Sabrina's comment smashed the fragile peace like a rock through glass. The inside of the car went awkwardly quiet again.
Cedric's grip on the steering wheel tightened. His lips pressed into a flat line. He stayed silent.
That question-he'd been asking himself the same thing. Why did he freak out the moment he heard she'd gone missing?
Was it just instinct? Or was it... more?
He didn't want to dig into that.
Sabrina sneaked a few glances at the man beside her. He didn't say a word, sure, but at least he wasn't mad. That was something.
Whew. She was clearly jumping the gun. She'd barely been back two days and already wanted him to talk about getting back together? Chill, Sabrina. As the saying goes-rush things, and you'll end up burning your Cedric... or something like that.
Anyway, she needed to take it easy.
The rest of the drive was dead silent.
Cedric kept his eyes on the road. Sabrina, on the other hand, was laser-focused on inspecting the seat she was in-trying to sniff out if any traces of another woman had ever been here.
Being a developer meant her senses were sharp. Whether with her nose or her eyes-nothing escaped her.
If another woman had spent a lot of time in the passenger seat, there'd be something-perfume, a stray hair, anything.
Sabrina looked like a little curious pup, glancing left and right, all the while silently praying she wouldn't find evidence.
Eventually Cedric couldn't take it anymore. Her head kept turning like it was on a swivel.
"What are you looking for?"
"I was just..." She paused, realizing she got caught. Then she burst into a laugh to cover for herself. "Stretching my neck. Been on my phone too much lately-bad for posture."
Cedric didn't buy it for a second.
They cruised along the straight road heading toward the city hospital.
By the time she stepped out of the car, Sabrina hadn't found a single suspicious clue. That should've made her feel relieved, but on second thought, Cedric's whole cleanliness thing complicated things.
Like back in the day-when they were together, she'd try to leave cute little reminders of herself around him. Hoping to stake her claim a bit. But those sweet little decorations? Cedric would always take them down in, like, ten minutes flat.
Even worse, when she stayed over at his place and did what she thought was a low-key "this-is-my-man" roll all over his bed, he'd still catch her every time. He'd pick up every single strand of hair she left behind like a crime scene investigator. Said he didn't want his mom seeing anything and nagging him.
Back then, Sabrina already had a hunch-if Cedric ever cheated, he'd be the kind you'd never catch.
So now the question was-had no other girl ever sat here, or was the evidence just wiped so clean she could never tell?
Cedric locked the car and turned around, only to find Sabrina still standing there, her eyes practically glued to the front passenger window, wearing an expression that said, "Why is there no clue?!"
Coupled with her strange behavior in the ride, it wasn't hard to guess what was up.
"Yo, Cedric!"
A male voice suddenly cut through their thoughts.
Both Sabrina and Cedric turned at the same time.
It was a young doctor in a White.
"Look who's actually here for once. And who's this?" The guy eyed Sabrina curiously, then paused.
"Hmm... 'Woman' doesn't exactly fit," he seemed to mumble to himself.
The girl in front of him had shoulder-length hair, wild and unstyled. Her skin was ridiculously fair-like the kind only baby dolls had. A round face, cheeks soft and full like apples. She wore a basic long-sleeve top tucked into a knee-length skirt, with simple flats on her feet.
No matter how old she might be, calling her a woman just didn't feel right.
Sabrina held her breath, eyes twinkling with excitement.
Whoa, now that's a spicy question!
She was dying to see how Cedric would react.
But Cedric just looked cool as ever, like the question didn't even scratch the surface. He knew his buddy too well to get caught off guard.
White Coat didn't even wait for a reply, just launched into his own guesses: "She's your sister, right? Lemme think, is she the older one or the younger one?"
Anyone familiar with Cedric knew he had two sisters.
Sabrina's heart that was just bubbling with anticipation took a nosedive. Seriously? Sister? Are you kidding me?
"All right, she's a little banged up. Can you take care of it?" Cedric cut the nonsense and quickly explained what had happened so White could jump into doctor mode.
The moment White heard she'd been kidnapped, his usual joking attitude vanished. He immediately swung into action and started arranging scans-CTs and a head check, the works.
Sabrina panicked a little at the sound of that. "No need! I just hadn't eaten all day and then tripped on my way out. The guy didn't even touch me. Really, it's not that serious."
She thought Cedric had just brought her here to get a nurse to slap a bandage on her forehead and be done with it. That scrape wasn't that big of a deal. Who knew he'd be this... thorough.
Just as White was about to explain how even minor knocks could be serious, Cedric beat him to it with a firm, "No."
Sabrina shut up instantly. No more arguments.
White gave the two of them an odd look, his eyes clearly putting the dots together. Then a smug little smile tugged at his lips. "Ah, so not the sister then."
