ASHTON
Gone....She was gone again.
This wasn't the first time, four years ago in this very same hospital...my mom told me the same thing.
"She's gone"
"She left you"
Was it this hospital's curse? To always make me hear the same words over and over again?
Even after it all,she still chose to leave without saying a single word to me.
"I'll call you"
"I promise I won't leave you"
"Ashton...."
Liar! Was this her plan all along? To use me, make me love her again just so she can break me again!
Was I the fool again for choosing to believe her?
Every single morning I woke up with her by my side, I thought it was going to be okay.
I believed that we were going to get back together soon.....just the thought of her made me want her even more.
Damn it.
I let my guard down again.
My love for her made me so weak and vulnerable.....
"Ashton, I didn't know she'd leave...I'm sorry"James' apologies were useless.
She was already gone.
This was the truth..... the shocking truth of reality.
That woman truly didn't love me anymore.
Risking her life to save mine, pretending to give in to me herself....it was all a lie.
It hurts so much compared to the last time.....but why?
Why does she always do things like this to me? Why does she always hurt me this way?
She's never considered my feelings and always makes the damn decision.....to her, it doesn't matter if I get hurt.
In her eyes, I'm the bad guy...the villain in her story....if that's what she wants me to be,then that's what I'll become.
The bad guy.
The villain in her story.
~~~~~~~~~
"Ashton....hey, just calm down"James realized that with how angry Ashton was, he could do anything to himself.
Ashton simply fell to his knees, and tears started to fall from his eyes.
"Am I not good enough for you! Am I that bad in your eyes! Why do we always end up like this!"Ashton cried.
His anxiety and depression kicked in again.
The way he'd let his guard down the past days after forcing his way into her life again.... falling in love with her again, this heartbreak was unexpected.
He was in pain.
So much pain.
James could do nothing to help him...all he could do was just stay there with him, or else knowing Ashton, he could do anything to himself in a fit of anger.
Yes he was in love, but things had reached a point that he was just obsessed with Ariana, he couldn't leave without her...she meant so much to him.
He was willing to give up his duties at Golden Empire..... worth millions, just to spend more time with her and take good care of her. He blamed himself.
Was he too soft with her? Maybe what he needed to do was just tie her up so she couldn't leave him again.
"I swear if I find you again Ariana, I'll never, ever let you go"Ashton vowed to himself.
MEANWHILE..
"Welcome to your new place.....just feel at home Ari"Mrs. Vibbles said as she opened the door of her apartment where Ariana and Lexie were going to stay.
The apartment was more spacious than the last one, and seemed to be a bit more expensive than the one that was burnt down.
"Thank you so much Mrs. Vibbles...."Ariana softly replied.
Mrs. Vibbles showed her around the place so she could adjust, she still had to leave and attend to other matters.
Ariana was left alone, but her sad facial expression said it all. She missed Ashton, she felt so bad about leaving him again without even telling him.
She wanted to cry her eyes out for continuously hurting the man who deeply loved and cared so much about her.
She wanted to get back together with him so bad, she really wanted...but every time she thought about what happened four years ago, about his mother, she hesitated and held back her feelings for him.
Resorting to rejecting him multiple times and breaking his heart every single time. And besides, there was Claris.
The so called fianceé in the picture, who publicly announced their relationship.....if she got together with Ashton, she'd be seen as a homewrecker. Claris wouldn't go so easy on her.
"You left the hospital! Ariana are you insane?"Lexie exclaimed from the other side of the line of the phone as soon as Ariana called her.
She didn't understand what was going on in her absence. The type of decisions Ariana was making for herself.
Which were obviously not right.
"I had no other choice, I needed to leave him, or else he would never let me go"Ariana replied.
"How about at work? You'll see him at Golden Empire"Lexie said.
"I was already going to quit anyway, it was just the Sky Core project keeping me there"Ariana replied.
"Ari, did that woman say something to you again....that Claris woman?"Lexie asked....her voice hinting a bit of anger.
No one else could have possibly talked her into leaving except for her. She's the only one who'd benefit from her leaving.
"....."
Ariana didn't reply anything, but her silence said it all, and Lexie knew knew right away that it was Claris' fault.
"Lexie, just come back home soon.....I miss you"Ariana said before she hung up.
THE HOSPITAL
"Mr. Ashton as per the footage we have, she left with a woman in a certain car...and we already have all the information about the woman" one of the hospital tech staff reported to Ashton.
"Who is she?"Ashton coldly asked.
"Jane Wilder, married to Axel Vibbles.....the one who was imprisoned for trying to molest Ms. Ariana""Tobe replied.
"She was also her former supervisor in the Architecture Department before you had her transferred"Tobe added.
She is an employee at his company.
"Bring that woman to me"Ashton simply said.
At the moment he wasn't thinking at all, all he needed was to find out where Ariana was.
"Alright Mr. Ashton"Tobe replied before he left.
He wasn't going to let her off this time. There was no way he was going to take anything easy.....she made him this way, so she had to deal with him that very same way.
LATER
MRS. VIBBLES HOME
"Yes sir.....first thing in the morning, it'll be on your desk"
Mrs. Vibbles was still handling her work from home until she suddenly heard her doorbell ring, followed by continuous knocking on her door.
She rushed to open the door, only to meet with masked men who sprayed her face with chloroform and made her lose consciousness.
The men then carried her out through the back door where nobody saw them, into a black van that drove away at a high speed instantly.
~~~~~~~
Mrs. Vibbles was woken up with a cold bucket of ice to her face....not knowing where she was, but tied to a chair.
"What's going on, let me go!"she tried to scream but where she was, no one could hear her or come to her rescue.
"Mrs. Jane Vibbles, if only you hadn't involved yourself in this, you wouldn't be here"Ashton revealed himself out of the shadows.
"Mr. Ashton, is it you who kidnapped me and brought me here? What the hell do you want from me?"Mrs. Vibbles asked.
"I won't keep you for long, just tell me where you took Ariana and I'll let you go"Ashton replied.
So it was all about her.
"Mr. Ashton, Ariana doesn't want anyone to know where she is"Mrs. Vibbles said.
"So will you give up your freedom and position in my company just for her...is Mrs. Vibbles that much of a hero"Ashton sarcastically said.
If she didn't answer, he'd fire her and even keep her in that place until she talked.
"No..."
Mrs. Vibbles loved her job, she worked so hard to get there....she wouldn't give it up so easily like that.
"Fine I'll talk Mr. Ashton, I'll tell you where she is, as long as I can keep my job....and as long as you don't hurt her"Mrs. Vibbles replied.
Who was she to give him any sort of rules to follow?
"Hurry it up woman, I don't have all day"Ashton grew impatient.....he had no time to listen to whatever nonsense she was yapping.
Mrs.Vibbles eventually gave in and gave them Ariana's new current location.