Inside my head, there was a little part of me that foolishly hoped that this was all a prank. Cali was messing with me. She didn't take any money from my father. Cali and I definitely didn't break up over this and she didn't just leave. She was going to run back in soon and yell "gotcha!" before laughing in my face for getting tricked. I stood still and waited. I was completely in denial of what happened. I watched the closed door and waited for almost an hour but she never came back. It was just me, left alone in this large apartment.

"She really left... I can't believe she really left." I murmured to myself. What the hell did I just do?? Just because her bank statement matched up with the paper my father showed me, it didn't mean that she was guilty. Why didn't I say that I believed her? 

I thought back to her reaction when I asked her about the money. Cali was truly, utterly confused by my question- an evident hint that she might've really not known what was going on. Besides that, she was the one who suggested to check her account on her phone. Not only that, she was persistent on her innocence, not giving up at all. No matter what I said, what I accused her of, she only asked for one thing. For me to believe in her, but I, her own boyfriend, didn't.

The uneasiness and remorse grew the more I thought about it. It was a 50/50 chance. She either took it or she was framed. Even if it's already too late now to say that I believe in her, I was going to investigate this further to prove her innocence. I had to get to the bottom of this.

I called the one person I trusted. Someone who could do this for me. He answered right away.

"What do you need?" he asked. 

"I need you to investigate something, Mr Soo," I said. "You must do this quietly, without alerting neither one of my parents."

"I will do that as you asked," he promised. "What is it that needs to be investigated?"

I started from the beginning. I told him about how my father sued Cali then offered her money, testing to see what she would do. I told him that according to my father, Cali accepted the money. I told him how even with the confirmation of the deposit in her bank account, I still felt uneasy. I ended with telling him how Cali left. "You need to prove her innocent Mr. Soo. I must get her back."

"I am sorry to hear what happened. I will work my hardest to prove Ms. Wilson innocent so you can bring her back. She is one fine lady, I must say. You two looked perfect together," he complimented.

"Mr. Soo!" 

"I will notify you when I get something from the investigation."

"Thank you," I said gratefully.

"Ms. Wilson changed you, Christian. You didn't used to say thank you," he observed.

"Did she?"

"Yes. I better get going now," he said before he hung up.

A couple of days later...

"Christian-"

"Did you find out something from the investigation?" I asked nervously. What if he found that Cali really did take the money? I felt a stab of betrayal in my heart at the mere thought of it. Hopefully that wasn't the case. I had to believe in her. I needed to. This was the mistake I made that caused us to split up. My lack of trust in her. I didn't want to make the same mistake twice.

"Yes I did-"

I was too eager to know, interrupting him again. "Good news or bad news??"

"I think this is good news for you."

"What did you find out???" 

"During my investigation, I discovered that the money was deposited a few days before Ms. Wilson even received the letter from the law firm. This then proves what your father was incorrect. If what he said was true, the money should've been deposited the same day she received the letter, but it wasn't like that. A small mistake on your father's part. If he didn't make this mistake, this would've been the perfect setup for Ms. Wilson."

"Are you saying my father set her up?" I asked for clarification. 

"Yes I am." I almost lost Cali because my father, I almost fell for his dirty tricks. Looks like I need to make another trip to the house again. 

"And are you saying that Cali is innocent? That she was framed?" I asked to make sure.

"Yes, Ms. Wilson is innocent. Go and get her back!" 

I couldn't help but smile. "I'm going to. Thank you so much Mr. Soo. I have to go now." I ended the call and dialled Cali's number. It went straight to voicemail. I called again, only for the same results. After a few more calls, she turned off her phone. What am I going to do with her? How am I supposed to find her now?

This left me no choice but to call Mr. Soo again. 

"Why aren't you getting Ms. Wilson back?" he said right after answering the call.

"She's not answering my calls. Can you find out where she is right now?" I asked.

"Let me try and call her." With that, he hung up.

It felt like a century past until he called me back. "What took you so long?" 

"She's living at a friend's house. I'll text you the address."

"Did she answer your call?"

"Yeah, she did."

"Wow, she answered your call but not mine??" For some reason I felt a bit jealous of that.

"Are you jealous?" Mr. Soo teased over the phone.

"Pft, I don't do jealous."

"You sound pretty jealous right now Christian," he speculated.

"You need to clean your ears. I should go and find Cali," I said quickly before ending the call.

I clicked the text from Mr. Soo and inserted the address into Google Maps. It was a 15-20 minute drive from here. Who was this friend of hers? She never mentioned her friends to me before which made me want to meet this friend. I hope that this person wasn't a man. It made me angry to think about her living with a man these past few days. Just the two of them, alone. My blood felt like it was boiling. I got my keys and rushed out of the door.