Their hug lasted for almost ten minutes and Anne felt five percent better.
She slowly inhaled and exhaled to get a hold of her breath in his embrace.
Still holding him tight, she suddenly came back to her senses and pulled away from him.
"I'm... I'm sorry" Anne mumbled and turned around to leave.
She felt a little embarrassed to hug Carl like that and besides, they're not even on good terms, to begin with.
"hey," Carl held her hand and she turned to face him.
"you can talk to me, please," he said with a sincere look.
Anne stared at Carl's honest face for a while and something in her told her that she could trust him.
She nodded her head in response and Carl wiped her tears with his thumbs.
He took her inside his car and gave her bottled water for her to drink with his support.
"thank you" Anne muttered.
She wondered why this same man who called her a witch earlier today was being nice to her right now.
"I thought I ain't shit," Anne said in a low tone.
"Anne now isn't the time for us to fight," he said.
"Why are you being nice to me," she said, trying to hold in her tears
"I couldn't drive past you, knowing fully well you're not okay. Can you tell me what happened?" Carl asked and Anne began crying profusely again.
"I just lost my grandpa." She blubbered.
"He must have died of an asthma attack. My grandpa always keeps his inhaler in his pockets …I just don't understand why it took him so long for him to get it.
If only I had come home earlier, I would've helped him but I'm always too busy at my bakery. This is all my fault, I'm supposed to take care of my grandpa and I failed" she lamented.
"Please don't blame yourself. It's not your fault okay." he hugged her again, patting her back.
"Mr. McAlester I'm so sorry," Anne said as she disengaged from the hug.
"for what?" Carl was a little surprised because how she just apologized out of the blue.
"I called you a pervert. I never should've disrespected you like that in the first place. I feel really bad about it" Anne sincerely apologized.
"Anne it's okay, I also said hurtful things to you and I'm genuinely sorry for that," he said.
"Mr. McAlester, can I ask you a favor?"
"of course, what is it?"
"I don't want you to tell Carlos we've met before he introduced the both of us. And I don't want him to know about out about our previous fights please," she said.
"if that's what you want then your secret is safe with me." He said and she had a sigh of relief.
"but why? if I may ask" Carl asked Anne.
"Carlos is your best friend and I'm sure you're aware of his serious anger issues. If he finds out I was rude to you from the start, he's going to get disappointed in me since you're his boss.
I love Carlos so much and I don't want to upset him at all that is why I always try my best to please him. Most importantly, I don't want to mess up our relationship because of me" she explained.
Carl took a deep breath.
He felt like there was a tiny needle poking his chest as he heard Anne profess her love for Carlos.
He almost forgot that she was in a relationship, not just with anyone but with his best friend.
"Anne, you don't have to worry about that. Carlos loves you so much… He just doesn't like being yelled at that's all." He said.
"Thank you, Mr. McAlester. I have to go now" She said.
She opened the car door and got down of Carl's car.
Anne waved him bye as he drove past her.
"Why do I suddenly feel so at peace talking to him," she thought to herself.
"Grandpa may your soul rest in peace," she sobbed silently.
****
A week later
Anne and her brother, Dexter with some close friends of her grandfather were all at the funeral to honor Mr. Robyn one last time.
They were all dressed in different black attires. Anne was putting on a flare black dress. She looked sorrowful because she had been crying but was still pretty.
Carlos kept on consoling Anne even after her grandfather was buried. She hasn't been herself for the past week.
Meanwhile, Carl was watching Anne from a distance with sadness in his eyes. Seeing her cry was heartbreaking for him.
The whole time, he never took his eyes off her. He felt a little jealous wishing he was the one comforting her instead of Carlos.
"he was 70 but I'm sure he would've lived more than that," Anne said amidst tears.
"Sweetheart, don't be so hard on yourself," Carlos said rubbing Anne's shoulders.
He felt no remorse for the death of her grandfather but he had to fake being sad and Carlos is one hell of a good actor.
"Prosecutor Carl, I know this isn't the perfect time to tell you this but I'm a big fan of you. I always look forward to being like you and I'm an aspiring detective.
I'm almost done with my studies and when I'm done, I'd love to work with you." Dexter said to Carl who was barely listening to him. His attention was on Anne
"Sir, are you interested in my sister?" Dexter jokingly asked Carl because of the way he was staring at Anne.
"What!? of course not!" Carl quickly denied it.
"She has a boyfriend and he's my best friend ...and yes, this is completely not a good time to tell me how you're my fan.
We'll probably talk some other time." he said and Carlos approached them.
"she's not getting better right?" Carl asked Carlos.
"Anastasia is a strong person. She'll recover in due time." Carlos said.
