Chapter 62 GET OUT!
\[MORNING, NELLY'S ROOM\]
Ixora hummed to a song as she creamed her body. She had woken up and was preparing for work. She looked happy, and she had no idea why. It felt as if sleeping at Nelly's house was all she needed to get rid of her worries.
She glanced at sleeping Nelly before going to the wardrobe. She and Nelly were so close that their clothes were also in each other's wardrobes.
As she searched for the perfect clothes to wear, her hand knocked over a box, and it fell to the ground.
She glanced at Nelly before picking up the box. "What is this?" she muttered, turning the box around.
The box doesn't look like any jewelry box, and as far as she knows, Nelly... doesn't wear jewelry.
She stretched her hand to keep the box, but withdrew it almost immediately, having the strong urge to open it.
The box was locked with a password, and that piqued her curiosity all the more.
"What could be inside?" She mumbled, thinking about the password.
She peeked at Nelly again, slightly rethinking about opening the box. She shouldn't be snooping around with her stuff.
But her curiosity had gotten the best of her. Aside from trying to understand Drexton, she'd say this was the second thing that had gotten her so curious.
She began cracking her brains, trying all the numbers she could think of. None of them was able to open the password.
Passwords aren't that easy to guess.
She wanted to keep it when she realized she hadn't tried a number. The same number that Nelly uses for almost all her passwords. Her phone, house and every other thing she could think of.
011202.
She had thought it strange to use the same number of digits as a password. Nelly had always been weird so she wasn't that bothered.
She typed the number and, fortunately for her, the lock came open.
She knitted her brows together as she stared at the stuff inside the box.
She picked up a bracelet that had 'NASHIRA' written on it.
"Nashira," she muttered, her eyes catching the necklace.
She kept the box and picked up the necklace with a heart pendant.
SLN was carved on the pendant.
Ixora stared at the jewelry in confusion, wondering who Nashira was.
She gasped when she felt somebody snatching the jewelry from her hand.
"What do you think you are doing?" Nelly asked, putting the jewelry inside the box and locking it.
"I was... I'm sorry, but I saw the box and got curious."
Nelly faced the other side, balling up her fist.
Ixora came and stood in front of her.
"Nelly, I didn't mean to snoop around, but who is Nashira? And the necklace, do you..."
"Keep quiet, Ixora!" Nelly snapped.
Ixora flinched.
"What gave you the right to go through my stuff?!" She asked, her eyes blazing red.
Ixora, for a second, couldn't speak. She had never seen Nelly this angry before, and she had no idea why she was reacting like that.
"I didn't mean to do it. The box got my attention. Besides, you know so much about me, but I barely know a thing about you. What is your relationship with Nashira?" Ixora asked, meeting her eyes.
"You dare not go through my stuff. Keep your curiosity out of my house!" Nelly yelled, her chest rising and falling.
"And, how do you expect me to do that? If you had just answered the question without over-reacting, then I wouldn't have pressed further, but this just proves to me that you are hiding something away from me," Ixora spoke, her voice growing soft.
Nelly's hand began trembling, tears slipping down her cheeks.
Ixora's eyes widened as she saw the tears. She held her shoulders.
"Why are you crying?! Is there something you are not telling me? Talk to me. I am your friend!"
"Get away from me! Leave my house, okay!" Nelly yelled, bringing Ixora's hand off her shoulder.
Ixora stepped back, staring at Nelly with teary eyes.
"You are asking me out of your house?" she asked, unbelievably.
"Yes, Ixora. Get out!!!" She shouted, pointing at the door while breathing heavily.
"If that's what you want," she walked to the wardrobe and took her clothes. "I'll leave," she went inside the bathroom and put on her clothes.
Soon, she reappeared and left, slamming the door loudly.
Nelly slowly caught her breath while breaking down. She removed her glasses, allowing the tears to flow freely.
The ringing of her cell phone made her look up.
