Chapter 2

Aurora had still drunk a few glasses of champagne hidden that night. By the end of the party, when only the staff and the mansion owners remained to clean up, the young woman was in a deplorable state; she was very drunk.

She changed her clothes and now wore a simple dress, with her worn-out purse on her shoulder. She approached Adelaide, who was collecting some dirty glasses from the counter.

"I'm heading out now," Aurora said with a smile. It was the effect of the alcohol, but she tried her best not to show it to Adelaide. She wanted to leave the mansion instead of waiting for her sister and having to help her clean up.

"Are you sure you can make it home alone?" Adelaide was a little taken aback by her sister's condition. "I think it's better if you wait for me to finish up so we can leave together."

"No need!" Aurora stumbled over her words. "I can manage on my own." She took a few steps away from Adelaide and ended up tripping over her own feet. She would have fallen flat on the ground if someone hadn't caught her. That someone was Nicholas.

"You should be more careful," he smiled, releasing the girl, who only smiled lopsidedly.

"I will be," Aurora assured him and then waved to her sister. "See you later, sister!"

She left the mansion and walked along the sidewalk towards her home. At times, she stumbled over her own feet, as if she had come from a party with lots of alcohol and drugs like teenagers have.

Aurora started walking in the middle of the street, being the only one in that area. At that hour, most people were sleeping in their homes.

Aurora saw a light ahead, like a light in a dark tunnel. It caught the attention of the drunk girl, who stopped walking and stared fixedly at the light, which was getting closer to her every second.

She was so disoriented that she didn't realize it was a car.

The vehicle narrowly passed by the girl; the impact made her fall to the ground with force as the car braked abruptly. Aurora felt pain in her knees and the region of her hip that had touched the moving vehicle.

The car door opened, and the driver rushed towards the girl lying on the ground, kneeling beside her.

"Are you okay?" that low voice sent shivers down the girl's spine.

"Of course, in perfect condition, can't you see?!" Aurora sarcastically replied. The driver's hand was on her waist, which was a little painful.

She lifted her gaze and widened her eyes, seeing Tristan staring at her. Her heart raced at seeing the guy so close to her face, his cold brown eyes revealing nothing but indifference, his brown hair falling to the side, his warm breath against the cold night air, and behind him, the starry sky. Aurora felt the urge to take a picture of that man, wanting to capture the image so she would never forget that moment when she had found a man with such a divinely perfect appearance for the first time.

"The arrogant son of Mr. Callahan!" Aurora said, as the effect of the alcohol overpowered her sound judgment.

Tristan rolled his eyes at that nickname. After that, he wanted to go back to his car and leave the girl right there. But now that he was the new president of the company and would already have a terrible image because of the Genevieve scandal, he didn't want to make things worse, knowing that Aurora would sue him. He had already realized that she didn't stay quiet about anything.

He carried her in his arms and took her to his car, placing her in the back seat. He then walked around the vehicle and got into the driver's seat, stepping on the accelerator towards the hospital where his older brother works.

The girl was so drunk that she didn't have much awareness of what was happening. She kept screaming about the pain in her knees and hips, causing a scene worse than what Genevieve had done at the party. Tristan was starting to get annoyed and wished the girl would shut up for a minute.

Just as his wish was conceived, he quickly looked back, confused and concerned about the girl, thinking she had passed out. But no, she was just distracted, looking out the window.

Tristan took out his phone and dialed his brother's number. Within seconds, his brother answered the call.

"Are you at the hospital?" Tristan asked.

"Yes. I told you I had an emergency here, that's why I left the company party early," Griffin explained again. "Now I'm taking the opportunity to attend to some other patients."

"Cancel all your plans. I'm in the middle of an emergency!"

"Emergency? What happened? Are you injured?" his brother asked, worried.

"It's not for me, it's for... an acquaintance."

"Who?"

"That's none of your business," Tristan replied curtly. He didn't like to give explanations to people.

"Don't tell me you hurt one of your prostitutes?!"

"This idiot called me a prostitute?!" Aurora exclaimed, offended.

Tristan furrowed his brow, turning to look at the girl in the back seat. Had she been listening to the conversation all this time? he thought.

He moved the phone away from his ear and only then realized that the call was on speaker. He turned off that function and resumed talking to his brother.

"She called me what?!" Griffin questioned.

"Forget about it. I'm almost at the hospital," Tristan ended the call without waiting for a response.

The sexy brunette accelerated the car. Within a few minutes, they arrived at the hospital. He parked his car haphazardly in a spot, got out of the vehicle, and opened the back door, picking up the girl in his arms. He was startled to see that she was almost unconscious, her eyes almost closed. He hurriedly entered the hospital and saw Griffin leaning against the reception counter, waiting for him.

