Chapter 27: Yes I do the hiding!

(Luke's POV)

I just watched him walked away from us. He just looked back at us once and then kept on walking until he's out of my sight.

"Please go back, Kris..." I said to myself.

"He'll be back..." My father said as if he was sure about it.

Wendy sat beside me and I greeted her.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Huh! You got the guts to even ask..." Jenna looked mad from the way she looked at Wendy.

"Uhm... Wendy has nothing to do with this..." Alex said calming Jenna down.

"You know her?" Jenna asked and she looked shocked.

"The thing is... She's a family friend..." Alex explained.

"What?!" Jenna exclaimed.

"My father and their father are good friends..." Wendy explained as well as she joined their conversation.

"Wait... Let me process this for a moment..." Jenna held her temple still looking surprised with what she found out.

"Save your chit-chat later on... Let's wait for Kris to come back..." I said calmly but deep inside I'm starting to get worried.

I saw a man in a suit came swooping in and whispered something to my father then left after a short while.

"He's not coming back... I just got a word from the lobby... He left the building..." My father.

"Oh, No! Bes..." Jenna expressed.

"This is your fault, dad... Why did you have to go that far?" I asked my father.

"What? You agreed when I asked if I can scrutinize him..." He said.

"Test him... Not scare him away... You even got Uncle Benjamin involved in this..."

"I just followed your father's instruction..." Uncle Benjamin said being innocent.

"Well, I heard he's back in town so I thought why not ask him for a favor..." He said trying to explain.

"Yeah... And look at what happened..." I'm being insolent to my father but I can't help it.

"What I told him were not all lies... I asked Secretary Kim to make an audit on existing loans and she happened to run over his mother's name..." He explained.

"So that's how you came up with that damn cheque..."

Even with what he did, I can't feel that he's sorry for it and that made me so mad at him.

"Yes... I already had that debt taken care of by my lawyer... But I thought I could use that to test him..."

"And you did... Thanks, dad... You made him look desperate for money..." I said sarcastically then I got up.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"I got to find Kris..."

"We'll go with you..." Jenna said as she and Alex stood up.

"I know that it's not my business but somehow I got dragged into this so let me help as well..." Wendy offered help.

We all left leaving my father and uncle Benjamin behind. We were all in the elevator when I noticed Jenna spacing out.

"Jenna, you're okay?" I asked.

"Oh... I'm sorry... I'm still confused about what's happening..."

"To keep it short... Everything is just a ploy... My father didn't mean everything he did earlier. He just wants to test Kris..." Alex answered her.

"But you know Kris cares for you so much... Why did you agree to this?" She asked me.

"I didn't know it will turn out like this..." I said looking down. She's right, I should've said 'No'.

"I don't have any idea as well... I thought it's just a simple dinner with you guys..." Wendy said as she joined our conversation.

"You, lady, has a lot of explaining to do..." Jenna told her.

"I'm sorry, Jenna..."

"You should be... You made a fool out of us by not telling who you really are..."

"I just want to be normal... I don't want to be treated differently because of my family background..."

"She's always like that since we're young... She doesn't like it when people act polite or courteous around her..." Alex said backing Wendy up.

"You can just be yourself... We accept you for whoever you are... You don't need to pretend to be someone you're not..."

"I'm really sorry..."

"You can talk about that some other time, let's find Kris first..." I said to cut off their chit-chat.

We got off the elevator and headed outside. I looked around to see if he's nearby but I didn't see him. Where could he be?

"Let's split up..." Jenna suggested.

"I'll go with Kris..." Wendy said.

"Nope! Uh-uh! That's not happening!" Jenna opposed.

"What now?" I asked.

"Can't you see? Kris walked out because your father introduced her as your fiance... How do you think Kris will react when he saw you two together?" Jenna extenuated why.

"I can explain to him..." Wendy tried to justify it.

"With his condition right now, he will not listen to you... Trust me... I know..." Jenna insisted.

"So what do we do?" Wendy asked.

"You'll go with Alex and I'll go with Luke..."

"I'm fine with that..." Alex agreed.

"Okay..." Wendy uttered.

"We'll go this way and you go that way... Call us if you found him... We'll do the same..." I said as I started to move back and Jenna followed me.

"Okay... Let's go..." Alex said as they strode the other way.

-----

It's almost an hour but we haven't found Kris. I'm getting more worried as time passes by.

"He's not answering my messages even my calls..." Jenna said as she put down her phone.

"Where could he be?" I asked as I brushed my hand through my hair.

"Why don't you head home? Maybe he's there already..." She proposed.

