"Micheal?! I said where the **** are you?!"
Jackson's loud voice came booming out of his phone speaker. He was clearly agitated by the lack of response from Micheal who had initiated a call, in a noisy environment.
Derrick was still back at the restaurant waiting for his sister, and news from Ronald, while Jackson was waiting for Camila to finish her report, so they could leave together.
"What's going on? Why is it so noisy over there?", Camila asked, worried.
"Ronald was involved in an accident…", Micheal said after a short pause.
Bang!
A loud sound came over from the other side of the phone.
Jackson and Camila turned to Derrick, who had just stood up from his seat in apprehension.
"And Sil?", He asked, frenzied.
Everyone was silent including Micheal on the other side who had turned to the direction he last saw Sil at.
"Ronald went to look for him, what about Sil?!"
He asked again, clearly more panicked than before.
"No…"
Micheal uttered in pure shock but before he could even act out, he was knocked out by his bodyguard.
His bodyguard hung up, picked him up and ran off the street. He eventually stopped by a black car where he placed Micheal in.
Bzz bzz
Bzz b-
"Hello, madam. Yes I've secured the young master. And the boy's been taken to the hospital. … Yes it was just one- … Alright, I'll bring him back now."
Once he was done. He stared at the phone in his other hand. He tried to crush it, but just sighed.
"Just this once, young master."
He muttered and got into the car before driving off.
…
About an hour before.
Earlier on, when Eunice had stepped out to make a call.
Sil came out just as she was about to go in. His cheeks were a bit flushed, and he reeked slightly of alcohol.
His eyes were droopy and he trembled slightly as the cold breeze tried to dry up his wet shirt.
'He looks drunk, and cold. Is he going home by himself?'
She stared at his stationary figure as he stood dazed in a single spot, with his gaze fixed on a random direction in the air.
'Must be drunk.'
She thought whilst approaching him.
"Hey Sil!"
She called out, and effectively startled him.
"Oh it's you, awesome."
He replied calmly, a stark difference from his previously startled state.
"Did you see that?"
"What?"
"I swear I saw it. It was right there but it isn't.", he muttered indiscriminately to himself, which led her to believe something was wrong with him.
"What was it that you saw?"
She asked, interrupting his mutterings.
He opened his mouth about to speak but just paused, and looked away.
"It's nothing. I must still be drunk."
He said with a flat voice.
Just standing there, she felt the chill from him, so she asked.
"Hey, aren't you cold?"
"It's cold, but I can bear it."
He replied almost instantly. Giving off the notion that he wasn't in the mood for a conversation.
"You'll fall sick and catch a cold this way."
She said once she noticed his cold shirt.
'That's not how you become sober. What an ineffective method.'
She frowned slightly once she pieced two and two together.
"Here you can take my overcoat. I don't need it."
"No, I'm fine. The campus is near, and the cold is actually bearable, it doesn't even bother me at all."
But right after saying that, he stifled a sneeze.
She chuckled, then told him to just take the coat.
She had planned on leaving earlier on, but she hadn't told the gang because she wasn't sure if she had to go right then.
Hence, she left the gift bags she brought for everyone behind, and brought her overcoat with her.
Taking off the dazed Sil's jacket, she wondered what he saw that made him space out so much.
She had heard from his friends that Sil disliked physical contact, but she put the overcoat right into his free hands, accidentally touching his hands in the process.
It was then she noticed how warm his hands were - comfortably warm, not sweaty or hot..
She glanced at his hands then looked up and met his gaze.
'Shoot, she had been holding his hands for too long!'
Hurriedly withdrawing them, she looked back at him, somewhat nervous.
She had tried to create a good first impression since she first arrived and she wasn't ready to let that get destroyed by a mere touch… and more.
Probably noticing her nervousness or not noticing anything at all, Sil smiled at her.
"Thank you. I'll return it next time we meet."
"Oh alright. But I just realized that you might not need it all. Do you truly feel no cold?"
She blabbed off, half nervous, half curious.
"It's chilly, but not cold. I barely fell sick from the cold when I was younger. But I guess being doused in cold water and shoved into this weather can actually make me fall sick."
He laughed at his own joke, lightening the atmosphere.
It was then she noticed he was different. He was different when they were drinking, when he was drunk, and just now.
Derrick mentioned earlier that Sil has a personality shift when drunk, but was it to this extent?
Slightly dazed, she said.
"You must have a warm constitution. People like that do well in cold weather, but are prone to fevers in hot ones."
And he chuckled.
Then he leaned in and said, "Because you touched my hands once doesn't mean I'm going to fall sick when summer or spring comes."
'He noticed!'
She became flustered at that thought.
'Then that means he isn't drunk!'
And wiser at the next.
Sil laughed refreshingly, then looked away from her to a building right behind her.
His gaze, unbearably cold and gloomy.
"They're still here."
He muttered softly under his breath.
His fingers clenched and unclenched themselves, as if trying to get a grip of himself, then he turned away and met a devastating sight, his pupils constricted and his breathing hastened.
He was shocked but not for long, he looked away at once the moment he noticed his abnormal condition, but a second glance would show that nothing was there.
Eunice, who was all over the place picking herself up, had failed to notice Sil's abnormality, to his relief.
"Awesome.", he called out softly, and managed to grab her attention.
"I'll be on my way now, but before I go can you give me your number?"
His voice was unbelievably gentle and warm, a stark contrast from his usual self.
Eunice nodded slowly then brought her phone out, "Here."
She said dazed.
Sil frowned, said nothing, and inputted his number into her phone.
"During weathers like these, my number doesn't go through sometimes, so send me a text instead."
"Oh okay."
"Alright, here."
He handed her the phone back, and just before she could say anything a call came through.
"Um… I have to go, take care of yourself Sil!"
She moved her gaze between Sil and her phone and eventually made a decision.
It doesn't matter, she can always talk to him later. But this was a once in a lifetime opportunity!
Sil watched her walk away before leaving.
His thoughts heavily revolved around the incidents that happened tonight, but one memory, which he had long forgotten, constantly sprang to mind.
"I shouldn't have drank tonight. Now they're back."
"Haa…"
He sighed heavily and paused in his steps.
Looking up at the sky, he thought.
'What terrible weather to be out in.'
But looking down at his hands, he clenched them and thought.
'I'm back again.'
(Clench…!)
"How unfortunate…"
He laughed to himself and took a while to calm down.
'First, let's get sober.'
He walked off in a completely different direction.
It seemed as though he was walking aimlessly, but contrary to your thoughts he truly did not know where he was going.
But what he did was that, soon enough he'll be back, and able to find his way.