BY ACCIDENT [L.S]

🚲 TWO 🚲

I nodded slightly. Looking down at the letter yet again, I sighed.

"He says in the letter that he left money too. Where is It?"

"Here." - My mother handed me a pile of bills and I slowly counted it.

"There's a thousand dollars here." 

"It's not even that much money." - Austin shook his head.

"He's trying to buy your silence." - My mom added.

I looked up at her.

"Did he really pay for the hospital bill too?"

"Yes." - My mother nodded. - "All paid until the day you get discharged."

"Wow." - I sighed. 

"We still could get a lot more money out of him if we file a lawsuit." - Austin added, his hand on my knee brushing up and down.

"But I don't want that." - I mumbled. - "He... he did more than enough. I don't need his money."

"Honey..." - My mother started.

"No, I'm sure about this. Whoever this guy is, he redeemed himself. He cared. And to me, that's enough." - I finished almost in a whisper.

"Okay, honey." - My mom looked concerned but didn't say anything else.

"It's my final decision."

🚲

At eight AM the following day, one of the doctors who had been checking regularly on me, came by the room to say that my last CT scan had showed no abnormalities and that I would be discharged soon. They changed my bandages, gave me instructions on how to proceed with my wounds at home, and I was quickly cleared to go home.

Before leaving the hospital, Austin and I had a brief argument because he was refusing to take the new bike home. He didn't want me to keep it at all.
But to me, owning a bike meant something more. And I needed to keep it. 

A bike meant a piece of freedom. I didn't drive, and sometimes I even barely left the house. Having my own mean of transport was important and I wished Autin could understand that.
Eventually, because he didn't want to cause a scene in public, he agreed to take the bike with us.
I kissed him as a thank you.

But, as soon as we got home, Austin went straight to the bedroom, not even glancing in my direction.

I felt a knot settling in my stomach. He was jealous. 

And I could see why. He was used to being the only one for me, the only one in my life, the only one who provided for me, who protected me. And now, he was threatened. 

But Austin, he was my reality, the one that loved me for years, the one I could never leave.
He shouldn't feel threatened by anyone. Not when it comes to me, I'm his forever. He said so since the day we met.

I just didn't understand him lately, he promised I would always be taken care of, that he would always be my protector, yet he kept forbidding me to meet new people, he got jealous of everyone, and he didn't trust me anymore.
And it was getting harder for me to read him, so I kept my mouth shut every time he was like this, and just waited till the Austin I knew returned.

Because I loved him. And he always came back to me. He was my first boyfriend from high school, and now we were both are 22 years old and still together. After six years of dating, he was all I've ever known.

But it's not like I could reject a gift like this, not when it was something I needed. Even if it made Austin jealous.
And when it came to 'L' is not like I'll ever see him again, I didn't even meet the guy. Though somehow, I still wished I could remember something about him, I wanted to thank him for taking me to the hospital. For not letting me to die.
But he was a mystery to me. 

And Austin was here, L was not.

"Baby, are you mad?" - I asked, knocking in our bedroom door. 

As I stepped inside, I could see him in bed, laying on his side and facing away from the door.
He only huffed in response.

"Why?" - I asked again, slowly stepping closer to bed.

"Don't act like you don't know."

"Is it because of the guy who took me to the hospital?"

"The guy who almost killed you, you mean."

"He made up for it, he saved me."

Austin snorted, shaking his head.

"And you keep fucking defending him."

"I'm sorry, baby. He just... he gave me a second chance... I'm grateful for that."

"Well, he shouldn't have!" - He screamed, sitting up and bed and finally facing me. - "Because you shouldn't have been outside that late! If you had listened to me, this wouldn't have happened! I told you, you need to stay in this house, Harry. I bought this house for you! And yet, you're always out there, doing God knows what."

"Oh." - I mumbled, looking down at my feet. - "I was... just coming back from mom's."

He snorted again.

"Sure."

"It's true." - I dared to look up at him for a short second.

Austin shook his head, shifting back into a laying position, his back to me once again.

"Whatever Harry, let me sleep and close the door on your way out."

"Okay." - I said softly, knowing very well it was best for me to keep my mouth shut. Maybe even never bring up the 'L' topic again. 

I returned to the kitchen and opened the cabinets in search of something to cook.
Cooking always seemed to be the best way to clear my head and calm my nerves. While cooking, I always got away from reality, and in that moment, it was exactly what I needed.

But this time cooking wasn't the solution, not even when I played Louis Tomlinson's new album in my EarPods, because somehow, my mind was fixed in one thing. 
The letter, the handwriting, and the way its words seemed to hit me and connect with me in a way a simple letter shouldn't. 
There was just something laying underneath its surface, something I was missing.
'L' was a mystery.

One I really wanted to solve.