"What about you?" I asked.

"I told Alex to meet me here... They didn't find him either..."

"Okay..." I uttered. I was about to go when she stopped me.

"By the way, the thing about Wendy being your fiancé, that's not true at all, right?"

"Yes... My father just made it up..."

"Good... Good... Just checking..."

"I'll go now... Just call me if you found anything..."

"Sure will..."

I went home as fast as I could. I called out to him as soon as I enter the house. I checked his room but he's not there. He didn't go home. I'm getting more worried. Where is he?

I sat on the couch and covered my face with my hands. This situation is giving me so much stress and anxiety. I heard my cellphone rang and pulled it out of my pocket.

"Hello... dad?"

"Did you find him? How is he?" He asked.

"We haven't found him... He's not at home as well..." I answered keeping myself as calm as possible.

"I'm so sorry, son... I didn't think it through... Do you want me to send people to look for him?"

"No, dad..." I said on contrary.

"I caused this... So just let me help..." He insisted.

"We'll take care of finding him... If you really want to help, just do what you need to do..." I said then dropped the call.

I'm mad for what he did but in a way, I felt bad that I didn't see it coming. I knew that he's up to something when Kris got that envelope in the first place. I should've done something and not let him stepped away. This is all my fault.

An hour had passed and he's still somewhere out there. I already asked for help from my friends, Jessie and Mike to look for him. I thought he might go to a bar and get drunk. I wanted to find him myself but I'm afraid that he might be home the moment I have gone out so I waited for him. I tried to call him several times but he didn't answer until I can't contact him anymore. I'm getting paranoid. What if something bad happened to him? What if he got into trouble? And I'm not there to protect him. I will blame myself if anything happens to him.

Another hour had passed and I haven't got any news... I'm crazy worried about him. I pulled out my phone and called Jenna.

"Hey, Jenna... Did you find him?"

"No... Not yet... We already checked the area and asked a lot of people but nobody saw him... We told Wendy to get home and rest... She said she'll get help from her friends to find him..."

"I see... Same here... He's not home yet... It's getting pretty late... You better go home as well..."

"We'll check another street and go home after that... I'm worried about Kris... He's somewhere, probably hurting right now..."

"I'm sorry... I don't know what to do... It's all my fault..."

"Don't blame yourself, nobody wanted this to happen... It just happened..."

Then I heard the doorbell rang

"Wait... Someone's at the door..."

"Is that him?"

"I'll check..."

I rushed up to the door to see if it's Kris but it happen to be someone I least expected to see.

"It's not him... It's Chad..."

"What is he doing there?"

"I don't know... Please call me if you got any information where he is..."

"Okay... Sure..."

I dropped the call and put the phone back in my pocket.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"I'm here to bring home the person you're looking for..." He said.

He turned to his side and I saw another guy who was carrying and dragging Kris. He looked so drunk and wasted.

"Kris!" I exclaimed and immediately came up to them. I put Kris' arms over my shoulder and helped the other guy carry him.

"What happened?" I asked Chad as we got closer to the door.

"It's a long story... But you better get him to bed to rest..."

"Thank you..." I uttered.

We took Kris to his room and I cleaned him up. I tucked him in with his blanket and kissed him on the forehead. What did you do to yourself, Kris?

After a while, I went out of his room and offered Chad and his friend a coffee.

"Thank you for bringing him home and I'm sorry for the trouble it caused you..." I said as I handed them their coffee.

"Don't worry about it... Actually, I feel like we are the ones who are supposed to apologize... We knew something was going on with him but we didn't stop him from drinking too much..." Chad explained.

"No... No... He needed that... After what happened..."

"Can you tell us about it?" He asked.

I nodded. I guess they need to know the truth behind Kris's actions and behavior.

"Well, it's a big misunderstanding... And I play a big part in it because I didn't try my best to stop him. I thought he'd be back but as you have witnessed... He didn't..."

"I guess... It has something to do with your father?"  Chad implored.

"Yes... The thing is... My father wanted to test him but he went too far... He offered Kris a large amount just to leave me..."

"What! That's cruel!" Chad exclaimed.

"I know Kris wouldn't take it but my father asked a family friend to join us with his daughter and introduced her as his daughter-in-law..."

"Oh! Shit! Now I know why he acted like that..."

"He walked out and didn't come back... We all looked for him... We were all worried... I'm worried... I tried to call him several times but he didn't answer at all..."

"I knew it was you who's calling him but he turned off his phone... We just let him be..."

"I see...  But none of what my father had said or planned was true... My father accepted me and who I love... He's just trying to prank him... That's it..."

