“You're the…only…woman of my heart, Jasmine,” Xavier's speech was slurred as he staggered into the front yard, looking very drunk. His tie was tucked into his trouser pocket and his shirt collar was flying in the air.
He looked so rough and shattered.
“I'll always…love you… I'm so sorry… for hurting you,” he continued to talk to no one in particular.
However, the strange man who fled out of Jasmine's quarter raced past him, his shoulder brushing off against his strongly, which caused him to fall to the ground powerlessly.
“You bastard! How dare you…” he said in a tough voice, watching how the person flew out as if something were chasing him.
Promptly, his brain turned, and he regained the presence of his mind. He looked back toward Jasmine's doorstep and then to the entrance direction where the strange person had gone through.
His eyes dilated, and he quickly got on his feet and scampered to her apartment.
Reaching there, he was astounded to see the door wide open, and not only that, he soon discovered that the lock has been destroyed.
His heart was thumping violently this time, and his drunken mood was now long gone, as everything seemed so clear in his eyes.
With quick and haphazard movement, he paced into the cozy living room, and who he saw lying lifelessly in her own pool of blood made his heart plummet into his stomach.
“Jasmine!” he screeched at the top of his voice while he crouched to the floor and rapidly check her pulse.
Realizing that she was no longer breathing, he immediately picked her up in his arms and rushed out, heading straight to where his car was parking in the yard.
He didn't even know how he had managed to fetch his car key in his pocket and opened the backseat door.
He carefully put her down on the backseat door and thereafter drifted off to the driver's seat.
Immediately after his car rode out of the yard, Noah's car screeched to a halt outside of the house. He got down from his car and rushed into Jasmine's flat, without even parking properly.
He sprinted into the house and was taken aback by the pool of blood spreading on the tiled floor immediately.
He felt a tight knot twisted in his chest as he squatted slowly and touched the blood. Without being told, he knew that something terrible had occurred here.
“No, no, God, no. Jasmine!” he yelled, rising to his feet again and made to run toward her room; however, he felt something beneath his feet just as he put a pace forward.
He removed the feet and saw Jasmine's phone, swimming in the blood. He bent and picked up the phone and then scooted to her room.
“Where are you, Jasmine?!” he cried out in grief, his eyes had changed from a gentle and warm gaze to being moist.
He rummaged the whole room as if searching for an item, he opened the bathroom as well and peered his head inside, but he didn't see anyone who looks like Jasmine.
Thinking at the prospect that someone had hurt Jasmine, he felt like invisible knives were wrenching his heart again and again.
He left where he was standing and race out of the room and just right then, his pace came to an abrupt hurt as he recalled that he had caught a glimpse of a car that drove out of the yard when he had arrived.
Hastily, he trotted out of the house and headed to his car outside.
In a matter of minutes, he was now tailing behind the vehicle he had recognized to be Xavier's.
The car was speeding into the night and Noah too was racing behind him. His temper had skyrocketed and the blue veins in his fair knuckles kept jumping out.
He thought that if by chance Xavier was involved in Jasmine's disappearance, then he wouldn't think about it twice before murdering him.
Just as he was getting close to catch up with him, the car cornered and sped into the hospital, and that was when Noah realized that he was now in the hospital Jasmine works.
Xavier came off the car without parking in the lot and accelerated to the other side of the car, unlocked it and picked Jasmine up.
Noah saw this and his eyes widened in terror. Without turning off the ignition, he glided out of the car and rushed up to meet Xavier and seeing that it was truly Jasmine he was holding up, he felt his heart ache terribly.
However, before he could react, Xavier had walk past him and entered the big reception.
Noah's movement was more reflex now, he stood in his way and then raised his hand to slap him hard across his cheek.
“What have you done to her, you rascal?” he inquired, emanating an arctic coldness.
This sudden and loud voice attracted the two nurses behind the counter attention. Immediately after discerning a victim in one of their doctors hands, one of them placed a call through the emergency room while the other reached over to the nearby stretcher and rode it to where Xavier was standing.
Xavier carefully placed Jasmine on the stretcher, “To the operating room quickly, I'll come attend to her myself,” he instructed and just as the nurse reached over to push the stretcher, Noah blocked her movement.
“I want another doctor to operate on her, don't you dare allow this man to touch my girlfriend,” Noah proclaimed, his voice was quite distant as if his words were floating in the air, vanishing in the wind.
It was this time the nurse recognized that it was Noah Cooper standing there this whole time.
She gulped, not knowing what to do.
“Carry on, nurse, I'll be right there,” Xavier spoke up, his eyes shooting daggers at Noah.
“If you allow him to lay his fingers on Jasmine, then believe me you're losing your job,” Noah threatened ferociously, his gaze glaring holes at Xavier who equally glare right back.
The innocent nurse swallowed again and stole a glance at Jasmine, she couldn't help but think that what business could be between these three?
She could effortlessly discern that Noah and Xavier were at loggerheads, and it seemed that these two had completely forgotten that someone's life was at stake now
“Mr. Cooper, nurse Jasmine is losing so much blood already, would you please let your differences aside for now and let Doctor Xavier to treat her?” her voice was soft, and her reasoning was cogent.
Noah took his gaze to where Jasmine was lying on the stretcher and moved to her.
He removed the tendrils of her hair that was covering her face and then kissed her forehead, “Please don't leave me, Jasmine, and I promise you that, whoever has done this to you will not go scot-free,”
Xavier just scoffed and moved forward to push the stretcher and just then, some nurses arrived at the scene and took the stretcher from him.
In a split second, Xavier was now operating on Jasmine in the surgery room.
Feeling sad and helpless, Noah watched everything through the transparent door.
He didn't know what to think anymore, but he concluded in his mind that the culprit would be revealed once Jasmine regained consciousness.
Half an hour later, Xavier came out of the operation room, passing by Noah as if he didn't see him standing there.
Noah also pretended he didn't see him and waited impatiently for the nurses to push Jasmine out of the room.
Shortly, Jasmine was pushed out of the operating room with two nurses at both sides.
Noah rushed over and they all stopped their movement.
He stared at her delicate face which had turned pale and gently pick her hand and put it in his.
“How was the operation? When would she regain consciousness?” he asked his question calmly, still staring at Jasmine's face.
Some seconds had flown by, but none of the nurses were replying to his questions, and he immediately became highly strung up.
“Answer the damn question and stop scaring me!” he yelled at them, looking furious like an angry lion.