“Why are you home so late?”

“Hmm?” you peered down the hall just as your boyfriend came out of the bedroom. He looked oddly cranky. “I told you, it was my friend’s birthday.”

“You didn’t say you’d be out this late.”

You shrugged and sauntered into the kitchen to get a glass of water. “Sorry, dad, didn’t know I had a curfew.” Taking a sip, you intended to find something to eat in the fridge but were stopped when your boyfriend trapped you against the counter.

He had his phone in his hand and he was looking for something. You leaned back and gazed up at him thoughtfully. What was he so worked up about? You had told him you were going to go clubbing with your friends and you hadn’t drunk very much that you couldn’t stand up anymore. Everything should’ve been fine.

“My friend sent me this.” He held the phone up to you and you narrowed your eyes at the dark picture.

After a few seconds, you still couldn’t decipher what he was showing you. “What is that?”

“It’s you,” he snapped, and the way he said it made you glance up worriedly.

“Is it?”

“Don’t play with me. That’s you with some guy.”

You took the phone out of his hand and squinted at the image. You didn’t have any recollection of dancing with another man like that. “That’s not me.”

“Really? That’s not the same dress and same hair?” He grabbed the phone back and put his hands against the counter on either side of you. “Tell me the truth.”

You rolled your eyes at his attempt at intimidation. “I was celebrating with my friends, not trying to hook up with guys. The girl in the picture just happened to have her hair tied up like I did and, in case you didn’t know, lots of girls wear short black dresses to the club.”

His dark expression didn’t change. In fact, he looked even angrier than before.

“If you recall,” you said sweetly, looking up at him with big innocent eyes, “that’s how you met me.”

He scowled and pushed himself away, running a hand through his messy hair. You had won this time, you thought as you scampered over to the fridge.

“Get out.”

You froze midstep and gave him a wary look. “What?”

“Get out. If you think I will believe your lies simply because you bat your eyelashes at me, then get out.”

Were your ears playing tricks on you? “I’m not lying.”

“Then what is this?” He whipped around and held out his phone, the only piece of evidence he had.

You stood up straight, shaking your head just slightly. “Fine. If you believe your friend’s shady picture over your girlfriend’s words, then…fine. I’m leaving.” You pushed past him, not even bothering to shove him to the side for standing in the entranceway. You didn’t want to anger him anymore. It was too late at night for arguments.

Putting on a pair of random shoes and grabbing your wallet, you slammed the door behind you. It wasn’t until you had stepped out onto the sidewalk that you realized you didn’t know where to go.

Great, you had forgotten your phone, too.

The only way to go was forward. You didn’t want to look back because you didn’t want to be disappointed by the fact that he wasn’t chasing you down. The only hint of direction you were given was by your stomach, who led you towards a little restaurant.

You ordered a little snack, ignoring all the stares of the drunken men. It would’ve been a good idea to change into something warmer before coming out but what choice did you have?

While chewing quickly, you kept your eyes down, giving brief glares at the men who were not so discreet with their looks. It wasn’t long until you decided you needed to get out of there or else you’d end up causing a scene, but when you looked out the window, you saw that it had begun to rain.

And it was merciless. The few stragglers on the streets were running for cover except one drunken woman who was busy looking at the fish tanks sitting on display outside the window. You watched her, wondering if she even felt the rain wetting her hair, and almost waved her to leave when you saw a man come out of nowhere and grab the woman by the waist.

The sudden move shocked you to push your chair back and run out. The woman hadn’t looked like she expected it at all and it was confirmed when you saw her being dragged into an alley. Her feeble attempts to fight the kidnapper were useless.

“Hey, let her go!” You ran after the pair but neither of them seemed to hear you through the pelting of the rain. It was coming down even harder and you reached for your phone to call the police. “,” you muttered, realizing it wasn’t there.

You couldn’t leave that girl though, not when she was so intoxicated. Flagging down any passersby that were running for cover, you turned down the alley, hoping they followed your bizarre plead for help.

There, the kidnapper had the woman over his shoulders and he was searching through some pack on the ground.

“Let go of her!” you shouted, charging forward. Maybe it was the bit of alcohol, or the lack of sleep, or maybe even the pounding rain, but you had a strange sense of invincibility at the moment.

Unfortunately, it was false.

Before you could decipher what he was holding in his hand, the kidnapper whipped back and slashed blindly. Your forearm shot up to block the attack but it came out with a bloody slice instead.

You kicked, not knowing what else to do, and hoped the grunt that the attacker made had meant you had hit a vulnerable spot. You seemed to have gotten his attention at least, since he finally dropped his limp prey.

You blinked rapidly and tried to figure out where he was going to attack next but the rain had caused your hair to plaster onto your face, blocking your vision. It didn’t help that it was so dark here.

The man didn’t seem to look any better than you and, in fact, he looked a lot slower, too. You took that short chance to kick him again in the shin so that he hissed and fell back.

There was a gasp from behind and somebody said they would call the police. Hopefully, that meant you could get away soon.

It did, but not without a cost. After the rush of adrenaline had left your body and you were put into an ambulance, the sight of your bloodied arm was enough to bring up the snack that you had eaten earlier.

