08:55 P.M.
San Miguel's Hospital.
June 21st, the year 2018. Thursday.
Marcus pushed the driver's car door of Carmela. She glared at him in an instant.
"You shouldn't drive in your state, Carmela. You could get into an accident," Marcus gritted his teeth.
Carmela's mad eyes were raging and retorted back, "What do you care, Marcus? Margo was dead now. What? Should I be laughing my head off because of that?"
Marcus pinched the bridge of his nose and mumbled, "Carmela, listen to me. The one you did right there can destroy our relationship. You are breaking the pledge."
Carmela shook her head as she tried to open the car door, but Marcus leaned back onto it. They stared into each other's depth of their eyes while Marcus was trying to reach out to her hand. Carmela put her hand behind her back and looked down.
"What was the use of pledge if we were all breaking it?" Carmela asked, not looking through Marcus's eyes.
"Carmela...," Marcus mumbled.
"It's no use, Marcus. People change. Even us. If we have known each other for 9 years, you would know that. You were turning a blind eye towards the relationship we all had," Carmela muttered. She locked her gaze on Marcus.
"I knew that, Carmela. But...," Marcus can't continue to bear what he has to say because he can't control the pain from rising. It felt like his heart ached that he held his chest. Carmela held her forehead and put her hands over her waist.
Carmela looked over at him again and elaborated, "But what? I regret nothing I said about Katrina right there. If you have to gather everyone on the team, make sure you have accurate evidence of who killed Margo. Now, tell me, who was breaking the pledge now?"
Marcus shook his head and looked straight at Carmela. She felt the angry tears pouring down her eyes as she bit her lip.
"Now, how can I be okay when I know Margo was dead and our best friend threatened her? I don't know what to think, Marcus. It bugged me at the last minute of Margo's life," Carmela sobbed and put her hand over her mouth.
"She's right there, Marcus, lying on the ground, with a deep wound on her abdomen, and I don't know what to do. If it weren't for you, she would have died there on the cold street," Carmela muttered as she looked down. She leaned over her car and her shoulders were shaking.
"Margo whispered she thought no one could save her. I felt that, Marcus. I felt right through me that there was no one at her side, even if she was dying. No one cared about her now," Carmela howled. It made Marcus wrap his arms around Carmela.
"That scandal on the Queen's Bar, that was what started it all. The major root of this was Xian. And Katrina, if she didn't threaten her, she would not be so frightened about the world she lived in. If it weren't for him and our best friend, Margo would be alive," Carmela sobbed right through Marcus's chest. He patted her back and soothed her hair.
Carmela raised her arms and hugged Marcus back around the waist. The tears streamed down to her cheeks.
"I know, Carmela. I understand what you were saying," Marcus whispered right through her ear. She can't control her sobs from coming. The wind whistled through them and they both hugged each other closely.
…
Sammy was fuming over her son again for standing up from his bed without notice. Xian clenched his jaw and moved his leg a bit. He screeched in pain as he felt the cast get tighter and tighter, scraping through his skin. His injury was not getting better. He still needed to confine himself at this hospital for several weeks.
"What did I say to you?! You are always hard-headed, Xian! Never make the mistake of coming down through the first floor and going to Margo's house!" Her mother shouted right through him. Xian shifted his eyes and sighed.
He placed his left hand on his abdomen and tried to sleep through the loud voice of her mother.
"Don't you dare to close your eyes at me while I was scolding you!" Sammy yelled through him and put her hands over her waist. Xian opened his eyes immediately and looked straight into his mother's eyes for a second.
"Do you know how much it costs us for your therapy?! And you will put yourself in much danger, huh?! You were always sick in my mind, Xian!" Sammy shouted, and held her forehead while sitting down on the long couch. Xian didn't even bother to answer back.
Sammy wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead and stood up. She rummaged through her bag and retrieved her cell phone. It vibrated in a matter of seconds after Sammy got it out, and she immediately answered it.
"Hello?" Sammy answered, and Xian rolled his eyes.
'Here we go again, another problem in the studio...,' Xian thought without bursting out.
"What?!" Sammy yelled through the line and she looked cautiously towards his son. Xian raised his eyebrows. He didn't know why her mother was acting strange through a phone call. Her fingers were shaking, and she dropped the cell phone on the ground. Xian raised his head a little and asked her mother what was wrong.
Sammy's breath quickens, and she froze in her place. Xian observed his mother and asked again.
"Mom, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Xian asked and stared at his mother's face.
Sammy's face was so scared. It was neither confusing nor baffling. She's frightened while looking at her son. Xian tilted his head to one side, creased his forehead, and raised his eyebrows a little.
She looked over the window and whispered, "Someone's murdered."
Xian heard that and widened his eyes. Her mother stared at him straight and stammered, "Margo..."
Xian sat up immediately from the bed, and he felt the pain from the arm and leg.
"What happened to Margo?" Xian asked, gasping and waiting for his mother's answer.
Sammy swallowed first. She said, "I don't want to believe who called, and what tone of his voice. It was repetitively saying that Margo was dead."
Xian can't seem to move from his place when he found out that Margo was dead. Her body was lying lifeless on the hospital bed, draped the blanket over her head. Her feet were now parallel to each other.
"What?!" Xian raged towards his mother. Sammy looked over at him and shook her head.
Xian felt the tears coming on the verge of his eyes and he felt the shortness of his breath. He held his chest and sobbed uncontrollably while his mother hugged his head. Xian howled through his mother's waist while still holding his chest and thumping it.
"Are you joking, mom? Because it's not funny," Xian mumbled, sobs came out in between his lines.
"I don't know, son," Sammy muttered, and wrapped her arms more tightly.
"No, Margo isn't dead, mom. I don't want to believe it!" Xian shrieked. Sammy soothed his hair and kissed it while patting his back with her left hand.
"No, no, no! Margo isn't dead, mom! Take back what you said!" Xian bellowed. She didn't know what to say because they did not base it on concrete evidence. Sammy realized she didn't know who called her. She immediately unclasped Xian's arms from around her waist.
Sammy picked up her cell phone and realized that she didn't recognize the voice of the caller. She pressed the buttons again and Xian sniffed through. He wiped his eyes first before looking at his mother again. Sammy saw the unidentified number on her call log and furrowed her eyebrows.
"It wasn't on my contacts either. I don't recognize the combination of the numbers," Sammy whispered. She averted her eyes from there to her son. Xian panted on his bed while the tears trickled down his eyes again and he wiped it.
"Stay here, I will go down there," Sammy hissed, and ran over to the door quickly. She opened it and walked fast over the hallway.
She saw the elevator was out of order.
She climbed down the stairs while her heels were click-clacking on the tiled floor. Sammy asked the nurses' station on the ground where the emergency room of the hospital was.
They pointed towards the emergency room. She turned that way but someone smashed into her.
She bowed down her head a little until she glimpsed a black hoodie through her back. It apologized and walked over fast towards the corner. She furrowed her eyebrows, puzzled about who it was.
Sammy spun to the way again but she heard someone crying over the end of the hallway. Someone looked over from where she was standing and she hid through the corner hallway.
She peeked over, squinting her eyes as she saw Zoey, Xian's friend, when he was still at Del Rio University. Someone was crying over her chest, and Sammy gazed through the two men standing up, pacing back and forth.
Sammy heard they were fighting over something. Until someone interrupted her from eavesdropping. It made her startle as soon as her cell phone rung. Loud as possible. Sammy stared at the number again, it's the same pattern again.
Mina heard that noisy ringtone over the corner hallway and tilted his head over there. Mina got confused by that. He furrowed his eyebrows and shushed his friends.