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Episode 17

~Playlist for this chapter is 'Traffic Lights - Sara Kays' 🎶🎶 do enjoy

Micaela's POV

I woke up feeling so re-energized, I've never felt like this for a very long time. What could be the cause of it? I sat up and then I felt something fall from my head when I glanced downwards to my bed, it was a towel. I wrinkled my eyebrows confusedly and I reached out for the white towel. It was wet when I touched it and it makes me wonder why.

I glance around the room looking for a clue about what had happened but I didn't find anything. I raised the duvet and I found myself in another clothing. I gasp and fear creeps in, this wasn't the cloth I wore yesterday.

What happened to me? How did I even get to my house last night? I stood up from my bed and walked out of my room to go find Ji-hye and ask her what had happened. When I got downstairs, I found her setting the table for breakfast. She gazes up and saw me and a huge smile spreads on her face.

"Good morning ma'am Micaela. How are you feeling today?" she asks walking up to me.

"I'm feeling okay. I saw this towel on my head when I woke up this morning, did you put it there?"

She glances down at the towel in my hands and she shook her head. "It wasn't me, it was Mr. Fernando. Yeah, I pronounced it correctly!" she giggles and I raised a brow at her.

"Fernando?" I inquired and she nods. "Fernando was here?"

"Correction, he is here" She smiled and my eyes widens.

"He is here? Where?!" I whisper-yelled.

"One of the guest rooms. It was late last night when he finished taking care of you, so I asked him to spend the night since he didn't have a car".

"What happened to me? What do you mean he cared for me? I'm not understanding anything!" I rushed out my words begging for a better explanation.

"Mr. Fernando found you. I don't know where he found you, but he found you and brought you home and you were unconscious the whole time. Your clothes were so wet so he asked me to change you up after that, you were running a high fever, so he used the soaked towel to relieve you of it. Where were you yesterday before that gentleman found you unconscious?".

Her explanation got me gasping repeatedly and it also brought back flashbacks of last night's incident.

"Ma'am, ma'am are you okay?" Ji-Hye's voice jars me out of my flashback and I stared at her.

Fernando saved my life yesterday that is why I'm alive today and that is why I feel sort of renewed if I'm to use that word. He was my angel that replenished my soul. But how did he find me there? Who told him I was there?

"Ma'am?" Ji-Hye's voice rang again in my ears and I was forced to get out of my thoughts and respond to her question.

I stared at her and forced a smile and said "I'm fine, I was just trying to recall what happened" and she nodded in understanding. I couldn't find the courage to tell her what exactly I was doing when Fernando found me. "Where did you say Fernando is again?"

"The largest guest rooms. Go ahead and get him here for breakfast while I finish setting up the table for you two" She beckons me with a smile and I nodded and reluctantly turnaround to go find Fernando.

As I walk through the passage, I couldn't help but wonder what I'm going to say to him. How do I even face him after all that happened yesterday? What does he think of me now? Probably, he sees me as a suicidal person now. The thought of that alone wants to make me run back to my room and lock myself in there until he leaves. I think that's the best thing to do now because I can't even face him. I didn't care if I was halfway to his room, I turnaround and walked back to my room.

I was almost escaping from him when my name rang loudly like a doorbell in the passage. I halted abruptly and stood still without glancing back. "Micaela?" his voice was guttural at the mention of my name.

I slowly turn around to gaze up at him with a fake smile and hands clasped together. I've been caught in the act, there's no escape. "Hey Fernando, good morning. I was just on my way to get you" I chirped and he raised a questioning brow at me.

"Is that so?" He asks and I nodded. He shot me a suspicious glare and said "Then why were you heading the other way instead of the guest room which I was occupying?".

"Uhmm...is...is just that I wasn't so sure of the exact room you slept in that's why I had to return to the sitting room to ask my maid" I answered and for a second I wondered if my voice was shaking when I had told that lie or if it sounded convincing.

"Oh okay. I guess your maid didn't tell you the exact room I slept in. That's by the way, how are you feeling today?".

"I'm doing alright. Thank you" I replied and he nods. "Thank you really for saving my life even though is not really what I wanted and..."

"Micaela-" he interrupts and my gaze caught his. "Let's not talk about that right now. Until I'm ready to interrogate your dumb decision of last night then you are free to tell me the stories that come with it. But at the moment I'm leaving for my lodge, see you whenever you are in your right state of mind" His tone of the response was flat and that got me abashed.

The next second he was walking away from me. I didn't hesitate to go after him. "You should have breakfast before leaving," I mumbled behind him.

"I'm not hungry. I'll eat when I get to my lodge" he answers gravelly without halting.

"Please Fernando, is just a gesture of appreciation. And besides, Ji-Hye has something prepared down for both of us already, you shouldn't upset her by refusing".

"Tell her to eat my breakfast. Have a nice day, I'll see you around before I leave" he curt and continues walking. I felt glummer by his attitude towards me and I just stood there like a lost child in a crowd.

"Mr. Fernando!" Ji-Hye's voice chitters in the sitting room causing Fernando to halt. I snickered at her pronunciation of Fernando's name.

Fernando turnaround smiling and she rushed up to him. "Ji-hye" he calls her name in a soft tone like he wasn't sure he was pronouncing the name right. I gave a soft smile as I watch them grinning at each other. "I guess I didn't sound bad with your name rolling on my tongue".

