No Escape from Love

When I got back, Lila was still lying on her bed.

It seemed like my overwhelming frustration was obvious. Lila sat up and moved closer to examine me. "What happened to you?"

"It's nothing," I replied. I was utterly exhausted as I flopped onto my bed and closed my eyes. All I wanted was some peace.

Lila took two steps closer and yanked me off the bed. "Get up. There's no way it's nothing. Just look at how awful your expression is!"

Seeing her concern, I finally sat up and told her everything that had happened today.

I did need an outlet for all the emotions that were building up inside me, and Lila happened to be a willing listener. After recounting the day's events, I began to sense something unusual.

Lila looked furious as she said, "What a disgusting pair! Serena, how could you just keep quiet after suffering through all this? If Alex hadn't helped you behind the scenes this time, then the consequences..."

She started to choke up slightly. "I don't even want to think about it."

Looking at how frustrated and concerned Lila was, I let out a soft laugh. I grabbed a tissue and wiped her tears. "It's alright, Lila. I'm fine, aren't I?"

But saying that only seemed to flip a switch inside her. She started to cry even louder.

I pulled her into a hug. Having a friend like her sort of made up for all the bad luck

I had suffered. I felt touched as I looked at her tearful face, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing.

Lila looked up in disbelief when she heard my laughter. When she saw that I was actually laughing at her she immediately stopped crying. She shoved me and said, "Serena, you're so heartless. How could you laugh right now?"

Looking at her angry face, I quickly said, "I was just thinking, Lila, that having a friend like you must be the universe's way of compensating me for all that I suffered through."

Lila froze for a moment before she turned to look at me. Her eyes were filled with joy, and a smile tugged at the corner of her lips, but she still feigned disdain and said, "Ugh, that's so corny!"

I hugged her and said, "Is it that corny? Well, I'm only corny for you."

After a while, she started to calm down. Then, she looked at me and asked, "Serena, are you really going to let those two get away with this? I can't help but feel unhappy about that."

I shook my head. "Lila, don't you think there's something oddly fishy about this whole thing?"

"What do you mean?" Lila asked in confusion.

"Just think about it. Kevin is

someone who skirts on the edge of

the law. He lives in the shadows. He'd avoid the police like the plague and wouldn't easily expose himself to outsiders, especially in situations that might lead to trouble. Wouldn't I have won instantly if I had just called the police earlier?" I mused.

Lila said with a frown, "That's true. How much money did Elena pay Kevin?"

I held up three fingers.noveldrama

"Thirty thousand dollars?" Lila's frown deepened. "That's hardly worth it for Kevin to take such a risk. If you had called the police just now, he would definitely have been caught."

"Exactly." Thinking back to how Kevin acted earlier, I grew more concerned. "I can't shake the feeling that Kevin isn't as simple as he seems."