It was a pleasant morning when Abi woke up. She spent the remaining time with her family and had a happy breakfast with them.
Her dad drove her back to the orphanage. On the drive there, the father and daughter talked about Abi’s life in the city until they reached their destination. Her father didn’t stop encouraging her, telling her to live her life happily before he left.
Abi stood there, waving to her dad as she watched her father’s car disappear from her eyes.
She let out a sigh and smiled before she entered the building and went to work.
The day was lively and joyful as always inside the orphanage. The kids and the people inside were all like her family as well and she always felt good working with them.
She was glad that it was busy that day to keep her mind somewhat occupied because she couldn’t stop thinking about Alex. She already lost some sleep last night because of him and now that she was at work, she couldn’t believe that his face was still distracting her, until in the end, she found herself waiting for twilight to come.
The day was busy and yet she felt like it was dragging on. Indeed, it was true that time slowed down like a wounded turtle when waiting for something to come but flew fast like a bird when you weren’t.
Finally, twilight came. Abi stepped out of the building and looked at the mini children’s park in front. Her eyes were drawn to the empty swing and she silently walked towards it. She sat on it and swung a little, just letting her body sway lightly.
Abi was thinking about Alex again. She had tried to call Alex last night but for some reason, he was out of reach. Kai was also the same. She couldn’t help but feel uneasy. The thoughts, ‘what if he will not come back?’, ‘what if he will not appear before her anymore?’ flooded her mind but she couldn’t help it.
For the first time, Abi was extremely bothered with the fact that she really didn’t know anything about Alex. All she knew was that he was related to the tycoon, Ezekiel Qin. Everyone knew that Ezekiel Qin was a self-made man. She also read a magazine saying that he was an orphan. Knowing this made Abi feel confused when Alex told her that Ezekiel was his close kin. But then, she shrugged those thoughts away because at the time, she thought that it was fine for Alex not to tell her anything.
But she was wrong. She wasn’t fine with it at all. She wanted to know more about him. Who were his family? Where were they? Was he living in that huge mansion for a long time now or did he just decide to live in it lately?
Abigail couldn’t help but feel scared. She was scared that one day, Alex would just disappear like an enchanting phantom she just met in her dreams.
Abi let out a deep sigh and looked up at the sky.
She missed Alex so badly. It was only about 34 hours since she last saw him and she already felt like weeks had passed by. She wasn’t waiting for her time to end anymore. She was no longer thinking about the opportunities that life had taken from her. Her mind and heart were now only thinking about a particular someone, and waiting for that someone to come back. She realized that her life had really changed.
At that moment, while Abi was lost in her thoughts, she suddenly felt a chill coming from behind her. She was initially excited because she thought that Alex was finally here but after a second, she realised that this wasn’t the same feeling she felt when Alex became cold towards her. This was different. It reeked with danger, malice and bloodlust that caused Abi’s body to immediately react.
Her heart accelerated as she started to force herself to turn around. She knew that someone was behind her and she felt to her bones that she was in grave danger. She could feel it. She tried to convince herself that it was just her imagination and that maybe, it was just a ghost – she was terrified of ghosts.
She swallowed and her mind prepared for her to scream, however, her throat suddenly dried up like a well in the desert. This menacing aura that someone behind her was emitting was too strong for her to handle that her body had surrendered before she realized it.
She gripped the swing’s chains as she tried to force her body to move. She knew she couldn’t run at this rate. And thus, she decided to turn and look behind her.
But before she could move her head, someone’s voice made her freeze in place.
“Don’t move, Abigail.” The voice said and Abi’s eyes widened. Her eyes darted to the source of the voice which came from in front of her and what she saw shocked her.
“A-alex…” She thought she had called out his name but no sound came out of her lips. Alex was there, standing a few steps away in front of her. When did he get here?
The man wasn’t looking at her, however. His eyes zeroed in on something or someone behind her. But seeing him felt like she just saw her moon in the darkness. Her frozen body began to melt and she knew that she would be able to move now.
Just as Abi was about to move to run towards him, Alex stopped her again.
“I told you. Don’t move,” he commanded, his voice hard and stern. She saw his eyes burning with danger, locking her down in place.
Abi swallowed as she finally realized that this situation was more dangerous than she thought. She remembered Alex’s expression when he saved her that night in that bar but that expression paled in comparison to this. His face was so much calmer this time but there was a burning hell in his eyes. It was so frightening that Abi didn’t even realize that she had held her breath for a long time just looking at his eyes.
“Close your eyes, Abigail,” were the next words she heard. The man didn’t even glance at her. “Now! And don’t open them until I say so.”
Abi was forced to close her eyes and then in the next second, a cold wind blew past her as noises began to ring in her ears.
