Chapter 5- I Can't Leave Her Alone

"THEODORE, you asshole, you have to meet me today!!!" Theodore's phone shook violently because of the man on the call.

He closed an eye and scratched his ear with a pinky, "Who told you that I'd listen to you?"

"My new collection of fragrant wine told me so."

"Which one is it?" Theodore moved forward in his seat, his eyes struck with innocent curiosity.

"The limited edition Eastern wine, 1800's," the man was definitely smirking from behind the phone. He could clearly sense his friend's eagerness.

"I'll be there by 6." Theodore instantly cut off the call.

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At sharp 6 p.m. Theodore stood outside an elegant, luxury bar. He took out his phone from his pocket and dialed a number,

"Kevin, are you inside?"

"Yeah, I am," a man waved his hand from within the bar.

Theodore strode in as he recognized the man inside.

"My man, Dr. Theodore," the man raised his eyebrows as he peered at his wristwatch, "you're, uh, 3 minutes late."

Theodore rolled his eyes as he sat himself down beside Kevin, "Thank me for even accepting your invitation."

"... what a terrible man, I bet your recent date rejected you again."

"..."

"Wait, they did?"

"She did not."

"You sure?" Kevin pried as he nudged Theo's shoulder.

"We agreed to meet again."

"It must've been meaningless words, lol."

"Shut up. And why the heck would you use L.O.L in normal conversation?" Theodore was disgusted.

"Don't mind my vocabulary. I'm just a small, uneducated bartender, nothing as qualified as you, doc," Kevin lamented with the back of his hand on his head.

Theodore once again rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Your old man will get a heart attack if he hears you say that after paying for your PhD. Anyways, where's the fragrant wine you were talking about?"

Chuckling, Kevin inched closer to Theodore, "I'll bring it out if you give me a hug,"

Disgusted, but not in the least bit surprised, Theodore flung his fist into Kevin's stomach. Then he deadpanned, "The wine. Please."

"Ugh, fine, you're so cruel. You'll never get a girl at this rate." Kevin whined and sobbed as he dragged himself over to the back of the bar to bring the drinks.

Since it was taking him too long, Theodore decided to ditch Kevin for a while and went outside for a smoke. As the lighter lit his cherry cigar, he inhaled deeply and let the cherry-scented smoke waft from his mouth. As the smoke dispersed, his side eye caught a stumbling woman coming out from the restaurant beside the bar.

'Another drunkard, I guess?' he thought as he blew another whiff from his cigar.

However, his attention had already diverted towards the woman. The woman's back seemed quite familiar. And so did her long, blonde hair. But more than that, as a doctor, Theodore could sense it; the woman was not feeling well.

He was about to approach her slowly when the almost stable woman suddenly lost her balance- she was clearly going to fall head first on the pavement!

Theodore paced up and quickly took hold of her. The woman was someone he clearly knew.

"HEY! You okay?!"

"I'm fine," the woman croaked out the words, her skin sickly pale even under the dimming sun.

"You look like you're about to faint, and you say you're fine. Ms. Liliana, is something wrong with your head?" Theodore strangely felt frustrated hearing the woman's answer.

To his surprise, the Liliana in his arms began sobbing at his words, flustering him a bit, 'Was I too harsh?'

Before he could say anything to comfort her, Liliana sobbed profusely, eventually asking him to help her bring her bag back.

He held her throughout their way into the restaurant lest she fell on her way again.

The moment they reached the table she sat at, Theodore easily moved to grab Liliana's bag for her. However, he was stopped in his actions by a snobbish, dark haired buffoon. Annoyed, Theodore was about to harshly pull Liliana's bag from the man when he felt a gentle tug on his shirt.

Liliana moved out of his arms and stood in front of the pestering snob before Theodore. He didn't understand why but her actions were making him feel an intense frustration. His heart was in tangles and he just wanted to hit that childish, ugly man before him to release it.

"Isaac, please give-" Before Liliana could finish her sentence, Isaac grabbed hold of Liliana's hand.

"Liliana, are you leaving?" he asked, his eyes glistening, as if pleading her to not leave.

"Yes, I'm sorry everybody, but I'm not feeling well." Liliana evaded his grasp.

Miranda chimed in, "What~? So, you're leaving after you've picked a random handsome guy on the street?"

"Lily, are we that unimportant?" Janette followed and pouted.

"We barely meet, Lily, you can't leave your friends alone for a stranger..." Isaac narrowed his eyes.

"I just-"

"Lily, you have to stay!"

All of them rambled one after the other, leaving no space for Liliana to explain herself.

