[Phoenix POV]

I threw away my pen. Dman! I can't focus. Earlier when I left the house, my mind is all over the place.

'Fuck!' What's happening to me?

"Bitch! c'mon, it's almost lunch." it was Jessica. I looked at my watch and saw that it's almost 1 o'clock. I closed my eyes. 5 hours sitting on my station and I didn't manage to finish half of my paperworks.

"You go ahead. I need to finish this by the end of the day." I answered.

Jessica shrugged, "Whatever you say." then she left.

I'm not in the mood to eat. I was left alone on the floor. I closed my eyes and thought of Alan.

'I wonder what is he doing now?'

I opened and rolled my eyes. 'I suppose he's with Lara again. And their never ending stories.'

I saw my cellphone on the top of my desk and dialed the home number.

"Hello?" I guess it was Len.

"Len? It's Sam. Is Nana there?"

"Oh Sam! No, she's not here. She went out to get some groceries."

"Ok. Ahm...Is Ala--" she cut me off.

"Alan?"

"Yeah. W-where is he?"

"I haven't seen him here. I suppose he's still in his room. I heard he ask Nikki to bring his breakfast upstairs."

"Is Lara with him?"

"No. Lara is by the pool. I don't like her. She feels like she's the owner of this house." I bet she rolled her eyes.

"So you're saying that Alan is just in his room?" I asked again to make sure.

"Yeah. Why?"

I wondered why. I remembered the incident last night. I suddenly felt guilty.

"Is Austin there?"

"No. He left. I think he left just a couple of minutes after you."

I rolled my eyes. 'Where the hell is that guy?!'

I bid goodbye to Len and went back to my work. I really can't concentrate now and I still have deadlines to meet. My mind is in limbo. I can't focus. I decided to went home earlier than usual. I said to my boss that I'm not feeling well and she didn't question me.

When I arrived at home, it was so silent. I wondered where are they. I decided to go by the pool and I wish I hadn't.

First, I saw Lara on the water swimming, she's wearing a 2-pieced swimsuit, then she went out the water and sat down beside Alan, who's by the side of the pool, wearing her swimwear outfit.

I rolled my eyes and decided to go straight to my room. I lay in bed and thinking what's really happening to me. I'm pissed at the fact that Alan has no longer time with me and I'm fucking irritated to Lara because this is all her fault!

I went off my bed and decided to take a shower to shake this feeling off of me. After taking a shower, I decided to go to the kitchen and looked for something to eat.

I was surprised when Lara suddenly came out of nowhere. She was also surprised when she saw me. She's now wearing a robe and water is dripping from her hair. I pretended that I didn't see her. I continued looking for food.

When she suddenly spoke, "Samantha right?" she smiled. "Sorry, I'm not good at names."

'Yeah right!'

"I hope you're not thinking that I 'snatched' your boyfriend from you."

I can't help but raised one of my eyebrows. "Don't worry, it didn't even cross my mind."

She smiled. "That's good to hear. I don't want you and Alan to have any problems because of me." she poured an orange juice on her glass.

'What the hell do you think you are doing right now?'

I scoffed. "You will never become our problem. I totally understand that you guys have been friends since you were little. You're his childhood FRIEND, right?" emphasizing on the word 'friend'.

She smirked. "Not just a childhood friend. I was his childhood sweetheart when we were nine I guess."

I nodded not really paying attention to whatever her point is.

"And I could still remember when he promised me. He told me that he will marry ME and no one else."

She's playing innocent and sweet. And I'm not stupid not to feel what's she's trying to say. Fuck! I will not back off!

"Really? He promised that to you? Hmm. Probably because you were still young then. People change Lara."

She smiled and shook her head. "I knew that he really meant it. I know him long enough."
Then she looked straight to my eyes. "He's supposed to marry me if you didn't appear in the picture."

I looked at her too, straight in her eyes. "Let's say that I didn't magically appeared on his life. I'm pretty sure that he won't still marry you!"

I can see on her face that she's about to snap.

"Hello girls!" Austin suddenly appeared from nowhere. "Having some serious talk there, huh?"

