Sharon forgot the pain coming from her side. Her whole being stagnated as she struggled to understand what just happened.
The situation had been going well. They were flirting and exchanging long gazes filled with depth and ambiguity in the soft atmosphere created by the background music of the bar. But all of a sudden, everything changed, and that made her mind crash like an old computer put to test.
She really could not understand the turn of events. There had been only one path ahead, and it had suddenly diverged.
It took Sharon a while to snap out of her thoughts, and by then, Alex was not in front of her anymore. Snapping her head to the side, she watched him walking toward the entrance of the bar with a casual but confident gait. She panicked, but before she could move, the pain attacking her left side went up another notch.
"Hrngh~humph!"
Sharon suppressed a grunt and a snort.
Since the start of the evening, she had been assaulted by an inexplicable sensation of pain. It had been mild at first, barely a phantom sensation that felt distant. But as time passed and the night deepened, it was like the reflection in the water was becoming real, and a knife was being twisted in her side.
It was really inexplicable, but really painful. However, she could not cave in, not tonight, not now. This might be her only chance if she did not want to wait for her situation to worsen.
She could not pay attention to anything else right now other than the situation before her which she had to turn into an opportunity. Her pain-filled face clouded with both worry and uncertainty, she put down her glass with trembling hands, not even caring to use more alcohol to numb the torture, and staggered to her feet.
She picked up her handbag, and hurried after Alex, her confident elegance gone, but her beauty untamed, only, somewhat tragic, somewhat fragile. But she needed no protection.
Arriving outside, she didn't see the playboy. She hurried to the elevator which fortunately arrived fast enough to take her downstairs. Face pale and sweaty, she was welcomed by the hot wind of the night, and she was just in time to see Alex receiving the keys of his sports car.
She saw him glance upward, then go around to get behind the wheel of the sports car.
Stomping her foot, Sharon ran over just in time to open the door of the car and get onto the passenger seat. In one smooth motion, she let her handbag rest on her lap, pulled the seatbelt, and buckled it.
Behind the wheel, Alex paused. He glanced at the blonde, and she looked at him, her face even paler than earlier, and her breathing even more hurried.
Alex looked down at the heaving chest, then back at the sweaty pale face. He raised his eyebrows, his gaze playful. He didn't say anything, but it was clear what he was thinking, or rather, what he was wordlessly asking:
"You really want to take a look at my home that much huh, Miss Kenner?"
The blonde held Alex's gaze without blushing, though the pain she was hiding to her best might have contributed a big part in that, and smiled softly:
"I really do want to visit your home and broaden my horizons."
Alex almost laughed out loud. He swept his gaze over the blonde, and shook his head:
"I would say you should visit a hospital instead. You look unwell."
After saying that, Alex stopped paying attention to the intruder in his car and turned to pull the seatbelt. His casual movement, however, was accompanied by a grunt of pain from the blonde, though it was soon followed by a forced, smiling voice:
"Hurngh~ Maybe I don't need to go far to get the medicine I need."
Alex turned to glance at the blond actress. Usually, it was men running after beautiful women and trying to get their attention, or better yet, their favor, not the other way around, or at least, it was rarely so.
Though he had always been part of the rare cases for being handsome, rich, and more importantly a Lenner, he had never been pursued so desperately, and with such obvious ulterior motives. However…
Alex lowered his gaze to the side the blonde was struggling not to hold, not even unconsciously, and it was him who instead got a subconscious frown to mar his face, as he recalled the full moon he had glanced at earlier, as well as something he had not cared about and ignored over the last month.
As Sharon's smile became too difficult for her to hold with the pain, Alex's frown deepened, then went away. Without another word, he turned away and started the car. With a soft screech, he turned on the spot with a gliding drift that made him face the road, then took off abruptly.
At that time, the display on the dashboard was showing a bit more than one hour till midnight.
Sharon felt so relieved that she forgot about the debilitating phantom pain and let out a relieved exhale.
The first step had been taken, and it was the most essential one. What would happen next might be difficult to predict, but now she could let go a bit, just a bit.
Sharon smiled, this time, for no one else but herself, and without pretense. The heavy mountain had shifted and lightened, even if only slightly. The relief felt sudden after all the pressure of the day. That, plus the growing pain pulsating from her side, hit her mind like an abyss. Her head tilted to the side, and she closed her eyes, passing out with a smile on her pale sweaty face.
The sports car weaved through the traffic motivated by the end of another week of work and stress, the full moon above feeling dull from all the polluting artificial lights of the city. As the car sped at the limit of the permitted speed, Alex turned to glance at his passenger. His gaze lingered on her pale face.
Today, he had been in an accident. He had gotten startled by his mother ending up at the hospital, and he had been… blackmailed into taking over the family business as the chairman, no, the interim chairman, a one-word difference that might or might not be self-deception.
And now…
"So troublesome even in death…"
Alex pressed down even harder on the accelerator, speeding up even more and leaving the other cars on the road with only the sight of his tail lights, all to get home faster, or just to vent his frustrations.
"Damn you, old man…"