CHAPTER TWO

At the break of dawn, Chelsea woke up groggily, feeling sore all over. Her head still ached like she'd been hit over by a trailer, though she might have been considering she knew nothing of how what exactly caused the accident. She forced herself up and found no one else in the room.

She hoped last night's event would turn out to be a delirious dream of hers due to her condition. She looked around the room, the broken vase, the blood from her shoulder injury, everything was the same as last night which further proved she wasn't delirious.

A bitter feeling settled in her heart and her eyes stung. Holding back tears Chelsea pushed the feeling and thoughts aside, she had to get out of the house first. Steadily, she stood to her feet and made her way out of the room toward the house entrance.

To her relief, the door wasn't locked. Moving from one dark alley to another there was only one thing on her mind, home.

As much as it wouldn't have solved anything, she'd rather prefer the comfort of her small room apartment if anything was going to happen to her. 

A luxurious-looking car was parked by the roadside, a few steps away from the entrance into a rarely used alley. In the car, a handsome young man sat in the driver's seat with his elbow on the wheel and a bored expression as if waiting for someone or something.

He had a well-defined jawline, dirty blonde hair, and pink-tinted lips, with his sunglasses conveniently sitting on his nose bridge giving him a cool aura overall.

From the corner of his eye, Harl noticed something strange in his side mirror. A woman in a hospital gown that was almost unrecognizable, staggered into the alley and fell into a puddle of water.

Harl frowned slightly, alighting from his car he slowly approached her. Up close, he could see what she looked like including her awful state. She had an oval face and light auburn hair albeit scattered and in a mess. 

"Harl?" A beautiful young lady called out as she approached from behind.

"I'm really sorry that..." He held up a hand motioning for her to stop talking.

"Her skin is really pale." He said referring to the unconscious young woman. "Hurry let's get her to the hospital, now!" 

In the Citel mansion, Daryl opened his eyes, temporarily confused. He stared directly at the ceiling laying on a soft comfortable bed.

He looked around the room, for a while he couldn't recognize where he was until his eyes fell on the intricate patterns on the wall at the far end of the room then he realized it was actually his room. To his right a syringe was inserted in his hand, he was on drip.

Trying to remember exactly what happened to him the night before, there was a light knock on his door,

"Sir, are you awake?" 

"Come in, Sam." He replied. Sam his personal assistant opened the door slowly and walked into the room. 

"What happened last night?" Daryl asked. 

Sam got fidgety at the question, "I'm really sorry we were late Sir. You were drugged last night and the doctor said it was an overdose that's why... why you're in this state right now."

"Drugged?" Daryl furrowed his brows waiting for more details.

"It was... aphrodisiac."

At the reply Daryl recalled the events of the night like a bombshell. He recalled looking for an old woman who lived in a small town on the outskirts of the city.

He had been informed that she might know something about what had happened to his mother who passed away years ago. The old woman was the only one who could provide the answers he sought.

He was in the car with his driver when suddenly some sort of gas permeated the air in the car and his head felt really light, the doors couldn't open either.

   

    Daryl ran a hand through his hair clearly irked that he couldn't recall everything clearly. "I was in a dark room?" He asked Sam.

    "Yes sir." Sam stalled as if contemplating how to put his next words. 

  "Just spill it Sam! What happened there?!" Daryl demanded impatiently. 

Sam lowered his head, " A lady. There was a lady on the bed too and she didn't look like she was in a good condition. She wore a hospital gown and had bruises, Sir. It's either it was all staged or.." At that, he raised his head to look at Daryl. 

   Daryl already understood the meaning behind his words and he raised his hand to dismiss Sam.He felt disgusted, staged or not he felt disgusted at the thought of him being with a random woman. Angry flames blazed in his eyes, " Incorrigible bastards! you all are going to pay dearly for this." He fumed through gritted teeth.

    Chelsea watched from her bedroom window as her mother, father, and sister sat outside, enjoying the sunset. It reminded her of when she was 12 and her sister Emma was 10. She sat in the corner of the living room, watching silently as her father and mother played a game with Emma. Smiles and laughter filled the room, and the sound of her family’s joy felt like a knife in her heart.

She knew that despite being a part of the family, she was never going to be able to join in the fun. And now, a wave of loneliness washed over her as she watched them together, she couldn't help but feel left out. Both her and Emma were artists now but Emma was the famous one albeit not with her own works but with Chelsea's. 

   Chelsea sighed leaving her curtain to draw close and moving away from the window, she stood in front of her mirror. "You have more important things to worry about than this Chelsea." She said to her reflection. 

"You still have your chance, pass the NAE and your problems are half solved Chelsea." She took a deep breath trying to steady herself but something kept nagging at the back of her head and refused to let her be. She stared at a glass cup on the table thinking,'It would be so nice if I could smash someone's face with this right now.' 

   It's been three months since the incident after her accident but she told no one of the former, it would have been the end of her stay in her father's house. She became a bit more violent after that but no one would ever notice except the servants in the house that attended to her. 

She corked her head to the side," Who is he?" She asked herself still staring at her reflection. It bugged her that she didn't know who had saved her after she passed out and was just a step away from her grave.

Her family arrived at the second hospital she was admitted later than they were expected to, but she knew that would happen. She didn't think they'd bother to see her close to dying body but luckily her saviour had paid her bills and made sure she received treatment.

Chelsea shook her head and pushed aside any distractions. Her career test and evaluation was in two days and she wouldn't let anything distract or stop her from scaling it.

She turned her back on the mirror and returned to her unfinished painting.

Picking up her brush, with her headset on, her hands moved with the fluidity of a well versed artist.