Chapter 16 Alicia Blocked Louis

When Alicia defended Chuck with such passion, Louis felt like a fish out of water. His face didn't show it, but his eyes hid an intense emotion that he was struggling to control.

"I need a smoke," he said coldly before turning on his heel and walking out, slamming the door harder than he intended.

Alicia didn't even notice because she was lost in the nightmare from thirteen years ago. The howling wind, the scorching fire, the unbearable pain, and the hopeless cries. Chuck's name was the key that unlocked that trauma, and just the thought of him made her feel like she was getting stabbed in the heart. It stirred up a storm of emotions that took a long time to settle.

A tear silently rolled down Alicia's cheek, landing on the blurry photo. After a while, Alicia managed to calm down and wiped her wet eyes with the back of her hand. She looked back at the photo and wondered, who was the mysterious person helping her. No one except Louis and a few others knew about her injured hand. She hadn't even told her mom, fearing it would worry her.

Apparently, Louis wasn't the culprit because he would never hurt Madelyn, the person he loved. So maybe it was Leo?

Alicia called Leo and asked, "Do you know a girl named Madelyn?"

Leo hesitated before replying, "I think I've heard that name before. Why do you ask?"

"Someone smashed her hand with a hammer last night," Alicia said.

"Oh," Leo responded. "Do you need me to help find a doctor for her?"

"No, thanks," Alicia hung up the phone.

Alicia stared at the photo again, trying to figure out who the person in the picture was. Since marrying Louis, she had become more introverted and had few friends, especially male friends. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't recognize the figure in the photo.

Meanwhile, Louis had been smoking half a pack of cigarettes outside to cool off. When he came back in, he saw Alicia sitting on the bed with a worried expression, holding the photo with a furrowed brow. He paused for a moment before sitting down beside her and gently smoothing out the wrinkles on her forehead with his finger.

Louis stared into her eyes for a long time before pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly, the embrace lasting longer than usual. Alicia caught a whiff of the heavy smoke on Louis and said softly, "Did you smoke a whole pack?"

Louis nodded.

"Quitting is tough enough, don't smoke anymore. It's bad for your health," Alicia advised.

"OK," Louis agreed. After a moment, he added, "I'm sorry for upsetting you earlier."

Alicia wanted to speak her mind, but the words wouldn't come out, so she just said, "I'm starving. Let's grub."

Louis let go of her and called in the muscle to bring some chow. After they finished munching, Louis got back to his grind.

In the evening, Lilith pulled up with a big bouquet of flowers to visit Alicia. As soon as she sat down, she started griping, "Alicia, why didn't you tell me you were hurt? If you hadn't mentioned it in passing, I wouldn't have known you were in the hospital."

Alicia flashed a smile, "You gotta study; comin' over here would've messed up your game."

"I'm about to graduate. I've got no job, and I don't need to take the postgrad exam. I'm bored as hell every day. If you'd told me earlier, I would've come to kick it with you. As long as you don't mind me being a pest," Lilith replied.

Alicia whispered, "Of course I don't mind."

Lilith peeped at her swollen and red hand in a cast and exclaimed, "Who the hell did this to you? That's too much!"

"A few days back, I had a run-in with a crew of villains. This guy, Karl, got locked up, and his sister came to get even," Alicia briefly explained the situation.

Lilith was steamed after hearing the story. They shot the breeze for a bit, and when it got dark out, Lilith checked her watch and called Louis, "I'm at the hospital chillin' with Alicia. I want some drink. You remember my go-to? Don't forget to bring one for Alicia too."

Louis spoke through the phone, "I'm at the hospital too. Just order it online and have them deliver it to you."

"You're in the hospital? I'm in Alicia's room. I ain't seen you," Lilith protested.

"I'm with Maddie. I'll be back in thirty minutes," Louis replied.

Lilith couldn't sit tight anymore. She shot up from the chair and walked to the window, saying, "Louis, you're really letting me down. Alicia's already hurting and you're making it worse. Don't you know that girls can't stand it when their man and their exes get too close?"

It didn't take long for Louis to come back with two drinks and pastries. One cup was Alicia's favorite mango tea, and the other was Lilith's favorite strawberry milkshake.

Louis stuck the straw in the drink and handed it to Alicia, "Got it from your favorite spot."

Alicia reached for it and caught a whiff of Madelyn's perfume that she often used on his suit sleeve. Her eyes swept across casually, and she noticed a cherry red mark the size of a fingernail on his shirt collar, glistening with moisture. The last time she saw Madelyn, she wore the exact same shade of lipstick. Alicia felt like her heart hurt so bad it skipped a few beats. It wasn't the first time she felt like this, but it always hurt like hell.

Alicia squeezed the cup hard and laughed at herself, "Thanks for the hook-up. You're crazy busy, and you still got us the drinks."

Louis shrugged and nonchalantly said, "I had my driver grab it for me."

Lilith snatched the drink out of his hand, shot him a disdainful look and quipped, "C'mon Louis, don't be a knucklehead, or you'll end up a lonely bachelor. Gals like Alicia are diamonds in the rough, once she's gone, good luck finding another one like her."

Louis took a quick peek at Alicia, who was sipping her drink slowly, eyes droopy, not giving away a single emotion.

He brushed off Lilith's comment and replied, "Mind your own beeswax."

Lilith was clearly irked, "I'm doing you a solid here. If you don't listen to me, you'll live to regret it, mark my words!"

Ten days later, Louis rushed back to the hospital after checking on his subsidiary company. But to his dismay, the two bodyguards who were supposed to be on duty were nowhere to be found. He pushed open the hospital room door and was met with a stranger in the bed.

Louis was taken aback and urgently asked the nurse, "Where's Alicia, the patient who was here before?"

The nurse thought for a beat and replied, "She was discharged this morning and took off earlier."

Louis' face fell, they had made plans for him to take her home from the hospital, but she just disappeared without a word. He pulled out his phone and dialed her number, only to hear a recorded message saying, "This is Alicia; please leave a message after the beep."

Louis hopped on social media and tried to message her, but it bounced back, realizing she had blocked him.