Grace's POV

When I woke up the next morning, Luca was there.

Which was surprising for me. Mainly because I hadn't expected to see him, or find him sitting on the chair beside my hospital bed, looking engrossed in his phone as he scrolled on it.

I hadn't expected to see him at all. Even though he had promised, I just thought that he didn't really mean it.

However, I came over the surprise just as quick and sat up, blinking and slowly rubbing my eyes. He looked up from his phone and regarded me with raised brows.

"You're here." Were the only words that came out of my mouth.

Maybe it was just my morning self or maybe he really did look much more exhausted than yesterday night. Had he just come back?

"I promised." He stated shortly before leaning back against the chair.

I eyed him for the next few seconds and he didn't seem to mind that. Even though he wasn't looking at his phone anymore, he still looked distracted.

"When did you come here?" I broke the silence.

He placed his head back against the chair and closed his eyes, few of his curls falling over his forehead. "Hours ago."

I looked over at the wall clock and realized how it was just 7 in the morning right now.

"How was the...party?" I pulled up the sheets against me, wrapping my arms around myself. I didn't want to stop talking to him. It felt nice talking to him.

He opened one eye and regarded me with a somewhat odd look. "Amazing."

That didn't settle well with me. Had he really gone to a party? Was there any chance that he was lying to me?

"Did Ryder ask you to threaten someone?" Sudden words blurted out of my mouth. I had no idea why it was those exact words that came out. Maybe it was what I had seen him doing at the Bridgeview Street, that made me say that.

After all, I knew nothing about what he really did for this Ryder guy. I never got to ask him. He never told me either.

A small smile tugged on his lips. This time, however, he didn't open any of his eyes. "It's amusing, the kind of questions you ask just after waking up." He said.

I frowned and urged myself to look away from his face. He was still in his leather jacket. I could see dirt smeared across some of its edges.

What had he been doing at that party?

"Does Marleen know that you work for him?"

"She doesn't need to know about everything?" He arched up one eyebrow, still not opening his eyes. Which was starting to annoy me for some reason. This whole Ryder thing was starting to annoy me.

"She's worried for you." I whispered, looking away. "You should tell her."

For some reason, I expected him to snap at me—something that was certainly predicted from him these days.

"I can't." Was all he said. And I failed to hear any sort of emotion in his voice, as if it was just that; nothing.

When the silence stretched even more and I still made no move to say anything, he exhaled heavily and straightened up, before opening his eyes and training them directly on me.

"I really can't, okay?" He stated the words slowly and carefully, making sure to give a slight pause after every word. As if he somehow wanted to imprint those words deep in my head.

"Why can't you?"

"She's only going to worry. You know that." He narrowed his gaze at me as if he couldn't believe I was even asking him that.

"Why do you work for him then?" I asked him. "Do you like working for him?"

The look of disbelief didn't leave his face. "I can't not work for him. I owe him a lot."

He must've known what was coming next.

"Why do you owe him?"

"You ask a lot of questions, don't you think?" He asked before leaning closer and placing his head, face down against the side of my bed. Now, I couldn't even see his face.

"And you dodge them off mostly." I rolled my eyes. "What do you even do for him? Sell drugs?"

He just let out a sound that sounded like a muffled groan.

"Or," I continued since he clearly wasn't speaking now. "He asks you to physically harm random people and you do that."

Luca buried his head deeper into the bed, messing up his hair even further.

"What do you do with the dead bodies?" I asked him, trying to get him to speak. I didn't want him to just ignore all my questions.

He let out another groan. This time however, I was a little surprised as to how...painful it sounded.

"Is that why you had a gun? Do you just shoot them?" I asked, training my eyes over his head.

When he made no move to say anything, I reached out and gently touched his hair with the tips of my fingers. He didn't jerk back from the touch, something I was expecting him to do.

"I never thought of you as the...violent type." I whispered, loving the feel of his hair against my fingers. "You've really changed a lot."

He still didn't say anything which slowly increased the uneasiness in my stomach. I told him everything. Every single thing. Why was he refraining from telling me then?

Maybe he really didn't trust me. After those two years–

When my fingers accidentally touched the starting of his neck, he jerked forward and ended up hissing in pain.

I frowned then. Because something was clearly wrong.

But before I could've figured it out, the door burst open and I immediately pulled back my hand. I looked up and saw Alice and a very jumpy Frost in her hands.

"Woah, wait up!" Soon enough Frost had slid out of her hands before jumping up on my bed and on me.

"Frost." I crossed my legs and took him in my arms as he barked happily. Now that he was in my hands, I realized how much I had actually missed him. The way he was nudging my arm with his small black nose, it told me that the feeling was mutual.

