Disguised as Alex

Chapter 9 - A Missing Piece

"You have got to be kidding me."

It was the day after the accident occurred which was now also known as the day after 'The Beach Party with a Sprinkle of Murder'. It was obviously Hazlin who made up that name since, in such a situation, I wouldn't even think of names for it. On top of that, such weird names.

Hazlin and I were on the way to the hospital where Jace has been confined.

Yesterday when Jace was brought to this hospital, I had wanted to spend the night over with him. Help him with anything he needed since his parents were not coming to check up on him. 

Thanks to Sebastian tattling on me, telling my parents who exactly Jace was, I was banned to do so. I was not even allowed to give my thanks to him!

That was just so outrageous, of course, I was gonna go against their will. If it was not for him, there would have been a hole in my stomach and a halo on my head.

"I am so not kidding!" Hazlin insisted. 

She has been filling me up on the situation she currently has with Stephan but this time she was no longer drunk. She was able to go deep into the details such as when Stephan began to act weird around her, how he told her everything, and how she was sent to talk to his parents about their current relationship.

With all these pieces of information, I was actually able to build and make up a picture, but then again there was something that was a mist. It gave me the same feeling of solving a maths question and yet in the end it is actually wrong. It was being on the wrong track and yet believing you were on the right one.

A missing puzzle piece - indeed, it was.

She began when Stephan began to act weird. She said that he had stopped meeting her after classes and even during lunch, he just disappears and when she tries to contact him there was always no answer. When she asks for his reasons, all he says is that he was busy or had something to do.

A few weeks like this passed by until he asked her to meet him, he told her about the arranged marriage. Hazlin being persistent told him that until they were officially engaged she was going to be with him and this actually made Stephan very happy. They went back to normal until a letter was sent to Hazlin and written there were a place and time to meet Stephan's parents. She believed that Stephan did not actually know about this because he did not show up in the meeting.

During the meeting with Stephan parents, she was told by them to stay away from their son as far as possible and to have no further contact with him too. Even friendship had been forbidden. She was told that if she did not stop meeting him, they would have been forced to move Stephan in a different university. 

Hazlin followed as requested and begun to avoid Stephan at all cost, at first he was not sure why and just followed her everywhere until she told him everything. She also said that that talk was probably the last time she talked to him face to face.

I know the story makes total sense to you, I mean it did to me too, but when you think about it deeper, you'll realize about the major flaw it has. Arrange Marriage have to be signed by both candidates and both candidates must also have no other person they love. If they do, the law states that arrange marriage cannot be continued. Stephan could have easily disagreed with the agreement and yet he did not.

'Oh please Anne, you're just overthinking.'

I am not.

Something was forcing Stephan to agree and I bet my life on it. He was not the type to do all these things to someone like Hazlin and thus, why are his parents so forceful, they even went through the trouble to threaten Hazlin like that. 

Something... Something was missing.

"Okay, so maybe you are not kidding about the fact that the girl is some sort of heir to a great company but the fact that you think Stephan is in love with her? I do not believe that. I mean I can believe that he doesn't love you but I can never believe that he would love whoever that girl is," I shook my head as I passed the nurse our IDs.

"Haha, anyway... We're here, now it's your turn to face your Mr. Bad Boy-" She coughed. I glared at her and she then gave me a teasing look and muttered under her breath, "I meant Prince Charming."

I knocked on the door twice and waited for a reply, Hazlin stood behind me with a cheeky grin. 

No reply. 

I knocked thrice this time and waited for a second or two. 

Nothing. 

Doubting myself this time around, I knocked for the final time - a little more and much louder. I let a full minute pass without glancing at Hazlin at all. There was only silence on the other side. I guess he was asleep... or avoiding me.

I turned around and faced Hazlin, frowning, "I guess he is asleep...?"

"Yeah..." She tried a small smile.

We were already on the move when my ears detected the slightest of a moan. Not just a normal moan, it was more of pain and agony. What was going on in there?

"Jace?" I knocked on the door harder. There was no reply but this time I could hear the moan turning to agony. I stood there waiting for him to take the initiative to open the door or at least give me a signal but instead more painful and antagonizing sounds erupted from inside. I couldn't help it, it might have been rude but I can't possibly leave him alone like that!

I barged in and found him twisting and turning on his bed, in pain. His eyes were close as though he was having a nightmare but then again with all those movements, he could not possibly be asleep, right?

"Please... Just... not my... parents..!"

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:"))