Abi's hand on the door handle tightened around it. She looked at him and the man's eyes looked extremely serious. Where did that come from? Why was he asking?
His question shocked Abi that she just stared at him and couldn't speak. She never ever thought that she would be having this kind of conversation with this aloof, stoic man! Her brain started to function again and she was about to answer but then, her phone vibrated.
Abi looked at it and saw that it was her dad calling her.
She looked up at Ezekiel Qin with a small apology in her eyes before she picked up the phone and answered it.
"Hello? Dad? Are you already here?" Abi looked outside the car window and saw her dad's car parked near the park. "Okay, I'm coming," she said and when the call ended, she looked at Ezekiel Qin.
"You can go," he told her, not looking at her anymore.
"Thank you for the ride, Mr. Qin."
"Mn."
Once the door was closed, Ezekiel Qin turned and looked at the girl making her way towards another car.
"Sir, are we going back to the company?" the driver asked.
Ezekiel Qin didn't answer. He just stared silently at Abigail for a while before he spoke. "No, let's go back to the hospital."
Abi heard the car leave as she got to her dad's car. She turned around and watched it disappear before turning her attention back to her dad who was waiting for her. She hugged the old man and the two happily chatted as they drove out of the city.
That afternoon, Abi spent her time pleasantly with her family. She went to her room and stayed there for a while until it was finally time for her to go back.
Her family were all smiles as they said goodbye to her. They didn't give her any more advice like the last time she was here to visit. It seemed like they finally accepted that their girl was already a grown up lady.
Abi rode a cab back to the city. She was thinking about the request she should ask today as she stared out the window. That was when she realised that she really missed Alex. It had only been a few hours but she felt like it was days since she last saw him.
Letting out a sigh, Abi went to get her phone from inside her bag, when all of the sudden, the cab squealed into a full stop. Abi bumped her head on the back of the driver's seat as she heard a loud, deafening noise.
"Miss, are you okay?" the driver asked as he looked towards her.
Abi's hand was on her head. She was glad that the seat wasn't made of harder material or her head might be bleeding by now.
Seeing that she was alright, the driver climbed out of the cab.
She too, climbed out to survey the scene. The scene of the accident was a shocking one. She saw that a car had collided into a big truck and it was almost crumpled. She immediately shuddered, thinking that people inside it might have been dead, but fortunately, there was only one passenger in the car and he looked like he only suffered minor injuries, which was incredibly impressive and unbelievable, looking at the state of the car!
While they waited for the police to clear the road, Abi found out that their car just narrowly missed the collision and that if the white car didn't cut in, maybe the cab she was in would be the one that collided with that truck!
Thinking about it made her stomach feel uncomfortable and uneasy. She couldn't help but remember Kelly's warning about people trying to hurt her because she was with Alexander Qin.
…
Due to the collision, it was already past twilight when she arrived at Alex's house. She was ten minutes late.
Her steps were hurried as she entered the door and she immediately ran towards the fireplace where Alex would always sit while waiting for her.
When she spotted him sitting there, Abi felt relieved. She smiled, happy that she was finally able to see him. She silently walked and even tiptoed towards him, to surprise him.
However, as she walked closer, something made Abi halt in her tracks. Alex was silent as always, doing nothing, but Abi could feel the coldness he was exuding. And for some reason, she felt like something had changed.
She felt as though he had become distant, like the moon so far away, impossible for her to reach.
"You're late, Abigail," his deep voice was cold. "You broke the rule again… for the second time…" he trailed off, not turning to look at her and Abi was temporarily incapacitated.
Alex was… scaring her.
"Come over, Abigail," he ordered and Abi swallowed before she walked towards him and stood before him.
The moment she stared in his eyes, her heart slightly trembled. Her brain desperately scrambled to figure out what was going on. Why Alex was suddenly like this.
She just felt that this was not because of the rule she broke. She had done it before but it never elicited this kind of reaction. This had to be because of something else.
Abigail was tonguetied. She couldn't speak as she looked at him. Why was Alex like this? Why did he suddenly become this cold? Did something happen?
As Abi was frantically asking herself so many questions, a thought entered her mind. She remembered Ezekiel Qin and the thought that the man might have found out about her secret and told Alex about it made her feel like something knocked every wisp of air from her lungs. She couldn't breathe for a moment. But she persevered because she might be totally wrong!
"Abigail…" he called her name again and she felt goosebumps run down her spine. She never heard him spout her name with such coldness before.
Alexander kept her rooted in place by the binding force of his stare. "I hope you prepared yourself," he continued.
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