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

Chapter Thirty-four: The Decision

It was too late by when Victoria slid on one of her t-shirts that she could find the closest and ran out the door. Unlike Victor she wasn't multitasking—dressing up, signing papers, quarreling.

There were no signs of Victor from the balcony corridor, where she stood clutching the railing.

He had left.

He was perhaps back to that cafe he was talking about—the one Ben was talking about that they were staying in.

Damn.

She couldn't forget the tears in his eyes and the tremor in his voice. 

In between drilling each other last night, she should have asked the name of the cafe. Now she couldn't even go there—but for what!

What was she going to tell him anyway?

She didn't know herself.

Was he saying the right thing?

And how dare he bring Sumaia up. She could tell for certain that she had gotten away from Adi and had started a new, stress-free life somewhere.

Thinking of Sumaia—Victoria recalled the girl had mentioned contacting her in her mail. But she hadn't checked her emails in like weeks!

Victoria was sure that everything was alright on Sumaia's end. She was probably busy starting a new life after running away.

Sitting at the ramen restaurant close to her apartment, after some hesitating moments spent in front of a bowl of steaming hot ramen, Victoria opened the email account that was available to all the people back at the Staes. 

It was not just Sumaia's mail she found. There was also a hooping of over a hundred emails from Victor only. Then there was Ellie, Ben, Orland, Natsuko, Antelmo, Julie, and even Kate.

She huffed out a surprised breath and placed a hand on her feet forehead.

It wasn't like she didn't expect anyone to contact her or investigate her whereabouts. Unexpected to her was how they had gone berserk in her sudden absence—especially Victor. The number of emails from him sitting in her inbox was a startling finding to her. 

Nevertheless, she decided to open and read all these emails later, except Sumaia's, as it had 'help' written as the subject. Seeing that word had made her heart drop into a dark, precarious hole.

There was just a street name in Asthel written in the main text body with few but alarming words—

'Hurry, please. I sent the images and data of the stolen artifacts to the cops namelessly. He knows. He caught me again. It's a dark room beneath.'

Victoria's fingers started to shake.

Adi must have caught Sumaia again and had been keeping her locked in a place somewhere around this street. Because of her illegal stay in the country, she couldn't even call the police. If she did, it would start a different round of events from then on.

With scrunched brows and a pale gone face, Victoria rose from her chair.

What Victor had told her before leaving came back to hit her in the middle of her soul?

Running away did not solve things for Sumaia. The poor girl was perhaps in a life-threatening situation now only because of Victoria's confident suggestion. 

Guilt crept up Victoria's entire being. 

It was all her fault.

Problems run after you when you run from them...

Victor's words came back to her like a delayed echo. It had sounded bitter back then but now was formulating as the truth. 

She shook her head to think carefully after coming out of the restaurant, standing next to the stairs of it.