CHAPTER 4.

Tightening her grip around the traveling box that rested gently by her leg, Leilani swallowed hard as she bore her eyes into the gate, hoping that it would suddenly open and Jonathan would rush out and then usher her in while he begged her that he had made a terrible mistake.

She could only dream, of course, but she wished.

Tears streamed down her face, her sweaty palm fondled into a tight fist while the other held the handle of her box gently.

After she had signed the document, forcefully, Maxwell, Jonathan’s sister had taken up the task to gather her loads and had surely made sure to leave out a lot of them, obviously.

“The divorce will go through with or without you around. I have my way with it. You will get your alimony from my lawyer tomorrow,” he had said before his sister and mother walked her out of the house.

Dumbfounded beyond comprehension, Leilani walked out of the house, trying as hard as she could to keep her tears in and not break down in front of these people.

“Ugh, finally!” Maxwell clasped her hands together and then clutched them to her chest.

“Now, stay as far away as you can. You don’t own a place here, and you never will. Get your misfortune far away from here!” Nancy yelled at her face.

“M… mother,” Leilani finally sniffed.

“I am glad this is the last time I’ll be seeing your face and I’ll definitely sleep properly today since the last four years. God, I wish you could just wipe off the surface of this earth!” She gnashed and then turned to leave.

Maxwell snickered at her for a while before she laughed and then turned to leave, closing the gate behind her.

Snapping back to reality, Leilani glanced at the time on her phone and it was a little bit to seven. 7.pm and these people had casted her out of the house without a care in the world!

She had nowhere to go. No one to turn to, and apparently… no one to call.

It has been several years since she had left the orphanage and she definitely could not return there.

First, she knew she had to leave this environment before it got darker and she knew she would have to walk a little before she could get a cab.

“God, fuck this!” She cussed as she wheeled her bag down the street.

She was trying her best not to cry.

It was taking a lot of energy in her not to.

She had a lot to cry about and she was not ready to break down at the moment.

She kept walking down the street for about fifteen minutes before a cab pulled away from her.

“Oh, thank Goodness!” She sighed and waved her hand.

She had thought she would be walking for a while longer before she came across any, so she pulled her box in a hurry to the car and then swallowed gently at the driver who had gotten out of the car.

“May I help you with this?” He asked her.

“Y… yeah, sure!”

He lifted the box, dropped it in the booth of the car, and then entered the front seat after she had settled at the back.

“Where to, ma’am?”

“Uhm… take me to… a hotel. Yeah, hotel, please.”

“Okay…” he drawled and took a look at her through the mirror.

“Anyone… away from here.”

She was going to find her way tomorrow, but now, she needed a place to crash to.

The man ignited the engine and then drove away. After a few minutes of driving, Leilani sighted the bottled water that was beside her which was usually kept for the passengers, and then picked it up.

“I can have this, yeah?”

“Of course, ma’am,” the man answered.

_______

Her eyes twitching open, Leilani groaned and then sat upright, struggling to get where she was.

She was still in the car, alone, parked in a very quiet, secluded street.

“W… what is…”

Her voice was slurry, and she was still feeling very drowsy.

Her eyes suddenly fell on the bottled water that had already fallen and had poured to the floor, her eyes widened forcefully and she gasped.

Has she been kidnapped?!

She sat upright and blinked repeatedly, trying to get the sleep off her eyes.

Then, she sighted the man who stood a few feet away from the car, smoking and then… on a call.

He seemed to be talking to someone while he smoked.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Leilani whimpered and slapped herself on the face multiple times.

“Wake up, Leilani!” She cautioned herself as she realized she was still feeling sleepy and would want nothing more than to sleep.

She had been drugged!

Gently, she opened the door and then got out as slowly as she could.

“Don’t worry. I will take care of her very quietly,” she heard the man say.

Her attempt to shut the door quietly was futile as it made a sound and the man turned in her direction.

She muttered, and then ran down the opposite direction, “Fuck!”

“You can't get away from me, darling!” The man said after her but she didn’t stop, neither did she turn to look at him.

She kept running-staggering as far as her leg could carry her.

The man suddenly got on a run too, and Leilana cried out, hoping that someone would hear her scream.

“Fuck, stop right there!” He hollered.

She took a turn without thinking twice and then ran into a car.

She stood still, shocked, and then waved her hands at whoever was in the car.

“P… please, help me…”

That was the last thing she remembered saying before she collapsed on the floor and then into oblivion.

===

She had not even opened her eyes before the antiseptic scent of disinfectant hung heavy in the air making her nostrils flare in distaste. And then she squinted her eyes open to the fluorescent lights above her blinded her groggy eyes, casting an unforgiving glare over the sterile room.

She was in the hospital.

“And finally, you are awake.”

Her head turned gently and her eyes settled on him.

He was settled on a chair. A wheelchair.

Legs were crossed, and a tablet was in his hand.

He was not looking at her.

His eyes were buried in the screen and she wondered if he was the one that just talked.

“Welcome back,” he said again, to clear her doubts and then raised his eyes to look at her.

She dropped her eyes to look at the man who had the most… maybe the confident look on his face.

For a man in his situation… in a wheelchair which meant that he was crippled, he had the look of the most confident and finest man that she had ever seen.

“W… who… who are…”

“Me? I am Lorenzo. Lorenzo Byers.”