A/N: PLEASE, Read.

It has come to my notice that Florence has been getting a lot of hate from different people. I acknowledge the fact that shA/e makes stupid mistakes and will make more in future. But to those calling her 'dumb', "stupid" and other names, I will not tolerate that form of insult on her personality. Be realistic here and raise your hands if you haven't made mistakes in your life. If you raised your hands, I'm sorry, but you lie. If you stop reading because of this, it's in your interest and mine. If you'd love to see a perfect character with no flaws, no mistakes, create your own book, and tag me in it. I'd love to read your book.

'Love Triangle'

When we got into the hospital, a nurse directed us to Sebastian's younger sister's hospital room. We silently followed her directions and and arrived at a door whose top was transparent, Sebastian knocked gently on the door and opened it after hearing a response.

My eyes fell upon the persons in the room, Stephen stood at a corner with his hands folded across his chest, a casually dressed man who I presumed to be their father sat on a chair facing a young girl lying on a bed covered with a white sheet, she had dark hair like mine which was scattered around her head and her irises were brown just like Sebastian's, her lips were pink and they were set in a straight line.

They all shifted their gaze to us as we stepped in. Sebastian hurried to his sister's bedside and gently cradled her hand in his while I awkwardly stood at the door side observing everything going on in the room.

"Anna," He whispered and caressed the top of her hand, she looked at him and smiled weakly. Her eyes moved to regard me curiously, her dad did the same.

"Dad, Anna, meet Florence, she's a good friend of Philip, also mine hopefully, Florence, meet my family." Sebastian's eyes trained on me while he spoke but he didn't let go of his sister's hand.

"Hi Mr.  ..."

It suddenly occurred to me that I didn't know Sebastian's last name.

"...Stuart,"  Sebastian's dad chirped in with a genuine smile on his face as he gazed at me.

"Mr. Stuart and Anna, I'm delighted to meet you," I responded, trying to act formal as best as I could.

Mr Stuart pushed his chair back and excused himself from the room.

"Florence, I  haven't seen you in a few days," Stephen spoke, drawing my eyes away from the door Mr. Stuart walked out through.

"Yeah, I know," I replied, cursorily gazing at Sebastian. His attention was on his sister who spoke in whispers to him.

"Is she going to be fine?"

I walked away from the door side and stood by Stephen.

"Yeah, it was a mild attack. Thanks for coming over, I'm really glad you did," His eyes fixed on mine and glinted with appreciation.

Not finding words to say, I remained mute and eyed my phone which rang just as my eyes fell on it.

Michael.

I haven't heard from him in awhile as he told me he had to travel to Paris for a photoshoot that involved his Photography company. He frequently sent texts or voice messages to me and mom, to check on our welfare. I was glad he didn't desert us like one would do to a burning ship, he stood by us and his concern for us was unfeigned.

I smothered my phone against my dress to muffle my loud ringing tone that I recently changed to an Adele song.

"Excuse me, I have to take this, " I muttered and Stephen nodded as I hurried out of the room.

"Hey, Mike, what's up."

"You know how I feel, Florence." He replied and a smile appeared on my face.

"Let's have a video call, can we?" I requested and he accepted and hung up only to call me a few minutes later.

"Hey," I raised my phone and stared at Michael's face which had an amazing smile on it.

"It's good to finally see your face, I missed it," He replied and I took a quick glance at his surroundings. From the phone, he appeared to be seated in a large hall where people randomly hurried about with objects in their hands.

"Not as much as I did," I smiled and took quick paces in the large hallway I entered.

"Why are you in a hospital?" He demanded and stretched his neck forward to get a clear glimpse of the hallway.

"The sister of a friend of Philip's who's helping me with Tamara's case was hospitalized, I just came along with him."

"Oh, I see... And how's the case going?" He moved his gaze to someone seated beside him.

"We've made considerable progress."

I didn't want to raise his hopes by telling him that the kidnappers' hideout has been uncovered. Even if I'm positive that the coordinates were correct, I just had to wait and watch first.

"That's good news, by the way, meet Tyler, my favorite person here," he prodded the person seated next to him with his elbow and the guy tilted his head to glance at me. I waved shyly at him and examined his facial and bodily structure. He had long, wavy hair which lightly touched his shoulders and he had on a yellow and blue stripped shirt. I couldn't see the rest of his body.

"Hi, Florence right?" He spoke with much enthusiasm which I admired.

I nodded and waited for him to speak.

"Lover boy here, always speaks about you," Tyler waggled his brow at Michael who rolled his eyes.

"Lover boy?  Come on now, what century are you living in?" Michael queried, glancing at Tyler whose eyes returned to observe me.

"It was nice meeting you, Florence, I'll take this as my cue to leave, I wouldn't like you to experience how dramatic our arguing session can be," Tyler joked and I sniggered in response.

Michael conversed at length with me till I told him that I had to get back to the family I was visiting. He agreed and disconnected the call, leaving a promise to call me back later.

I strode back to Anna's room. Her eyes were closed and her hand was no longer in Sebastian's, it was resting gently on her stomach. A nurse was bent over her, keenly observing her.

"I'm afraid, you'll have to leave now," the young nurse straightened her body and glanced at us.

"It's fine, let's go," Stephen replied and stepped out of the room, I followed him and Sebastian trailed behind me.

As we walked down the hallway towards the entrance to the hospital, Sebastian turned his head towards me.

