And Then It Rained (Sequel to Rain Again; Stand Alone Book) (Completed)

Chapter Twenty-three: Good Things Happen When a Car Faints

It was Victor. 

Victoria released the breath she was holding tight. Gosh, she was so startled!

Victor stepped closer, glancing down at her Drago's intestines below the open bonnet. "Your ride giving you trouble?" 

"Duh," she shrugged. "Drago fainted all of a sudden."

With an amused expression, his brows raised. "You named your car?"

"Why can't I?" Giving her a smug look, she petted her car's body. "It's like my kid."

He stared at her like she was a weird creature, and he didn't quite know what to make out of this fact.

To have a closer look at the engine he came up to stand next to her. His hands were shoved inside his pants pockets. "Did you find the problem?"

"If I did, I wouldn't still be here sniffing into its gaping mouth," she sarcastically replied, straightening and crossing her arms in front of her.

If he smiled at her sarcasm, she couldn't see it because he turned on his phone's torch and bent down to look closely at the machines.

Victoria lit her own phone's torch to assist him voluntarily. "Where's your car, by the way?" she glanced around to find the familiar vehicle absent.

"I was on my way to buy some stuff—groceries, mainly. The store's nearby, so I usually walk there." While looking and tapping here and there on the engine, he inquired about the car's health history—had it broken down before, the mileage, had she been doing its maintenance regularly, and so on. And while giving him replies, she thought he sounded like a full-fledged doctor diagnosing a patient.

A doctor who sighed and looked up at the side toward her with his mouth pressed into a thin line because he had failed.

"Let's get it to a real professional, shall we?" He waited for approval. And when she nodded, he shut the bonnet and made a phone call to get the car towed away to a garage he knew.

They both sat on the bonnet. The streetlight finally went off entirely. Well, it felt better that way as Victoria's eyes were starting to get irritated because of the constant flickering of it.

And it was only when darkness covered them the moonlight finally shone on them.

Tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear, she looked up at the sky.

Even her camera wouldn't be able to capture the entirety of the beauty of this moment.

She felt eyes on her. When she turned to look, indeed—she found Victor staring at her. She caught unvoiced questions in his eyes. It felt like he wanted to start a conversation but didn't know how to. 

As their eyes met, he quickly tried to look away. There was awkwardness written all over his face from getting caught.

She couldn't help but smile, looking away. "What?" she asked.

He remained quiet for some time, hesitating. 

Patiently, she waited. 

Although his opinions about her numerous times claimed that he knew her, the truth was that he had seen just a little embellished tip of an iceberg. The days she had suffered to get to the one she was now described her choices and how she viewed the world and life.

"What?!" She asked again.

He shrugged. "Nothing."

"There's something—" she pressured.