Upon seeing Tristan carrying the girl, Griffin nodded to two nurses and Tristan, indicating they should follow him. They all went to a room at the end of the hallway.

"Place her on the stretcher," Griffin ordered, and Tristan complied. The nurses were connecting the machines next to the stretcher. "What happened?"

"It was the arrogant guy's fault!" she said, and everyone was startled, thinking she had passed out. "He ran me over!"

"He ran over this defenseless girl?" Griffin crossed his arms, looking at his brother as if he were irresponsible. Tristan limited himself to a grumble.

Defenseless girl? Now I understand when they say appearances can be deceiving, the brunette thought.

"Give her all the necessary care; I'll pay for everything," Tristan informed, and Griffin approached the girl to assess her condition.

"You're the hottest doctor I've ever seen," Aurora spoke with slurred speech. Griffin let out a shy smile, and his cheeks turned pink. "Do you provide services at home?"

"That's all I needed," Tristan rolled his eyes. "Also, give her something to sleep and shut up!"

***

Griffin was jotting down the procedure of Aurora's case on his clipboard, while Tristan sat in a armchair near the bed where the girl lay sleeping due to the medication she had taken. He stared at her angelic face, peacefully asleep, not resembling the scandalous and alcoholic girl she had shown herself to be hours before.

For Tristan, it was difficult to define Aurora. She was determined enough to speak her mind and look people in the eye, yet immature enough to drink during work hours and wander the streets drunk late at night.

"Of course I can enter, I'm the victim's sister!" Adelaide argued with one of the nurses outside and then entered the room without ceremony, grabbing the attention of the two brothers.

When she saw her younger sister sleeping on the gurney with an IV connected to her vein, she panicked, but at the same time, her blood boiled with anger toward the man who had hit her. After their parents' death, Adelaide felt responsible for Aurora. She promised herself she would take care of her and protect her from everything.

"I'm sorry, doctor, but this girl arrived at the hospital causing a scene," the nurse standing at the door said.

"I understand. You can leave," Griffin said, and the nurse left, closing the door.

"Did you run over my sister?!" Adelaide asked, puzzled by Tristan's presence in the room. At that moment, he wasn't her boss.

"She was the one walking in the middle of the street," Tristan replied.

"So now you're blaming my sister for the accident you caused?!" The girl crossed her arms, becoming agitated with the man.

"This isn't the time for fights," Griffin said, interrupting, which made Adelaide pay more attention to the doctor. Only now did she realize how handsome he was in her eyes.

"I'll cover the cost of all the care Aurora is receiving," Tristan stood up, regaining Adelaide's attention. She liked his gesture of paying for the hospital expenses.

"She's waking up," Griffin informed, and everyone now looked at the girl on the gurney, struggling to open her eyes.

"What happened?" Aurora questioned.

"Don't you remember anything?" Griffin approached the girl, fearing that the accident had affected her memory.

Aurora thought for a brief moment, and her cheeks immediately turned red as she remembered everything.

Tristan paid attention to her at that moment, puzzled by her embarrassment since she had shown confidence and pride ever since they met. He had taken some interest in the young woman who had a unique charisma and way of speaking, especially when engaged in an argument, but deep down, there was a shy girl who had never loved nor been loved by a man.

"Aurora, be polite and thank Mr. Callahan for what he's doing," Adelaide said.

"What? He runs me over, and I'm supposed to thank him? What if I had died? Would you thank him for killing me?" Aurora furrowed her brow.

"Aurora!" the older sister scolded, and the girl had to swallow her pride and say, "Thank you." The younger one hated giving Tristan the satisfaction; he didn't even care about it. But she enjoyed seeing the proud girl without her air of superiority. "Thank you for paying for all my care, Mr. Arrogant... I mean, Mr. Callahan," she smiled sarcastically.

Tristan said nothing, he simply turned and left the room. He had already paid for everything and didn't need to endure the girl for another minute.

Mr. Arrogant... This girl is crazy! ― Tristan thought.

He didn't want to get involved with such proud girls. He preferred the gentle ones who easily surrendered to him because he only used women for his own satisfaction; it had always been that way. It wouldn't make sense to insist on someone who didn't even want to have a pleasurable night by his side. However, Aurora had the gift of being a girl difficult to forget because, at times, she seemed like a timid girl, but other times she appeared as a woman full of attitude.

And her gift was the beginning of everything because suddenly, Tristan couldn't stop thinking about that girl.