2

Kirsten started panicking after hearing the words from her mother. It can’t be.

“Calm down, Kirsten. I’ll go with you.” You can see the seriousness on Anita’s face. She looked fierce in this expression. Kirsten heaved a deep breath and nodded at her cousin.

“Is my father going to survive, right?” Kirsten asked Anita. She held her tears back. She needed to be strong.

“She is. You should stop worrying; let’s go now.” Anita held her hands and helped her stand up, and they both walked fast to the car. Anita drove the vehicle to the hospital. Kirsten stops herself from crying. She was hurt but hurt even more after hearing the bad news. Her father got into an accident. Her father is so kind. Why had he suffered from this?

A call came into Kirsten from Sam's number while Anita was driving. She kept her fingers crossed that Sam was on the other line of this phone. She despises hearing Charles' voice. When Kirsten realized she could still hear Sam's brother on the line, she quickly ended the connection.

Kirsten was worried about her dad, and at the same time, she was concerned about her boyfriend. Where did Sam go? It’s so not him. And he will never leave his phone. He always brings it with him and sends an update to Kirsten.

“Why did you hang up? Are you mad with Sam?” Anita asked. Kirsten shook her head in response.

“I am now wondering where Sam is. He’s not in their home; he even leaves his phone. The one who called is her brother, Charles.”

“That hot guy, huh?” Anita made a tsk sound.

“Not even close to Sam. My boyfriend is a standard,” rolling her eyes, she answered.

“If you say so. But your sister told me she has a huge crush on Charles,” Anita said. “… and we’re here.” Anita parked the car in the parking lot of the hospital. They exited the vehicle; Kirsten was frowning while looking straight at her cousin.

“What?” Anita asked, emotionless.

“Scarlet told you that?”

“Yes. Do you have a problem with that?”

“She lied to you,” she quickly answered. Kirsten knew her sister and Anita weren’t close, so she was sure Scarlet wasn’t telling her the truth. And Kirsten was convinced that Scarlet wasn’t into Charles but into his boyfriend.

Anita didn’t know that.

“Why would she lie to me?”

“She has a purpose while she told you that, and I will know it soon.”

Afterward, they hurriedly go to the room where his father was admitted. She saw her mother there. Kirsten walked towards her to talk about what had happened to his dad. Kirsten found out that her dad was drunk while driving, which is why he is in this situation. He got many bruises on her body, and he was still unconscious.

“Where’s Scarlet?” Kirsten asked her mother when she noticed her excellent sister wasn’t there.

“I don’t know where she is. I’ve been contacting her, but she was unattended. Maybe, she’ll answer my calls tomorrow.”

Filipinas knew the siblings weren’t close, so she didn’t bother asking Kirsten to call her sister.

“That… girl,” Kirsten remarks before telling her mother to rest. She was wide awake until 3 am, waiting for Sam. She even sent a message that she was in the hospital. She was hoping that Sam was already home. Her boyfriend never stays outside until 1 am. She was so sure of that.

Kirsten looked at Anita when she suddenly spoke. “It’s almost four in the morning. I need to go home,” she said.

She smiled and hugged her. “Thank you for staying for hours. I appreciate it a lot.”

“No need to mention. I am also worried about uncle,” she smiled back. After hugging, Anita stood up.

“I will go with you outside, Anita,” Kirsten said. “I will buy food. I am starving, and for my mother when she woke up.” Anita just nodded before they started walking down the hallway of the hospital floor. They chitchat a little bit before arriving at the parking lot.

“Be safe while driving,” she said to her cousin. She waved her goodbye. She waited for Anita to leave altogether before she entered the building again. But before she could enter, she shivered when hearing someone’s voice calling her name.

“Kirsten,” she looked at that person and grimaced when she saw Charles.

“What are you doing here?” she kept herself calm despite her heart beating faster because of shock.

“You texted my brother that you are here. I need you to help me find him.”

“Did you two quarrel? And why is he suddenly going missing?”

Charles was giving her a firm look. “We didn’t.”

“Then why do you care so much about him? Why are you finding him now?” Kirsten asked while she brows were frowning.

“He left yesterday with my car. I need to get that back. Do you understand me?”

Now, Kirsten knows the reason. Charles never cared about his brother. His car is the reason why he was finding her brother.

