Helena had made attempts to remind Martha of how close they once were but Martha could only mumble about her son so she gave up trying, just like all the other times.
She brought Martha to where she had been staying since she had returned. It was part of a building which would soon be demolished.
At no point did the odor and filth on Martha get in the way of Helena standing close to her as she guided her.
Martha still mumbled about her son, which had Helena in tears as she pressed her lips together to muffle her cries.
Helena first fed Martha, who constantly demanded for more as she had only had something to eat a few days ago.
She then began to take off Martha's clothes and more tears trickled down her cheeks at the state in which her childhood best friend had lived. It took a while to take off the clothes as each worn out layer had another layer underneath and so on but they were altogether extremely worn out.
Martha couldn't understand what was going on so she wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head as she told Helena to stay away in a hysterical manner
Once again, Helena muffled her cries at how Martha was so out of her mind. It reminded her of a time when they were young and she was far from that mental state.
She then held onto Martha's shoulders and assured her that everything was alright and she would take care of her. She only wanted to give her a bath. It took a while but once Martha calmed down, Helena took off the rest of her clothes.
Once no piece of clothing was on Martha, Helena covered her mouth at the awful state Martha's skin was in when she could see every part of it. It had several black spots and was dry and flaky from the years she spent on the streets. She was so skinny that the outline of her ribs was visible.
Martha wrapped her arms around herself and complained about the cold and quickly, Helena got her in the bathtub with some hot water.
The joy on Martha's face at the feeling of the warm water made Helena chuckle.
As Martha relaxed in the water, Helena washed her hair first and it took a while since it was all matted together.
"Hey Martha..."
"Yes?"
"It'll take a while to run my hands through your hair but you know what? It's the least type of punishment I deserve for what happened back then."
"What happened?"
"You still don't remember?"
"I just want my son."
"Do you still not remember me at all?"
"My son....will I ever find him?"
"You already did."
Helena's guilt ran so deep that she had left Martha at the gate of Ethan's residence twice but it never resulted in anything. This time, she decided to do things differently and face her past herself.
After so much struggle, Helena gave up on the hair and instead washed Martha's face which had dark patches of dirt. As they were washed away, Helena smiled at the beautiful but skinny face in front of her. Martha's skin still wasn't in the best condition due to staying on the streets, but Helena could still see the difference.
"You might be in a skinny state right now but he looks just like you."
"Who?"
"Your son."
"My son? Where is he?"
"You'll see him soon."
As Martha was cleaned up, she constantly asked about her son and the joy on her face made Helena wipe her tears. She was determined to reunite them.
When Helena dressed Martha up, she took her to a hair salon and waited as Martha was worked on. When she was done, Helena covered her mouth with both hands at how much of a difference it made.
~
In the afternoon, a few hours after Ms Hudson had left the hospital, Natalie was no longer present as she had left to meet her friends, which was an opportunity for her to brag about her wedding dress.
Ethan had gone with his mother to her residence and he believed she was in such a fragile state that he told her he would do everything for her, which included meetings and everything else that was urgent. He wished to take full responsibility because he wanted her to recover and he believed it was all for the best.
She was aware just how guilty he still felt and would do anything to make up for it. Having him take care of everything she needed to do was a way she planned to keep him close as much as possible.
She even reminded him of their agreement concerning Olivia and he still seemed hesitant but nodded as he assured her that he would work on it as soon as possible.
To not speak too much about Olivia, he asked her to brief him on the meetings he would have to attend instead and as she watched him take notes, she was glad he was back on his side.
~
With his mother out of the hospital, Ethan contemplated whether or not he would check on Pete and finally decided on going to him.
When opened the door and noticed Pete's aunt first, he could feel her glare right from where he stood but only rolled his eyes, not intimidated in any way.
When Pete looked at the doorway and saw Ethan, he asked his aunt to give the two of them a moment alone.
She feared that another fight would break out and as such, refused to leave but Pete chuckled and assured her no such thing would happen since Ethan was calm.
When she finally agreed to it, she walked past Ethan with a warning but he only scoffed, making Pete's aunt shake her head with disbelief at his disrespect.
When it was just the two of them, Ethan closed the door and Pete raised his head but groaned in pain and returned to his resting position.
"Looks like it'll take a while before I can move my head as I please."
Ethan approached the bed and crossed his arms. "You seemed a little restless just now. Were you scared I might extend your stay in this hospital?"
"Not at all. I don't plan on provoking you. Alright....since you're here, how about we start from the party you ruined? I spent so much money on those girls."
"Are you trying to piss me off by talking about irrelevant stuff right now?"
"Then what's relevant? The fact that you beat me up over someone you don't even love?"
"I wasted my time coming here," said Ethan as he faced the other side to leave.
"Wait, you can't just ignore this. Look at what you did to me. I've never seen you so angry and violent. You and I had never come to blows before. Putting me in the hospital for someone who's expecting your baby? I highly doubt it."
"How do you feel?"
"We're not done talking about Olivia. Do you know what triggered you to hit me?"
"Unbelievable...no, what was it?" asked Ethan, annoyed that Pete kept bringing it up.
"You only hit me after I told you I love Olivia."
"Now that you've gotten that off your chest, how do you f-"
"I remember your raging state as you told me she was off limits. It was like you lost your mind over her. Do you have feelings for her?"
"Why do you keep bringing that up?"
"Again, look at what you did to me because of her. Seems like you don't want to talk about it."
"I don't."
"Why?"
"Don't make me smash your head against the wall."
"Whoa! I'm in no state to defend myself if you do that." Pete chuckled.
Ethan sighed to compose himself and once again asked how Pete felt.
As Pete listed all the parts of his body that hurt, Ethan tilted his head with a raised eyebrow. "None of this would've happened. You made me do this to you."
