she turned away, blushing. In the process, his hand hit the bottle of wine that he had ordered and it came crashing down on the floor. Everyone in the bar turned to look at him and Isabella turned away, obviously embarrassed.

Richard found a napkin and quickly cleaned up the table before sitting down. The waiter came by a few minutes later and after he had taken their orders and left, Richard cleared his throat.

"Isabella," He started. "The last seven years without you have been the worst seven years of my life."

She looked up at him and without a word, she sipped from her glass of wine.

"I planned a surprise for you on that night, seven years ago," He continued. "But fate had other plans."

Her face brightened instantly. "A surprise?"

Richard took the change in her expression as his cue and just like that, his confidence rose.

"We've been dating for a long time now," He said. "And you know how I feel about you. I want us to get married."

Isabella stared at him for some time, expecting him to burst into laughter or something, anything at all to show that he was just joking. Of course he didn't mean it. He didn't expect her, Isabella Ramirez, the next big model in Los Angeles to get married to a broke and unemployed guy just because he took a bullet to the brain for her.

To her shock, he went on his knees quickly and brought out a ring from a squeezed piece of paper. She stared at the ring. She could see patches of brown where it was supposed to be gold and she wondered how many fingers had worn it before. He couldn't even afford a new ring for an engagement!

"Marry me, Isabella," Richard said. "You know I love you very much. We would make a good couple..."

"Stand up," Isabella said in a tone a little above a whisper. "You're embarrassing me."

Richard read the situation wrongly. He took it as Isabella trying to play 'hard to get.' All he needed was a little more persistence and he was going to get her to agree.

"I would love you and cherish you forever, my darling," He added. "I would take care of you like..."

"Take care of me?" She cut in, staring him down. "For God's sake, Richard you can't even take care of yourself! It's been seven years since I last saw you but I can still remember those worn out shoes. Is that how you want to take care of me?"

Richard Carter was shocked to the bone. He could not believe she was actually rejecting him. They had dated for five whole years before he fell into a coma.

"Trust me, Isabella," Richard said. "I can afford whatever you want. All my assets were frozen a while ago..."

"They've been frozen for twelve years now," Isabella said and shook her head sadly. "I can't give you more time to embarrass me, Richard. I have to tell you the truth."

The truth? His heart was pounding in his chest now. He felt his whole world crumbling apart. She had just rejected his proposal and now she wanted to tell him the truth?

"What truth?"

"I never liked you, Richard," She said. "It was all a crazy dare."

Richard could feel the air around him get hotter. The words were struggling to escape from his throat but they just couldn't.

"A dare?" He managed to ask.

"Yes boy," a deep voice said behind him.

Richard turned around to see who it was. It was the infamous CEO of Nexa Automobiles, Chris Washington.

"I don't understand," Richard stammered. "What are you talking about?"

"Like she said, it was just a dare," Chris shrugged. "But when she wanted to break up with you, I stopped her. Had some crazy theory that you were a sort of good luck charm since she got her very first modelling gig a week after she completed the dare."

"And you were right," Isabella laughed. "Got four better gigs while we dated. They stopped coming in the moment he entered the coma."

"Speaking of which," Chris chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist. "You took a bullet to the brain for my girlfriend."

The duo laughed and Richard could feel his whole word tear apart.

"Honestly, you've been very useful, Richard," Chris added. "But yeah, your job here is done."

He spun around prepared to leave with Isabella but Richard grabbed her hand.

"There's something you need to know, Isabella," He said. "I gave you - "

"Life?" She cut in. "You think I owe you my love because you risked your life for me? A lowlife like you should be thrilled at the thought of dying for me. I mean, finally there's some meaning to your existence."

With that, she walked out of the bar with Chris.

He watched as they stepped into a sportscar and zoomed off. The realization that the last twelve years of his life had been a waste was a hard pill to swallow.

But he knew one thing - that she would come back crawling and begging when she found out who he really was.