"I'm sincerely glad that you came along, it means so much to me," He professed.

"You don't need to thank me, I saw an opportunity to help and I did."

He gave me a wide smile and fixed his eyes on the floor we walked upon. Stephen wasn't paying attention to our conversation as his iPad engaged him.

When we reached Sebastian's car, he offered to drop me at home. I protested but he alongside Stephen persisted until I caved in.

I gave him the directions to my house which he typed into the GPS in his car.

We drove in comfortable silence until when we arrived at my house where I alighted. Sebastian sped off after he and his twin had wished me a good night and hoped they'd see me again.

My eyes were transfixed on a figure seated on the steps leading to the porch. Cautiously, I approached the person to get a better view of him. When he heard my approaching steps, he raised his head and my heart stopped beating for a few seconds when I recognized the face.

"Peter?" I called in disbelief and he hastily stood up.

"I'm so sorry Florence, I'm so sorry." He apologized and walked up to me. I edged away from him but he took my hands and drew me closer to his frame which had reduced considerably compared to the last time I saw him and that was about a month ago.

He cradled my chin in his left hand and planted a deep kiss on my lips. The kiss left me breathless after his lips left mine.

I still got the same feeling I usually had before I had caught him with Maya. It felt like I was in heaven, and we were the only persons there.

A pleasant sensation coursed through my body as he gazed into my eyes with a tender look, one I hadn't seen before. His soft minty breath touched my face and my lips parted in response.

When I recollected my senses, rage flooded me and I shoved him away. Not getting my message, he seized my lips again in a fierce kiss. This time I didn't hold back, I slapped him hard on his cheek, twice.

We were both gasping for oxygen when we broke apart.

"What are you doing here? Why are you here? What the heck is your problem?"

I placed a hand on my head and moved in circles on the lawn.

Why did he have to put those filthy lips on me? Who knows where they've been?

Ew! I need a mouthwash after this.

"I need to apologize, Florence. I did something wrong and I don't know if you'll forgive me."

I stopped pacing back and forth when I noticed he had gone down on a knee. His head was tilted back as he looked straight into my eyes. I averted my gaze to prevent my ability to think properly from disappearing again.

"I've been seeing Maya, my brother's girlfriend, I don't know what came over me, Florence, I'm terribly sorry," He bent his head and stared at the floor, afraid to catch my gaze.

His actions got to me. It was obvious that he wasn't aware that I actually knew he was seeing Maya, but his apology was sincere, I could determine his sincerity by staring into his face that possessed a pained expression.

However, I was not  to be fooled.

I approached him and bent to pick up his hands. I pulled him up and his eyes fixed on my face till he got to his full height.

"Peter-" I started in a fond voice.

His lips parted. "Yeah-"

"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE AND I MEAN IT!"

Peter's eyes widened."I..." His speech was halted by the front door opening. An angry mom appeared, looking like she would strangle him.

"What is he doing here? This man-whore, why is he here." She gave him a venomous look and swiftly glided to us.

I turned to Peter who had a shocked expression. He had never seen this side of my mother. Mom can be as vicious as a lioness when it comes to anything affecting her family. She'll do all it takes to protect us.  The fact that one of her daughters was kidnapped only heightened her aggression.

"I mean no harm." Peter pleaded.

"Yeah right, I should calm down after you cheated on my daughter with your brother's girlfriend? How dare you show your face here?" She snapped, still glaring at Peter.

He turned to me with a sad face.

"You knew?"

I nodded before facing my mother. "Mom, could you give us a moment, I'll talk to you later." I begged.

Disappointed, mom went back into the house after giving Peter the I-got-my-eyes-on-you sign.

"I've known you were with  Maya for a long time, that was after I returned from my trip to London," I confessed, staring at the curtain mom discretely parted to watch us.

"You were such an idiot, Peter."

"Ouch, that hurts."

"Not as much as I am, do you know how I felt?" I said with much bitterness. Peter noticed this and reached out for my hand, but I withdrew it from his reach. "Don't you dare touch me!"

He might have thought my anger pacified, but I was a metre away from going crazy on him.

"Florence, I don't mind how long it takes, so long as you forgive me. I want us back together Florence, I missed all the happy moments we've had together. These few weeks taught me how much I'm unable to do without you."

I noticed how the lines in his forehead appeared and disappeared as he spoke making me fully aware of how serious he was. If there's anything I can clearly attest to, it's Peter's manner of talking when he meant his words. Lines would appear on his forehead and his eyebrows would be knitted together.

Breathing greatly, I took a step towards Peter and stepped when I was a few inches away from him. I searched his eyes, hoping something in them might tell him off as dishonest. But nothing did. Instead, all I could find were the flashes of the times we had together; all the dates we had at fairly expensive restaurants, the time he surprised me with a whole lot of flowers, when we attended mom's party together, how closely he held me, how wildly he had kissed me there.

All these memories, yet overwhelmed by one unpleasant one.

"If you don't leave my property, I'm going to call the police, Peter."

I didn't realize someone had approached us until Peter took a step closer and I heard a voice right behind me.

I knew one thing.

This night would be a dramatic one.

.....................................................

I leave the identity of the visitor to your imagination.

I promised you that Peter would show up, here he is. Things are gonna go in a different direction from here.

What do you think of this chapter? Did Florence do the right thing in rejecting Peter?

Thanks for always supporting me, my dear readers. You're the best!

Tris.❤❤❤❤