"No, you got it right. Did I get yours right?" she begged and he shrugs and chuckles.

"You're improving. I guess I'm the fast learner here" He smiles and she giggles.

"Were you already leaving?" she frowns at him and he shrugs. "But I already made breakfast for you. You didn't eat last night before you went to rest. After preparing sandwiches for you, I got to your room and you were already asleep. I had to force myself to eat it so it won't go to waste. You should make up for last night, please" she begs.

Fernando's gaze fluctuated to the chandelier in the sitting room and then his gaze dropped anchor on me. I glanced down avoiding his charming eyes. "Fine, I'm accepting because I don't want to torture you twice by eating what you don't want to eat," he announced and that made me gaze up at him in surprise.

"Thank you!" she exclaims excitedly. "Follow me to the dining room," she beckons and led the way to the dining. Fernando glances at me briefly before following her.

I heave a sigh before coming after them, but then I heard some female voices, and that caused me to halt. That should be my friends, I saw them last at the hospital, and after then I haven't set my eyes on them, and perhaps, I would never have set my eyes on them if I had succeeded in my suicidal plan yesterday. The entrance door flew open and they walked in, my suspicion was right, after all, it was them.

"Micaela!" They both squealed in unison and came crushing me with a hug. They held on to me for a long time and that almost got me whimpering. How would they have felt if they had come here today and not found me alive? Did they care so much about me?

"You got us so worried babe. Where the hell did you disappear to? Your boyfriend had to search all over the city for you which got me fearing for his safety. Did he find you or did you come home yourself?" Sabrina asks releasing me from the hug and my heart skipped a little when she said that.

Feelings of guilt watch through me and I couldn't stare into their eyes. Why did she even call Fernando my boyfriend? Where should I start my explanation of why I went missing and where he found me? "I was about going to have breakfast, you girls can join me," I said dismissing the question she asked.

"Breakfast? Did we tell you we are hungry? I just asked you a question regarding your whereabouts and you are speaking about breakfast?" Sabrina's voice went strident.

"Sabrina is right on this one. We need to know why you are always disappearing and appearing" Kim stubs in.

"I'm not disappearing and appearing. I was just out somewhere meditating".

"Meditating? You should let us know you are going somewhere out of the planet to meditate so we won't go crazy looking for you. Are you sure you value this friendship thing?" Sabrina questions.

"Of course, I value your girl’s friendship. Why would you even doubt that?".

"Because you sometimes make us doubt it, like yesterday" Kim answered.

"I didn't mean to scare you girls or make you girls doubt our friendship. I'm sorry, I...."

"Ma'am Micaela, Mr. Fernando is...." Ji-hye interrupted our conversation and she paused when she saw my friends. "I'm sorry, I didn't know your friends were with you. Good morning ladies".

"Hello, Ji-hye" Kim greeted me while Sabrina glanced from Ji-Hye to me. I knew what that look meant.

"He found you isn't it?" Sabrina asks and I couldn't respond to her question. "He found you! I'll go ask where he found you and what you were doing when he found you" she announced and I gasp followed by my heart thumping profusely.

"No, you can't..." I was cut short when she began walking toward the dining room. "Sabrina, wait!" I called after her and hastened my steps to catch up with her but she wasn't even listening to me.

No, no, no, I can't let her get to Fernando if not she will get to know what her innocent friend tried to do last night. "Sabrina!" I yelled after her. I caught up with her and held her hand but she flinches from me.

We both barged into the dining room. "Sabrina let's talk" I whispered to her but she shot me a frigid glare.

"There's nothing to talk about. If I should talk to anyone, it will be him!" She whisper-yells pointing at Fernando and that caught Fernando's attention towards us. He gawked at the both of us with those charming eyes of his and I blinked and glanced at Sabrina.

"What is it? Why are the two of you standing there eyeing me like I did something wrong?" he inquires and I gape at him and then at Sabrina.

"Please don't ask him anything, let's talk. I'll tell you where..."

"It's too late. I don't want to hear it from you, I want to hear it from him" she mumbled firmly and I trembled. My heart hammered in my chest as if it'll explode in a second.

Fernando is surely going to tell her where he found me and what exactly I was doing so they'll know the kind of friend they have. I was still so worried about him telling her the truth when Kim and Ji-Hye joined us in the room. Damnit! I'm done for!

It wasn't just Sabrina that will find out the truth but two more people. When they get to know the truth they'll always see me as a suicidal person and will want to protect me throughout the rest of my life so that I won't carry out my suicidal thoughts. I squint from one face to another and I wished for the floor to open and swallow me up than for them to find out the truth about me. Or maybe if superpowers I would have...

"What is it with you ladies? Why are you all standing there as if something bad happened?" he asks disrupting my stupid imagination.

"I see you later found my friend yesterday. Tell us where you found her and what exactly she was doing when you found her because yesterday wasn't the first time she has disappeared from us" Sabrina told and the whole room went silent.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes and the silence was still a deafening one. I sluggishly switched my gaze from Sabrina to Fernando and locked my gaze with him. My eyes were getting glossy as we both shared an unending stare. The way he was gazing at me was something I couldn't decipher if he'll tell them the truth or not.

I didn't care about anyone else in the room but him, he is not going to betray me, would he?