BACK TO PRESENT~
"If your wife's name is Ava Donovan and she is dead, you are supposed to hold her name dear to your heart, right?"
"And?"
She proceeded, "Why then do you call me Ava? It is supposed to be a special, untampered name…right?"
"What do you mean by untampered?"
"I mean…tampered like, you loved your wife and you hate me. You can't call the person you love the most in this world, the same name you call the person you hate…" she trailed off, releasing an awkward chuckle. "Don't mind me. I guess I'm just being stupid."
"I wouldn't argue with your last sentence." Archibald shrugged nonchalantly. "But I still must say that I met you first and called you Ava. Nothing else matters."
"If you say so," Avery replied. "I should return to my uhm, the room you prepared for me then."
She turned, walking towards the curved stairwell that led to her room, when his voice echoed from behind her,
"Lest I forget, we will be attending a charity ball tonight. It will double as a welcome party for you so you can't avoid it."
"Are you sure it is safe…?" she asked, silence accompanying her words. Making an abrupt turn, she was surprised to find there was no one behind her. Her eyes flittered across the living room for even the slightest glimpse of him, but he was gone.
The elevator didn't make a sound so he definitely didn't leave the floor. Yet, there was no door in sight that she could have concluded he disappeared into.
''I will just go get myself ready,' she decided, pushing all thoughts of Archie and his disappearance to the back of her mind.
While Avery walked up the stairs, Archie was standing before the wall directly beneath the stairwell; a wall that was sliding open to reveal a glass door with a screen, behind it. A series of texts were displayed on the screen and Archie clicked on one, before removing his glasses to complete the facial identification.
Within seconds, the glass door also slid open and he stepped in, beholding another apartment just like the one he had just come from. Not sparing a second to look around the place, he went straight into the first room he could see, shutting the door behind himself.
A group of people were in the room, three of them wearing a doctor's lab coat while the rest five were dressed in nurse's uniform. All eight of them were crowded around the single bed in the room but immediately they sensed an entry into the room, turned towards the door.
"Mr Donovan!" One of the doctor approached him, a wide smile on his face.
"Can I interpret your smile to mean the patient is alright?" he questioned, his eyes fixed on the person lying in bed.
"With the state-of-the art medical facilities you have provided for my colleagues and I, coupled with our expertise in this field, you have nothing to worry about, Sir," the doctor replied.
"Great. Keep me informed on anything else you might need," Archie replied. Lifting his eyes to meet the gaze of the nurse standing at the end of the room, he ordered, "Excuse us."
Within a minute, the others exited the room and he was left alone with the nurse. The beeping sound of the monitor acted as background noise, as the two maintained total silence.
Squirming under his hardened gaze, the nurse was forced to break the silence, "Mr Donovan, I am the new nurse employed to stay by the patient's side 24/7."
"And?" he raised his brows.
"And I know that what happens in this place, stays in this place. I won't say anything to anyone about what happens in here," she replied.
Archie frowned, his eyes narrowed in disapproval.
"Stephanie Brookes, we are not of the same social status. Meaning there's no one you know that also knows me, personally, except the McCallums of course. You know what happened to them, do you not?"
"I do, Mr Donovan. But…" she hesitated, clasping and unclasping her hands in nervousness. If anyone had told her parents their daughter would talk to a man of his status, she was sure they wouldn't have believed. But here she was, and she could only pray not to mess it up. "...But I also know you won't let Avery die just like that. You—you have been protecting her and—"
"Kill that hope, Brookes," Archie interrupted. "Your best friend is dead and no one, not even me, can bring her back."
Not wanting to annoy him the more, Stephanie's voice was lower when she argued, "But the patient…The patient looks very similar to—"
"Last warning, Stephanie." His voice was tense, a hint of warning belying his firm tone. "Ignorance is bliss and if you don't want to join your best friend soon enough, you know what to do."
She nodded vigorously, shutting her eyes tightly.
"I will do my job well, Mr Donovan. Th–thanks for letting m–me stay!" she expressed her gratitude, fear evident in her voice.
"You too. Thanks for not making me stain my hands with your blood," he chuckled at his own joke while Stephanie maintained her tight smile. "That would only make Ava hate me more. Wherever she is…heaven or hell."
'Or upstairs in her room,' he added in his mind, turning to walk out of the room.