Because everyone knew Cedric's sisters acted like sworn enemies-they'd never just listen quietly the moment he said no. They loved pushing his buttons.
But this girl? The second Cedric said no, she zipped her lips and nodded. Yeah, not a sibling.
White suddenly felt a chill and turned around-Cedric was staring at him with that unreadable look. It wasn't even sharp, but it made his skin crawl nonetheless.
He immediately cut the chatter and said to Sabrina, "Come on, let's get these checks done."
Sabrina was too busy basking in Cedric's subtle 'concern' to hear that little whispered jab. When White said it was time, she just nodded and followed.
After all, she was back for one reason: to win him back. So naturally, she had to go with the flow.
After a whole round of tests, Sabrina came out clutching her stomach that felt like it was being twisted in knots. She practically had to lean on the wall to stay standing. One more minute without food and she'd literally pass out.
As soon as she stepped out-bam-she walked smack into a human wall.
It was solid. And warm.
She clutched her forehead and looked up-it was Cedric.
Sabrina quickly straightened up. Just because he was being nice didn't mean she could go overboard with the touching.
"Sit," Cedric said calmly, already making his way to a bench in the hallway like he was used to her crashing into people.
Sabrina obediently followed and sat down. Then she caught a whiff of something delicious in the air, and her stomach immediately responded like it had a mind of its own.
She followed the smell and saw that Cedric's pinkie was hooked around a plastic bag. Yep, that was definitely where the scent was coming from.
Cedric was speechless at the way Sabrina was eyeing the food like a starving stray, and couldn't help blaming himself a little-he'd been so focused on her injury that he forgot to feed her before bringing her in for a check-up.
"Eat something first, then we'll grab a proper meal later," he said, holding up the bottom of the plastic bowl as he handed her a greasy breakfast burrito, then opened the lid on the oatmeal.
Sabrina took it eagerly, didn't even bother with courtesy. She chomped down two big bites right away, cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk. Mouth full, she mumbled, "Why'd you buy this for me? You used to be all strict about it, never let me eat this stuff."
Cedric had always turned his nose up at street food.
At first, she'd chalked it up to rich-kid pickiness. Later, after he lectured her about food safety, she realized yeah, maybe those few-dollar snacks weren't exactly gourmet quality. Still, she kept eating them-because they're just too good.
Cedric's hand paused mid-stir in the oatmeal when she suddenly brought up the past. But seeing how happily she was eating, snapping bites off like they were the best thing she'd had in weeks, he figured she didn't mean anything by it.
"There wasn't anything else out there," he lied, eyes dropping to the oatmeal.
He knew full well there were tons of options-eggs, milk, dumplings, sandwiches... But she hated those. He could already imagine the way she'd wrinkle her nose. Thinking of how she was injured, he didn't even hesitate. He just stopped at the burrito cart and got her one.
"Oh," Sabrina responded, quickly polishing it off. Then without skipping a beat, she reached out and took the oatmeal from his hand, not even bothering with the spoon-just chugged it straight from the bowl.
Damn low blood sugar. It was like watching someone plug into a charger-only faster. She clearly wasn't looking to 'slow charge' either.
Cedric sighed quietly and gently held a napkin to her lips so she wouldn't mess up her clothes. "Slow down."
But she'd already drained it, cheeks full again like a frog. She gave her chest a pat to help swallow the last bit, then finally grinned. "So freaking good!"
Her eyes sparkled again. Her lips, reddened from the heat, looked like she was wearing lipstick, and the steam had turned her cheeks a rosy pink. She looked bright, full of life-like spring had just walked in.
Cedric got caught staring.
"Huh? What are you staring at? I'll throw this out!" she said, leaning toward him for a second. Not actually expecting an answer, she spotted the trash bag with the burrito wrapper in his hand and took it from him, darting off to the bin.
Cedric blinked and snapped out of it.
Watching her rush off, he thought, for someone in her twenties, she still had the energy of a teenager-like a walking firecracker.
Yeah... 'springtime' wasn't a bad way to put it.
What she'd eaten wasn't nearly enough to fill her up-just enough to fix that dizzy spell. She hadn't eaten or drunk anything for a whole day and night, after all.
So, after scarfing down that quick bite at the hospital, she tagged along behind him again, ready to go find real food.
They retraced their steps back to the entrance.
Outside, the hospital entrance was buzzing like a little street market. Every stall had steam rising off it, and a mash-up of food smells filled the air.
Sabrina's eyes widened. Wait a sec-there were tons of breakfast options here. burrito was tucked away in the corner. So why'd he say there wasn't anything else? Maybe he didn't even get it here.
Thank goodness, though. If he'd gotten any of those eggs or milk, she would've hated it.
