Abigail gulped at his serious words.

"Live with you?" she echoed, her eyes slightly circled in shock.

"You heard me," he replied, as a wry smile played on his face again. "Afraid now?"

He waited for her reaction but…

"R-really? So we'll be like newlyweds?" was all she blurted out, even looking quite amazed while Alexander was again rendered speechless.

What he said definitely made Abi pause, but she thought that the more time they spent together, the better the chances of her falling for him, right? So she thought that maybe, that might not be such a bad thing?

While Abi moved to put her phone away into her bag and noticed that there was another bag under it.

"Ahh… Kelly!!" She immediately shrieked as her mind was triggered by the reminder. As she started to panic, Alex informed her of her friend's whereabouts.

"Don't worry about her. She's currently at the hospital."

What he said made her panic even more! What? Why was Kelly at the hospital? What happened to her? How did he know she was at the hospital? So many questions ran through her head and she didn't know where to start. Alex saw her immobile figure and sighed.

"Stop panicking. She's with my friend. I'll drive you there now so sit back and put your seatbelt on." He spoke calmly, his voice rippling like ocean waves and it cooled her panic.

He started the engine and smoothly wound his way to the hospital. Abi was quiet but her mind was running a marathon. 'What could have happened to Kelly that she ended up at the hospital? How badly was she hurt? Did someone do something to her? I hope it's nothing too serious…' and with those thoughts, her mind brought her back to the bar with that man and she prayed with all her might that the same thing hadn't happened to her friend. No! Kelly was stronger than that. She wouldn't fall for such tricks. There had to be another reason.

The moment Alex parked up by the hospital entrance, Abi opened the door and scrambled out of the car. She noticed that he didn't move.

"Are you not coming?"

"No."

"Oh. Okay. Well, thank you for the ride. I'll see you soon," she said before hurriedly going inside the big building. She didn't think twice about leaving him this time because he already promised her and he even gave her his home address. Besides, her friend was more important right now.

Abi found herself in the hustle and bustle of the hospital emergency department and her head almost spun. There were so many people running around that she didn't know where to start. She looked at the long line at the reception desk, intending to ask for information about Kelly but that would take too long.

So she looked around to see if she could see any sign of her friend. In the next moment, she saw a familiar face! Not wasting another second, she beelined her way to him and was about to ask him where her friend was when she heard her name being called out.

"Abi!"

Abi turned to the direction of the voice and she saw her friend on the bed, with one foot wrapped up in bandages.

"Kelly!!" she cried.

Completely forgetting about Mr. Black Leather Jacket, she ran to her friend and gave her a careful hug. She felt so relieved to see that her friend was ok, apart from the obvious leg injury.

"What happened?!" Abi asked.

"I fell down a hole, haha." Kelly looked a bit embarrassed but she laughed it off - well, it was pretty funny.

Abi's face turned blank. "Huh? Fell… down a hole?"

"Yeah, I know. Silly, right?"

Abi looked at her friend doubtfully. "How much did you have to drink?! And what were you doing outside?"

"Wha…? Ahem. I didn't have anything to drink cos I didn't make it to the bar! I just, uh, went outside for a bit to, uh, get some fresh air! Then I fell down a hole and luckily, Leather Jacket over there was around and helped me out. But enough about me! What about you? Are you okay? Nothing happened at the bar while I was gone, right?"

"Something did happen but Alexander Qinn came and saved me." Abi said succinctly. She saw Kelly's expression and sighed before she started to recount what had happened.

Kelly's expression darkened as she listened to Abi's story. She couldn't believe that this happened to her friend. She was so angry at that man for putting Abi through that! Argh!!! If that man wasn't already beaten to pulp, she would have raced to him and done it herself - broken ankle and all! What a piece of sh*t, a**hole!

But, she wasn't just angry at that guy. She also scolded herself for forgetting to tell her friend those basic rules before they went inside the bar, for letting those men distract her and for leaving her alone to fend for herself. She felt so horrible at failing her friend and not being able to protect her that she beat herself up for it.

Abi saw her friend's anguished expression and comforted her. "It's okay, Kelly. I wasn't hurt. Alex saved me. I'm fine."

Kelly felt even worse to see her friend comforting her when it should be the other way around, so Kelly manned up and pushed her self-deprecating thoughts aside and focused on Abi.

"I'm sorry, Abi. I shouldn't have left you. Are you sure you're okay?"

Abi nodded. It was true. She was okay. She knew that nothing bad would happen to her as long as Alex was around. His presence shielded her from being drowned by those negative thoughts and emotions that had threatened to overwhelm her. She felt calm and settled when he was around so yes, she was okay.

Kelly nodded as if she heard Abi's thoughts. It seemed like there was at least something good that came out of this - Abi had found her hero, her dark knight.

"Wait… where did that guy go?" Kelly suddenly asked.

"Who?"

"That damned pri…"

---

In the meantime, Kai had walked out of the hospital when Abi and Kelly were talking and headed straight towards the black car parked not too far away.

Kai jumped into the passenger seat and hounded Alex.

"So? Did you become the hero tonight, aye?" he grinned but Alex's face remained serious, more serious than ever, that Kai immediately felt that something was off.

"What is it?"

"Kai, go and deal with those lurkers… I don't want a bloodbath tonight," he lazily ordered and Kai immediately followed Alex's line of sight. The moment he saw what Alex was talking about, Kai's eyes blazed dangerously.

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