"Hmm, but what if my granddad didn't just die of an asthma attack? What if he was deprived of his inhaler because grandpa was wise enough to always keep it by his pockets and when we saw him dead, he was just five inches away from his inhaler." Dexter said.
He was actually just guessing but Carlos starting to get nervous.
"I can see you're really an aspiring detective," Carlos said to Dexter.
"no need to get nervous Carlos, I'm only insinuating." he laughed as he walked out.
Carlos clenched his fist with anger frowning
"Hey! Bro why are you getting worked up? Please don't let him get on your nerves. The autopsy report said he suffocated and his asthma attack kicked in.
It was just Anne's fingerprints on his inhaler and besides, I don't think anyone would want to kill that good man." Carl said.
"I know but Dexter always tries to paint me black, especially in front of Anne, and very soon, I'll take care of him. Carlos said coldly.
"what do you mean take care of him?" Carl curiously asked Carlos, facing him.
"Carlos, Mr. McAlester, I'm sorry for interrupting you both but I wanna thank you for coming especially you Mr. McAlester," Anne said giving Carl a brief hug.
...…..
Anne was at her house staring at her grandfather's picture.
"I think I have to take a break from baking for some time," she said, turning to Dexter
"if it'll make you feel better then there's no problem about that but why?" Dexter said.
"do you know I still blame myself for grandpa's death, if I wasn't so busy with baking and I was at grandpa's side at all times, he'll still be alive"
"Anne stop it" Dexter cuts in.
"you have nothing to do with grandpa's death. You were busy with your business because you are passionate about earning money to take care of him, to take care of all of us. Anne, please don't blame yourself for anything." He said and Anne nodded.
"but I still need a break. I wanna use this short period to spend time with the people I love, you and Carlos" she said.
"I understand," he said "speaking of which, I never knew Carlos and prosecutor Carl, are best friends... no wonder Carlos got a job to work at NYPD."
"I didn't know he and Carlos were best friends too," she said.
"did you also notice that prosecutor Carl was staring at you throughout the funeral?" Dexter said to Anne.
"Everyone was staring at me because they all felt pity for me. I couldn't stop crying" Anne sighed.
"no, not like that, I mean, he was staring at you like, he likes you," he winked at Anne.
"you're so stupid you know that?" Anne rolled her eyes at him.
.....
At Carl's mansion
"Carl, I know I told you not to take me or pick me up from school but I changed my mind. I don't feel like going or coming back from school by myself." Richie pleaded with Carl.
"nuh-uh. You told me you're 13, you're a big boy now, a teenager to be precise. You can go to school or come back by yourself…" Carl replied in a serious tone.
"…And I embarrass you don't I? Ask mom, I'm too busy with my work." He added.
"I know but I changed my mind," Richie pouted.
He's worried about going and coming to school by himself after his last experience with Carlos and as promised, he hasn't told anyone what happened that day.
"Sorry little bro but don't worry, I'll hire a personal driver for you okay," he said tapping Richie's head lightly.
"I just hope Anne gets better soon enough, she must be going through a lot. Well, Carlos is there for her" Carl sighed.
"Carlos?" Richie said with his eyes widened in fear.
He started breathing fast, trembling like he just saw a ghost.
"Richie are you okay? What is wrong with you!?" Carl said touching Richie's forehead to feel his temperature.
He was astonished at Richie's sudden fear.
"Nothing... It's…it's nothing" Richie lied.
Hearing the name 'Carlos' made Richie's fragile heart skip. He's traumatized and he feels paranoid whenever he recalls the moment he witnessed Carlos commit murder right in front of him.
Richie was just too young to have witnessed that.
"Are you sure? You look like you saw a ghost". Carl said worriedly.
"yes, I'm okay just leave me alone" Richie yelled going to his room.
"What is wrong with that kid," Carl thought to himself.
He didn't want to pay attention to that because Richie can act childish sometimes.
Carl checked his phone and had the urge to text Anne.
"How are you feeling now? I hope you're okay." Carl said slowly while typing a text to send to Anne.
"what am I doing?" he muttered and he cleared the text.
**Three days later.**
It was past 7 o clock in the evening and Carlos was seen at a bar, drinking beer.
His phone beeped and he checked it. He saw a video sent to him by an unknown number.
Carlos played the video and he saw himself brutally hitting the delivery man with a stick continuously until the delivery man dropped dead.
As soon as Carlos watched the video, he choked.
"Hey easy," the bartender said to Carlos.
"Oh, shit!!" who must have sent this. Carlos muttered to himself in anxiety.
He quickly left the bar and called the unknown number that sent him the video.
"hello who the fuck is this?" Carlos yelled with rage on the phone.
"It's me your beloved ex-girlfriend, Linda," Linda answered on the phone
"do I have your attention now?" She laughed.