Chapter Five: Familiar figure.

Hudson's POV

I groaned as I sat up in bed, rubbing my forehead with my fingers to ease the headache.

I hadn't slept a wink all night, matter of fact, I hadn’t slept a wink since that night with her.

"Damn!! Why didn’t she just wait and we can talk things through. Huh! Women! All troublemakers!" I scuffed.

It's been a month now and no sign of her. Searching for a person without a name or face can be quite difficult, almost impossible.

Jack had brought so many girls to my office from that bar but she wasn't one of them.

I stood up, stretched myself and headed for the bathroom, I needed to get ready for the doctor's appointment.

Not like anything positive came out of it but I had to make an effort.

Atleast the pills reduces the headaches. The last appointment was a circus show.

"Hmm, Hudson,” my doctor began, after I had told him everything about the lady that helped me sleep, “to be perfectly honest, you really could benefit from having that woman by your side if you really want to get rid of your Sleeplessness".

"Am I that helpless to depend on another human for sleep?" I asked quite amused at a doctor giving such advice.

"Your case is beyond medicine, it's a psychological problem, and since the therapies did little to help, I believe this lady is the therapy". The doctor had said.

It made a lot of sense.

“Why does it have to be her?” I mumbled under the warm shower.

"What if I don't find her? Will I be wide awake all my life?" The thought sent shivers through me, and I Decided to intensify the search.

I got out of shower and put on my bathrobe, picking up the coffee that the staff had prepared for me, I stood by the window sipping it, lost in thought.

My wristwatch beeped, signaling it was time to go. I hurriedly got dressed and headed to the garage.

Bill, my driver was already waiting.

"Morning sir", he greeted.

"Morning Bill", I responded curtly.

"Where are we headed?" He asked, opening the backseat door.

"The hospital", I answered.

"Yes sir".

We drove silently while I went through some documents on my laptop.

Moments later we reached the hospital.

"We have arrived sir", Bill announced.

"Alright, I will be out in 10mins".

I got out of the car and entered the hospital complex heading straight to my doctor's office.

******************

As I stepped out of Dr. Carmichael's office, the dull throb in my arm from the routine injection was nothing compared to the weight that seemed to press on my chest these days.

That weight being the unknown lady from the bar.

I heaved a sigh and made my way down the hall but then a familiar silhouette caught my eye.

At first, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me.

After all, the strange lady had been haunting my thoughts for weeks now—ever since she disappeared that morning.

But there she was, walking briskly along the hospital hallway.

'What?! The lady from the bar?!' I muttered in disbelief.

Her stride was elegant, unlike the crazy girl from that night, but there was something different about her.

A heaviness in her posture, maybe. A sadness that made her shoulders droop slightly.

Before I realized what I was doing, my feet were moving, carrying me towards her.

She’d slipped away from me once and I couldn’t let it happen again.

I kept a reasonable distance, tailing her from behind, my heart pounding a little fast.

She stopped at the nurses' station, and I ducked behind a column, watching as she spoke to the nurse on duty.

Her voice was too soft for me to hear.

I wanted to stop her right then and Demanded answers. But something held me back.

'Why was she here? Was she sick? Was something wrong?'

I remembered the bloodstains on the sheets and gasped, 'was she wounded?'

Curiosity won out over caution, and I kept following her,my mind racing.

She stopped outside a room, hesitating before pushing the door open.

I edged closer, keeping to the shadows. Through the small window in the door, I saw her step inside. A frail old woman lay in the hospital bed, tubes and machines surrounding her.

Anne approached the woman, her expression softening into something that made my heart ache—a mix of love and sorrow so profound it was almost unbearable to watch. She reached out, taking the woman’s hand in hers.

I should have felt relieved that i finally found her, but my ego wanted me to burst into that room, to demand to know why she left before I woke up.

Before I could twist the door know, I noticed a man, tall and broad-shouldered, standing before her.

I felt the blood drain from my face.

'Did she leave because she still loved him?'

I remembered her mumbling something about a divorce. 'Did she change her mind?'

The rational part of my brain screamed at me to calm down, to wait, to find out who this man was before jumping to conclusions.

But the rest of me—the part that was still reeling from her disappearance, from the weeks of searching—wasn’t interested in being rational.

I turned on my heel and walked away, my fists clenched at my sides. My chest burned, every breath coming in short, ragged gasps.

She is still married to him. That was the only explanation.

Why else would she disappear without a word?

Anger bubbled up inside me, hot and suffocating. I marched down to where Bill stood by the car waiting.

I didn't wait for him to open the door, I entered the car slamming the door after me.

"Drive!" I barked.

Bill just nodded and drove off.

I immediately dialed Jack. "I need every information about the patient in room 403 at the family's hospital, and I need it today!"

Before he could ask why, I hung up.

'If this is how she wants to play it, I will be the one to make the rules', I muttered through gritted teeth.