"But that's a really bad joke... You know... Kris was so devastated... If you heard him singing earlier, you can feel that he's not okay at all... He sounded like he's letting you go..."

"I don't want that to happen... I want to be with him for as long as I live..."

"You better explain everything to him when he wakes up or else the worse thing will happen and you wouldn't like it..." Chad said and for the first time, I trusted his words.

"I know... I will talk to him... Thank you again Chad and..." I paced towards the guy beside him.

"Oh, I'm sorry... This is Demi... My boyfriend..." Chad introduced him.

"Hi..." Demi uttered and offered his hand for a shake.

"Hi... Wait... I think I heard your name before..." I said as I shook his hand.

"Yeah... I'm Kris and Jenna's fitness coach..." Demi explained.

"Oh yeah! Nice to finally meet you and thank you for taking care of them this past week..."

"It's their dedication that helped them reach their goals... Too bad what he prepared for didn't turn the way he expected it..." Demi said.

"We better go now... You need to get some rest too..." Chad said as he got up and fix his shirt.

"Oh... I need to inform our friends he's here then I'll hit the sack after that..." I said.

"Okay..." He uttered.

Before they left. I talked to Chad and I apologized. I knew I treated him badly before but what he did today was something a friend will do and I appreciated it so much. He also told me something that really got me thinking of everything that happened tonight. He told me to make everything right and I will.

-----

I woke up the next day early. I went to Kris' room to check on him and he was still asleep. Last night was chaos. I called our friends last night to tell them he's here with me and they were all relieved. Chad really helped a lot and I promised him to make things right. It's still so early so I decided to prepare breakfast for him so I went out to buy something to eat.

I was at the counter of the convenience when I took my wallet out and a piece of paper fell on the floor. I picked it up and it was the cheque that my father gave Kris last night. I found it from his jacket last night when I cleaned him up.

"Ten million pesos... You really messed up, dad..." I mumbled as I realized my father didn't even sign it.

I paid for the things that I got and went home. When I entered the house I saw Kris' bedroom door was open. I walked over and saw him looking for something in the laundry. Then I thought of the cheque.

"Looking for this?" I said as I hold the cheque up.

He gazed at me and stood up. He looked quite pissed as he approached me.

"Give me that..." He said as he tried to snatch it from my hand.

I raised it higher out of his reach. I can help but smile at the way he reacted and his eagerness to get it from me if only he knows this cheque is no good. We were like kids fighting over candy until we found ourselves in the living room already. I wanted to tell him the truth already but I enjoyed seeing him this pissed. He's so cute.

"Do you think this is funny?" He asked firmly.

I sensed he's mad already but I tried to calm him down.

"What? You don't need this..."

"If you heard what your father said last night you should know my family needs that money..."

"I heard it too... But like I said you don't need it..."

His eyes were teary but I saw him hold it in.

"I don't have time for this... You're just like your father... You like playing with people with your money..."

I didn't like what he said. I'm not like that. I will never do something like that.

"Take it back... I'm not like him..."

He turned around and went back to his room. He shut the door and locked it. I went up to his door and kept on knocking.

"Kris... Open up... We need to talk... Let me explain..."

I didn't hear any response. So I kept banging on his door. Then I heard the radio getting louder and louder.

"What the..."

It was so loud that I doubt that he can still hear me. I took a deep breath and gave up. I decided to give him some time and I will explain everything when he's ready to listen. I prepared our breakfast and I took a shower. When I came out of the bathroom, I can still hear the radio from his room. I walked over to his door and knocked.

"Kris! We need to get to our class! Get ready, okay?!" I shouted hoping he heard me.

I went to my room and got dressed. I prepared the dishes and even made him a coffee.

I didn't see him went out of his room to take a shower. Does he plan to skip classes today? He can't be serious. I'm getting annoyed already by the loud noise from the radio.

"Okay... I'm done! You need to get out now..."

I went over to his door and knocked again. I called out but didn't get an answer. I tried to open the door and it did. It was unlocked. I went inside his room but I didn't see him. I turned the radio off and looked around. He's not here. I noticed his cabinet door slightly open. I opened it and noticed some of his clothes were missing.

"What? No... It can't be..."

I looked around again and I can't find his guitar. Could it be?

"Kris!"

I ran out of the house and I can't find nearby. Where did he go?

I'm panicking so much. I can't lose him this time. He hasn't heard the truth yet.

I pulled my phone out from my pocket and I called his best friend, Jenna.

"Hello, Jenna? I need your help... He's gone missing again."

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