Chapter 60: How Do You Feel?
Clint walked to a nearby bench and sat down.
“I’ve always looked up to you, Dad, and you’ve always been a good role model. So is Mom. In my mind, the two of you are diligent, resilient, patient, and righteous. You’re perfect. As a stepmother, Mom treated me like her own. So, I never judged your past. But I never expected to fall in love with Selene.”
“Yes, we made some mistakes in the past. We broke up with Selene’s family. But things are not as simple as you think. And I would do it all over again. Now, you and Selene- Maybe it’s God’s will. I’m sorry.”
Then Bradley took a seat on the bench in the corridor, right next to Clint.
Then Bradley noticed Clint’s red cheek and smiled. “I’m guessing Selene wasn’t happy to find out.”
Clint touched his painful cheek.
“I’ve been lying to her. I deserve it.”
“What’s she like?”
“She is stubborn, kind, and has a big heart. She’s a good girl.”
“Do you really love her?”
“Yes, I do,” Clint answered. “But it seems that I’ve screwed things up.”
“This is our fault, not yours. I’ll discuss with Anne what we could do.”
“Are you against our relationship?”
“It’s your business. We won’t interfere with it. But Anne is understandably shocked.” Bradley said. He then patted Clint on the shoulder. “Let’s check if mom is awake.”
They went back to the room and saw that Anne was still asleep.
Bradley sat by the bed and looked at Anne with a worried expression.
A while later, Anne finally opened her eyes. She seemed very tired. ”Selene…” She murmured.
Bradley held her hand. “How do you feel?”
Finally, Anne looked up at Bradley. “Brad. I’ve dreamed of Selene.”
“That wasn’t a dream.” He said.
Anne blinked a few times to get rid of her brain fog. Her eyes scanned the room until she noticed Clint. “Clint. What on Earth happened? Why was Selene there?”
Clint walked to the bed. “Mom. The girl I wanted to show you is Selene. She’s my girlfriend.”
“You, you-”This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.
“It’s my fault. I’ve been keeping this a secret from everyone. I’ve planned to tell you during lunch, but she just appeared out of nowhere.”
“How could you do this?” Anne said. She was breathing hard. “She must be heartbroken now. Poor girl.”
Bradley took her hand into his. ”Don’t worry. What’s done is done. We need to take it slowly. Selene’s not a child anymore.”
“I thought that Selene must have forgotten all about her heartless mom. But she recognized me at first sight. Should I be happy about that or sad?” Anne joked.
“If you were that heartless, you wouldn’t have asked us to send you back all those photos of Selene. You wouldn’t have gone to visit her incognito during her college. We were wrong, and we made some selfish decisions, but she grew up healthy and happy. So now, please don’t dwell on it too much. You need to rest!”
“Mom. This was all my mistake. I’ll try my best to make it up to Selene. If she can’t accept it, I won’t push her.”
“It’s me who hurt you.” Anne sighed.
“Dad. You take care of mom. I’ll go to find Selene.” Clint quietly said without any expression on his face.
After Clint exited the hospital, he dialed Selene’s phone, but there was no answer. When he tried calling again, the call stopped connecting altogether.
He drove to Selene’s store and walked in. Mandy was there, busy with her work. When Mandy saw Clint, a look of surprise washed over her face. “Hi, Mr. Denovan. Is everything okay?”
“Is Selene in the store?”
“She went to deliver clothes to a customer this morning. She should have been back in the afternoon. I’ve tried calling her, but there was no answer.”
Clint nodded, said nothing, and left.
He drove directly to Selene’s apartment. He had the key and used it to unlock the door. But, just as he expected, there was no one home.
He sent several text messages to Selene, but there was still no reply.
He waited in her apartment for two hours. It was 8 pm, and Selene was still nowhere to be found.
He was always very steady and could stay calm in the face of the toughest business situations. But, since the hotel incident with Selene that day, he became completely lost in his emotions, and he wasn’t able to think clearly.
Right then, he suddenly got an idea. He dialed Austin’s phone number.
“Hello, Clint. How are things?” Austin, who was working, was surprised to receive a call from Clint.
“Have you heard from Selene today?”
“Yes. I spoke to you this morning. She said you were taking her to meet your parents.” Austin said.
Clint’s throat went dry, and he went quiet.
”Clint?” Austin asked, confused.
“Something happened between us. She’s gone, and I can’t find her at her store or apartment. She also isn’t answering her phone. I’m worried. Can you help me?”
“That serious?! I’ll call her right now,” Austin said, then hung up.
Before Clint could react, Austin called him back. “Her phone is off. I’ll call her friends. I’ll let you know once I find something.”
Before Clint could thank him, Austin hung up again.
Clint looked at his phone and smiled helplessly. Even though he had known Selene for two years, he found that he knew quite little about her. Other than Austin, he didn’t know about any other friends of hers. But Austin, who had only been in Houston for less than a year, knew more about her than he did.
Clint held a secret from Selene, and she also seemingly hid things from him too.
He was really starting to doubt whether their relationship would last after this.
He leaned on the sofa and closed his eyes. He needed to think.
Meanwhile, Austin soon found out Emily’s number and dialed it. As soon as Emily answered, he got straight to the point; “Hey Emily. It’s Austin speaking. Have you spoken with Selene today?”
“No.”