Looking For Someone Else

[AUTHOR’S POV]

"Another terrorist attack took place at the Adenhill central bank. The perpetrator carried a small-scale bomb and blew himself up inside the bank after posing as one of the bank employees."

Hector lifted his head from his soft bed to watch the news on the television.

"Wow, he did it!"

"Again?" A woman spoke near Hector, only in a bikini and her body under the same blanket as Hector.

"Isn't she very excited?"

"A spirit similar to that of the leader," the woman Celine, asked with a smile for Hector. She gave Hector the remote while she went to take a shower, and Hector sat up to hear the news more clearly.

"All bank employees and customers were saved, although the explosion was small in scale, but damage was done to the lobby of the bank, killing the perpetrator and injuring one police officer."

Hector just laughed at the news; he didn't care if anyone was injured, but his attention was drawn to someone who had been caught on camera.

"Jeanne?"

Meanwhile Jeanne was still shaking violently after witnessing such a horrible thing. He was used to seeing fresh wounds and gushing blood, but witnessing how a human's stomach was unraveled by an explosion was something that traumatized him and he had never imagined before.

Jeanne had even forgotten that he had almost died in the same explosion if someone had not pulled him up and protected him, and that person was Hellena who was surrounded by many people including Edgar.

"Ed-ouch..." Jeanne felt his injured leg from being crushed by the rubble, but Edgar did not hear his voice and was only focused on holding back the blood from Hellena's injured head.

"Hellena! Hellena! Stay here, don't close your eyes! WHERE'S THE AMBULANCE, WHY ARE THEY LATE! I'VE ORDERED EVERYONE TO BE THERE ON TIME, RIGHT!"

"The ambulance is on its way, Captain!"

"I ordered everyone to arrive on time including the medical assistance, but where did they stop by, huh!? If Hellena's condition worsens, I swear I'll punish the medical personnel assigned today!"

Edgar sounded very panicked and afraid that Hellena was getting worse. He even seemed to forget that Jeanne was there and it upset Jeanne, until Jeanne realized that Hellena was hurt because she was trying to protect him. Jeanne had to help, so he dragged his injured leg towards Hellena in Edgar's arms.

"Edgar, let me check on her," Jeanne said, kneeling beside Edgar. But just as he was about to touch Hellena, Edgar swatted his hand away with great force.

"STAY AWAY! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO CHECK ON HER! YOU'RE ONLY MAKING THINGS WORSE!"

Jeanne trembled, his lips unable to make a sound as Edgar snapped at him with such anger, for the first time. His piercing, hateful eyes glared at Jeanne and froze him in place. Jeanne retreated slowly, while Edgar returned to the unconscious Hellena, and he immediately carried Hellena to the ambulance without waiting for the medical personnel to come in with a stretcher for her.

***

Jeanne returned home feeling troubled. His leg was injured and he treated it himself with his trembling hands, and his heart was broken as he remembered Edgar yelling at him and looking at him hatefully. For the first time Jeanne could feel it clearly, the hatred Edgar had for him.

"You must be really sick of me, Ed," Jeanne said, wiping his tears away repeatedly as he wrapped his ankle with a bandage. "You should have told me from the start that you hated me, that way I would have left... that way I wouldn't have made things worse because I moved on after my love got the better of me."

Now Jeanne didn't know what he should do; the end of him and Edgar was looking more and more clear and he was very afraid of seeing Edgar come back if it was just to say goodbye to him.

But as the door to the house opened, Jeanne nonetheless jumped off his bed and ran towards Edgar.

"Edgar... Edgar! How is Miss Hellena?" Jeanne followed Edgar, but Edgar ignored him as if Jeanne did not exist.

Jeanne saw Edgar take off all his clothes, including his bulletproof vest and replace them with new clothes. "Ed..." Jeanne saw the needle marks on Edgar's arm, it looked slightly bruised and there was fresh blood flowing slowly from it. Jeanne quickly covered it with a clean cloth that was nearby.

"Edgar, did you donate your blood? You should have been more careful with the wound, can't you see it's still bleeding?" Edgar dismissed Jeanne's hand and left after putting on all his clothes. Jeanne chased after Edgar. "Edgar, did you donate your blood to Miss Hellena?"

