Sliver Of Hope

Inside the waiting room of the detention center.

As Lana left the room and door closed, Liam unconsciously turned his head towards the door with a slight apologetic look on his handsome face. As he sighed and faced Gale with his bitter looks again, she spoke even before he could.

"I like her," Gale commented, signalling towards Lana with her head. "You like her too, right?" Gale asked Liam with a half smile.

"Is that what you really want to ask?" Liam replied with his stern face and squinted his eyes.

"You're still as stoic as you were before." Gale lamented. She did not like this cold personality of Liam from the start. He always kept a mysterious aura around him and was someone who was hard to read. She had a hard time deciphering his actual temper most of the time and thought maybe that was why he chose Gilbert, who was too transparent and open about his feelings with her.

She always felt that Liam walked around with a wall around himself, an unbreakable tough to understand and impossible to crack wall.

"Why are you helping me out Liam?" Gale asked, almost in a whisper.

Liam gave her a smug look and said, "I just love people being indebted to me, especially those who had left a significant mark in my life. Do me a favor and don't make me pity you more than I can. Hang in there and fight for your innocence..."

Liam got up from his chair and was about to leave. He turned around and walked towards the door.

"Wait," he heard Gale call out to him in her stammering voice, Liam stopped in his tracks and waited for her to speak further without even turning around to see her face.

"Liam, thank you. I'm really grateful to you, I knew about your System law firm but didn't have the courage to contact you or ask you for help. I know you trust me for not being the culprit, but I have one more request to make to you. Please, I beg you, help me find the real culprit of Gilbert's death." Gale helplessly asked with a stuttering voice. 

She wished that Liam would help her and she did not know if it was too much to ask, but still Like Liam said, he was her only hope. She could still recall that devastating moment of her life when she woke up on that fateful morning and saw Gilbert soaked in blood. Her regret since that day was to not be able to get the culprit behind the bars. 

Her first few days were spent in utter shock and she was almost numb to anything that was said or asked of her. Later, when she started coming out of that initial shocked state, she wished to come out from the prison soon and search for the real culprit. Her hopes had started fading when suddenly Liam showed in front of her and gave her a sliver of hope...

Liam frowned, hearing her and understanding her underlying meaning, gritted his teeth. Without turning around to look back at Gale he scorned, "Get out of this mess Gale and find the real culprit yourself." 

Then he left the waiting room instantly. The air inside was suffocating him, looking at the helpless woman who was once a very bubbly and happy-go-lucky girl, whom he put on a very high pedestal at one point of his life. 

...

Lana was waiting for Liam in the car, wondering, after all that she saw in between Gale and Liam, if they both were romantically connected in the past. If that was the case, then Liam was straight… or... bisexual? Or could they be knowing each other because of Gilbert? Instead of Gale, Liam could be connected with Gilbert? Gale might have snatched Gilbert from Liam? But was that anyhow possible? What a mystery…. 

Lana had seen Gilbert's profile, and it was quite impressive. The man was undeniably handsome as well. He had a cheerful aura in all his photos that she saw unlike Liam who was always very stiff and serious, and she had also not heard any rumor about him and Liam ever.

She irritably wrinkled her face at the confusing thoughts she was harbouring. She wanted to ask Liam, but she knew she was not in the position to do so. However, curiosity was killing her so she decided she would probably try to ask tactfully, though that was personal? Or maybe she could find an answer from Jorge if Liam ignored her.

She was so engrossed in her thinking that she didn't even notice Liam's arrival and when he reached near the car. He saw her with that anxious expression when Liam opened the door of the passenger seat. 

"Go to the other side I'll drive," Liam instructed and Lana followed with a twitched mouth.