"He was sulking his ass off." Alice spoke up before coming over towards the bed. She was wearing a bright yellow T-shirt with equally vibrant sneakers. I think I loved her choice of colors.

Way better than just white.

Slowly, her eyes lowered over towards Luca who still had his face down on the bed.

Alice's eyes widened a little before looking over at me questioningly. I just gave her a small shrug, hoping she wouldn't state the obvious.

Thankfully, she just stuck with raising her brows before pacing in front of the bed. "All right. Mrs Jackson told me that you're going to be discharged today. Afternoon probably. So I was thinking that we should definitely go to the mall."

I stuck with ruffling Frost's white fur as he rolled over on his back and yapped at me excitedly.

"You know, there's this soccer match coming up and as per the gossip around the hallways, I think it is the match against the rival schools or something. So there's definitely going to be an after match party. And guess what?" She stopped her rant and her pacing, and looked at me expectantly.

I raised my brows at her. "What?"

"I need to look good at that party!" She gushed excitedly. "Noah's gonna be there. And you don't know who he is so I'm gonna tell you anyway."

I nodded slowly. This wasn't surprising for me. Alice had been doing this whole bursting inside the room and ranting excitedly thing since these past few days. Since I woke up in this hospital.

I actually looked forward to it.

"He's from the rival school's soccer team. And he's hot, Gracie! Like hot hot. I'm so going to make a move on him." She continued. I cautiously looked over at Luca when he let out a small mocking snort, probably directed at Alice.

"Are you even allowed to bring your pets in here?" I asked her. "I think Marleen said something about...how the staff won't appreciate it."

Alice's eyes widened at that. "Really?"

I nodded, pulling Frost against me. Now that he was here, I didn't want him to go.

"Oh, don't worry. But I think I should talk to Mrs Jackson, though." She murmured with a frown. "I don't want them to kick me out. I mean, you're getting out of here soon but still."

I nodded with a small smile.

She held up one finger towards me, her eyes once again roaming towards the top of Luca's head, right beside me. "Is he...you know, okay?" She asked in a small whisper, although I'm sure Luca heard it since he let out another small huff at that.

I shrugged again. She responded with a shrug of her own before moving towards the door. "I'll be back in a few. And then we've got loads of discussing."

I'm sure what our discussion would be about. From shopping at the mall to how hot that Noah guy looked.

"She awfully talks a lot." Luca said the moment Alice left. "And you're still friends with her?"

"She's nice." I replied. I wished, though, that he'd get up and let me see his face.

As if hearing my silent wish, Frost struggled out of my grasp and stopped halfway on my lap, reaching out and sniffing Luca's hair.

"And she's friendly." I added. "Although she could get a bit weird within seconds."

When Frost was done with the sniffing, he started nudging the side of Luca's head with his nose, barking loudly in his ear.

"Your dog isn't helping my fucking headache, Rose." He muttered.

I frowned at the back of his head and pulled Frost away from him. But stopping Frost was nearly impossible. That's why he jumped over towards Luca once again and started barking. Again. Nudging him all the while.

Luca grunted before finally sitting up. His eyelids were hooded with exhaustion as he glared at Frost.

Frost, however, barked happily and pounced on him, in his arms. Luca, thankfully, didn't let go of him as he leaned back against the chair. His forehead scrunched up in process, a small grimace escaping his lips. Which would've gone unnoticed if I hadn't been looking at him.

I straightened up and faced him, crossing my legs so that we were almost face to face. Just a little space and Frost between us. "What's wrong?"

He looked up at me and the frown left his face. "What?"

I looked back over at the mud stained patches on his jacket. They were dried up. I leaned closer and lightly pressed his shoulder. To my expectations, he flinched back and glared at me. "What's wrong with you?"

I pulled back and eyed him with a narrowed look. "Are you hurt?"

"Even if I am, that's none of–"

"Seriously?" I gave him a really bad look at that, which effectively made him shut up before he could've completed that sentence. "Either you tell me what really happened at that party of yours, or I tell Marleen."

"Go ahead." He leaned back, unbothered.

I was highly annoyed by then. But knowing both of us, I knew that this would turn into another one of our arguments. So I inhaled deeply and looked away.

"You went to that party. And you got hurt." I stated slowly, trying to regain my patience. "What's going on?"

He just stayed silent.

"Why can't you tell me?" I asked him, growing impatient as more silent seconds passed by. Eventually, I stated the obvious, "You don't trust me."

This time, the silence that followed was more tense. Even Frost remained quiet.

A small shiver ran down my spine as I backed away a little. I really didn't want to but I still found myself asking the question that had been nagging far behind in my head all this time. The only question that I had been willing myself not to think about,

"Do you regret kissing me?"

His eyes widened in what I suppose was surprise. He didn't say anything for few more seconds, hesitating. And when he finally opened his mouth to say something, the door opened once again as Alice came inside. With Marleen.