Edgar still did not answer, and Jeanne still followed him to the door.

"Edgar!"

"Yes, I gave my blood for her!" Edgar turned around, answering sharply. "I gave my blood as an apology for my wife making him die!"

"Edgar, forgive me. I was wrong, please forgive me."

"Why were you there? What are you looking for, Jeanne? I've told you a hundred times to never come to my workplace even if I just sit and chat with my friends! I've also told you not to leave this place, why don't you listen to me, Jeanne?"

With a trembling and hoarse voice, Jeanne replied, "I'm just worried about you, Edgar."

"What are you worried about? Unlike you, I can protect myself, Jeanne! Unlike you who let a stranger get close to you and shoot you just because he had the chance to smile at you, I even know if someone has a gun near me. I can protect myself, but I asked you to stay here to keep you safe!"

"Edgar, I'm sorry~ Please forgive me."

"Now that you understand what happened because you didn't listen to me, I hope you understand what you have to do now." Edgar turned away, but Jeanne still wanted to apologize so he grasped Edgar's hand once again, and once again Edgar brushed him off while saying, "YOU WILL NOT GO ONE STEP OUT OF THIS HOUSE! DO THAT SO THAT NO MORE PEOPLE DIE BECAUSE OF YOUR CARELESSNESS!"

***

[JEANNE'S POV]

There was no reason for me to sleep well after what happened today. My head was full of bad thoughts, my feelings were filled with regret and fear. Among all that, the blood coming out of my womb was the thing I was most afraid of. I endured the pain, telling the guards to take me to the hospital but they wouldn't move until Edgar gave permission while Edgar was unreachable.

I curled up with intense pain in my stomach while the blood was still flowing even though I had cleaned it repeatedly. I tried to call Edgar, but my calls were rejected. Edgar was so angry that he didn't want to hear my voice, he didn't even know that I was enduring the pain while praying that he wouldn't lose his son again this time.

But it was useless to hope, Edgar wouldn't come. My common sense clearly thought that, but foolishly my heart still hoped for him, so I wrote my last letter before I jumped out of my room on the second floor with the help of a cloth that I tied into a long rope.

I no longer cared about my leg and the wound that had reopened, I ran towards the back door after throwing a stone to break the window of my house and make all the guards enter, so that I could get out without anyone holding me back.

They would realize my departure quickly, so I tried to run on my bare feet and tried to cover my head with the hood of my gray jacket. I'm sorry, Edgar, I didn't leave because I was afraid of you or because I hated you; I did all this because I wanted to save my baby. But I lost track of where to go as my body grew weaker and my stomach hurt more.

I managed to run far away from home, but the hospital was also very far away. I didn't recognize anyone near me, even a stranger who asked how I was felt like he was going to blow himself up in front of me. I was scared, confused and my whole body hurt. I saw a bar and a big-bodied guard in front of it, I approached him with my last hope.

"Hello, miss in the gray jacket, do you want to have some fun?" the man asked first, with his smile contrasting with my pale face.

"Do you know where I can meet someone named Hector?"

At the mention of Hector's name, the man's smile disappeared. He pulled me to sit on a chair far from the door of the bar.

"Wait here," and he left.

So he knew Hector, and Hector's words were true if I could make him come just by saying his name. I didn't know who Hector was, but I only had him as my last hope to help me.

"Akh!" I felt a violent contraction from my stomach, and my black pants seemed to be wet with blood. The smell was getting more and more obvious and I was getting scared.

"Please come to me, Hector... please," I cried and hoped, the pain that seemed to engulf my body making me limp even more and lay down on the chair, until I heard the sound of a car a few minutes after I waited and its lights shining on me. I sat up to look, hoping it was Hector.

My vision was briefly obscured by the car's headlights, and someone got out of there quickly, closing the door with a bang.

"Jeanne?"

"Hector~"

My whole body was shaking, it was like I saw God giving me help from His hand directly by hearing Hector call my name.

I tried to stand up, it felt like my body would break if I walked but I still approached Hector who was now running towards me.

I felt relieved; I didn't know if I was going to die or not after this, but I couldn't resist this sense of relief and happiness as I was able to fall into Hector's arms and entrust myself to fall asleep on his broad shoulders.