With that, he grabbed his jacket and left the room.
Armond’s absence from Murphy Corporation whilst he was in the hospital must have caused many issues.
I did not comment any further and merely wished him a safe trip. After he left, I took a seat beside the bed and waited for Nora to arouse from her sleep.
Half an hour later, Nora finally awoke from her slumber. “Scarlett, you are here!” She still seemed a little muddled, and her voice sounded raspy.
“How could you venture to the base all alone? It is a place covered in dirt and mud! I thought that you disliked getting dirty!” I asked and helped her into a sitting position.
“Would you trust me if I said that I did not head there alone?” she said and pinched her brows together.
“So, you met someone else last night? Was it someone you recognize?” I nodded and asked in shock.
“I wasn’t exactly close with that person,” Nora replied, “I have a feeling that I’ve met the person before.”
“What is the situation?”
“Originally, I was picking some fruits at the yard. However, someone else was also present. I thought that he was someone working at the base. After a brief chat, he told me that he was more familiar with the other area and said that he could bring me to a place with sweeter fruits. Thus, I decided to trust him,” Nora said after a brief pause.
“So you followed him and ended up like this?” I facepalmed in frustration.
“I had no idea as well! Why would he want to harm me when I’ve never provoked him! It was the first time that I visited the base!” Nora replied innocently.
I couldn’t help but think of the past events. Maybe it wasn’t really a coincidence!
“Have you told Armond about this matter?” I asked her.
“I did.” Nora nodded. “He said that there were numerous workers at the base. It was normal for women to be preyed upon by those men.”
Although her words were true, the incident at the base had only occurred recently. Was that incident really a simple accident?
Seeing that further discussion of this topic would lead to no results, we decided to halt our talk.
When Tabitha and the others caught wind of Nora’s situation, they all dropped by to visit in the early afternoon.
“Tessa, we haven’t met since the last incident. I have some questions for you,” Nora called out when she saw that Tessa was present.
“What do you want to ask? Well, you could’ve called or talked about it in the group. Is everyone so busy?” Tabitha replied in confusion.
“Yeah, things have been hectic lately,” Nora replied with a nod of her head.
“What do you want to talk about?” Tabitha bore a serious expression when she noticed Nora’s solemn gaze.
“We are all friends who have experienced life-threatening situations together. Our encounters include the incident in Venria and Lavelian Village. If we were to break our ties, then something serious must have happened. Otherwise, we’d always offer a helping hand to each other, right?” Nora said as she locked gazes with Tessa.
Her last sentence was aimed specifically towards Tessa. Both Laurel and Tabitha nodded in agreement to Nora’s statement. “Yes!”
“Nora, get straight to the point,” Tessa said with a nod of her head.
“I’m puzzled. Didn’t you say that you were going to get the help that night? Where did the help go?” Nora replied.
I thought that Nora had forgotten about this incident. Who would have expected her to remember it?
In that split moment, her bold question left everyone stunned as they traded glances with each other.
“That’s right! I nearly forgot about this matter!” Laurel added as she turned to address Tessa, “When Scarlett fell into the hole with the three of us, you told me to stay behind with Scarlett and volunteered to get help. Yet, you disappeared and never returned. Where on earth did you go?”
Under the heavy scrutiny of everyone’s gazes, Tessa’s face turned ghastly pale. “I-I was too anxious and got lost!” she stammered nervously.
“You, of all people, should know better than to lie. When Scarlett was rescued, you were already in the tents. Are you sure that you got lost? You never called for help in the first place, did you?” Nora sneered.
“Tessa, is this true? Do you know how disappointed we were?” Laurel questioned her in disbelief.
“Aren’t you unscathed? Aren’t you safe? Why won’t you drop it?” Tessa snarled all of a sudden. Her ferocious gaze turned to me as she lashed out like a cornered beast.
“Is this how you see it?” Tabitha exclaimed agitatedly. “Tessa, are you joking right now? We see you as our close friend. Yet, you treat us like a bunch of fools. I can’t believe that you have the audacity to continue preaching about your so-called morals and values! You turned a blind eye when you could have called for help!”
