I suddenly sat up, gasping for air.
I didn't even remember falling asleep. After I had finished cleaning myself up last night, I must have just collapsed. My eyelids felt heavy and glued shut—whether from the sudden wake-up or the hours I had spent crying, I couldn't tell.
Groggily, I rubbed my eyes and fumbled across the mattress until my hand hit my phone.
It was flooded with messages from a single person.
– Where are you now?
-Why aren't you answering? Are you okay?
-Nothing's wrong, right?
-Reply, damn it. I'm worried sick.
There were dozens more just like them.
I squinted and looked around the room, but Alex wasn't there. I tried calling him back, my fingers clumsy against the screen—but the call didn't connect.
Worry started to set in. When I had come back to our room last night, I hadn't even thought to check in with him. I had just assumed he would be here waiting for me. Even when I found the bed empty, I hadn't worried—he stayed out late often, so it hadn't seemed unusual.
Besides, I couldn't really blame myself for that choice. At least, that was what I told myself.
But now, looking at his messages, I realized the truth. He had been searching for me the entire time.
That thought unsettled me. I couldn't stop thinking about what he might have done in the meantime.
Alex had always been quick-tempered, his emotions written plainly on his face. Once he got heated, it didn't take much for him to lose control.
I wanted to go out and look for him. In the end, I stayed where I was. Alex had told me to run without thinking about him.
The truth was, I was afraid. Afraid that if I went outside, I would only drag myself into more trouble. Staying in our room felt like the safest choice I had left.
After what happened last night, I didn't have much confidence in myself anymore. How could I? Every time I stepped out, I seemed to end up in trouble.
I clenched my phone tightly, frustrated with my situation. I tried to think of some way, any way, I could help him. But no matter how hard I thought, nothing came to mind. Even if I decided to go to the authorities, they would most likely assume he was a runaway rather than someone who had gone missing.
There was one person who could help, and I even had her number. But—
The whole event replayed in my mind. Cold spread through my body. I shook my head quickly, snapping out of the thoughts before I looked back down at my phone.
There was no chance Alex would contact me now. His battery must have been drained by the countless messages and calls he had sent, trying to reach me.
I buried my head in my arms as I sat on the bed, turning the same question over and over in my mind.
Should I call that woman, Elara, for help?
I was still trapped in that thought when the door suddenly burst open with a loud bang.
I jolted so hard that I scrambled upright, ending up standing on the bed in shock.
"Lyra Ashworth!"
It was Alex.
The orphanage we had grown up in was called the Ashworth Orphanage. The head there had given all the children the same surname.
He looked like a complete mess.
The moment his eyes landed on me, he rushed straight over. His hands closed tightly around my shoulders, and before I could react, he shook me hard. My head snapped back and forth, and for a second I thought I heard something crack in my neck from the force of it.
"You… where have you been all this time?" His voice was loud, filled with anger, but it also shook slightly, as though he was on the verge of crying. That was a rare sight, since even back in the orphanage I had hardly ever seen him shed tears.
Before I could answer, his hands slid up, cupping my cheeks. He turned my head gently to the left, then to the right, his eyes scanning my face. When he noticed the swelling around my eyes, he leaned closer, examining me as if searching for injuries that weren't in sight.
Only after that did he suddenly pull me into a tight hug.
His arms wrapped around me with so much force that my breath caught in my throat. For a moment, I couldn't breathe at all. I hit his back several times before he finally seemed to realize it and loosened his grip.
"Where have you been?"
"No, where have you been?" I asked back soon after Alex did. His hand, as if something clicked in his mind, came down on my shoulders, gripping them tightly.
"You answer first. Why didn't you come back to the room yesterday? Did you meet that pig bastard in the bathroom?"
The moment his fingers tightened, a strange sensation ran through me. Before I could think about it, I slapped his hand away.
Alex didn't react to it much. He just kept staring at me, waiting for my answer.
I had already decided I wouldn't tell him anything and had thought long and hard about what I would say.
"No, I didn't see him. I just drank too much and was throwing up, so I couldn't come. But when I came back, you were already gone."
Alex wasn't the one to be swayed by lies, especially if they were coming from me, but it seemed like he believed it.
"Really? You didn't meet him again?"
"Why would I lie to you?" Then I quickly turned the question back on him. "But what about you? What happened? Why weren't you there?"
I wasn't sure I could keep my expression straight if the conversation stayed on me any longer.
At my question, his face turned ugly with anger. Instead of answering, he started cursing loudly, over and over, his fist slamming hard into the bed.
I watched him quietly, a smile forming on my lips. After a moment, I reached out, picked up a bottle of water, and handed it to him. It wasn't anything strange to me anymore. I had seen this too many times before.
After he calmed down a little, he finally answered. "When you went to the bathroom, that pig also got up, saying he had to relieve himself."
He then explained everything in detail. When he tried to follow that pig like man, the other two stopped him and told him to wait until their boss came back. Then, all of a sudden, the workers of the bar appeared, saying that their time was over. They asked for him specifically and led him through the back door.
After hearing his story, I felt a strange sense of happiness settle inside me. Especially because it meant that Elara had kept her word.
"So, after that, I contacted you, but you didn't answer, and then I wandered around to look for you, but my battery died."
I hadn't realized it, but my smile had already widened. When Alex noticed it, he let out a small chuckle as well.
"So everything is okay now?"
Alex nodded. "Yeah, but still don't go around for a while and take care of yourself." He messed with my hair.
For the first time since last night, the tightness in my chest eased. Even just a little.