CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Those days passed by like nothing had happened. The death of a stranger seems meaningless. I waited for a family, at least, to show up and claim her body at the morgue, and no one came. When we buried her body, not even the other maids who claimed to know her attended, it was just me, Gin, and dad.

It’s been three days ever since I’ve confronted Navia, too, and just yesterday, I found out that she’s no longer staying in the house because she’s starting a business. I have no idea what is it, even my father. On the other hand, my grandmother is busy handling the company affairs since this month is a rush sale.

“You’re pouting again.” Gin’s voice knocked my senses, “You okay?”

“What do you think?” I sarcastically bite back.

“I think she’s far from that.” The blonde freak sitting on the back of the car squished in.

I rolled my eyes. I completely forgot about his existence.

“Why is he even here…” I uttered in annoyance.

I don’t know why I ended up in this kind of situation. All I knew was that while on our way to pick a bouquet, we saw him lying on the streets like a homeless man. His white face is like a tomato, and he smells like alcohol. What did Navia do to him? He looks like a mess.

“Can we at least get coffee?”

“No.” I immediately answered his request.

I get that maybe he’s a hangover, but I am in a hurry.

“How about drive thr-“

“No.” Gin and I cut his sentence. I regretted saving this man on the streets.

“Wow, harsh couple.” He pshed and went back to laying his body fully on the seat. I just sighed and ignored him again.

Navia didn’t even reply to my text about her fiancée getting found on the streets. How heartless can she be? It’s a surprise that someone was willing to commit to her. If only he knows what her attitude is.

“Are you nervous?” Gin asked and held my hand.

I stared down at it and the memory of us arguing two days ago flashed back in my mind.

“You lied, did you?” I glared at him.

“What?”

“You lied about Navia! About h-her liking you!” I retorted.

He seemed unfazed by my revelation. Instead, he calmly gets a glass of water and puts it on the table.

“Just tell me everything already!” I begged him desperately and held the ends of his polo orange shirt. I want to know the answers to why he did all of this. He can make a deal without us pretending to be fiancees. It makes me wonder all the time.

“I-I mean, I get why you wanted to help me in exchange for money, but why did you lie about Navia?” I questioned him once again. He sat in front of me and squeezed my hands gently while looking at me with sad eyes.

What’s that supposed to mean?

“Stop staring and spill it already. Everything is confusing… At least make your intentions clear.”

“Freya,” He started speaking, “I didn’t lie to you in any way.”

“Then what’s that? How could you make us play pretend to be lovers – worst! Fiancees! It would be better if you just kept it between us, but you didn’t… you didn’t…” I couldn’t say anything anymore as my confusion grew bigger and bigger. I couldn’t think of any valid reason why Gin wanted us to play pretend in the first place.

He is known for being a gentleman, the smartest of all bachelors in this town, and a principle-driven person.

“Look,” Gin heave a sigh, “I didn’t mean any harm to you. When I told you that Navia likes me, I was sure.”

“How are you sure?” I cried while I kept on holding onto his hands.

“Before your father called me to be your tutor, I was in the same place as your sister.”

“You dated her?”

“No! She wanted to date, but I refused,” He facepalmed, “I was also surprised when Van came over and announced them as soon-to-be husband and wife.” He continued with a grey tone.

I shut my eyes closed and held to him tighter.

Should I trust you? Should I believe your words? After everything… you wouldn’t betray me too, right?

“Trust me.” He pats my head lightly.

I couldn’t do anything but nod.

When we finally sorted things out. I asked him about my dad and what they talked about in his office. I almost forgot about it since I was busy thinking about what the maid said before dying.

I raised my head and gave him a questioning stare. He shrugged at my question.

“You didn’t tell him the truth?” I sounded out, and he shrugged again.

I let out a spiteful cough.

“Do we have to? He approved of us anyway,” said Gin with a bored expression. This made me infuriated that I slapped his arm so hard. He chuckled at my reaction, but I just gave him a death glare.

“What if the day comes where we’ll stop pretending?”

He didn’t answer and just turned his back on me, which made me raise my eyebrow in confusion.

“Do you like me?” That question blurted out my mouth without giving it much thought.