Liliana pursed her lips and looked down at the table which was almost wiped clean of all the dishes that were ordered barely half an hour ago.

She then turned around and looked at the man, who she finally recognized as Theodore after her head cleared up. The brunette was standing with his fists clenched, his teeth gritting and eyes glaring. For some reason, he looked very angry. Liliana quivered a little at his expression. Averting her gaze, she looked back to her 'friends'.

"I'll stay then."

'Why is she being such a pushover?!' Theodore closed his eyes hearing her response as he heaved out a deep sigh. If he could, he oughta tuck her in his arms and run-

Liliana unconsciously looked back to see his reaction, only for him to look at her with unwarranted disappointment. He shook his head with a roll of his eyes and strode out of the restaurant.

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"Liliana, I'm saying this because I'm worried about you, but you shouldn't randomly take help from a stranger." Miranda took hold of Liliana's hands and wrapped it with her own.

'But-' Halfway through her thought, Liliana felt it was hopeless for her to explain who the man was anymore. Her head was still throbbing, and it was definitely hunger this time around. She only nodded to everything as the chaotic group chattered away.

"Let's go to the bar beside this restaurant after this!" Emily howled.

"OMG, yes please! I heard the bartender there is super hot!" Janette squealed.

"Alright! Let's go!" Isaac cheered.

They called on the waiter to bring the bill.

"I'll pay with card," Isaac said to the waiter.

"A moment, Sir," the waiter took hold of Isaac's card and swiped it in the machine. He then turned it over to Isaac to dial his PIN. However,

"I'm sorry, Sir. Your card was declined." the waiter lowered his head as he handed back Isaac's card.

Beads of sweat began forming on Isaac's forehead as he rummaged in his wallet for a different card. Yet, it was to no avail. He chuckled sheepishly towards the group, "Uh, guys, I think we'll have to split the bill for tonight. I don't really have much cash on my hand right now."

"WHAT~???" the entire group whined loudly.

"Oh come on, Isaac. You know the rest of us work multiple shifts to make ends meet." Janette raised her eyebrows

"Hehe, take my 5 dollars." Emily passed down a 1 dollar bill on the table as she giggled in a drunken daze.

Isaac took a deep breath. Miranda coyly suggested, "Guys, how could you all act like that when we have a filthy rich young mistress right among us." Her eyes furtively looked at Liliana. As such, everyone followed Miranda's line of sight, peering at her eagerly.

"Lily, you can do this much right? Next time we'll all collectively treat you, we promise," Miranda and Isaac simultaneously pleaded Liliana.

"I'm sure Lily won't refuse seeing us in such a pickle."

Liliana did not know what to do under the immense pressure of their hopeful stares. And so, once again she gave in to them. She did not have her credit card with her. So, she paid over four digits in cash for the meal she never even took a single bite of.

After Liliana paid, all of them slowly excused themselves, leaving her alone in the restaurant. Having used up all of the emergency cash she brought, she couldn't even buy anything to eat while sitting in a restaurant. Knowing she'd only feel more hungry staying there, she too left the shop.

Unfortunately for her, it started raining as soon as Liliana stepped out of the building. She hurriedly scrabbled around her bag for her phone. But that too was dead. With no money, no working phone, no car, nor an umbrella, Liliana wasn't having the best of days. All her lucky stars in the universe seemed to have unaligned themselves or crossed each other.

Cold, hungry, and with a nerve-wracking headache, Liliana's nose started prickling. She paced around pavement. However, her legs decided to give up. She dropped to her feet and buried her head in her knees. Her headache only worsened as she began crying. She tried to hold back, her lips quivering, but her grumbling stomach only teared her up more.

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"Where'd you go suddenly?" Kevin stood with large pots, all filled to the brim with fragrant wine.

Theodore relaxed his furrowed brows as he answered, "Just a smoke."

"Whaaat. We haven't even started drinking."

Kevin then pulled out small, Eastern styled jade, wine cups and filled them up with the wine, "Here, try it!"

Theodore took the little cup in between his long fingertips. He took a deep sniff before downing it at once. The soft rose scented wine burnt his throat because of him drinking it in all at once.

"Bro. Slow down. You've gotta savor it."

Somehow, he wanted to ignore Kevin's advice and just drink up the whole pot all together. But he decided to cool down and comply.

When he truly did savor it, the rosey vintage wine tasted very sweet, unlike most Eastern wines he'd tried. The surprise almost made him widen his eyes.

"See, I told you, you gotta savor quality stuff like this-"

"I knew I just can't leave her alone!" Theodore suddenly jolted up from his seat and rushed outside in the rain.