When I looked back at Luca, something twisted inside me when I noticed the sudden relief on his face. The relief that he wasn't even trying to hide.

As if he really hadn't meant to answer me.

•••••

"This," Alice spoke up before flopping down on my couch. "Was tiring."

I looked over at the shopping bags thrown around her feet, all of them belonging to her. I raised my brows and sat down on one of the two armchairs in the lounge.

"You're feeling all fine, right?" She passed me a concerning look before draping her head over the armrest.

"I guess so." I murmured, looking around the small glass table in front of me.

I hadn't known that Alice was being completely serious when she said that she'd take me to the mall today. The moment I got discharged from the hospital.

Marleen had been a bit concerned, telling me to stay in my house since I just got out of the hospital. But I had waved her off, mainly because I really had grown sick of resting all this time.

Since it was the weekend, the mall had been extra crowded. And the whole trip proved out to be a bit tiring.

Now we were here, in my house.

"So...things are getting better between you and Lucius?" She asked, still looking up at the ceiling.

I sighed and leaned back against the chair, watching Frost come out of the kitchen as he dragged a chew-toy in his mouth. "What do you mean?"

She sat up then, eyeing me. "You both were talking. Like normal friends."

It wasn't normal. It wasn't like how it was before.

"I don't know." I dodged her gaze, looking at nothing in particular. I leaned forward and narrowed my gaze at a thin black box under the table. I hadn't noticed it until now. Maybe that was just because I didn't spend much time in my lounge.

Alice seemed lost in her thoughts. "He cares for you, you know."

Instead of pondering on those words, I leaned closer and pulled out the black box.

"All that time, he stayed in that hospital. With you." I could feel her gaze on me. But for some reason, I was finding it hard to look back at her. "I think you both just need–"

"We kissed, Alice." I blurted out then almost immediately, cringed at those same words.

Alice's expression was neutral for few seconds, before her eyes widened in clear surprise.

I mentally cursed myself and looked back at the box. It was just a normal cardboard box, but empty.

"You both kissed. When?" Her voice rose a bit but I could see the way she was trying her best not to jump up from the couch and come towards me. "I mean, in the hospital or–"

I was shaking my head way before she could've finished her sentence. "Um, it wasn't anything much anyway–"

"You kissed days ago and you're telling this to me now?" Her voice rose a little bit more and I cringed again. "Wow. Some friend you are, Grace."

I just gave her a miserable look of disbelief.

She responded with a grin. "Well, why aren't you two a thing then? Am I missing something else or..." She trailed off, wriggling her brows.

I looked away from her and noticed a shiny thing below the table, just where I had taken out the box from. "It was nothing, Alice."

She made a sound of disapproval as I pulled it out and realized what it was. A silver laptop.

Dad's laptop.

Alice didn't seem to notice my surprise as she continued talking, "Did you kiss him or did he kiss you first? Because if he kissed you first, you know what that means, Grace!"

I swallowed heavily and opened it up, switching it on. For some reason, I wasn't expecting it to open. But it did, it's screen lighting up into a bright blue.

"It's okay, you know. Don't over think too much. Hey, are you okay?" Alice spoke up, coming towards me.

I looked up at her from the laptop screen and nodded almost unconsciously.

"You look a little pale." She murmured before coming beside me, leaning against the arm chair as she peeked at the laptop screen. "That's you! Are those your parents? And your brother?"

My throat constricted almost painfully as my eyes trailed over the desktop picture. It was one of our happy pictures. We were all there. Mom, Dad, Jack and I.

And we looked so happy.

"Is your family living back there in Manhattan?" She asked curiously. "You didn't tell me you had a brother."

After few silent seconds, I forced myself to look away from the picture and cleared my throat lightly. "Y-Yeah. They're there. And um, I have a little brother."

If only I could've brought him back with me.

He was still there. Still in that horrible place.

Almost instinctively, my eyes roamed across the screen until it landed on one of the folders. I clicked it open and realized that it had various entries for every one of Dad's research trips.

Of course!

Dad always kept his travel entries updated on his laptop. Every single detail of his research trips. That's why he never let me or Jack near this laptop.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Alice humming along as she went back to the couch, getting busy with her phone now.

And then I remembered back to Burner's words,

Your father went off to one of his mutational missions.

I blinked and looked back at the screen.

To find the most precious thing science has to offer.

Dad had left his laptop here. He never left his laptop whenever he was away from the house. Why was this even here? Under that table?

Your father found it. But he refused to give it to me.

My eyes widened a little as realization hit me. There was something Burner needed more than anything, something Dad hadn't given him.

And this laptop was the only way I could find out about it.

_______________________________________________________________________