CHAPTER 18

No leads, no clues, nothing. It felt like he was running in circles. Apart from what he already had, there was nothing else which was frustrating. The footage of Cleopatra's house the night she was injured was obviously tampered with. There was no way the kid could have hurt her friend because she knew her secret. They had only just met, and they barely knew each other, but he was sure of this.

For a second, he began to think the culprit did all of it just to keep them on edge, like they wanted then to know there was someone behind it and leave clues halfway.

There was no evidence concerning Nicole's case, but every evidence pointed towards Gabriella concerning Cleopatra's case. There was a motive, the footage, plus the fact that the victim testified to being hurt by her friend. It was far too obvious, though. A planned attempted murder would have left little or no traces. Even if it wasn't planned, the culprit would still have covered a few things.

Nicole was hit on the head while Cleopatra wasn't, like she was intentionally being kept alive. The first thing an amateur murderer would do is to kill the victim, who is the first evidence to avoid being testified against.

All these thoughts were giving Damian a migraine, and he couldn't bare to stay in the office for another hour, so he decided to go home. Luckily, Astrid was home. He needed the distraction since he had been stressed out for a while now.

If only she was home the night he went drunk, maybe, the embarrassing occurrence from that night wouldn't have taken place.

"Ha!" He exclaimed with a sigh, hiding his face between his arms and his car's steering.  Each time he thought of it, his face turned bright red and he'd become all flustered. One frustrating thing was that he couldn't remember a single thing from that night. With how exhausted she was the following morning, he must have done a lot more than what she claimed. She said he kept holding her and telling her not to go, where exactly did he hold her?

This thought made his face much more red than before.

"F*ck!" He ran his hand through his hair and sighed again. "You really are an Idiot, DAE," He had to get home to Astrid as soon as possible.

★ ★ ★

"Seems like we have a lot in common. You know, I actually chose a horror movie because I wanted you to cling to me when you get scared," Aziz said with an expression that screamed guilty, this made Gabriella laugh.

"You wish. I'm a lot tougher than you think you know," Gabriella said proudly. She enjoyed the movie, and it was finally time for them to head out for dinner.

"I'm starving, let's go get dinner," She said, heading out with her date when she came in contact with Keith and Renee. She rolled her eyes, of course she'd find them there. Typical romcom plot.

Renee looked at Gabriella, and then she looked at Aziz, she was speechless while Aziz was confused, but after a bit of observation, he finally understood. Keith felt awkward while, Gabriella acted indifferent.

"Gabriella, fancy seeing you here," Renee said with a smile.

"Yeah, we were just leaving though," Gabriella said and then took Aziz hand to leave. Aziz didn't protest and just followed with a grin on his face.

They finally got away from that place, and Gabriella breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let me guess, ex?" Aziz questioned.

"Far from it,"

"Whatever he is, it's obvious you've gotten over him," Aziz stated. Gabriella hadn't noticed it until Aziz told her. He was right, Keith barely came to her mind because she had a lot going on, but did that seriously mean she had gotten over him?

Aziz suddenly grabbed her hand and smiled.

"Let's get out of here, I'm so hungry I might pass out at some point," The sad face after this statement seemed funny and made Gabriella laugh.

"Alright then, let's go."

They both had no idea how much they had eaten until they were done. Aziz looked totally normal, like he had just eaten a light meal, while Gabriella felt bloated.

"I'm so full!"

"I'm glad you are, for a second, I thought you weren't because of how much you were eaten," Aziz laughed.

"You're one to talk, how could you have eaten that much and still look like you haven't taken a bite?"

"Believe me when I say that I am more than okay," Aziz stated. This was precisely what Gabriella needed, she hadn't been out in a while, so her date with Aziz was what she needed.

"So, what do we talk about?" Gabriella asked, placing her arms on the table to support her face.

"I don't know, maybe let's talk about the person at the theater."

"Oh, him? He's no one," Gabriella dismissed, but Aziz, who was really curious, refused to just dismiss the topic.

"Oh really?"

"Okay, fine, I like him and I think he liked me too. He even asked me to dinner and I agreed. Then the school's bimbo's best friend died, he was her ex, and so she needed emotional support…"

"I'm guessing the girl who was with his is the School's bimbo,"

"You guessed right. Anyway, soon after I heard they were back together, and he obviously didn't deny it," she said, rolling her cup with one hand while the other used its fingers to pinch the tip of the straw she drank from. She decided to stop there, she would rather not tell Aziz that Keith was Damian's brother and the rest of what transpired in school.

"I don't know if I can say I understand, but I'm glad to know that you're over him,"

"Oh really?"

"Yes really, I might be six years older, but I don't know when it was never not obvious I like you," he bluntly said. Gabriella was shocked, she didn't expect him to be so straightforward.

"Can I ask a question?" She asked.

"Yeah, of course."

"How are you friends with Damian?"

"College, since freshman year. What about you?"

"Well, like I said that night, I barely know the man. In fact, we started off on the wrong foot, but I guess our relationship has gotten a lot better," Gabriella mentioned with a smile. Soon after, They finally decided to leave. Aziz offered to drive her home, and she didn't decline. She couldn't help but admit she had fun with Aziz. When they first met, it was quite different. Gabriella saw him differently then, but now, her view had finally changed.

They finally got to her house, which didn't take as much as they expected. Having dropped her, he drove off to his home.

Gabriella entered the house with a smile, not knowing the surprise she was going to meet at home.

She stepped in and was shocked beyond words but who she saw.

"Surprise! Surprise!"