Chapter 2

She sighed and walked toward the door by the right, hoping she would be lucky.

Nope, she wasn't.

"Ah!" A woman screamed.

"Oh my god! I'm sorry!" Ariel said in shock as she quickly slammed the door shut.

What did she just see? A nurse sucking her male patient's cock?!

She shook her head to get the image off her head and almost fell from feeling dizzy. She was famished.

She stared hard at the door by the left, praying to God to let it be the right room.

She was lucky this time.

She opened the door to see Mike lying on the bed with his legs wrapped in a cast.

Guilt washed over her. If she hadn't agreed to let him drive her home that night, none of these would have happened and he would've still been strong and healthy, using his legs.

But now, he lay alone in a lonely hospital room, his life coming to a pause for as long as he had to recover, and who knew if he'd ever recover fully?

"Quit standing there already and come in here," Mike's voice suddenly sounded from inside the room.

Ariel was surprised to hear his voice, she had thought he was fast asleep.

She gently closed the door as she entered the room and walked over to stand beside his bed.

"Hey," Ariel said quietly, slowly looking Mike from his leg to his face but not daring to look him in the eyes; guilt was eating her up.

"Hey," Mike gently held Ariel's hand.

"How are you?" Ariel asked.

"Well," Mike pointed to his legs.

"Oh gosh, I shouldn't have asked that..." Ariel rushed to apologize, looking all forlorn.

"Hey, don't look that way; it wasn't your fault; if we're taking the blame, then it'll definitely be my fault because I was speeding and wasn't looking," Mike sighed but still managed to smile at Ariel.

"I still feel guilty, after all, It was me who caused you to drive that late," Ariel sounded genuinely guilty from her words.

Mike knew she wouldn't let it be until she made herself drown with guilt.

"If you want to make it up to me, then visit me here as often as you can. That'll really make me glad," Mike suggested.

"I promise, I'll come see you with gifts as much as I can, Mike, I promise," Ariel held his hand, gently patting it.

Mike smiled broadly, happy he'd get to see Ariel more often from now on.

---

Ariel walked down the street that cool evening; at least it was still early, and the hospital wasn't located in an isolated area like the restaurant where she worked. She could still see cars driving by and people either heading somewhere or casually taking an evening stroll.

She was in a dilemma; she couldn't believe she was the one walking the earth again; why didn't she die? Who was that mysterious person that saved her? And who was the person who cleared her medical bills?

She could swear on her life that it wasn't anyone from her family, they'd rather unplug her life support if they had the chance to.

She sighed. The hospital didn't look like one of the roadside ones, it looked like something a Billionaire's daughter or wife would go, and that made her wonder how much money that person paid.

"Move! You wanna die!" A bike man honked loudly behind Ariel.

That's when Ariel realized that she had left the pedestrian and was now almost in the middle of the road.

She quickly moved away, getting back to the pedestrian, after apologizing to the bike man.

She looked around and discovered that she was still far from home, and she had no money on her and couldn't even hail a cab.

Maybe she could just get a ride by flashing a sweet smile or telling her sob story. She shook the delusional thought out of her head.

Her legs were almost giving out from tiredness and hunger but she was determined to walk home.

Home...

She stood in front of the yellow two-story building that was supposed to be her home, but as she stared at it, she felt like a stranger to it.

All her years in that house had been spent living like a ghost of herself, there was no beautiful or fond memory attached to it.

It was a beautiful house, no doubt; her father and stepmother made sure to always renovate it to new tech every year; they wanted to feel proud whenever they brought their business partners home for dinner and subtly show off their beautiful home.

She pulled her thoughts together and walked towards the house, the front lawn looked clean and well-kept as always. It seemed like they had visitors because on reaching the door, she could already hear her stepmother's voice laughing a bit too loudly at what someone said.

She clenched her fist at the sound of the laughter, so fake, like the owner. She would have chosen to go through the pantry, but her stepmother has locked it up since she noticed it was where Ariel came in when she returned from work to escape her.

She quietly pushed the door open and walked inside.

"Oh dear, who's that, Caroline? Strangers come into your house now?" The lady beside Caroline said in disgust, looking Ariel up and down.

Caroline, who was facing away from the door, quickly turned towards the door, and the moment she set her eyes on Ariel, the smile fell from her face, replacing it with hatred.

Ariel didn't stand there to wait for them to criticize her, she moved on and climbed the stairs to her room.

"Oh, no, Stella, ignore her, she's just our housemaid," Caroline said, shrugging.

"Makes sense now, dear; I thought you were turning your house into a charity organization where the homeless came to get fed," Stella chuckled, covering her hand over her mouth.

"Ewe, never," Caroline rolled her eyes.

She stood from the sofa and walked toward the stairs.

"Do you want some expensive champagne?" Caroline asked with a bright smile.

"Ah, sure! You're the best," Stella relaxed on the sofa, smiling proudly.

Ariel was staring at herself in her half-broken standing mirror, her green towel wrapped around her body. She raised her hand to her head and gently touched her bandaged hair, wincing as she felt pain from the contact.

She sighed and brought down her hand, she had brought out her change of clothes and placed them on her shabby single bed that looked like it had seen better days.

She was walking into her tiny bathroom when her door was flung open by no one else other than her stepmother.

"You little bitch!" Caroline said maliciously, as she angrily walked toward Ariel.

SLAP!

"Ahh!" Areil palmed her cheeks, her head starting to ache from the impact of the slap.

"Look! Look here, you bastard!" Caroline held Ariel roughly behind her neck and forced her to look into her phone.

"Ah! Please, it hurts, let me go!" Ariel cried out painfully.

Her vision had turned blurry from her banging headache; she couldn't even make out the pictures on Caroline's phone; she could only manage to see the bold caption.

"An Unknown Lady With Her Boyfriend Tries to Kill Our Most Eligible Bachelor/Billionaire!!!"

"You're lucky no one could identify you, if not, it'd have been more than a slap you'll be getting from me, foolish girl," Caroline pushed Ariel down to the floor, eyeing her maliciously before walking away.

"Oh, and, be down there and make us lunch in five minutes," Caroline said before banging the door loudly as she left the room.

Ariel sat on the floor, crying, she sobbed as she thought about her mother. She wished her mother had never died, and she wished they had never gone for that evening ride, but she knew this wasn't a fairytale where wishes came through; she knew this was her harsh reality; she could only be there for herself.

She stood up and wiped her tears; she just needed to work harder and complete the course she had secretly bought online. Since her father refused to send her to college after she finished high school, she started working to support herself, and when she got enough money, she purchased a course online; now, she just had to look for a way to get money and purchase the last part. It was the most important part that would fetch her the certificate she'd been vying for.

She slowly entered the bathroom and had a quick shower, then dressed herself in her loose-fitted shirt and pants.

She sighed heavily before she started walking downstairs.

She was quietly moving to the kitchen when she heard Stella's tipsy voice whispering something to Caroline.

"Wait a minute, I think this girl looks familiar... Don't you think she looks like-"