July 22, Sunday at Pearl Gardens
It had just struck six in the evening when Matthew Jeong arrived at the street leading to the gates of his private subdivision. He had a long day and he couldn"t wait to dive on his bed.
Reaching the gates, he saw a woman who was talking with the guards. She was wearing a dress that was too thin for that cold night.
His eyes landed on her feet and he furrowed his brows seeing that she did not have any footwear. Her feet were dirty and it had some cuts here and there.
His car stopped just before the gate and he heard the woman"s pleading.
"Please… I"m not a bad person. Can"t you just let me in?"
The security guard pitied her state but he could not go against their policy, so he shook his head for the nth time. "I"m really sorry, Miss… without the owner, we cannot allow you in," he said before pressing a b.u.t.ton to open the gates for Matthew to enter.
Devastated, the woman turned around and was about to walk away when Matthew caught sight of her face. His eyes widened in surprise and he quickly rolled down his window.
"Excuse me…"
The woman tilted her head to get a better view of him. Matthew got out of the car and walked towards her.
"Mr. Jeong?" she probed.
"Ms. Alianna? What happened? What are you doing here? Where are your shoes?" he questioned her at the same time that he shrugged off his long coat and without second thoughts, he draped it over her bare shoulders.
When he met her eyes again, he saw a pool of tears threatening to fall. "I don"t have anywhere else to go… I… I"m here for my cousin but they wouldn"t let me in."
"Come, I"ll get you inside…" He helped her into his car and turned to the guard when he was asked who she was.
"I know her. That"s all you need to know," he answered before he got in his car and drove away.
Reaching his house, he got off and circled around to the pa.s.senger"s seat, helping Alianna out of the car.
"That"s President Park"s house." Matthew pointed to the house across the street. "But it looks like no one"s home. Do you have a phone? Can"t you call him?"
Alianna shook her head, burying her face in her hands as she sighed. "I don"t have anything on me except my wallet. They"re still out of town but I know they"re coming home tonight."
"You can use my phone. Do you know his number?" He retrieved his phone from his pocket and handed it to her.
"No… Do you have Katherine"s?"
Matthew shook his head, placing the phone back in his pocket. "What happened?" he asked as he tried to study her face.
Sensing that there was something wrong, he raised his hand and lifted her chin up with his fingers. "Did someone hit you?" he asked, his voice raised a little as he stared at the patch of bruise and cut on the side of her lip.
She winced and gently pushed his hand away. That was only when he noticed that her cheek was swollen. Earlier outside the gates, the lights weren"t so bright so he wasn"t able to see her state clearly. But now that they were standing outside his house with a lamp post above them, he saw how bad she looked. Her eyes were puffy and red from all the crying.
"Who did this to you, Ali?" Matthew dropped the formality and called her name casually. A sudden feeling of outrage surged within him seeing that someone dared to hit a woman.
"Did your boyfriend do this to you?" he pressed on when she remained tight-lipped.
Alianna did not answer but tears fell from her eyes and she started sobbing, her shoulders shaking from the mixture of shock and pain.
"What an a.s.s," he muttered and sighed. Inching closer, he raised his hand and gently patted her shoulder.
To his surprise, Alianna broke down, grabbing his s.h.i.+rt and pressing her forehead on his chest. His hands subconsciously raised in the air, not knowing what to do with a crying woman whom he barely knew.
He awkwardly stayed that way for several seconds before he exhaled and gingerly placed his arm around her, stroking her back and letting her cry on him.
It seemed that Alianna had been holding her tears back earlier because she cried her heart out in Matthew"s arms. She no longer cared that they didn"t know each other that much, she was too heartbroken and sad to care.
"Ali… Why don"t you wait inside my house?" he asked.
She lifted her head and raised a brow in question.
"I promise I won"t do anything to you. It"s getting cold out here... you need to clean your feet too."
Pressing her lips together, she nodded. She was just about to push herself away from him when a Range Rover Sport pulled over. With his arms still around her, they turned their heads and saw Damien and Katherine getting off the car.
Damien locked his gaze on the pair across the street. The guards already told him what happened when he got to the gates.
Matthew lowered his arms. "They"re here," he said.
Relief washed over Alianna and she started walking towards Damien. She was already sobbing even before she got to him.
"Ali…" He knitted his brows when he saw his younger cousin with a busted lip and a swollen cheek.
"Damien…" Alianna pounced on him, crying again. He was the closest family that she had. If she were to choose between him and her mother, she would choose him without blinking an eye — her mother wasn"t so motherly.
"What happened to you?" He tried to carefully raise her head to check on her face.
"Damien, why don"t we go inside first? She doesn"t have shoes on." Katherine came to their side, worried just like him.
He nodded and thanked Matthew before leading Alianna inside their house.
Twenty minutes later, Alianna had already showered and changed into Katherine"s loungewear. The three of them sat in the living room, the smell of hot cocoa lingering in the air.
Damien was in a rage. Ali was like a little sister to him and someone dared to hurt her. "If you think you can hide who did this to you—"
"I know what you"re capable of. You"re my cousin," Alianna interrupted.
"Then start talking, tell me everything."
Nursing the warm mug in her hands, she lowered her gaze and started recalling what happened that afternoon.
"I met Caleb by chance outside of a restaurant. We talked for a while before he left… And as soon as he was gone, Craig he…"
"Who the fûck is Craig?!"
"He"s my boyfriend… well… not anymore."
"And he did this to you?" Damien clenched his hand into a fist. Katherine placed her hand over his, calming him down.
"He never hit me before… We never had big problems. We rarely even fight," she continued.
"We went back to the hotel and we fought. He was so mad, telling me stuff that wasn"t true. He thought I was seeing Caleb behind his back. I told him it was ridiculous and that we just b.u.mped into each other… but he didn"t believe me. I tried to calm him down but he started breaking things… It"s the first time that I"ve seen him like that."
Alianna wiped her cheek when a tear fell. "I tried explaining to him but he wouldn"t listen. Out of spite, I told him I"m breaking up with him and he became so enraged…" She closed her eyes and the scene played in her head.
~ "You"re breaking up with me? And what? You"re going to crawl back to your ex? Is he so good in bed that you want him again?! Huh?! Answer me!" He slapped her across the face. His slap was so harsh that she fell to the bed. ~
"I wanted to run away but he wouldn"t let me leave so I locked myself in the bathroom and he continued to break stuff. When I heard the main door open, I figured that he left so I got out of there as soon as I could…"
"Why didn"t you call Caleb? You know his number by heart, Ali… You"ve been waiting outside for a long time." Damien ran a hand on his face.
"I couldn"t… What would I tell him? That my relations.h.i.+p was a failure? I can"t let him see me like this."
"Where"s that a.s.shole?!" Damien was so p.i.s.sed, he wanted his fist on that man"s face.
"I don"t know…"
Knowing that everything must be hard for Alianna right now, Katherine patted Damien"s arm and said, "She"s had a rough day. Let"s let her rest…"
Exasperated, he nodded and Katherine led Ali towards her bedroom to let her sleep. When she came out, she saw Damien grabbing his keys and putting on his trench coat.
"Where are you going?" She hurried to his side.
"I"m going to kill him," he spat.
Katherine gulped. With the way that Damien"s expression darkened, she believed that he would really carry out his word. She s.h.i.+vered at the thought.