They say love hides behind every corner, but Zoey Zhou often thought she was walking in circles.
****
"Please..." Once again, the man pleaded under his breath.
Zoey Zhou's eventually stopped screaming but, her whole body uncontrollably shuddered. She was stuck between panic and doubt for this unprecedented event.
She just planned to search for her companion in life — in a funeral parlor — but, why was there's an injured man inside her car?
"I just need to get away — far away from here," In between his heavy breaths, the man explained. "You can go to your original destination, I won't bother you and I," Fighting to retain his consciousness while stilling her to listen, he paused; gritting his teeth due to the striking pain on the side of his abdomen.
"I will leave, I promise." Mustering his strength despite his current physical suffering, the man swore.
Zoey Zhou swallowed a mouthful of saliva before she meekly nodded her head. It wasn't that she trusted him or anything of the sort, but to her, if she stalled some more time, the man's strength would decrease.
Thus, even if he was tricking her, she could defend herself. On another note, if he was just acting, Zoey Zhou was confident to defend herself if he happened to let him go. Either way, retaliation would only worsen her situation.
"Thank you," Slowly, the man loosened the pressure on his hand that was on her lips, revealing half of her face tainted with blood.
If one didn't know, they would mistake her as a cosplayer playing as a vampire after eating her raw dinner or a beautiful cannibal.
Pleased that the woman didn't attempt to scream again, and much more clever than he expected, the man then loosened his grip around her. Although Zoey hasn't done anything yet, the man kept his guard up to see if she would do something silly.
However, Zoey didn't. Instead, she started her car despite her shaking hands. He could see, because some rays of light from outside shone down on her.
"Baby lock the door and turn the lights down low~" The moment Zoey started the car's engine, her aux automatically turned on and revealed her taste of music.
However, instead of turning it off, she didn't. Music somehow calmed her most of the time. Hence, at a time like this, unless he demands to turn it off, she wouldn't.
After all, she needed to clear her head if she wanted to survive tonight. Damn, she was crossing oceans for this journey to find Mr. Right. He must be worthy.
'Calm down, self. Inhale exhale, breathe.' Zoey repeated her mantra inwardly as she slowly drove away. Fortunately, the man didn't complain and remained silent from the back seat.
Only the 2005 hit country song from abroad stuffed the car, attempting to lighten up the mood but to no avail, no matter how cute the song was, it failed to completely calm the situation.
Perhaps, singing along with it could stop her anxious heart, thus, Zoey, with her shaky, flat tone sang in a whisper. "There's no hurry, don't you worry, we can take our tim—" However, the man intervened.
"Just, just don't sing," With the pain from his wounds, the man could not bear his ears to inflict injuries as well. "Please," He added to sound a little polite.
"Okay." Zoey zipped her lips, tightly.
If it was a normal day, Zoey would have glared daggers at him and kicked him out of her car. However, she's the hostage here and she's at his mercy. Thus, she didn't even dare feel insulted about a fact.
*****
Soon, Zoey reached her first destination for tonight. The man didn't give her a specific address nor did he instructed her where to go.
He just remained silent throughout the whole ride, silently suffering from the back passenger seat. Hence, Zoey, afraid to give her address or go to the very few people that were important to her, she stuck with her initial plans for tonight.
Yes, the funeral parlor.
"We — I'm here, sir." Zoey stuttered as she informed him that she had arrived at her destination.
She didn't dwell on his promise earlier because Zoey never took anyone's promise seriously. All she wanted was to observe for a while so she could gravitate on her next move.
The man slowly opened his one eye and peeked outside, carefully blinking for a clearer vision. Moving his gaze up, his brows slightly creased upon seeing the blinking signage of the establishment: "Dignified Ending Funeral Home".
Does she think he's dying? The man was so out of words that he could only stabilize his breathing and forced himself to move. By the looks of it, he was abiding by his promise to leave her alone if she took him far away.
Regardless if this was her real destination or not, the man was grateful enough for her help.
"By the way, thank you." Just as the man reached for the car door's handle, he expressed his sincerity with great efforts. "I will surely repa..." Alas, before he could finish his sentence, his vision shook before it blur and his head felt lightheaded.
In the next second, blackness was the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness. Since he already unlocked the door and slightly opened it, it caused his upper body to slide down which startled Zoey.
"Sir?" Glancing at the rear mirror, Zoey could not see his figure anymore. Thus, she took the courage and turned to look at what happened at the backseat.
Upon seeing that the seemingly nice, injured guy collapsed, she panicked and quickly unbuckled her seatbelt before rushing out.
Zoey gasped, covering her mouth by both of her hands as the man's landing must have hurt. Not to mention, his current state was obviously in a dire situation.
"Sir!" Without further ado, Zoey rushed to him as she helped him back to the back seat. "Hey! Wake up!" Zoey panicked, adrenaline rush kicked in and gave her extra strength to carry him back inside, though clumsily.
"Oh my..." Out of breath, Zoey buckled his seat as she instinctively thought to rush him to the nearest hospital for medical assistance. However, for a moment, time ticked at a funeral pace as "the slow-motion moment" took place.
When Zoey glanced, set her eyes, and was graced to see his glorious features, his face seemed to glimmer, just like when pirates opening up a chest full of golds, and it glowed, shining brightly with a choir singing in the background.
"... groom."
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Author's Note:
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