Lara then walked out. I smiled but I didn't let Austin see it.

"What's with her?" Austin's eyebrows burrowed.

"The hell I care. She just appeared then talked to me about crack!"

He just shrugged like he's not convince with what I said but opted not to ask anymore.

When I looked at him, I saw that he's staring at me. "What?!"


[Austin POV]

I went to our studio to check on our stuff. Saw our tour manager and catch up with things.

I went out the car and went straight to the kitchen when I heard Phoenix and Lara talking. I made sure that they will not feel my presence and decided to listen.

"I knew that he really meant it. I know him long enough." I heard Lara said to Phoenix. "He's supposed to marry me if you didn't appear in the picture."

"Let's say that I didn't magically appeared on his life. I'm pretty sure that he won't still marry you!"

'Damn!' I can't help but smile. Like what I thought, Phoenix won't back down at anything. A real fighter! Then I saw the tension between them and decided to butt in.

"Hello girls!" I saw they were surprised. "Having some serious talk there, huh?" Nobody answered.

Then Lara walked out.

"What's with her?" I asked Phoenix though I already knew the reason why.

"The hell I care. She just appeared then talked to me about crack!"

Dug! Dug! Dug! Dug!

I suddenly felt my heart beating faster. But I'm sure it's not because of the disease that I had before.

"What?!" she asked me when she realized that I was staring at her.

"N-nothing!" then I looked away.

"Alan!!"

We heard Lara screamed and we both ran to the pool area.

We saw Alan lying on the grass and his hands on his head.

"What happened?" I frantically asked Lara.

"I-I don't know. H-he said his head h-hurts. Austin, please do something." Lara is shaking and she looked like she was about to cry.

"Get the ice compress in the fridge and put some ice." It was Phoenix. She calmly put Alan's head on her lap.

"What? Didn't you hear me?!" She yelled at Lara when the latter didn't even move. It's like she was stuck at the moment then went inside.

"Austin, I think we need to get him to the hospital." She said but still looking at Alan.

When I tried to lift him, he spoke. "No need to bring me to the hospital. This will subside after a moment."

"Shut up Alan!" I was surprised when Phoenix yelled at him. "Don't expect us not to do something seeing your condition right now. Austin, don't mind him. Let's go!"

"I saw a light!" He exclaimed. "I think I saw a light."

Phoenix and I looked at each other.

"And I think I saw you, Sam." Alan cupped her face.

Then I saw fear on her eyes. She was just looking at me. Like she's asking what to do right now.

Saved by Lara with the ice compress with her.

"Relax bro! Don't open your eyes." I calmly said to him when in fact I would probably die of heart attack. "Take it easy okay?" Then I looked at Phoenix whose just looking down at Alan.

---

I was walking back and forth at the hallway of the hospital. Alan is now at the emergency room. I called Lorie to tell her what happened to him. She's in London right now and she would probably be here by tomorrow morning.

I glanced at Phoenix who is stitting down at one of the chairs by the nurse station. She was just sitting there quietly. I can tell how worried she was at Alan. I saw her biting her nails from time to time indication that she's really worried.

Lara didn't come with us. The poor girl was still shaking because of what happened to Alan.
Then suddenly the doctor came out and smiled.

He said that it was only natural for Alan to have severe headaches like that because our eyes are connected to our brain. He also said that there's a big chance for Alan see again because his body is responding well to the medications.

After the doctor cleared his release papers, we're now on our way home. Silence flooded the car. I, from time to time, glanced on my rearview mirror and saw Alan and Phoenix not talking to each other. Just looking at the opposite side of the window.

I can tell that Phoenix' mind is somewhere else. She looked at Alan when he grabbed her hand and kissed it. She just smiled but then looked outside again.

I'm not sure. But I saw something in her eyes.

I put my eyes on the road. I don't want to jump into conclusions based on what I saw. I don't want to judge her. And besides, I'm not that sure.

Once again, I glanced at her from the rear mirror.

And there's a sadness in her eyes.

And that's I'm sure of.

Notes