Love Unspoken

"Are you all right?" a voice suddenly inquired.A pair of hands gently helped her to her feet. Quinn found herself gazing into the face of a college-aged young man.

The young man was clad in a white down jacket, earphones casually draped around his neck, and a backpack slung nonchalantly over one shoulder.

Quinn brushed away her tears and shook her head in response."You're okay? That's good. Head home," the young man advised, a fleeting smile gracing his features before he turned and sauntered away. Quinn remained rooted to the spot, a brisk wind whipping past her, making her feel unusually cold. She found a seat on the nearby concrete steps, pulling out her phone to read a message from Abigail. Abigail: "What's happened to you?"Quinn stared at the message, uncertainty clouding her thoughts. She sat there, lost in her own world as time slipped by. After a couple of hours, she abruptly stood up, hailed a cab, and directed the driver to the junkyard where Juliet once lived.

Arriving at the small shack, Quinn found it empty. Everything had been cleared out during the last visit, leaving only a solitary bed. Quinn moved to the bed and sat down, her fingers lightly tracing the grimy sheets.In a city as vast as Amber Bay, where could she possibly begin her search for Ariel and Juliet?

She pulled out her phone again, aimlessly scrolling through her contacts, when she noticed Juliet's note. She had bought Juliet a phone and had almost forgotten about it.With a sense of urgency, she dialed the number, but after several rings, there was no answer. Undeterred, Quinn called several more times, only to be met with a message that the phone was turned off.

Her hand fell to her side, and she sat in the shack feeling lost and worried about what could have happened to Juliet. The truth was, Juliet wasn't ignoring her calls. Her phone was now at the bottom of the river. In a moment of panic, when Ariel tried to snatch her phone, Juliet had thrown it out the window into the water below.

Enraged, Ariel slammed on the brakes, leaped out of the car, and peered over the railing into the churning river, but the old flip phone was nowhere to be seen.

Returning to the car, Ariel pointed at Juliet furiously and yelled, "Do you think you can get away with this? Do you really think throwing your phone in the river is going to stop me? I know where that dummy lives. I'll just go straight to her!" Shaking with anger, Juliet retorted, "If you dare, I'll make sure it's the last thing you see me do!"

"What has that dummy done for you? You're so protective of her, but what about your own grandson?"

"At my age, I can't even take care of myself, let alone anyone else," Juliet replied with a bitter laugh. "I'm practically dead already, and here you all are, still trying to use me to make money. Oh, Ariel, what comes around goes around." Ariel snorted with contempt, "Even if I get what's coming to me, you won't be around to see it. Sit tight. I've figured it out. That dummy cares about you and will surely find a way to give me the money."Property © NôvelDrama.Org.

"To think you've been useful after all these years serving The Kennedys," he laughed.

Year after year, Ariel squandered the money Juliet had earned as a maid, all the while looking down on her for her occupation. He was too ashamed to face others.Juliet closed her eyes, the veins on her withered hands bulging as she decided she no longer wished to engage in conversation with Ariel.... Quinn remained in the small shed until darkness fell, then she finally rose and headed back to the villa.

Standing before the pitch-dark doorway, she stared into the void and suddenly lost all her courage to enter. A myriad of thoughts raced through Quinn's mind. 'For instance, how did Ariel manage to find this place? He had neglected his own mother for years. What had suddenly led him to Juliet's whereabouts?' The thought made Quinn's fingers tremble slightly.

As if to confirm something in her mind, the sound of a car approached from behind, and two beams of light shot past her, casting her elongated shadow into the house.

Quinn slowly turned around and squinted against the harsh headlights to see the man getting out of the car. Alexander stood before her, their eyes locking.

Quinn stared at him blankly, her face devoid of any expression."What are you doing standing out here?" he asked.