Chapter 74: Chapter 74

Bob was baffled as to why she would leave all of a sudden. Could it be that she realized he knew her secret and was too embarrassed to face him?

" Did you tell her anything after I left Doctor Brown?" Bob asked still frowning, he didn't like the sound of this at all.

" Not much. She'd asked of you first when she came to, and I told her you left. And yeah, I gave her the credit card you asked me to hand her" The doctor recounted briefly with a confused face, he still didn't understand why that has anything to do with the problem at hand.

Bob's eyes widened as he realized the problem from the doctor's story.

" Which way did you see her go?" Bob asked alarmingly looking at every personnel present.

" I- I saw her go down the road that way just now" The receptionist who was receiving most of the blame pointed.

" Okay!" Bob nodded and hurried out of the hospital, about to go in search of Val.

After Doctor Brown had informed him of what he said to Val, Bob could tell what had happened. Val must have left because she thought he had left her for good. The doctor told Val he'd left while handing the card he'd left behind to her. Without doubt, Val would think he'd left her for good and had given her the card as a parting gift.

' I'm so stupid to have not left a note' Bob blamed himself for having not informed Val of his absence. He had underestimated the doctor's lack of empathy and deep thought towards the consequence of a conversation. Doctor Brown only blurted out whatever he felt was right or wrong, he had never been the type to think before speaking.

Outside the hospital, it was quite awkward to see Bob who had just arrived in a classy style looking about frantically. The driver was confused to see his boss being so insidious, it was a strange occurrence to behold.

Bob rushed in a jog towards the direction where the patient greeter had pointed that she'd seen Val walk off to. He went around the corner of the street right ahead, looking around in search of Val. However, Val was nowhere in sight.

Bob paused and continued to look around, still not willing to give up the search. Gazes latched on him but he couldn't care any less at the moment.

He reached into his pocket to grab his phone while wiping the sweat that had began to form on his smooth face. Bob quickly scrolled through his contact in search of Val's number and dialed the line. He pressed the phone to his ear when it started to ring, he still looked about the street.

Judging by the receptionist's words, Val had only left the hospital few minutes before he arrived. She couldn't have gone too far.

Prrr!

Bob clamped his teeth as the call rang through without connecting.

" The person you're calling is unavailable at the moment. Please leave a voicemail at the-" Val wasn't picking the call. Bob tried calling Val again severally but it was all to the same result. In the end, he gave up and decided to head back to the hospital.

Just as he walked back around the corner, Bob looked across the street out of instinct and withdrew his gaze. He froze in an instant and was compelled to look once again.

Bob stood with a stumped expression as she saw Val through the transparent window glass of what seemed like a clothing store.

He couldn't help but smile wryly.

...

Val who had gotten a shirt and tight pants along with an ankle boot felt liberated in them.

" Thanks for your patronage ma'am.I hope you enjoyed shopping here at our store?" After making the payment with the black credit card, the attendant greeted with a delighted smile, happy with her decision to have trusted Val to be sane.

Val walked out of the clothing store feeling rejuvenated and finally ready to start a new life. However, just as she walked out, she froze when she saw a figure she'd never expected to see walking towards her with a wry smile on his face.

" Val, why did you leave the hospital?" Despite having a conjecture as to why Val had left, Bob still asked. Though, he did so in an apologetic tone rather than that of questioning.

Val frowned at him, feeling the irritant emotions she'd felt towards him in the past few days that she'd been in the hospital resurfacing. Her hands trembled by her side in seething anger.

" You should answer that question yourself!" Val shot her head forward and retorted in a low tone. She wasn't the one to answer questions.

" Hah! San Francisco. Can you come with me? We need to talk!" Val sighed as he briefly explained.

Val frowned hearing Bob's words. Why has he gone to San Francisco? Val didn't get it. More importantly, she'd thought she left her for good so why was he here now?!

Val didn't argue however. Realizing Bob had a lot to explain to him, and she did have a lot of explaining to do as well, she nodded her head affirmatively.

" Let's go" Bob led Val to the car. He planned to inform the doctor about having found Val later.

" Take us back to the mansion" Bob told the driver who had regained his calm after having figured out why his boss had acted so strangely earlier.

' Mansion?' Val was stupefied but it wasn't beyond her expectation.

" I left the hospital for San Francisco right after I'd read Aidan's message about what had happened with attorney Chris. Why didn't you tell me about this?" Bob asked after a while. He felt guilty as he could be considered the reason behind Val's misfortune. Without him bringing her into his divorce case and without him having introduced her to attorney Chris and putting Valerie in his care, none of what happened would have happened.

" ..." Val was silent for a long while as she felt embarrassed for various reasons. First was that she'd thought that Bob had left her for good, but in truth he hadn't. Moreso, Bob actually knew of attorney Chris blackmail already. Although she planned to tell him about it later, she still couldn't help but be embarrassed about it. She didn't feel too comfortable speaking about it.

Bob had realized this and didn't press any further. He maintained silence not bringing up the topic again as the car rode in a static drive

" I planned to inform you of this before, but... I was more concerned about the trial" Val said a while later.

"..." Bob grunted in silence not knowing what to say. It wasn't until after a while that he opened his mouth to speak again,

" That bastard is currently facing prosecution. And I've put everything in have in masking certain that he would get the right sentence that he deserves!" Bob stated righteously. Right after he'd read the message from Aidan, he was furious. Bob thought to leave for San Francisco to make certain that the attorney didn't pull himself out of the case using his influence. He was disgusted at the attorney and wanted him to face justice.

" Thank you" Val said solemnly with her head lowered.

" Val... are you okay?" Bob asked facing Val with a worried expression.

Val shot her gaze up to meet Bob's, seeing the concern in them, Val couldn't conceal her pain anymore. Her face contorted into that of hurt as she said to Bob,

" I thought you left for good..." Val's words conveyed a lot of emotions.

Bob reached an arm around Val to embrace her gently in a friendly manner. She seemed depressed and extremely hurt. Bob was pained to see Val like this, the lady had done a lot for him. And he wouldn't reciprocate that with ingratitude. He would never!

" I apologize for my misdeeds Val, I didn't mean to do that." Bob comforted her by rubbing her shoulders gently.

Val nodded her head understandably after a while. She hadn't felt like how she did now in a long while.

Bob seeing that Val's emotions had calmed broke away from her.

" I informed the doctor that I was going to return today when you would be discharged. I never thought he wouldn't mention that to you" Bob stated in his defence.

Val was surprised to hear this. However, she didn't fault Doctor Brown. After all, she didn't ask him if Bob had left for good or if he would returned. She has assumed the former just because the doctor had vaguely said that Bob had left.

" I understand. Although, I wouldn't lie and say I wasn't infuriated" Val said honestly. She didn't need to hide how she felt from Bob.

Bob smiled wryly and wisely said nothing.

Remembering the pressing matter of relevant importance that she had to discuss with Bob about, Val quickly stated.

" Bob there's something I must tell you..." Val couldn't wait any longer. She thought that the more she wasted time, the more she was likely to never be able to tell him. It was as though the universe was against her telling him about it.

Val's heart raced as she looked aside, wondering how she was to tell Bob about her situation.

" Can it wait till we get home?" Bob asked kindly.

Val was hesitant at first but seeing the driver, she realized it wasn't something she could say in the car anyway.

" I guess" Val nodded suggestively to which Bob nodded in response as well.

Silence reigned in the car as they both thought of ways to say what weighed heavily in their hearts. Bob looked outside, enjoying the scene of the bustling city while Val did the same.

...