Chapter 19: Stay With Me

As Elle opened her eyes. She there saw a man standing beside her hospital bed talking on the phone.

She carefully studied the man before her, trying to figure out his identity.

'He seems to be two or three years older than me, and tall at least six-foot-three, and built like an action figure: broad, muscular shoulders, with fair skin, black, curly hair and eyes so brown they're almost black.'

It was those eyes that captured her attention more than anything. 'He has the same eyes as my father; that kind of eyes that are full of warmth and gentleness.

"Stop it. Why did I suddenly remember my father?" she uttered to herself.

His voice was naturally deep, and when he spoke, each word seemed to rumble with spoken confidence. She guessed that he was no ordinary man.

Erick turned around as he felt like someone staring at him intently, he looked toward Elle's direction and he caught her looking at him, skimming him from head to toe.

They made eye to eye contact and it seemed that no one was willing to look away. Erick's red lips immediately curled up and he laughed gently.

"Are we having a staring contest here?" he asked her.

Elle just looked away pretending not to hear it.

Erick told the person on the phone that he will call him back later, then he focused his attention on the woman on the hospital bed.

"Oh, I'm glad you're awake. How are you feeling right now? You have been sleeping for almost 24 hours. Do you have a recollection of what happened to you?"

Erick said with a gentle smile plastered on his handsome face.

Elle clenched her jaw and she kept on ignoring the man in front of her. She was really annoyed right now.

She doesn't want to talk to people especially if they are asking her questions about herself, she was reminded of talkative Charles.

'Oh, Charles!! he isn't aware of where I am right now. I was not able to contact him after that failed mission.' she thought to herself.

"Black Shadow!" she mumbled to herself, she was enraged and angered as she remembered what happened.

She was so confident which made her become so careless. Those people were playing fire with the devil herself.

They hired Black Shadow, another skillful assassin, to have their revenge and to eliminate her."Funny! They think that they can easily kill me."

Erick noticed that the girl in front of him was occupied with something and she was in her deep thoughts. He got no response from her since he talked to her.

He coughed several times to get her attention back to him and he succeeded.

Elle looked at him and she was about to get up from bed but the pain stopped her from doing so.

"Careful." Erick held her quickly. He adjusted her hospital bed and helped her sit up.

"Don't worry. I am not here to hurt you. I am the one who brought you here to the hospital. I am Erick Lee, a detective." Erick introduced himself to her.

Elle was startled when she heard that the man who saved her was actually a detective.

'What a fateful encounter it is. The Detective saved the Assassin.' She must be careful with him so that he will not find out about her real identity.

Erick was being patient with her. He was trying to do his best so that the woman would feel secure with him and for her to be able to open up with him also.

Elle sighed deeply and finally talked to him.

"I can't remember anything!" she said to him with the thought in mind 'I should act for now and pretend that I don't know anything to avoid his interrogation.'

Elle's emotion changed immediately from being cold to being helpless.

Erick was stunned and stared at her for a while. "What do you mean?" he asked her.

"I can't remember anything that happened last night and even my name."

Elle replied as fear suddenly filled her dark eyes.

"What happened to me? Why is it I can't remember anything?" Elle took a deep breath and asked him. She looked at him as her eyes went teary. Erick looked confused.

"Calm down first, the doctor said you still need to rest for now. I'll get your food first, you have not eaten anything yet. I will inform the doctor about your situation so that he can explain it clearly. Don't worry okay?." Erick assured her.

Elle just nodded. Erick went out to get her food as well as to have a  talk with Dr. Gomez. Dr. Gomez went with them when they transferred Elle to the new hospital.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dr. Gomez and Bryan were talking in the lobby when Erick joined them.

"Chief what happened? You look so serious." Bryan asked Erick immediately as he noticed him looking so bothered.

"She is awake". He simply replied.

"That's great. How is she? Have you talked to her? What did she tell you? how about Skull Gang, did she mention it?." Dr. Gomez bombarded him with so many questions.

Erick nodded and shook his head then said: "She said she can't remember anything!"

Dr. Gomez and Bryan were dumbfounded. They were anticipating more for his answer but felt disappointed when they heard him say that.

"No worries. It was just natural. It could be amnesia. She might have a very traumatic experience that caused her to have amnesia. It might be her coping mechanism against that traumatic experience. We will do a CT scan to ensure that nothing bad happened with her brain."

Dr. Gomez explained to them. Erick and Bryan nodded in agreement.

"What's your plan now Chief?" Bryan asked him

"Let's make this case confidential for now, it's for her safety too. I also informed officer Kim about it on the phone a while ago."

"Don't mention this to team Alpha, we have so many things to do right now."

"Don't want them to be involved with this and just focus on our current case with Catseye. I will personally work with this case." Erick replied to him.

"The Skull Gang will surely hunt her down. She must possess some important pieces of information against them that's why they wanted her to be dead. Too bad she can't remember anything". Dr. Gomez shared his thoughts.

"I will not let them touch her. I will protect her. I saved her and she is my responsibility now." Erick stated with determination

"She might recover her memories if she is exposed to a new and pleasant environment. I guess Erick can provide her that if she stays with you while she is recuperating and until she recovers her memory back" Dr. Gomez said to them with a meaningful smile.

As if Bryan understood Dr. Gomez's intention when he said: "That's a good idea doctor, that way Erick can monitor her and protect her well if she stays by his side!"

"Yeah, I am also planning to do that." Erick also said in agreement with their ideas.

'I will be able to guarantee her safety if she stays with me.' He thought to himself.