Two

"You want me to take you with me?" he asks after buckling me up in his passenger's seat.

Every part of my body is still roaring with pain from the hard impact after hitting the floor. The bang on my head seems to be increasing with each passing second, but I manage to bob it up and down in a nod.

"I don't even know you. How do you want me to take you with me when we don't know each other?"

I sigh inwardly. He is asking too many questions, none of which I have the strength nor the will to answer. All I want to do is turn my face to look out the window, then rest my head until some of the pain slips away. But then I remember that Matt is still out there screaming my name and searching for me like his life depends on it.

Scrunching my face to look even more pitiable than I already am, "Please… I am begging you… Just take me to where you are going."

He mutters a curse under his breath before starting his car engine, "Look, the least I can do for you is to take you to the closest hospital I can find. You look hurt. Getting medical attention is the best thing for you right now."

A peek from the side mirror reveals total blackness, but I can still hear the rustling of some leaves, as if someone is getting closer to us.

'It's the wind. It's definitely the wind.' I try to convince myself, hoping that it's not Matt and his desperate attempt to get his cheating claws on me.

When he starts driving off, I try to let out a sigh in relief, which hangs on my throat when I hear Matt's voice scream out my name again.

The man turns to face me, "What was that?"

I slightly raise my shoulder in a shrug, "I didn't hear anything."

"Bella!" Matt's voice thunders once more, sounding like it is almost near the car.

"Did you hear that now?" he asks.

I haven't fully made out his face, but I can see that his eyes are widened, either out of shock or fear.

"Seems like someone needs help or something."

He tries to turn off the car engine. On realizing this, I grab his hand, "Please don't. You can't go out there. What if it's a monster or something dangerous?"

The next thing I hear is a roar of laughter coming from him. The deep sound washes over me like a breath of fresh air. There is something about his voice that makes me calm.

"What are you? Sixteen?" he chuckles.

"Let's just go, please." I plead to him with everything in me.

He gives me one long last look before stepping on the acceleration pad and zooming off. The orange street lights lining up the driveway that leads out of the resort shine through the car, illuminating the car.

For the very first time, I made out what the stranger's face looks like. His chestnut brown hair ruffles in the wind, some of it brushing his forehead and the rest framing his breathtaking face.

Stunned, I stare back at him. Too drawn by the gorgeousness to look away. The sharp angular lines of his cheekbones, a straight blade of a nose and a firmly plump mouth. The intensity of his stormy gray eyes blows my mind away.

He must have felt my stare because he turns to look straight into my eyes, making me forget to breathe.

"Do you live in this town?" he queries.

His question kicks me off my la la land and back to reality. I swallow hard, my gaze dropping to my fidgeting hands. How do I tell this stranger that I had just gotten married not up to twelve hours ago? How do I explain that I am supposed to be in my husband's arms, making love to him?

But here I am, escaping from that same man. That monster who chose to shatter my heart into pieces on the happiest night of my life.

I flip my head to a no. When I look up to observe his reaction, I see that he is already flipping through the radio, probably trying to find a music channel that will drown away the boredom.

We have left the resort, speeding towards the road that leads to the city. Sighing softly, I relax further and allow my gaze to blend into the night view.

I still can't believe what I witnessed back at the resort. How did it happen? My husband, my best friend and my sister? Whose idea was it to do such a thing to me? Was it all planned out? Or did it happen as an accident?

My breathing starts coming in short rasps just thinking about it.

The fact that Matt just made a vow to me a few hours ago then turned around to do the exact opposite of his vows tightens my chest in a way too painful to endure.

"Ohh, good. I think I see a hospital down the road. Let's go there and check you in."

His voice pulls me out of my thoughts. I didn't realize that I was crying until one tear drops on my arm. I quickly clean it up, drying up my face as well. The last thing I need is the stranger questioning my emotions.

"You don't need to stop. I'm fine, alright." I mutter.

His eyes leave the road to shoot me a quick glance.

"You sure you know what you're saying? I hit you with my car. You summersaulted in the air before landing hard on the ground. I'm quite sure there are a lot of broken bones in your soft body."

He shoots me another careful look, but unlike the previous one, his eyes stay on my body this time around.

I find my body shuddering in self awareness when I see his brows knit in a frown.

"Is that a wedding gown you are putting on?"

I gasp. My hands quickly wrap around my body as if to cover it up. In response to my awkward reaction, one of his knitted brows arches up questioningly at me.

"I'm… errmmm," I start, even though I don't know how to explain the crazy turn of events in my life.

"Who are you?" he blurts out.

The car starts slowing down.

"Are you a ghost?" he continues, shifting further away from me.

"Of course not! I'm real! You carried me, remember?"

"Then tell me who you are. Why were you running along that lonely road? Why did you jump right in front of my car? Why are you refusing to go to the hospital?"

He is still asking too many questions. Why can't he just shut up and drive until we get to his destination?

"Today was my wedding." I blurt out amidst tears.

"Then why are you… Wait, what's your name again?"

Yet another question. Is he a lawyer or something?

I swallow hard and tell him, "You never asked for my name before."

"Then tell me your name."

Telling him my name, especially my full name, would mean risking him helping me. Even if he doesn't know me personally, if he lives in this city, then he would definitely recognize who I am.

"I just want to… I just want to rest, okay? Enough of the too many questions."

His eyes narrow suspiciously, "You refused to go to the hospital, now you won't even tell me your name?"

He speeds up the car. Instead of heading to the hospital like he was initially planning, he switches intersections.

"Wh–where are we going?"

My frightened gaze goes to his hand holding the steering wheel. The way the veins in his hands are popping out has me distracted and salivating. For a split second, I imagined that hand wrapping around my throat and almost choking me until I tell him everything he wants to know.

"Unlike you who is refusing to say anything, I'm gonna tell you straight up. We are going to the cops. I'm damn sure they can get everything out of you."

Realizing that he is about to make everything worse, my gaze widens at the thought of the cops calling my father to report to him about me being in the police station, instead of with Matt. What am I going to say to him?

"Be–Bella. M–my name is Bella Vanderblib."

"You're the…" he swallows his remaining words, squinting his eyes as he focuses on the road. He switches lanes yet again.

"Where are we going now?"

"Home."

I jolt up from my relaxed position on the seat, a thundering pain stretching down below my back which I ignored, "What!? Please don't take me back home. I don't want to go there. Just drop me right here. I can find my way from—"

"You said you wanted to come home with me, right?"

I nod at him.

"Then my home is where we are going. Mi casa es su casa."

The rest of the journey continues in tense silence. I can't help but start wondering what changed his mind. Why did he go from refusing to consider me to offering to help me?