102 Awake

In no time, Alexander arrived at the foot of the hill.

The place was forested and steep, but Alex found the exact spot written on the note in no time at all, as if he didn't need to even have to search for it.

The moment he stood there, Alex's blazing eyes fell towards the man who was nonchalantly playing the flute as he sat on the grass with his left knee folded, while he leaned against a wall right next to an old wooden door that was already decaying.

"Zeke." Alex squinted his eyes as he glared down at him. However, Zeke simply looked up at him, unfazed, as he continued playing the flute, as coolly as ever.

Alex was about to approach the man when suddenly, his eyes were drawn towards the old door beside him.

With just that, Alex finally realized the reason why Zeke was here and why he was playing. He remembered that the last time he heard Zeke play a flute was back when he was a teenager when they were playing in the castle and had gotten lost. So seeing him playing now was strange and could only mean one thing – that there was a secret passage inside that dungeon that led to this exit that only Ezekiel knew about.

Alex rushed towards the door when suddenly, the door moved as he heard a sound coming from the inside.

However, before Alex could reach it, the door fell forward, halting him in his tracks, barely missing him.

His gaze flew towards the entrance and his eyes widened as he saw someone holding onto the door frame.

"A-abigail…" he uttered as the music stopped.

Abigail was blinded by the light so her head was turned towards her right as if to hide from the bright light. She was trembling. Her mind was no longer working. She didn't know if the brightness that flooded her eyes meant that she finally got outside or if she had actually died and had gone to heaven.

She noticed that the music had stopped. What did that mean? Was it over? She forced her eyes to open but then darkness slowly swallowed her whole before she could even lift her eyelids open.

"Abigail!" Alex called out as he caught her in his arms. He immediately looked for a pulse and he was utterly relieved when he felt her heart still beating and that she was still breathing. Alex felt like the spirit of life that had left his body entirely when he saw her collapse, had now returned.

At that moment, he didn't even realize that he was hugging her so tightly.

"Easy, Alex… or you'll end up squeezing her to death," Zeke said, nonchalantly, as he stood up, causing Alex to finally realize what he was doing.

"It looks like your little lamb is not as fragile as you think, Alex," Zeke added before he moved towards him and patted his shoulder.

Because Alex was holding Abi in his arms, Zeke swiftly managed to take the dungeon's key from him.

"I'll let Mira go. You can punish her all you want, but I can't just allow you to claim her life."

"That is not your decision to make, Zeke," replied Alex as he stood up, carrying Abi in his arms as carefully as if he was holding a newborn baby.

"Abigail is alive, Alex. No need to spill anymore blood. Besides, if you execute Mira because of her, I'm afraid you'll just be digging Abigail's grave. Or, were you thinking of taking all her freedom and chaining her right next to you forever to be able to keep her safe?"

Alexander didn't respond to Zeke's words. The murderous look in his eyes, that started to waver upon the sight of his little lamb, slowly faded and returned to its usual coldness as he disappeared from Zeke's sight.

…

Somewhere in Old city, Country V's capital…

It was a little dark when Abi opened her eyes again. Her entire body ached and she hadn't even moved yet! Her eyes slowly adjusted and wandered around as her brows knitted together.

Where was she? This wasn't her room. This was not her room at Alex's house either.

Abi moved and immediately winced because of the pain from the cut on her left leg.

As she continued to move, a deep voice made her pause. "You're awake," the voice said and Abi's head immediately turned towards her right, to the source of the voice.

"Alex… you're back!" her voice was barely a whisper. She realized that her throat hurt a little when she spoke. However, she couldn't think about the pain upon seeing Alex being right there next to her bed.

She felt like it had been a really long time since she last saw him. She missed him so much that she wanted to cry.

Abi immediately reached out and held his arm, as she attempted to rise so she could hug him, when Alex gently pinned her down.

"Stay put. You're injured." His voice sounded hoarse as if he was struggling to keep his voice gentle.

"Injured?" How come?" She said as she winced. Her voice was not coming out normally. She felt as though she hadn't drunk any water for many days. "Water, please," she asked.

Alex poured water into the glass and then looked at her. Abi was waiting for him to help her up but to her surprise, the man didn't. Instead, he drank it himself!

Abi's lips parted as she blinked at him in confusion. However, before she could complain, the man bent down and his lips crashed on hers. Her lips were already parted so he easily pried it open.

The next second, Abi felt the liquid flow from his mouth to hers, and then down her throat.

Abi felt like all her sleeping cells had been jolted awake by a lightning bolt. W-what did he just do?

Her face turned as red as a cooked lobster as she looked at him, dumbstruck.

But the man simply drank more water from the glass and kissed her again, making her drink the water from his mouth.