Gael painfully turned his body to Philip and had a weak grin on his face. "If I put my hands up, I will bleed to death. I think I"ll die either way, yeah?"Philip furrowed his brows and scanned Gael"s body and sure enough, he saw his bloodied s.h.i.+rt. s.h.i.+fting his gaze to Samantha, he asked, "Did he hurt you?"
Samantha who was still confused on what was going on, she shook her head and continued to observe Gael. "Why are you here?" She asked without thinking.
"How do you know me? Why do you ask?" He responded in a grunt.
"I"m the one asking questions here." Samantha insisted with a fierce look on her face.
Reluctant, Gael thought he should humor her, "I"m here for business."
Upon hearing his answer, Samantha chuckled, "Is being injured a part of your business? Oh, wait… how could I forget your background? Of course, this is probably normal for you."
Gael clenched his jaw when he heard what Samantha said. "Lady, you seem to know a lot about me. Just who are you?" He paled, the wound on his right side was bothering him.
Samantha did not feel the need to answer his questions. Wanting to get away, she walked past Gael, "Forget it. You don"t need to know."
Gael"s hand was fast that he quickly caught her wrist, tugging her to him so that he could see her face. "Ah!" Samantha cried.
In an instant, Philip clicked the safety lock of his Glock and moved closer, "Let her go," he warned.
Samantha"s face caught some light and Gael finally recognized her. Squinting his eyes, there was a slight smile on his face. "Ah… it"s you," he snorted before he staggered backward dragging Samantha with him.
Instinctively, Samatha used both of her hands to prevent Gael from falling harshly. "Philip, call an ambulance."
"No… no hospitals…" Gael breathed and winced in pain.
"Okay, then we"ll just leave you to die here then." Samantha retracted her hands from him and stood up. She and Philip walked away from Gael.
Leaving the alley, Samantha scowled and scoffed as she recalled what just happened. "Why should I care? He could die and I don"t have to be bothered by it. Just let him rot. Leave him be. He kidnapped you and Becca and he"s a psycho, right? Stop thinking about it and just keep walking." She convinced herself.
Glancing at Samantha"s irritated expression, Philip asked curiously, "How do you know that person?"
"I don"t," she seethed. "Not really. I don"t know him. Just…" She halted her steps and turned her head back towards the alley where they just left. It was several meters away from them and she thought that Gael was probably still laying there. Her heart drummed and her conscience clawed her insides — she hated the feeling. "Ugh!" She scowled as she walked back towards the alley.
Philip raised a brow but did not say anything and just followed her from behind.
When they arrived where Gael was, they saw him sitting on the ground while leaning against the wall. Carefully, Samantha placed a finger under his nose and felt his shallow breathing.
Biting her lip, she closed her eyes and cursed herself for what she was about to do. She turned to Philip and requested, "Can you help him up?"
The look on Philip"s face was unreadable upon hearing Samantha. "What?"
...
On the s.p.a.cious apartment, Samantha, Seo Joon, and Hannah were standing at the side while they watched as Philip pressed his hand on Gael"s wound to stop the bleeding.
The three of them did not speak and just stared at the injured man until the doorbell rang. "I"ll get it," Seo Joon hurriedly strutted to get the door.
Entering the apartment, Nathan slightly panted as he searched the room. He was so worried when Samantha called and told him to bring medicines and tools to patch a gunshot wound.
"Nathan," Samantha called.
Instantly, Nathan walked in long strides to Samantha and his eyes widened when he saw her bloodied clothes. "What happened to you? Are you hurt?" He scanned her body but Samantha waved her hand. "I"m okay… it"s not me…" She pointed to Gael.
Following the direction of her finger, Nathan turned his head and saw a stranger with a pale face who laid on the sofa. "Who is that?"
"It"s a long story, can you fix him?" Samantha asked.
"Is he broken?" Seo Joon snorted. After hearing Samantha"s explanation from earlier on how she knew Gael, he couldn"t care less about the man.
Hannah elbowed her boyfriend, shus.h.i.+ng him from his comments.
"Aw!"
"Why didn"t you bring him to the hospital?" Nathan probed as he started to walk towards the sofa.
Ashton"s cry sounded from the baby monitor and it startled Samantha. "Just… st.i.tch him up first and we"ll talk later." She turned around and was about to head towards the nursery when Seo Joon stopped her, "Dopey, you should take a shower first. I"ll check on Ash."
Samantha looked down and saw that Gael"s blood was on her clothes. She was horrified by it and she had to force herself not to vomit.
Seeing the look on her friend"s face, Hannah immediately held Samantha up. "Let"s go… let"s get you cleaned up."
Samantha nodded and allowed Hannah to help her wash.
…
The next morning.
While Gael rested on one of the guest rooms, they were all discussing in the dining.
"Your friend was lucky... his wound is not serious but he still needs to go to the hospital to get himself checked. Don"t worry, I"ll have someone over there to help us so we can avoid the cops."
"He"s not my friend," Samantha corrected and then nodded as she stood up. "I need to go there as well, it"s Ashton"s regular checkup." Because Samantha was in a coma for the first three months of her pregnancy, she and her doctor agreed to have a monthly regular check up to make sure Ashton was healthy.
"Are you going to be okay? I could cancel my flight." Hannah offered, concerned about leaving her best friend at this time. She had to go back to Country K that day while Seo Joon will have a video conference.
"It"s okay, I"ll be fine. Don"t worry about me." Samantha smiled, holding Ash in her arms.