In the dead of night, a chilly wind blew through the air, but it couldn’t pull Stella from her dazed stupor. She stumbled against a billboard, trying to steady her breath. Her body felt heavy, and her mind was in a fog. She looked at Justin, her voice shaky as she said, “I think I feel slightly unwell. Could you take me to the hospital?”
Justin instinctively reached out to support her, but the moment his hand made contact with her skin, something shifted within Stella. An inexplicable wave of desire surged through her, setting her nerves alight. She pulled her hand back sharply, as though burned, feeling a powerful mix of repulsion and confusion. Her heart raced, and her face flushed with discomfort.
Justin, noticing her reaction, finally understood. “You probably touched something unclean,” he said, his voice tinged with concern. “In a place like that, even if you didn’t eat or drink anything, they could’ve still exposed you to something through the air.”
Stella furrowed her brows in confusion. “I thought that smell was normal in places like that,” she muttered, her face contorted with discomfort. She hadn’t expected the fragrance to have such a strong effect on her.
Her eyes closed in misery, trying to block out the overwhelming sensations coursing through her.
Seeing her struggle, Justin’s face darkened with a flicker of understanding. He stepped closer, his tone reassuring. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you. I know a private doctor. I can take you to him.”
Before he could continue, the sharp ringing of a phone cut through the night, interrupting his words. It felt almost like a slap in the face, snapping Justin out of his thoughts. He chuckled bitterly, realizing how misguided he had been. What was he thinking? He had so many ways to get Stella home safely, or even contact her family, yet he had considered bringing her to his own house.
Justin shook his head, feeling conflicted, as he watched Stella pull her phone from her pocket with trembling hands. But before she could answer, her energy seemed to give out, and she didn’t manage to pick up the call. Taking the initiative, Justin answered it for her.
When Weston heard a strange man’s voice on the other end of the line, his muscles tensed. He gripped the phone so tightly that it nearly bent in his hand, his voice laced with menace. “Where is she?”
The harshness in Weston’s voice made Justin frown. He glanced at the phone screen and saw that the number was foreign, which only made him more suspicious. Looking at Stella, he asked, “Who are you? Why are you calling Ella? She can’t come to the phone right now…”
Weston’s voice cut through the silence, practically snarling, “Who in the world are you? Who allowed you to touch her phone?”
A surge of displeasure coursed through Justin. He recalled that Ella was single and didn’t have many male friends, except for Robb. The tone in Weston’s voice suggested a deeper connection to Stella than Justin had initially realized.
Bluntly, Justin asked, “Ella, do you have a boyfriend?”
Stella lifted her gaze, her eyes meeting his, and then shook her head, “No, I don’t.”
Justin breathed a sigh of relief, sensing that the man on the other end was pursuing Stella in the same way he was. He softened his tone slightly, but still firm, as he said, “She feels awful right now and is in no mood to speak to you.” With that, he hung up, cutting off Weston’s rage-filled words.
The moment the call ended, Weston’s fury erupted. He flung his phone against the ground with all his strength, watching as it shattered into pieces. His black phone lay in ruins on the floor, a symbol of the frustration and anger that was seething within him.
Skip to content