her sixth sense

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I stayed at the rooftop even after Mallory had left and stared blankly towards taller buildings ahead of me. I wished there could be a sign — a direction to point me towards which path of life I should head towards. I always thought I was a decisive individual, but it was exactly at this moment that I felt utterly lost.

Suddenly, my phone shuddered in my pocket and I took out the phone to see Wren's name appearing right on my lit screen. My finger didn't even hesitate to swipe to answer, like how I would always yearn for her. Placing the speakers near my ear, it was as though her voice had morphed into the summer breeze and wrapped me within her warmth when she asked, "Did I catch you at the wrong time?"

I denied, "No, angel. Is something wrong?"

Wren went silent for quite a long while before she finally uttered something, "I'm just worried about you."

"I'm fine," I lied and layered another lie over it, "I will be back as soon as possible."

"If the Findlays are giving you a hard time, you can always call me in," Wren offered, even though I had outrightly excluded her from my matters the previous time she called.

Trying my hardest to sound as okay as I could, I gave a light chuckle, "I could hardly define a hard time because my whole life seemed to be as such, my little songbird."

"Aillard," Wren sighed, but the sound of that name felt like a painful pinch in my heart.

"I'm sorry to have you worry about me, and I'll make sure to get you to come to my rescue if I'm in trouble, okay?" I assured.

"Promise?"

I took a small inhale before damning myself with another lie to her, "Promise."

"Wren?"

I was just staring blankly out of the window until a hand hovered right before my sight and jolted me out of my daze. Thankfully, I didn't decide to throw the glass of iced tea off my hands and make a mess out of myself. I gripped harder onto the cold, wet glass of tea and looked towards Naya who had slid into the bench ahead of me. She tucked a lock of thick brown hair behind her ear as she asked, "What's wrong, darling? You looked so troubled."

I shrugged my shoulders lightly as the waitress walked over to our table and looked towards Naya, anticipating taking her order. Naya took a quick glance at the menu and pointed out to the waitress, "Warm coffee for me, thank you."

Scribbling lightly on the little notepad in her hand, she checked, "Any sugar or creamer for you, Miss?"

"Oh yes, lots of sugar," Naya smiled sweetly at the waitress.

The waitress returned the smile and walked back to the counter to hand the order to the barista who started grinding the coffee beans and starting up the coffee machine, filling the quiet cafe with the warm aroma of coffee. Naya looked right at me and mentioned, "I'm waiting for you to talk, Wren. Come on, tell me what's on your mind."

"I'm just unsettled," I admitted. "Something's off about Aillard."

"I wouldn't be so worried about him," Naya replied. "The Findlays can't actually do anything to him. You have to understand that the pressure they pose to Aillard is just a tickle."

"It's not that simple," I exhaled softly under my breath. "And what if the trip to Finland wasn't because of the Findlays?"

"I doubt Aillard would be there if it wasn't for the Findlays," Naya tried to comfort the unsettling feelings that kept surging from within me. She continued, "Finland isn't a place that Aillard would enjoy setting foot in."

Soon after, the waitress returned to our table with Naya's cup of coffee and a ceramic bowl of sugar on the side. Naya picked up the stainless sugar thong and started throwing cube after cube of sugar into her coffee, as I stared in utter awe because I could never take that amount of sugar even in an entire week. We were just enjoying a nice afternoon in this quiet cafe until the bells at the door rang and a tall familiar figure stepped into the cafe. His height almost towered the petite waitress as she beamed at his appearance, "Nolan, usual coffee for you?"

"Yes, please, Amber," Nolan smiled, nodding politely towards the friendly waitress that handed his order towards the barista over the counter.

It seemed as though Nolan is a regular customer here because the middle-aged barista also waved at him over the counter as he greeted, "Great seeing you today too, lad!"

"Same here, Robert," Nolan laughed. "More sugar in the coffee please."

"Already know your order by heart," Robert smirked. "You just reminded me that there was a young lady who ordered the same coffee as you."

"Really?" Nolan asked, surprised.

"Yeah, she's sitting right opposite me!" I exclaimed, waving towards Nolan.

"What in the—" Naya gasped, almost crawling over the table to shut my mouth but I caught that boy's attention before she could do anything to me.

Nolan's expression lit at the sight of us as he walked towards us and said, "Caught me by utter surprise, I didn't expect to see familiar faces here."

"It seems like you're a regular here," I commented.

"Yes, just grabbing a nice cup of coffee before I head to work," Nolan grinned, before looking at Naya, "Naya?"

Even when she desperately tried to shield her face away from Nolan with her hand, he recognised her at first glance. Helpless, she could only face him with an awkward smile and greeted, "Hi."

Nolan smiled warmly, but there was a tinge of mischief in his expression when he enquired, "Could it be that you're avoiding me, Naya?"

I nearly choked on my tea to see how flustered my best friend was. Raising my brows in curiosity, I looked towards Naya and questioned, "Why are you avoiding Nolan, dearest?"

It was hard to see the lady of the Fayed family stumble all over her words, but in this amusing moment, Naya was struggling to get herself right together when she stammered, "N-No, I, uh just, I—"

Looking at these two, I knew that something definitely happened between them.

Never underestimate a woman's sixth sense.

─────────────── Seven days later

It took an entire week before Jeremiah called me up and informed me that I could finally visit my doppelganger. Mallory had been helpful to track Eldrick's visits to the hospital so that the both of us wouldn't appear in front of each other and cause a series of unfortunate events within the hospital. It was early in the morning, as I stood by the balcony of my hotel suite and sipped on my coffee while watching the first ray of daylight breaking through the darkness. Then, I headed back into the room and went to the bathroom to take a quick shower before getting dressed and heading out to the hospital.

It's a constant state of fear and anxiety to face a reflection right ahead of me because I knew that the moment the person in the mirror regained consciousness, he would become real and I would become nothing but a puppet to his strings of movement. My hand landed on the handle of the door for a long time, before a voice sounded from beside, saying, "Alek, you don't have to face him if you don't want to."

I turned and looked towards Jeremiah, knowing that this guy genuinely cared for me for all the years we had known each other as friends. A sigh tumbled past my quivering lips as I replied, "It's not a matter of want anymore, there are things that I need to tell him."

With an expression of utter confusion, Jeremiah questioned, "Things like?"

"Wren."

"Why would you need to tell Aillard about Wren?"

I couldn't explain myself after my conversation with Mallory and I haven't told anyone what I had planned to do with myself following Aillard's awakening. I didn't plan to.

Jeremiah dropped me a stern warning, "You better not execute one of those crappy ideas that are going through your head right now."

"Have I made myself obvious and readable?" I chuckled, hoping the humour can hide my pain.

"You either tell me all that you're planning or I'll spill all my guesses to Wren."

"You're not supposed to threaten your patient, Dr. Landen," I said, before reminding him, "And you're not to contact Wren while you're in Finland. Mallory and you signed an agreement with the Illiades."

"Fuck, I'm not talking sense with you, Aleksander," Jeremiah cussed, ruffling his hair in annoyance. "Will you just tell me what you're planning to do already?"

"Later, Jeremiah," I replied. "After I speak to Aillard."

"Fine," Jeremiah exhaled, stepping aside as he pointed towards the door that would lead to Aillard's bed. "Get the fuck in right now, get your things done, and hurry get the fuck out to tell me."

"Much-needed courage given," I laughed, pushing the handle down and stepping right through the door.

I turned and saw a pair of grey eyes staring right at me, the same shade of grey as mine — except they contained so much clarity and light. Closing the door behind me, I walked to the end of his bed and told my doppelganger, "Nice to meet you again, Aillard."

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