Chapter 36 Running into Vivian
Elodie's POV
Before I could even recover from the panic of being left behind, the towering hotel building behind me suddenly erupted with a deafening explosion without any warning!
A massive fireball shot into the sky, swallowing the floors we had just escaped from.
The scorching blast wave, mixed with glass shards and debris, swept toward us like a violent wind.
I was knocked to the ground, my scream stuck in my throat, my ears filled with nothing but ringing.
Chaos, complete chaos.
The crowd around me burst into even more piercing cries than before, scattering in all directions.
I struggled to get up from the ground, but a sharp pain shot through my ankle—I must have twisted it when I fell.
Just as an out-of-control suitcase was about to smash into my face, a strong arm suddenly reached out from the side, yanking me up from the ground and holding me tightly.
"Watch out!"
Still in shock, I looked up and found myself staring into a pair of concerned dark eyes.
Behind gold-rimmed glasses was a gentle, refined face that seemed completely out of place in this hellish scene.
It was York.
What was he doing here?
That thought flashed through my mind before being pushed down by survival instinct.
He didn't give me any time to think. With his arm around my shoulder, he led me away from the flying debris, running quickly in the direction away from the hotel.
Half-dragged, half-carried by him, I stumbled along with him until we had run far enough that the noise and heat wave behind us gradually faded.
We stopped at a street corner. He finally let go of me, but his hand still supported my arm to keep me from falling.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
I shook my head, gasping for breath, and looked back at the building billowing with thick smoke, my heart pounding wildly.
If I had come out a few dozen seconds later, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
"Thank you," I said, steadying myself against the wall.
"It was nothing," he said, withdrawing his hand. "Your ankle is sprained. Let me take you to the hospital."
"No!" I immediately refused. The only thing on my mind was finding Graham and Rod.
I quickly pulled out my phone, but the screen clearly showed "No Service."
I tried several more times with the same result. The explosion must have damaged the nearby cell towers.
My heart sank bit by bit. I couldn't reach them, and I couldn't reach Nelson either.
"What's wrong?" York noticed my anxiety.
"I... I got separated from my family, and I can't reach them."
"Don't worry," he said soothingly. "Tell me their phone numbers, and I'll try with my phone. Maybe it's a different carrier."
I hesitated.
Graham's warning echoed repeatedly in my ears.
Nelson and the others had such special identities—I couldn't give their contact information to any outsider, especially a "stranger" who seemed to show up everywhere by "coincidence."
I shook my head and made up a clumsy excuse. "No need, thank you. Their phones probably have no signal either. I'll just wait here for them. They'll definitely come back to find me."
My refusal and distance were too obvious. The air became somewhat awkward.
York sighed softly, as if finally giving up some kind of pretense. "Miss Elodie, do you think every time I appear is too much of a coincidence?"
He actually called out what I was thinking directly.
I was at a loss for words, not knowing how to respond.
"I admit, at the mall that time, I deliberately created that chance meeting. Because I saw that the lady with you was extremely wary of outsiders, which made me worry about you. As for today," he pointed to another hotel not far away, "I happen to be staying over there. When I heard the explosion, I immediately came to check the situation. I didn't expect to run into you."
His explanation made sense, but the alarm in my heart didn't go away.
"I don't know what you're going through, and I don't want to pry into your privacy. I simply see you as a friend, and when I see a friend in trouble, I can't just stand by."
The word "friend" made me feel a bit dazed.
Since Lorenzo left, my world had only myself in it. I hadn't had a "friend" in a very long time.
"It's not safe here. You're injured, you have no communication, and staying here alone will only be more dangerous. Let me get you to a safe hotel where you can rest up. Once you reach your family, you can take off whenever you want, alright?"
His suggestion was impossible to refuse.
I had no money on me now, my foot was injured, and my only option seemed to be to trust this man in front of me.
He took me to another nearby five-star hotel with tight security, used his own ID and credit card to book me a room, and even thoughtfully had the front desk send up ice packs and a first aid kit.
"Rest well and take care of your injury. Call me if you need anything." He placed the room key and a note with his phone number on the table, then politely excused himself and left without any unnecessary lingering.
The room was very quiet, as if it were a different world from the life-and-death disaster I had just experienced.
I sat on the soft sofa, looking at everything he had done for me, my heart filled with mixed feelings.
If he was a bad person, he was certainly patient and his act was too convincing.
But if he was just a kind-hearted good person, then fate's coincidences were a bit too many.
I shook my head, forcing myself to stop thinking about these things. The urgent matter was to contact Graham and the others.
I walked back and forth in the room with my phone, but the signal remained at zero bars.
I became more and more anxious, so I limped out of the room, wanting to try my luck in the hotel lobby or at the entrance.
As soon as I stepped out of the elevator, the phone signal finally flickered weakly.
My heart leaped with joy. Just as I was about to dial, a familiar figure suddenly burst into my view.
Outside the hotel entrance, Vivian was standing by the roadside. She was wearing a thin dress, shivering in the night wind. Her face, usually made up with exquisite makeup, was now deathly pale, and she was anxiously saying something on the phone.
What was she doing here too?
As if sensing my gaze, she suddenly turned around.
When she saw it was me, the anxiety on her face instantly turned to shock.
She hastily hung up the phone and rushed over to me in a few steps. "What are you doing here?! Aren't you supposed to be at..."