The Crossroad

"So you telling me it might be Leilani and we should not tell Landon anything about it?" Fabian quirks his brows at Oriana.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying." "But why?"

"I've told you the gist of her traumatizing experiences and her condition and her father's murder, haven't I?"

"Uh-huh! You did but..."

"No, please. I don't want her to be punished for someone like Raya.

Okay, I know, I'm sounding pretty unreasonable but you tell me now, honestly, would you want her to be punished?"

"Objectively thinking? Yeah, if that's her fault she needs to be punished... but if I were to empathize with her situation, then probably no... But my point is, we still don't know exactly what might've happened that night. Don't you think it'd be too easy if Leilani just killed her and that's

that?"

"Too easy? Yeah, sometimes some cases are pretty easy and simple. Plus, given her incredibly traumatizing past and a history in mur...well, unintentionally killing her dad, I think it's quite plausible. I've seen a very distant and sort of coldblooded look in her eyes that evening."

"Okay, we can take that as a possibility but, hear me out...it can be much more than just this. You see, I'm having a hunch that Axel guy and Ilona might have something to do with it. Don't ask me why, I'm just having this thought...repeatedly."

"Alright, so what do we do now?"

"It'd be better if we could reach Axel, somehow. Well, do you know anything about Alvis? I mean, is he doing anything dragging around his pain in the ass crime partner?"

Oriana laughs in reply, "Yeah, well, no. He said he was busy dealing with his family stuff and Ilona deliberately avoided meeting up and investigating after the first day. At least, that's what he said."

"Nevan thinks Alvis is an asshole for falling for an underage kid." Fabian scoffs, "and he thinks he actually slept with her that night."

"Woah! That's a pretty wild accusation...and about that underage thing, I think Raya made a lot of choices being underage that would be questionable. Alvis flirting with her isn't one of them. On that note, flirting with underage girls is still counted as disgusting in my dictionary."

Fabian laughs, "Yeah, tell me about it." he stops as they reach Oriana's place.

"Alright, see you at work tomorrow?"

"No, I'm not coming to work this week. Have exams to prepare for..." he shrugs with a slight smile hovering over his lips.

Oriana doesn't want to show her disappointment when her shoulders automatically slouch a bit. She quickly gives a grin, "Ah! That means we'll have to postpone our Sherlock adventure for this week. Yeah, sure, your

exams are more important. I'll have to get started with my assignments as well."

"Right!" he clears his throat, "Um...so I guess, that's it...um, I have to head to my place."

"Yeah, I think." She smiles.

"You live alone? Sorry, that came out weirdly and in a very weird time." he winces.

"No!" she chortles, "It's fine, yeah I live alone. Well, there's this roommate but she spends most of her time outside. So, just me..."

"Ah, okay. Be careful and if you need anything, you know I live just down there and I'm just a text away." he stuffs his hands in his pocket.

"Sure, that's very kind of you." "Um...so see you after a week?" "That's how it seems, no?"

"Well, if something important or urgent comes up, we can always meet...you know, we're practically neighbors."

She smiles in reply, "I like the sound of it, yeah sure. Why not!"

After getting home, Oriana lets out a deep breath as she goes over the events from today inside her mind. She feels exhausted, hurt for Leilani's sake and absolutely drained out of her energy. She decides to actually get started on her assignment which is due only in 3 days from today. She was never a laid back type as a student back in college. She always prioritized her academics more than anything. But things changed, priorities changed and above all, she doesn't want to prove anything to anyone anymore.

Those days are long gone.

What if I talk to Solar! It'd be easier to extract information about that cheating bastard from her rather than her stupidly annoying sister. She

thinks to herself as she steps in the shower. She'll think about it after the much needed hydro therapy.

"You doing ok? Haven't heard from u in a while." Oriana finds Aurora's text first thing after unlocking her phone.

She's been too busy thinking about some other people's problem these days to let her own take over.

"Ya, m ok. Just busy working and studying. Everything fine over there?"

"Yeah! We miss u...apart from that it's alright."

Oriana smiles at the text. She also misses her cousins so much but life...it has different plans for her.

"Did anything happen? U know, about that psycho?"

This text wipes off her smile in an instant. She steadies her head before replying, "Nah! No worries at all. Nothing happened and nothing will."

"We hope so."

She keeps the last one on read before thumbing a text to Fabian.

"Hey, u there?"

After about 20 seconds, his reply pops up, "already missing me?"

Oriana automatically smiles which immediately turns into a chuckle.

Since when Fabian the sexy cyborg has a way of flirting!

"Haha! So funny... I was just wondering if u had Solar's number." "Ouch! Okay, well no. How would i have it? I never even saw her in

person."

"Dang it. Okay, just consider it missing u then." she grins. "Flattered! But wait, i guess u can get it from Alexina."

"Huh? But i don't have her number either." "I have that, no worries."

"U have Alexina's number?" she scorns at her screen.

"Ya, well, she gave it to me the other day before we went out of her house."

"Uh-huh! Someone has a potential date."

Fabian smiles at the implied jealousy, "Maybe! But does someone need the number?"

"Ya, sure. For a totally different purpose but ok." He smiles again before sending her the contact.

"Goodnight, Oriana. It's been a long day for u. Get some sleep." She smiles wryly, "Ya sure. Goodnight Fabian."

He hesitates before heart-reacting her text. One of these days, he needs to ask her out...officially.

Oriana sends Alexina the Barbie a quick text asking for Solar's number when the text pops up on her screen.

Her fingers stop midway to tapping on it when she sees the words "I've missed u". Her heart starts beating faster and faster by the minute. Her

palms begin to sweat and obviously, her classic head-spins start doing their job. After 5 minutes of a mini panic attack, she finally decides to open it. "Hey, Oriana. I really hope u still remember me and we can pick up

right where we left off... I've missed u."

And her world goes upside down.