She looked at the caller and saw it was her mother.
"Mum," she sniffled on answering the call.
\[BLACKTHORN AUTOMOBILE\]
Ixora arrived at the company a few minutes ago. She was a little bit late because of what happened between Nelly and her.
She waved at Kian and headed to Drexton's office with his morning coffee. She placed a knock on the door before going in.
"Good morning, sir."
Drexton raised his head to meet her gaze before nodding in reply.
Ixora smiled and handed him the coffee. She stepped back, waiting for him to drink it.
She traced her gaze to his hand, remembering his shot arm and his neurological condition.
"Yesterday, the police chased after a car that was driving recklessly, but lost track of the car. The CCTV footage also captured nothing, and that was coincidentally the time the mall was on fire," Ixora paused, staring at Drexton intently.
Drexton lowered the cup to the table, his gaze on her with the usual calm demeanor.
"I have no doubt you were the person driving the car. All evidence was cleared. Did you perhaps get shot during the chase?" Ixora asked, going closer to him.
"Yes," Drexton admitted, truthfully.
Ixora gasped inwardly, failing to hide the shocked expression on her face.
"Y... You got shot while trying to save me?" she muttered unbelievably.
The Drexton she knew hated her. He wouldn't break the laws just to save her, nor would he do anything without a price. But, he didn't ask for anything in return. It was... weird.
She took her finger to the shot area, rubbing the patch through his shirt.
"I'm sorry for your condition. It must be hard living with the truth that you can't feel," she mumbled, locking her gaze with his while still slightly rubbing the arm.
Drexton slowly shook his head, a smirk forming at the corners of his lips. "Defense mechanism," he said, shifting his gaze to the table. "Head back to your work."
Ixora nodded, carried the coffee and left, not without throwing a last glance at Drexton.
The smirk on Drexton's lips deepened as he stared at the door.
\[MALL\]
"I'll soon be done," Audrey said over the phone as she checked out the baggy pants.
She was buying the needed things for her monthly change of wardrobe. Her brother was a rich superstar, and if she didn't spend his money, who would?
She chuckled at her silly thoughts.
"Love you too, bro." She ended the call, focusing on her shopping.
She always kept her distance from Blake whenever they were in public. She doesn't fancy the life of a celebrity, that's why she could move around freely without having his crazy fans after her. That doesn't mean they didn't know her because she could see the looks the attendants were giving her, and if she wasn't the carefree type, they'd have been asking for her number by now.
She shook her head, picking up almost the whole baggy pants, since they were all so good.
"He'd kill me for this," she muttered, bringing out Blake's credit card.
He had no idea that she had stolen his card. She was still looking at the card when someone bumped into her, causing the card to fall.
"I'm so sorry," the person was quick to apologize, picking up the card.
"Here," the person handed the card, raising her head to meet Audrey's face.
Audrey squinted her brow, staring at the lady. It felt like she had seen her before.
She opened her hand and collected the card.
"H..."
The person immediately hurried away.
Audrey turned to look at her retreating figure until she was out of sight, feeling the strange urge that she had seen the familiar look before.
Outside, Joanna rushed into her car and removed her glasses.
"She looks so beautiful up close," she muttered, resting her head on the steering wheel.
She had come to the mall to get a few things. What she didn't expect was that she'd bump into Audrey.
She released the breath she didn't know she was holding, raising her head to look at the mall's entrance.
She's sure Audrey couldn't recognize her because of the white spectacles. It's been years since they saw each other face-to-face.
She wants to reveal herself to her kids, but not this way. She wiped the tears that had rolled down her face.
She started the car's engine and drove off when she saw Audrey coming out of the mall.
Audrey darted her gaze around, looking for the woman. She had never felt strange or too familiar around somebody before, but this one was too much.
She couldn't remember the face quite clearly, but her intuitions were never wrong.
"I have definitely seen her before," she muttered, going back in to pay up.