"What took you so long, Alora?" Mason Hyde rises from his seat when his best friend returns after taking longer than what can be considered normal. "Let's go. I already settled the bill."
He rises to leave but freezes when he sees Alora occupying her seat again. Without saying anything, Alora lifts the half-filled glass of whiskey that she left behind earlier and gulps it down in one go.
Sensing that something is wrong, Mason Hyde slowly sits down again. He doesn't speak up right away but his observation indeed tells him that Alora appears quite pale.
She isn't like that when she left.
"What's wrong, Lora?" He asks but he is met with silence, as expected.
Alora McLean is never one to open up easily. In fact, she is the strongest person he has ever known. She always bottles up everything no matter how hard it is for her and as her best friend, he always hates whenever she torments herself that way.
"Alora -"
"Let's talk later," Alora McLean interrupts him in a voice that is barely above a whisper. Then she finally lifts her gaze from the table and looks at him for the first time since she comes back. "I just want to drink more for now, Mason."
He attempts to find the answers to his endless questions through her gaze but he finds none. However, he knows that she won't back down no matter how much he tries to reason with her. He is too familiar with that determined and stubborn gaze.
Without attempting to ask anything, Mason Hyde orders some more drinks for Alora and quietly sits as he watches her drink like never before. His curiosity grows but he knows that it is useless to ask.
Maybe he can try to talk to her some other time, perhaps when she is sober.
What amazes Mason is that no matter how much Alora drinks, she doesn't appear to be drunk at all. There is no such sign but... she still ends up passing out after drinking way past her usual limit!
Just what did happen?
* * *
Though it is already past midnight, Alessio DeFazio is still sitting on the single couch which is placed near the huge glass walls inside the luxurious hotel suite where he is staying. He knows that it is quite late now but... that single occasion from the bar stops him from sleeping.
The Don cannot understand.
Why must he run into her as soon as he landed there in Elentrus? Not to mention that she still recognized him right away despite having been 9 years!
Because of that occasion, he ends up recalling many memories that he has half-forgotten; the memories he had never recalled for the past few years until that occasion.
If he were to compare Lucas Wilde and Alessio DeFazio to a tree, he will say that the old tree is cut down and burned to ashes before a new tree is planted in its place. His change during the past nine years is that deep. There isn't even a trace of similarity between the old him and the current him and he knows that.
While Alessio remains quietly seated, Loris who is his trusted right-hand man comes to him.
"Sir, it's already past midnight now and we have so much scheduled for the daybreak," Loris reminds the Don when he halts a few steps away. "Please have some rest. You will need it for the coming week."
There is a deafening silence in the hotel suite as Loris stands still while noticing that his master appears unusually troubled. What happened in the hallway of the bar still occupies Loris's mind too.
Who is that woman?
He has been working for Don Alessio for a few years now but... it is his first time seeing the Don being patient enough to deal with the interruption of some woman. Alessio DeFazio from his memory might be many things but women will surely be the last thing he cared about. He had never once seen him paying attention or talking to any woman unless it concerned his work.
More than a minute passed when the Don finally breaks his silence but his words have nothing to do with what Loris is curious about.
"How is Elio?"
"Don Elio is already asleep, sir. Maybe he had too many drinks," Loris promptly responds. He isn't that surprised by the question as he is aware of how much Don Alessio cared for his best friend.
Don Alessio never shows it that much as he isn't good at it. Besides, for someone like him, caring too much for someone could become a lethal weakness if enemies from the other families were to notice it. Though his friendship and cooperation with Don Elio are well known in the Mafia world, not many know how much the two friends really cared for each other.
"It's good if he sleeps," Alessio remarks as he rises from his seat. "At least, he won't insist on doing something boring again." Before Loris can say anything, Alessio says, "Go and rest. I'm going to sleep now."
"I understand." Loris bows and is about to turn to leave when he hears the Don's voice again.
"One more thing. Did you say that Celina will fly in tomorrow?"
"That's right, sir. She called me saying that she can't reach you," Loris replies and adds, "She might arrive late in the evening as she still has some business there."
"That's good," Alessio remarks with a nod. "You may go."
With that said, Loris bows once again and walk out of the suite.
Sitting on the side of his king-sized bed, Alessio thinks of the week he will be spending there in Elentrus. It only starts but... he is already bothered to this extent.
As a part of him feels an unfamiliar fear, he can't help but low-key wishes for everything to end soon so that he could leave and free himself from those thoughts.
* * *
When Alora McLean opens her eyes in the morning, she instantly feels an intense headache that hurts as if it threatened to kill her. Putting her hands on both sides of her forehead, the Captain squeezes her eyes shut, hoping for the pain to ease in the slightest bit.
Not to mention that what happened the other night instantly crosses her mind, which doesn't help the intense pain in her head at all! But...
"You're awake."
She almost flinches when she hears the voice and promptly turns her head to the left only to see her father standing a few steps away. As she pushes herself up, the General approaches her.
Kenzo McLean lifts a glass that seems to hold some honey water and offers it to his daughter. "Have this first."
Alora takes the glass and only notices that her father is already in his uniform. It makes her wonder how long she had slept. She steals a glance at the small clock on top of her drawer and notices that it is already 8 o'clock.
She slept that long?!
"Mason took you home last night, completely wasted." It is her father's voice that snaps Alora out of her thought. "Is it a normal act to mark your rare leave or... something I should worry about?"