As they walked down the empty hallways of the hospital, Janessa and Eric remained silent.
"You..."
"You..."
The two suddenly spoke up at the same time and smiled at each other in embarrassment.
"Janessa, please go first!"
Eric insisted with an awkward smile.
"I wasn't going to say anything important.All I wanted to ask was how you were getting along with
Alana..."
Initially, Janessa had no desire to mediate between the two, but she couldn't help but do so.
She hoped in her heart that the two of them could find their way to each other.
"We..."
As he looked back at Janessa, Eric couldn't help but feel disappointed.
He suddenly realized that Janessa had always hoped for him and Alana to be a couple someday.
But that wasn't what Eric yearned for.
The last thing he wanted to do was make Janessa sad.
He knew that if he did anything to upset Alana, Janessa would be forced to keep a distance from him.
If he wanted to stay close to Janessa, he had to reign in the affections he had for her.
"We're just friends, that's all."
Eric didn't want to think too deeply about the relationship he had with Alana.
As of now, he only saw her as a friend.
However, if things changed, they might become a couple in the future.
Janessa merely nodded with satisfaction.
She was relieved to hear those words from his mouth.
It seemed like she made the right move to invite both of them on the mountain climbing trip.
The next step was to watch and wait to see how things would develop between the two of them.
Janessa had no intention of interfering with their relationship.
Things had to happen naturally between the two of them.
If they were to encounter some problems, it wouldn't be too late for her to step in and mediate for them.
"Please take good care of Alana.Also, can you tell her that I won't be able to visit her in the hospital for
the next two days?"
Now that things were progressing between them, she didn't want to be a third wheel.
Janessa wanted to be a proper wingman to her best friend.
Eric's brows furrowed at her request.
"You seem a bit off tonight, like something is on your mind.Is there something bothering you?"
The moment Janessa stepped into the ward, she had a frown on her face.
Even though she tried her hardest to conceal her worries from Alana, Eric could immediately tell that
she wasn't her usual self.
Janessa was only able to deceive Alana, not Eric.
"Don't worry about me! I just don't want to be a third wheel, that's all."
Janessa tried her hardest to look relaxed.
When she turned to look at Eric, she suddenly felt a pang of guilt for lying to his face like that.
She never expected Eric to be so perceptive when it came to her.
"Is it something you can't tell me about?"
Eric stepped forward and blocked Janessa's path.
He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked down on her with a sullen face.
"You see me as your younger brother, am I right? You can tell me anything."
Eric was over six feet tall, and Janessa was more than a foot shorter than him.
She had to crane her neck to look him in the eye.
At that moment, she suddenly felt comforted by the fact that she had a younger brother by her side.
No matter what burdened her, there was someone she could share her difficulties with.
At that point, Janessa didn't know what to do next, so she ended up telling Eric everything.
"That's what I was suspecting.I have a feeling that Gracie is behind this whole mess, but I don't have
the evidence to prove it.I feel like my investigation's hit a dead end, and I don't know what to do next."
Janessa sat on the edge of a nearby flower bed and looked up at the sky as she took a deep breath.
"It would be tricky for you to locate the hacker.I know someone who majored in computer science.I
could ask him to check it out for you.Maybe he could find something."
Janessa nodded in reply.
All of a sudden, she noticed a flash of light coming from behind her.
She stood up and looked back suspiciously but she couldn't see anything but darkness.
Eric found an abandoned piece of cardboard and laid it onto the edge of the flower bed for Janessa to
sit on.
After that, he took off his coat and placed it around Janessa.
"What are you looking at, Janessa?"
Eric also looked back, thinking that Janessa might have seen someone she knew.
Janessa shrugged off his coat as she said, "You might catch a cold.Put it back on.I'm not cold right
now."
Although she trusted him enough to share her troubles with him, she couldn't accept his coat like this.
The smell of him on the coat made her feel uncomfortable.
His act of kindness was too intimate for her.
Even though he was becoming a dear friend of hers, she wanted to keep him at a safe distance for
Alana's sake.
"Come on! It's no big deal. I'm your brother, okay? How could I stand around and watch you shiver?"
Eric adjusted his coat on Janessa's frail shoulders and bent down to button it.
Janessa had no choice but to let him do so.
"Don't worry about it so much.You need to get a good night's rest.I'll contact my friend to see what he
could do for you.Everything's going to be fine."
‘There's no way in hell I'll let anything terrible happen to you,’ Eric silently swore to Janessa as he
followed her out of the hospital.
They walked side by side as Eric escorted her back to her apartment.
During the walk, Janessa had the feeling that someone was watching her, but she never saw anyone.
"What do you keep looking at?"
Eric asked when he noticed that Janessa kept looking behind her.
He saw nothing but the road and the street lamp behind them.
"I have a feeling that someone is following us.I don't know! Maybe I'm delirious from overworking
myself," Janessa replied.
"Let's go.Stop worrying so much."
Eric looked back one more time to make sure, but he still didn't see anyone around.
He walked with her until they reached her doorstep.
After he dropped her off, he checked around her apartment for anything suspicious but found nothing.
When he was sure that she was safe, he left her apartment feeling relieved.
Hidden in the bushes not too far away from the apartment, a man dressed in disguise also turned to
leave carrying a camera with him.
He soon disappeared into the darkness.
As Janessa was soaking in her tub, she drifted into a deep sleep and recalled what had happened to
her during the past few years.
While she slept, she dreamt of the precious days she spent with her parents.
All of a sudden, her dreams morphed into a nightmare.
She had flashbacks of her encounters with Rayan, their fights and inevitable divorce, and the criticism
she faced from the Qiu family.
All of a sudden, she woke up with tears streaming down her face.
Fortunately, it was only a dream.
Janessa’s eyes were sore from crying so much.
By that time, the water was already cold.
Janessa quickly rinsed the foam that coated her body.
She sighed to herself as she inspected her red and swollen eyes in the mirror.
The last thing she expected was to break down in tears while she slept.
Janessa left the bathroom and collapsed onto her bed, feeling exhausted.
After finishing her nap in the bathtub, Janessa couldn't sleep anymore.
The only thing she could do was lie on her bed and look up at the ceiling as she waited to fall asleep.
She wondered how she could find the evidence to prove her innocence.
After a few moments, she still couldn't sleep, so she sat up to think about the whole thing one more
time.
Someone hacked into her computer Sunday night about ten o'clock.
The plan was then uploaded to the Internet at around midnight.
At the time, Janessa wasn't at the hospital with Alana.
She was alone at home, and no one could verify that claim if she took that route.
Janessa didn't know what to do next.
As she sifted through every detail, she still couldn't figure out what truly happened.
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