"I remember how you humiliated me. I know you take pride in your billionaire status, but not to the extent that you could use it against me."
"I said what I said because I was infuriated, but I'm not sorry."
"I wasn't expecting you to be sorry. Despite how that made me feel and all that happened, you came to check on me."
"I almost didn't."
"But you did."
"My aunt wants me to sue you."
"Then sue me."
"You'll have to hit me harder for that to happen."
There was a long pause as they stared at each other, then both chuckled as they looked away from each other.
Pete then turned serious when he mentioned that his aunt told him that Ms Hudson was also admitted to the same hospital.
Ethan turned serious as well as he spoke with guilt about when she was discharged a few hours earlier.
"Shouldn't that be good news?" asked Pete.
"I'm the reason she was here in the first place."
Ethan narrated how she revealed the pictures at Olivia's apartment and accused Olivia of cheating on him and carrying another man's child, which was Pete.
Pete gasped. "She thought that way about me? Me?"
"She made so many accusations that I couldn't take it anymore and defended Olivia."
"What?!" Pete tried to sit up in shock but hissed as he returned to his resting position once again. "That's crazy! You stood against your own mother for Olivia? It's because she's pregnant, right?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me that? I did it because I believed in her character."
"That sounds highly unusual. You and I both know you've never done anything like that for Olivia, ever!"
Ethan wished not to comment on it so he spoke about his mother once again and how he was glad she was out of danger but left out the part on how he promised her he planned to stay away from Olivia just for her sake.
As they were in the middle of that same conversation, the three girls who had witnessed the violence walked in and when they saw Ethan, they stood near the walls as they moved around and asked what he was doing there.
With a poker face, Ethan pointed at the door. "Get out."
The girls protested, claiming it was a bad idea to leave the two of them alone but Ethan yelled once again and they flinched.
It took Pete to calm him down and he asked the girls to wait for a few minutes outside.
As they walked out, Beth couldn't stop staring at Ethan from head to toe as she wondered why luck was still on Olivia's side despite all she had done.
"Stop looking at me and maybe you can leave faster like your friends," said Ethan.
When Beth realized she was the only one left, she cleared her throat to lessen the embarrassment, then rushed out with her head low.
When they were alone once again, Pete chuckled at how Beth couldn't stop staring because Ethan was extremely attractive. His light moment didn't last long when he realized Ethan had a blank expression.
"Are you waiting for an apology or something?" asked Pete.
"You read my mind." Ethan crossed his arms.
"I'm not sorry about falling in love with Olivia."
Ethan clenched his jaw and fists.
"Hear me out. I fell in love with Olivia and there's nothing wrong with that. However, I'm sorry that I went behind your back. Don't hit me. I'm too weak to fight back."
"Even in your strongest state, you were no match for me."
"So...is everything good between us?"
"You're my best friend."
"Even when I love Oli-"
"Olivia's off limits!"
Silence filled the room as Pete's eyes widened at how strongly Ethan had just expressed how he felt about Olivia. He then sighed deeply before he announced that he was leaving.
As Pete spoke, he didn't even get to the end of it because Ethan shut the door and was soon out of sight.
Ethan stood in the hallway with his eyes shut and sighed deeply to control himself. He wondered why he couldn't help but make it clear that Olivia was off limits when he needed to stay away from her.
~
Having Ethan promise his mother that he would focus on the wedding gave Natalie the opportunity to get closer to him so after he returned home to his mother, he found Natalie waiting for him and she hoped they could spend some time together.
Since his mother was present, he agreed to it and Natalie followed him everywhere and planned to do so for the rest of the day.
As he had his eyes on the road and hand on the steering wheel, Natalie couldn't stop talking about how thrilling it was to see her friends envious of her.
Unable to take it anymore, he sighed loudly. "You can stop talking now."
She pouted and crossed her arms. "Are you tired of listening to me?"
"I never was."
His unexpected response took her on a rant, much to his annoyance since he found it unbearable. It was only when he yelled for her to shut up that she flinched and dared not to speak for a while.
When Natalie noticed the building Ethan had just driven into, she placed her hand on her chest in awe. "You brought me to a car dealership?"
"Obviously."
When they both stepped out, she rapidly clapped her hands together as she looked around. She even saw it as a perfect moment to take a picture with Ethan and cars in the background because she knew what was to come.
A car salesperson accompanied them but Ethan led the way and Natalie excitedly walked beside him and squealed a few times as they looked around at all the cars on display. He kept asking which ones she liked the most and she was once again in awe at how he would buy one of the cars she liked. With so much enthusiasm, she pointed at a few cars she found interesting and took more pictures.
Once Ethan settled for the one that he liked the most, from the ones Natalie had chosen, he spoke to the car salesperson, but that particular car was limited edition and the only one of its kind at that moment in the whole country, which meant it came at an extremely high cost.
With a scoff, Ethan told him he still wished to pay for it, but the car salesperson repeated himself.
It was only when Ethan mentioned he didn't care how much it would cost that the car salesperson understood the type of person he was dealing with.
Ethan ended up with the car at a price that seemed extremely high for most people, but still only a small amount for him.
As he signed the paperwork, the new car was taken for preparation and once it was ready, Ethan was given the car keys right outside the building and Natalie wrapped her arms around his neck.
"My friends will be dying of jealousy. Thank you, babe!" she said.
"Here," he said, giving her the car keys to the car they earlier arrived in.
"Why are you giving me these keys?" she asked.
Before he responded, he entered the driver's seat of the new car and started the engine. "I gave you those keys so you could drive yourself home."
She furrowed her eyebrows and rushed to the side of his driver's seat. "What's the meaning of this? Why are you leaving in my brand new car?"
"I never said it was yours. I bought this for Olivia."