chapter 24

NIKOLAI

My weird fixation on Lia made me go extreme just to keep in touch with her.

After I watched her cry her heart out right in front of me, there was no way I could let go of her so bugging her phone was the most appropriate way to keep touch without spooking her.

Now I'm starting to think it isn't as effective as I thought it would be because she hasn't left her house for a week now.

My foot taps on the ground as I stare at Lia's location on my phone.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Hannah, my sister pipes up from the hospital bed, her eyes glued on the signed copy of her favorite novel Xan got for her yesterday.

"No."

She shifts her gaze. "Then why did you keep staring at your phone?"

"I'm not." I shove my phone a little too quickly into my pocket.

Hannah catches on to this. She raises an eyebrow as a knowing smile tugs her lips. "Perhaps, you got a girl from your last trip?" Trip. That's what she thinks I do. And I intend on making it stay that way.

"No." I recline into my