Chapter 19: Chapter 19
Ingrid was nowhere to be seen.
Rohit traveled up and down the Avenue, around the buildings, though each alleyway, but still couldn’t locate her. He panted from his jogging around the area and spotted some security doing their patrols. ‘Should I report a missing person?’ he considered. ‘No! When it comes down to who Ingrid is, she wouldn’t want outside authorities to get involved.’ The young man recalled the vampire heiress’s apprehension about being admitted to a hospital. ‘So what should I do?’
He sat down on a bench and processed his options for a bit.
The sky was dimming and the amount of people present on the strip kept increasing, further creating an impasse to pin down exactly where Ingrid was.
Rohit decided to head back to his car—the starting point, as he knew it. But he shook his head. ‘She’s capable of flight and superhuman speed, so she could be miles away from here for all I know,’ he gloomily thought, opening the car door and then taking a seat. The young man sighed, as he leaned forward onto the steering wheel. “What a mess,” he muttered. “What am I supposed to do now?”
After mulling over it for several minutes, Rohit recalled the blood bags in the car, “At some point, she’s bound to come looking for those, right?” but also considered the fact they were what they were—bait for other vampires. ‘I don’t know how long they’re gonna stay frozen for, but it’s bound to attract unwanted attention at some point.’
When some more time passed by, the evening had sunk in and there were people perusing around and enjoying the nightlights strung above the Avenue. Live music was also playing at the edge of the makeshift field by the fountain.
Rohit then thought Colette could probably help sniff her out. “Oh, wait… Is the mall still opened?” He looked at his watch, and there was still an hour left before closing. As he rummaged through his wallet and pockets, he also recalled that Ingrid was the one the dhamphir had given her card too. “Which means if I wanna reach her again, I’d have to go inside the mall.” The young man sighed. “Well, what choice do I have now?”
When he was getting ready to turn his keys into the ignition, he suddenly remembered that Colette would probably be no help either. “Ingrid’s masked her trail… There’d be no way for her to detect it.” Rohit continued sitting in his car and groaned with a heavy heart before stepping out to get some fresh air. It was quite the stressful situation he was in, because not only was the vampire heiress making it difficult for him to search for her, there was also a backseat piled with her belongings.
After much deliberation, the young man decided to sweep through the Avenue once more.
He wasn’t rushing this time. Instead, he just strolled through, while his eyes scanned his surroundings for Ingrid’s whereabouts. Mulling through his thoughts, Rohit wondered what was going to happen in a few hours when the strip closed and he was left alone. Was he going to stay? Or just head home, hoping Ingrid would show up eventually? At the same time, why did he even bother at this point? This worked out quite well for Rohit, because his life was going exactly as he wanted it to go: steady job, taking classes at his own pace, working towards his dreams, and just staying clear of any distractions around him.
When Ingrid von Anfang showed up in his life—not even a day after encountering her in the rain—she already brought trouble as company. The reason as to why he even agreed to help her in the first place was a mystery to him. ‘Just an instinct?’ he wondered, entering the bubble tea shop. ‘Or am I just too nice?’
The tea shop was packed like usual on the weekends. It was a cramped spot, since it was a new storefront to the strip from the beginning of summer, but quite popular. Rohit stood in line, trying to think positive thoughts about getting his favorite style drink: hazelnut chocolate milk tea with pearls. Since he usually didn’t go out for much, this was like a luxury treat for him.
After he placed his order, he took a seat at the small, round table near the entrance. It’d been crowded around by people who didn’t want to sit down, since there was only one chair available anyway. But Rohit didn’t hesitate to take it for himself while he waited. He rubbed his temples and passed his hands over his long hair. The young man was doing his best not to worry so much about Ingrid’s whereabouts.
When the clerk finally called Rohit’s tea type, he stood up and proceeded to retrieve it. Along the short way back to the front counter, he brushed behind a girl who almost choked from sipping on her bubble tea.
She turned around with a flat expression, while he apologized and kept eye contact with her matching iris colors to his for a few seconds before obtaining his drink. The young woman seemed to stare daggers into him, as she took another sip of her brown sugar milk tea and turned back around.
Rohit exited and thought to himself, ‘Sheesh, it’s not like I bumped into her intentionally. That place was packed!’ Deciding not to dwell on it, he headed back to his car, away from all the action again, after scouring the strip once more for Ingrid. He took one last sip of his bubble tea and tossed it into the trash bin nearby before entering his car. “What am I gonna do now?” he asked himself after a heavy sigh. “Should I stay or go?”
Meanwhile, Colette was locking the doors to her store and began turning off the lights after taking one last satisfying look around her. “Things are finally starting to look up for me,” she spoke with a smile. “I think I can safely start making real sales here.” She then headed out the back door, which led to a large parking lot closer to the road that intersected between the mall and the Avenue.
The dhamphir noticed someone crouched beneath the lot light she parked her car beside. “Wait…” She squinted in disbelief. “That can’t be—what’s she doing here?”