Chapter 89: Played Again
Ewan gripped the steering wheel of his car, his knuckles turning white with the force of his grip. The streets blurred past him, a stream of city lights cascading by as he raced to get home.
His mind was a chaotic whirlpool of thoughts, each wave crashing into another. Athena. Fiona. Dinner. Sucide.
"Damn it!" He muttered under his breath, glaring at the empty passenger seat beside him, where Athena should have been.
If not for the call, he would have driven her home after the dinner. It was why he had relieved his driver of his work early. However, all his plans have come crashing down.
The memory of Athena’s face—beautiful and blank—haunted him. What had she thought when he hurried away? Did she feel abandoned?
The mere idea made him wince, a feeling of guilt clawing at his insides.
As he turned a sharp corner, the tires screeched in protest. He accelerated further, hoping to outrun the guilt that felt like it was growing through the very marrow of his bones.
’How can the simple act of dinner go so wrong?’ He thought, tightening his grip on the wheel and fumbling with his emotions. He had feared the worst when he got the call about Fiona’s situation, images of darkness swirling around his mind.
Was it really an attempt at suicide? So soon after the last? What could have triggered this episode? Did she have a brain problem like he did? Was it affecting her mental health?
Panic flooded Ewan as he thought of this. If the version of Fiona that had fought to save him from the clutches of death was now in a state of despair— what did that mean for him? Wasn’t it his fault?
Sitting in that restaurant, he hadn’t realized how critical things had become. And now he was racing towards home, trying to balance a delicate tightrope between being supportive for Fiona while wrestling with his unresolved feelings for Athena.