Stuck in you

Hearing the tone of Lea's voice, Rachel sighed. Deep inside, she understood her feeling of surprise of anger. "Really, it was nothing serious. I was about to tell you, but then Jack suddenly showed up," Rachel said, trying to assure her,

Lea clutched her phone tightly as she recalled the moment Rachel mentioned feeling sick and wanting to leave the bar. She heaved a heavy sigh and felt her anger gear towards herself. 'How could I be so careless and did not notice that anything was wrong with her?'

She had thought Rachel wanted to go home because she was not comfortable with the environment there in the bar. As a matter of fact, when she was gone to the dance floor, Rachel was even abducted.

Thinking about all these just fueled Lea's rage and fear. If Eric hadn't gone back to grab something to eat, then they would not have realized that Rachel was already gone from their spot.

In the meantime, she felt even more remorseful. She knew that if something bad did happen to Rachel that night, she would regret it for the rest of her life, and she would be always in debt of what should not have happened. Then again, she was grateful that the worse did not come.

"I am really, really sorry, Rachel. I'm sorry that even though I knew you wouldn’t like it, I still took you to a bar. Fortunately, nothing happened to you. Otherwise, I honestly don't know what to do," Lea said softly, pulling her hair ruefully with worry.

Rachel sighed, "Please, stop blaming yourself. It was not your fault. You absolutely have nothing to do with it." As she said those words, Rachel grabbed a pillow with her free hand and hugged it tight in her arms. "Besides, it was nothing serious. I immediately came out when Jack got there, but, you know, the air was not entirely fresh."

Rachel found telling Lea about the fear and panic she had felt completely unnecessary and would only make Lea worry even more. Worse, blame herself even more because of it.

Lea inhaled a hard breath and said in a voice full of remorse, "Rachel, I promise. We won't go to that kind of place ever again."

Rachel could not help but smile, and before she could reply, Lea spoke again. "Did you hear me? That's a promise, and it applies not to just the both of us going there together but I alone as well."

Rachel felt bad and at the same time warmth in her heart. She knew that Lea fancied the lively atmosphere of bars very much, so giving up those trips there would be quite a big deal. On the other hand, Rachel still felt touched with the gesture, because her friend was willing to sacrifice that for her. Moreover, she believed in Lea's words. After all, Lea was that kind of person who would never go back on her words.

As Rachel reflected on her life, after all these years, the biggest blessing that she received so far was having a friend like Lea. With this thought in mind, she could not hold back the smile on her face.

Feeling tired and a little bit better, Rachel decided to lie on her back, and with a smile, she replied, "Lea, I appreciate the gesture, I really do, but swearing on that is completely unnecessary, especially the part when you too will give up going to bars. Again, this matter has absolutely nothing to do with you."

At the other end of the line, Rachel could hear Lea's deep sigh and waited for her to reply. When silence enveloped them for a short while, Rachel continued, "When you go to bars in the future, please don't forget to be careful amidst all the fun. Do you hear me?"

Lea let out a smile and said, "Yes, Mom." Her sarcastic remark made both of them giggle. As their giggles faded down, Lea turned serious for a moment and asked, "Kidding aside, how did this matter have anything to do with Jack? I mean, as far as I know, you two haven't contacted each other, have you?"

Hearing Jack's name made the humor on Rachel's face fade away. She did not know how all these strange things started. She guessed that they had started from the day that Jack brought Celine to her hospital.

"Well, we haven't, but I promise I will tell you all about it later."

want to talk more about this matter. Without inquiring more about what happened between her and Jack, she opened her mouth to change the topic, but Rachel suddenly spoke, taking Lea aback for a moment. "I heard Lucas will

as if she did not want to be approached by

hangouts. Although they were quite different in many aspects—appearance, characteristics, and hobbies—they were best friends, sharing everything from

high school, and before Rachel could even learn to experience the feeling

had a

long time, and at first, Lea did not think

Rachel rested on Lea's shoulder and

day, Rachel had been registered for marriage with Jack, and because Rachel did not

up the day after she got legally married, Rachel woke up without another word about what had happened that night, and so, Lea, not wanting to pry on her friend's feelings, pretended that nothing worth talking about happened as well. In fact, Rachel acted as if nothing changed in her life and went to work in the same hospital

the back on her mind. If Rachel and Lucas did have some sort of relationship even more than that of friends, then their relationship should

speak about Lucas, Lea felt that Rachel still thought about him every now and then if not often. Still, she could not guess what Rachel was thinking about at that very moment, so she decided to take the seriousness out and said playfully, "You know, Lucas has been single for so many years

let out another fit of giggles before

as she hung up the phone, Rachel placed the phone on the coffee table and lied down on her side on the sofa. Her mind wandered off, and Lucas' face flashed on her mind. She wondered

the one she was the most fond of, and it was true that he was also close to being suitable if not ideal lover to her. However, she was not certain for sure whether he had feelings for

was also true that Lucas had always treated her nicely, but Rachel knew that the kindness he portrayed her was not because he had a thing for her. She didn't dare to ask or say something about it for

would be destroyed if she told him her feelings for him. With that, she decided to speak none of it, stay

came up the next morning, Rachel woke up and realized that she had fallen asleep on the sofa. Then, she sneezed and felt her nose a little stuffy. Not wanting to get even sicker, she stood and freshened up before preparing herself a bowl of hot ginger soup. Then, she walked around her home to stretch and work out her body for ten minutes, feeling the heat all over her body. As soon as her fingertips begin to warm up, she checked the time and realized she barely have time to take a bath, so she decided to just change

She stopped what she was doing and took her phone out. As she looked at the familiar number, she stared

than normal. As soon as the phone stopped ringing, Rachel realized she was holding her breath and could now sigh in relief. She placed the phone back inside her bag and continued

she grabbed her bag to zip it close, but before she could, her phone started to ring again. She paused for a moment and thought that it was someone else, so she took it out. However, it was the

of the flight of stairs, the ringing stopped. Rachel stopped as well and stood there, confused

and should not really be treated as a big deal. Moreover, Rachel wanted to have a

turn her phone to silent mode, but before she could, she felt a presence in front of her. Rachel raised her head from her phone and immediately made eye contact with dark eyes, staring at her. The man stood tall with strong, lean, and broad shoulders that was very familiar to her. She

her and moved his gaze towards her hand. Then, he slowly put down the hand that was holding the phone. Realizing what just happened, Rachel felt embarrassment flow

on Rachel's face, he heaved a deep sigh and

blinked twice and placed her phone back in her bag unnaturally. "What are

back with another question, "Why didn't

mouth to say something, but she was caught tongue tied and could not find the words to answer Jack's

was not obliged to answer that. She crossed her arms on

did not buy any of it. "You do realize that I called you three times, but you did not answer any of them, so