“You owe me 3 Million.”

“That much?” I gasped.

His head twirled halfway to look at me, “For taking care of things.”

“What things?” He was about to answer my question, but I spoke again, “Ah, you know what, whatever. Here.” I handed him my credit card.

And that’s the end of it. Damn, my dad would be raging in anger once he found out that I had withdrawn a lot of money. It’s not like it’s a big deal, but he taught me the difference between wants and needs in terms of expenses.

“We’re here,” Gin’s husky voice pulled me back to reality. When I looked outside the car window, the vast hospital name shone blindly under the sunny day. I quickly got out after snatching the flowers I bought for her sitting in the car.

It’s been so long since I came here. I used to visit this in the past before she finally passed away. It was weird if I think about it right now; the doctors before said that her condition is getting more and more stable, and the chances of her waking up reach up to 80%. I didn’t realize how off it was that my mother died so suddenly after that news.

But here I am again, standing beside her hospital bed. The machine that supports her to live is still there like before. This time, I’ll do anything to prevent bad things from happening.

“Mom,” I called her and put the flowers on the table next to her bed, “I miss you.”

Even though we didn’t spend that much time together, the attachment feeling is strong. My mom fell into a coma when I was a kid due to a car accident. I don’t know the complete details yet. All I know is that the one who hit her went missing days after the investigation started then found his body thrown on a river a week after. It was a chilling incident. I never knew how scary it was because I was still a kid back then.

“I’ll wait outside,” excused Gin.

Gin and I felt a little distant after the talk we had days ago. Even if he’s still a little clingy and touchy, our conversation became shorter and shorter.

When I was the only one finally left alone, I sat on the chair not so far away from where my mother lay.

“Mom, crazy things happened…” My breath came out shaky, “My sister and my ex-boyfriend killed me,” I laughed lowly, “Now I’m here, and I came back in the past-“I couldn’t contain my laughter, “Damn. That sounds crazy, right? But it happened. I have no idea why or what to do. Everything is scary, mom.” I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes, “It feels weirdly painful,” I mumbled.

The silence in this room is deafening. The machine’s beeping is the only thing I can hear, and it makes my heart more anxious. I was about to doze off when loud voices came outside.

I quickly got up to see what’s the commotion about.

 When I opened the door, everyone was in a panic. The nurses and doctors are trying to restrain someone. I closed the door and looked around for Gin, but he was nowhere to be found. Where’s he?

“Let me go!”

“Sir, please drink your medicine!” The nurse was trying so hard not to get dragged by this person with green eyes.

Wait, green eyes?

I squinted my eyes to see it better, and I was right. This man has emerald eyes that seems to glow by how bright it is.

I think my feet moved on their own because I just found myself holding his collar. Judging from his clothes, he is not a patient here. But why are the nurses and doctors so desperate?

“You!” I squealed. His features are the same as that woman who handed me a glass of water.

When I asked Gin and my dad if they saw the same person, they all shook their head and said that the only person they saw with me when they got out was that maid who died.

That person couldn’t be hallucination! I swear she was real! So what’s the best explanation for that? That person pretended to be a maid and escaped as soon as she could when she handed me the glass of water.

“Freya!” I heard Gin call me from the back, but I ignored it and stared longer at this person.

“Was it you? Your sister?” I grit.

He smirked, “Oh, so you found me.”

I bit my lower lip and harshly lets go of him. His smirk didn’t disappear. The nurses helped him get up, and I remained standing there.

Someone ran to my side, the familiar perfume engulfed my nose, and that’s when I knew it was Gin, but my gaze was still locked with this weird emerald green-eyed person.

So it’s him. He has a face and body that can look like a girl. It’s not impossible if it’s him, plus he admitted it.

I watched the nurse guide him somewhere as we kept on staring at each other. They may have different hair colours, but I’m sure it’s him—the one who almost killed me.

What is his intention? Does he know me? Cause I never knew his existence.

Why do people that I don’t know keep on appearing in my life?

“Do you know him?” Gin questioned.

“Not yet.”

“Can we go home?” Both Gin and I jumped when the blonde freak suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

I almost forgot about this guy too.