Tears ran down your face while they patched you up. Even though they tried to soothe you by telling you that the attacker was in custody, you were actually crying about the fact that your boyfriend didn’t believe you. How could he just kick you out like that? Why did he believe that stupid picture over your word?

Those were the questions on your mind as the police questioned you relentlessly.

-

Why did he believe that stupid picture over her word?

Was he so impulsive and rash that he thought his girlfriend had lied to him? He had put more trust in a blurry photo than her.

He should’ve been the one sitting in the rain, not her.

But where the hell was she?

He fell on the bed and put his arm over his eyes to hide from the morning light. He had just spent the entire night searching for her but she was nowhere to be found. Had she found a place to stay or was she mindlessly wandering around?

He had checked his phone at least a hundred times since she’d left. Even more ever since he found out that it was another friend’s girlfriend in that picture and not his. If only she would call him, at least his heart would calm down then.

He had seen the police officers and ambulance just down the street. If she had been involved in that somehow…

The beeping of his alarm clock made him jump up into a sitting position. He hadn’t slept at all and when his cellphone rang without warning, it took him a while to find it.

“Hello?”

“Babe? You up yet?” Her small voice was familiar and it made him alert in an instant.

“Yeah, where are you?” he asked frantically, completely forgetting the fact that he had not slept for an entire day.

“Um, can you pick me up?”

He leapt off the bed and found a new shirt, one that wasn’t damp from the rain. “Yeah, no problem, but where are you?”

There was a momentary pause before she replied. “I’m at the hospital…the one at the east end.”

He nearly dropped his phone. “What?” The phone was clamped between his ear and shoulder while he stopped midway through taking off his shirt. “Why are you at the hospital?” he asked slowly, not sure if he wanted to know.

“It’s a long story. Just find me in the waiting area, okay?”

-

It didn’t take long to find her. She was looking the other way as he came through the door but she was the only one who looked out of place. Her sneakered feet were tucked underneath her and she kept a hand on the hem of her short black dress to keep it down.

He shook his head, seeing how tired she looked as she dozed off every few seconds. Weaving his way through the small bunches of people, he finally slowed and stood behind her with his arms over his chest.

It wasn’t long before she noticed him and when she did, she nearly fell off her seat. He saw the flash of fear in her eyes as she looked up at him and steadied herself. The anger and impatience that had built up overnight suddenly left him. He didn’t want her to be scared of him.

“Why are you—“ His eyes darted to the bandage on her arm and he immediately sank down to the seat beside her. “What happened?” He gingerly took her hand and put it on his lap.

“It’s nothing,” she said with a weak smile as she tried to pull away. “I just got…stabbed a little.”

His eyebrows came together in concern and it wasn’t until then that he saw her puffy, bloodshot eyes and the tears that were threatening to fall out. He looked around, noticing the other people who were near, and decided to move to a quieter place.

“C’mon, let’s get some breakfast and coffee and you can tell me everything in the car.”

He took her hand, pulling her up, and ordered sandwiches and coffee for the both of them from the nearby cafeteria. To anybody else, he might’ve looked calm but in reality, he wanted to hunt down the person that did this to his girlfriend. The only thing stopping him was her tight grip on his fingers.

When they eventually got to the backseat of the car, she broke down in sobs. He pulled her into his arms, letting her soak her tears into his shirt all while he held her and her hair. Something happened last night and he was sure he was the one to blame.

It wasn’t until her sobs had receded to little hiccups that she could speak. With every word, his fists balled tighter and, at one point, she was the one soothing him. He hated himself for shoving her out yesterday. He hated even more that she was trying to soften her words as if it wasn’t his fault, as if he wasn’t the cause of her tears.

He stayed silent while she ate slowly. His fingers kept running through her hair as he watched her eat. The coffee was left untouched and soon she put down her half-finished sandwich, deciding it was nicer to rest on his chest and close her eyes.

“When do we need to leave?” she asked, laying her hand over his arm that was wrapped around her waist.

“Never,” he replied, slowly sliding down so that his back was flat on the seat. His legs didn’t exactly fit inside the car but he was too tired to care.

She pushed herself up and gave him a weird look. “I’m serious.”

He shrugged and placed a hand on her head to bring her back to lay on his chest. “I paid to park here. Let’s stay for a couple of hours.” He closed his eyes, feeling extremely tired, but he still couldn’t fall asleep no matter what. The thought that he had put her in danger was still nagging at him.

When she spoke again, he could barely hear her. “I’m sorry.”

“What?” His eyes snapped open.

“I’m sorry I made you worry about me like that. I know I should’ve called earlier but I thought you’d been asleep…”

His head was pounding. He couldn’t deal with the guilt. “Stop it. I’m the one that’s sorry. I’m the one who was stupid enough not to believe you.” Holding her tighter, he tried to say more but he only felt more of the guilt. He didn’t deserve to hold her like this. “Please forgive me,” he whispered.

She leaned up and kissed his chin before settling back against his shoulder. “You know I can’t stay mad at you.”

“I know,” he replied, planting a light peck on her forehead. “And I love you too much to be mad at you.”

—-

_{sorry about the long wait but that scenario was extra long and it wasn’t even a ^^ AND EVEN THOUGH I CAN POINT OUT SO MANY UNFAVOURABLE THINGS ABOUT IT, I HOPE YOU STILL LIKED IT~}