Elia left the place, leaving the two friends lying on the ground—perhaps the biggest mistake she had ever made in her life.
---
His heavy eyelids opened slowly, only to shut again against the blinding light. He blinked several times, trying to adjust.
Ivan's father gazed at his son lying in bed with fear in his eyes, then muttered weakly: "Ah, you brat… are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
Ivan laughed at his father's exaggerated worry, then spoke softly: "Come on, Father, no need to fret. What matters is that I'm still breathing."
His father's expression remained tense. The accident hadn't been Ivan's fault, but when it came to his son, he couldn't control his heart. He had already lost his wife—he couldn't bear to lose him as well.
Mr. Igor left the room once he had had his fill of looking at his son's face, of breathing in the scent that reminded him of his late wife, Maria. He shut the door behind him.
As soon as he was alone, Ivan took a hot shower to calm his body, then stepped out with only a towel wrapped around his waist. The cold air played against his bare skin, while the breeze from the window ruffled his hair as though it were performing a delicate classical dance.
He dressed, then stared at himself in the mirror, a bouquet of flowers in hand from the vase. "Now… should I go searching for my little mouse?" he murmured, biting his lip at the end of his words. With that, he headed out to his car, bound for his company.
---
Elia was still asleep in her bed, having forgotten all about last night. Her mother, after calling her name thousands of times with no reply, finally had an idea—she fetched a bucket of cold water and poured it over Elia.
A furious scream echoed through the house at the interruption of her peaceful sleep. Elia looked at her mother reproachfully, but her mother ignored it and said instead: "If you keep this up, you'll be expelled from university without a doubt."
Elia got up, got ready, and ran off toward her university. Halfway there, she remembered she had a motorcycle. Cursing herself for her stupidity, she ran back quickly.
After arriving, she mounted her bike but frowned in confusion. How did I even get here last night? The last thing she remembered was being on stage.
She tried to recall more, but it was useless—her drunkenness had wiped everything away. Finally, she decided she'd just ask her friends later and headed toward campus.
---
That handsome man leaned back in his office chair after making sure his dear friend was alright, a glass of wine in hand, staring at the ceiling in suffocating silence.
The quiet was broken by the arrival of one of his employees carrying stacks of mysterious papers. As soon as they reached Ivan, he let out a pleased laugh, remembering the events of the night before.
---
After classes, Elia felt a pounding headache. She went to the bathrooms, but as soon as she entered, random fragments of memory crashed against her skull, multiplying the pain.
Unable to bear it, Elia screamed and collapsed on the floor. The last thing she saw was a man in a black suit entering the bathroom before she lost consciousness completely.
---
Ivan was driving his car while scanning through the papers containing information on Elia, on his way to her university. When he arrived, he saw her running from the classroom building to the bathrooms in a suspicious manner.
When he found her unconscious, he couldn't make sense of her problem. The only thought in his mind at that moment was how beautiful her features were. He pulled out his phone and called his friend Theodore, asking him to bring their private doctor to his secondary residence.
Smiling, Ivan lifted Elia into his arms, carried her to his car, and drove to a small mansion. Theodore looked at him in surprise as he approached, then recognized their rescuer from last night. He hurried to open the door and followed them inside.
They laid Elia on the bed as the doctor began examining her, while the two friends waited silently. After a short while, the doctor said: "She's suffering from post-traumatic symptoms. This is due to not receiving medical treatment after the accident." He returned to tending to Elia's injuries, while Ivan clenched his fists tightly, trying to calm himself.
Theodore noticed. Clearly, Ivan was jealous of the doctor's hands on Elia. To prevent his friend from committing murder, he dragged him outside against his will.
"Now, will you explain to me what's going on here?" Theodore demanded. Ivan began recounting everything that had happened the night before while Theodore was unconscious—how Elia had been the cause of the accident, how she had saved them, and then how she had left them behind and fled.
After some time, Theodore took the doctor with him, leaving Ivan alone with the sleeping girl. Ivan sat there, watching her, clearly falling for her. An involuntary smile curved his lips.
He studied her with hungry eyes, as if trying to memorize every detail of her face. He lifted the hand that had held her waist last night and inhaled deeply—it still carried her scent, and he had made sure not to wash it away.
Leaning closer to the bed, he sat beside her, running his fingers through her violet strands of hair, down to her rosy cheeks. He bit his lower lip at the sight of her soft lips, no different from cotton candy.
Holding himself back with great effort so as not to lose control, he finally stood and stepped outside to breathe in the cool night air of the back garden.