Scars of Time

Chapter 47: "He is gone"

Jo's POV

With the morning light seeping into the room, I opened my eyes to discover that I was the only one on the couch. Without wasting a second, I sprang up to search for him. He can't be gone without saying anything.

All night long, he has been babbling in his sleep, and now I finally understand what those dreams must have been about.

I'm glad the rain has stopped at least.

Whenever I think about him, his pretentious smile always comes to mind, and all I want is to witness a genuine one grace his face. But now I can't even imagine the effort it must take for him to simply crack a small smile for me.

He is so strong. They both are.

Imagine having to see your closest person in this world being hurt over and over again and not being able to do anything about it!!

It reminds me of how fortunate I am to have my own loving family. Even though they are not my biological parents, they have done more than enough to show me how much they care about me.

I wish he had someone like them in his life too.

Now I feel compelled to call my dad and express my heartfelt appreciation for being the best dad in the world. Even though they are a little overprotective of me, now I'm glad they are.

But there was this one little thing that always bothered me about them and that was the fact that they never liked Alex. They lack judgement, a little bit, because Alex is genuinely the kindest soul on this planet. I remember having a massive argument with them once because of this very reason.

Their reasoning behind disliking him was that he didn't meet their standards for me, simply because I was fortunate enough to have loving parents and was raised in a good household and he grew up in an orphanage. Mind you, it was the same orphanage they took me from.

That's what I couldn't understand at all. What if I was the one left there? Would I be unworthy of their love?! Or would it be better if he was raised in a household like Time's?

I wonder if they'd like him if they met. But I'm not going to introduce them anyway, because I don't want to have to fight with them anymore. Besides, I don't want him to be looked down at by parent figures, again.

Although he was adopted into a wealthy family, I'm uncertain if that brings any relief or not.

Why would Evan Astor even adopt them? Or maybe he did it so he could hide the fact that he was a terrible person. It's remarkable how he could project such a different image to the media! It's truly strange how no one could know for sure what is going on behind closed doors.

I can't help but wonder why he left so early today. Could he have had some urgent matter to attend to? I thought of giving him a call, but unfortunately, there was no response.

He used to annoy me constantly, going on about how I was his girlfriend. But now, when I'm actually considering it, he doesn't even bother responding to my calls. Why is everything so different with him? Did he already lose interest?

Even last night, I was ready to surrender myself to him and he didn't even budge a muscle. Maybe I've been overestimating myself. It's Time after all. You never know what he thinks and what he does.

Like I said before, he was just obsessed with me because I was rejecting him and I even started this path so I could prove this to him. And I was right.

But, he got bored so fast.

Yayy Josephine, you really did a good job at proving it. He is soo convinced.

"Let me try once more. Maybe he didn't hear it the first time." I thought, but again, no answer.

Time Astor, I'll kill you if what I'm thinking is true.

..................

Time's POV

I drew the curtains shut once more, determined to whip up breakfast before she opened her eyes. Mindful of not disturbing her, I tiptoed my way to the kitchen and gently shut the door behind me. It turned out to be a wise decision, because as soon as I stepped out of the room, my phone began to ring. It was Scott.

I picked up immediately because I knew there was going to be news from the hospital.

"Time you're going to have to come here immediately."

"Why? What's going on?"

"I'll tell you in person."

"Scott, what is going on?" I asked again, trying to keep my voice low, which was a struggle.

"Just come here."

Frustrated beyond measure, I abruptly ended the call, opting to remain silent. Hastily, I dashed out of the room and thankfully, Jo didn't wake up because I wouldn't have an explanation to give to her.

I might have told her about what Evan Astor did but I can't tell her he was alive. No one except Scott knows it. And he could even lose his license for real this time if someone finds out.

We declared him dead a long time ago. And he helped me with it. He was supposed to die soon anyway. We just declared it a little early, so Hope wouldn't have to worry anymore.

I never expected him to wake up.

I swiftly parked my car in the bustling parking lot and dashed inside, eager to find Scott. To my surprise, he was already waiting for me at the entrance. Ignoring his presence, I hurriedly passed him, intending to head straight to his room. However, he swiftly intervened, preventing me from proceeding any further.

"He is not there."

"What do you mean? Then where is he? Did you take him to another room?"

"Time, Evan Astor is gone."

"G..gone where?" I froze and my voice cracked.

"I don't know. Upon entering his room this morning, he had vanished without a trace."

"And you are telling me this just now??? I asked you what was wrong, didn't I? Why didn't you say anything???"

"I thought you might do something stupid" he said, and I couldn't believe he would even think that way. Doesn't he know that every second he is alive, is a threat to us? I pushed him out of my way and started running toward my car again. I was furious and scared, but at least I knew Hope was not home. I called Alex immediately, while Scott was following me, but I was ignoring him.

How could he be so careless?!! What if she was home? I would have been too late while I was trying to come to the hospital, having no idea he was even gone.

"Hello Alex. Is Hope with you?"

"Yeah. She is getting ready. I was going to drop her off, since you didn't come."

"Don't let her go anywhere. I'll be there in five minutes."

"What is going on? Is something wrong?"

"I'll explain. Just look after her. But don't make it obvious."

"Okay. I'll try to keep her here. But she already said she was late for work."

"Please do anything you need. Just don't let her out of your house."

He agreed even though he was confused and I was on my way to his house when I got a call from Jo. I picked it up because I knew she must be worried but she sounded strange.

"Am I talking to Time Astor right now?" she asked and I was puzzled.

"Is something wrong? Are you okay?"

"Mr. Evan Astor wants to talk to you on the phone."

"What are you talking about? Jo? Jo please answer me? Say something." I shouted, but there was no further answer from her.

"Hi, son" his voice echoed through the phone instead, and I knew immediately it was him. And just like that, my nightmares had once again turned into reality.