Chapter 160 - My Boyfriend

Emmanuel, on his left, was harmlessly flirting with a waitress to convince her to pour him a glass of wine without needing his ID. 

"Aren't you afraid that your boyfriend will accuse you of infidelity?" Santiago asked him quite amused. 

Emmanuel groaned. "Mr V, he can understand that it's harmless. Just for alcohol." It was better in his country where there were no strict laws for alcohol. 

As if on cue, Emmanuel's phone chimed. His eyes widened when he saw the caller ID. 

'Romeo.' 

"What?" Santiago asked him. 

"It's Romeo," Emmanuel whispered.

"You guys sure have telepathy," Santiago snickered. 

Picking up the call, Emmanuel said in a sickly sweet voice,"Romeo baby?!"

"Where is Mr V?" He asked straightforwardly. 

"Romeo baby, I wasn't cheating on you. Trust me. Mr V is lying---" 

"Em! Mr V now. Percy was in an accident. I'm taking her to the hospital." Romeo hung up after informing him as he was running to fill the paperwork. 

"What happened?" Santiago asked while taking a sip of his drink. 

"Miss Persephone," He whispered. "She was in an accident." 

The glass fell from Santiago's hand as soon as Emmanuel's words settled inside his head. 

…. 

Santiago wasn't driving his car as soon as Emmanuel pressed on the brakes, he ran inside the hospital like a mad man. Stopping by the receptionists, he uttered in a torn voice,"My wife. Persephone Vitello." 

"Fourth floor, ICU no 4--" Before the receptionist could complete her sentence, Santiago had disappeared from her sight. He was already running towards his wife. 

He didn't even know how much she was injured. What if… No he must not think negatively. She would be alright. He would make sure of it. 

As Santiago reached the fourth floor, he found a crying and shivering Valencia sitting in the waiting arena, outside the ICU. 

Unconsciously, his footsteps stopped on their own and a word left his mouth," Val?"

Val, just like how he used to call her all those years ago. 

Valencia felt as if someone was calling her. With a dishevelled profile, she turned around to find Santiago standing a few inches away from her. 

She didn't know what was coming to her at this moment, but she found herself running towards him to bury her head in his embrace. It was weird right? 

She had only met this man once but the feeling of warmth and safety that he oozed made her lose her guard around him. 

As he patted her back and consoled her calmly and warmly, she felt her heart soothe. 

"Shh, everything will be alright," Santiago murmured. "Stop crying already! Val, what happened? Tell me? Who made you cry? I will kill their asses for making such a pretty girl cry!" 

Valencia cried even loudly and badly but he didn't lose control. He kept on hugging her until she calmed down. With those red teary eyes, she looked at him and murmured an apology. 

"I'm sorry," She said and wiped her face with the handkerchief that Santiago gave her. "I didn't know what come to me--" 

"You don't have to explain," Santiago said. "May I ask why you are crying?"

"My boyfriend," Valencia hiccupped. "He was in a really bad accident. " She pointed at the ICU. 

A look of confusion passed through his eyes as he noted the ICU number. Wasn't it the same ICU where his Red was supposed to be? 

"Are you here to see someone?" He heard Valencia's question. 

"My wife," he found himself replying. "Persephone. Persephone Vitello." 

… 

Persephone, who was getting her minor injuries dressed by a nurse, found Santiago coming her way. A smile bloomed on her pale face but it dimmed as he ignored her figure and hugged Valencia. 

The feelings that she was feeling right now, she would never be able to describe it in words. She could feel rage taking over her sanity. She wanted to go right there and separate Valencia from her husband's arms. This man was her husband! Her man! 

She didn't know where this bout of suppressed jealousy came from. But all she knew was that it had always been here, from the time she saw him sitting beside Sophia on that lunch table a month ago. It was also here when he chose Sophia over her when she wasn't even an option. 

How could it be humanly possible? 

What was this dark feeling inside of her changing into rage right now? 

It could be called madness, obsession and… 

Something tells her that if she found what this third thing is, she would be able to understand this whole equation between them. 

"Miss Persephone?!" Emmanuel shouted as he caught sight of her. 

Santiago, too, turned to find Persephone sitting on a bench getting her wounds bandaged by a nurse. He sighed in relief as he looked at her. Fortunately, she wasn't that injured. 

Still, how did she get injured in the first place? 

He walked towards her and kneeled beside her while wiping her wild red curls from her face. "How are you?" He tenderly asked her. "Are you feeling pain somewhere?" 

Seeing that his eyes were showing genuine concern for her, she harrumphed and shifted her head to look at the pretty boy who was tending to her injuries and smiled at him. 

Santiago didn't understand what just happened but Valencia, who was noticing the two of them from the start, smiled as she knew why her friend was behaving the way she was. 

Simply, she was jealous. And didn't know why she was feeling so! 

[Oh, Percy! I can understand your state of mind. No wonder, you were so vocal about this husband of yours!]

"Percy, what happened?" Santiago asked her while knitting his brows. "Are you feeling pain somewhere?"

'Yes, in my heart! And you are the reason!'

"Will you tell me why you are behaving weirdly?" He asked his wife. 

"You infuriate me," She replied. 

He sighed out,"Do you want me to leave you alone?"

"Yes!" She said, angrily. 

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her for a hug and murmured,"No way in hell, baby! I ain't leaving you alone here!"