But, wait, it’s not right. “Maybe, you got it wrong. He will never use someone’s car without permission.”

She stepped backward when Charles started to walk near to her. “Stop defending him. We have CCTV cameras in the house, and I confirmed that he was the one who took my car.”

Kirsten suddenly felt afraid when she noticed that Charles had changed his expression. He looked mad while looking at her and as if he would bite her.

“Okay. But you don’t need to look at me like t-that,” she gazes away. “I don’t know where my boyfriend is. I will tell you whenever I see him. Right now, you c-can go,” she said, turning her back. She never turned around. She continued walking inside and went straight to the hospital canteen.

Kirsten is now worried about her boyfriend. She had no idea where he was. Maybe something terrible had happened to him; she hoped she was wrong. She doesn’t wish her boyfriend to be in danger.

After buying food, her eyes widened when she saw Charles in the canteen—purchasing some food. Because she was finished buying, she immediately walked away from that place. She was distraught just seeing Charles here.

Kirsten quickly returned to her father's hospital room, but she suddenly met someone she knew even before she got far from the canteen.  Kirsten smiled at him.

“Can we talk?” he asked Kirsten, and she nodded. She knew that she was going to find another piece of news. This can’t be delayed, so Kirsten chooses to go with this man.  

Charles was pissed off; it was almost twenty-four hours since Samuel had taken his precious car. Charles knew Sam would never do that, but this time, it was different. He has strong evidence that it is his younger brother. Mainly, he didn’t see his brother the whole day, he didn’t bring his phone, and his girlfriend didn’t know where the fuck is he.

At this moment, Charles Anderson was in the hospital. He looked at the wristwatch he was wearing and saw that it was already four-thirty-two in the morning. Damn. He even goes into this fucking hospital just to ask Kirsten personally.

He didn't want to see Kirsten but couldn't sleep either. Furthermore, he concluded that Sam could be around because Kirsten was in a problem and may have called for her boyfriend’s help.

Charles treasures his car so much. Right now, he didn’t know what was happening to the car. Suppose it is safe or what. Kirsten just told him she knew nothing about where he was. She was now in a problem because her father got involved in an accident last night.

“You are doomed if something bad happens to my car, bro,” Charles whispered as he followed Kirsten entering the building. He observed her as she made her way to the medical center's cafeteria. Charles also decided to go there because he was feeling famished and hadn't eaten correctly or on time the day before because his car was still missing.

Charles bought some food and told himself to go home, rest and wait for Samuel to return to the house. But when Charles left that cafeteria, she suddenly saw Kirsten running from nowhere, and he knew she would pass by him. Charles creased her forehead.

He was so confused; Sam’s boyfriend looked really upset, so he stopped Kirsten and was shocked when he saw her crying. Tears were streaming down her cheeks continuously.

“What happened to you?”

“It’s none of your business.” She tugged her arm from Charles’ grip and started wiping her tears.

“Just tell me. Did your father die?” After Charles’ asked that, he immediately groaned because he received a strong punch from this girl “What the hell! It hurts!”

"You deserve it!" After uttering those words in an angry tone, Kirsten walked off. Charles shrugged it off and settled on the idea of letting her alone. But only after he could go to the place where he is standing. He noticed an identification card on the floor when he picked it up. He found Kirsten's name and a photo of her. Fortunately, she left it here because she could have trouble finding it otherwise.

Kirsten May Saavedra.

He has known for a long time that Kirsten outshines Scarlet in terms of beauty. He knew Scarlet. She is a flirt.

Charles made up his mind to go after her once more to give this item back to her. Before that, though, he checked Kirsten’s text messages on Sam's phone, which he had brought over. She included the room where his father was recuperating in the text message.

“Thanks to this. It will be easy for me to find you.”

He thinks that if he calls her again, there’s a one-hundred percent chance she won’t answer it.

While Charles was walking, he was already sipping the iced coffee he had bought. He prefers iced coffee to hot water. But as soon as he arrived on that floor, he was startled to hear someone sobbing. He wrinkled his brow in concentration, and his eyes lit up with interest, especially when she started talking in the middle of the cry.

Based on the voice, it’s a girl, and Charles’ seemed familiar with this voice.