Unveiled: The Survivor's Triumph

In the early winter dawn, under those dim streetlights, my breath was turning into little puffs of frost.

I hunched my shoulders, keeping an eye on the car creeping up.

Inside, Ethan had a cigarette dangling from his lips, looking beat and seriously stressed out.

Guess he hadn't found Faye either.

The car just slid past me without even slowing down, and I watched it disappear into the distance.

He looked so worried; maybe he didn't even see me.

I could've grabbed a cab, but nah, I hoofed it back. By the time I got to the villa, it was already pretty bright out.

Ethan's car was parked in the yard, and the villa door was wide open.

When I swapped my shoes, I noticed blisters on my feet. The pain hit hard once I stopped walking.

A bunch of car keys were tossed on the coffee table. Ethan was sprawled on the sofa, not moving an inch. Couldn't tell if he was out cold or just lost in thought, but the exhaustion on his face was real. Searching and worrying all night, no wonder he was wiped out.

I tiptoed around, not wanting to wake him, but he still opened his eyes.

His bloodshot eyes locked onto me. "Where'd you go?"

His voice was super raspy.

"I went to look for her," I said.

He didn't say anything else; just closed his eyes and stayed still.

I watched him for a bit, feeling a pang in my chest. I felt bad for his exhaustion and sad that he cared so much about another woman.

I went upstairs and started tidying up the messy room. I cleaned and put back the makeup stuff Faye had trashed, as long as it was still usable.

Maybe Faye could use them when she came back.

Right then, I really hoped we'd find her. Otherwise, Ethan's frown would never go away, and the rift between us would never heal.

After tidying up the room, I went back downstairs. Ethan was still in the same spot, like he hadn't moved at all.

I made breakfast and set it on the dining table, then called out to the sofa that breakfast was ready.

He still didn't move; his hoarse voice came. "You eat by yourself."

Staring at the steaming breakfast on the table, my eyes started to mist up.

He didn't eat, and neither did I.

In this weather, it didn't take long for the hot breakfast to go cold.

I sat down beside him. I felt like I had to explain everything; I couldn't let him keep misunderstanding me in silence.

"I think Faye got the wrong idea yesterday. She thinks I messed with Aurora's vote, and that's why she didn't win. But I didn't. Now she's pissed at me. I didn't hit her, didn't yell at her, and didn't break anything. Do you believe me?" I tried to keep my voice steady, but my eyes probably showed how much I needed him to trust me.

But he didn't look at me. After a moment of silence, he just said, "Finding her is the most important thing now. Faye's only been to Starlight City twice, and that was when she was a kid. She's not familiar with this place." His concern for her was off the charts.

Right then, I couldn't afford to be jealous. He was right; finding her was the top priority.

Calming down, I thought it through and said, "Why not ask Oliver and Jason? She's pretty close with them. Also, we could check with the contestants who rehearsed with her at the hotel. Faye doesn't know this place well; she could only go to those spots."

Ethan finally looked at me. He must've thought I made sense because he immediately got up, grabbed the car keys, and headed out.

Ignoring the pain in my feet, I quickly changed my shoes and followed him into the car.

As we drove, Ethan called Oliver and Jason, but neither had seen Faye. Finally, we went to the hotel where Faye had stayed.

We stood outside the door, and a few girls were inside. They all said they hadn't seen Faye.

The girl standing furthest inside looked super guilty. I recognized her as the one who had eavesdropped on my conversation with Aurora in the restroom.

I squeezed through the door and grabbed her wrist.

The girl tried to pull away, glaring at me. "What are you doing?"

The other girls looked at me in surprise, then at Ethan standing at the door.

I tightened my grip, trying to keep my anger in check.

"Girl, what good does it do you to stir up trouble?"

She avoided my gaze, twisting her wrist.

"What are you talking about? I don't understand."

"You understand. If you really heard my conversation with Aurora, you should know what I said to her. How did it get twisted when it reached Faye's ears?"

Seeing that I had laid it all out, she couldn't pretend not to understand anymore, so she argued.

"You clearly know Aurora. If you had spoken up for Faye, she might have gotten the vote. But Aurora came back from the restroom and voted for Connie without hesitation. Didn't you tell her to do that!"

I immediately caught the key point in her words.

"So this is just your guess? You need to be responsible for your words. Have you thought about the consequences of stirring up trouble? Now Faye is missing. Can you handle it if something happens to her?"

The girl froze, looking scared out of her mind.

I guess she hadn't thought things would get this serious when she pulled that stunt.

Since Faye wasn't with them, we didn't stick around long.

Back in the car, Ethan didn't rush to drive. He rolled down the window, lit a cigarette, and looked super anxious.

Honestly, I was getting more and more worried, too.

"Why don't we call the cops?" I suggested.

A faint cloud of smoke drifted in front of Ethan. He said, "The police only file a report if an adult's been missing for 24 hours."

We suddenly felt totally lost, with no direction at all.

But I knew the longer we waited, the worse it would get. I believed Ethan knew this too.

I didn't know how many cigarettes Ethan had smoked when I looked at the mall building not far ahead and suddenly remembered something.

I swallowed and said, "There's something I think I should tell you. It might be a clue."

Ethan turned his head, staring at me intently with a hint of hope in his worried eyes.

So I briefly told him about the day Lacey and I ran into Faye at the mall and saw her spending money like crazy.

But this info was pretty limited. We didn't know where her money came from and still had no direction.

I then said, "How about we put out a missing person notice? If we don't get any news by then, we can call the cops?"

Ethan accepted my suggestion and quickly posted the notice for missing person on Facebook, Twitter, and other channels. He also printed a bunch of paper copies and got a large group of people to put them up. We went back to the villa to wait for news. Later, Oliver and Jason showed up. They asked what was going on, and I filled them in.

Oliver tried to play it cool and said, "Faye's not a kid anymore. It's not a big deal; she should be fine."

He was just trying to comfort us; we all knew that.

I knew Faye's disappearance was somehow linked to me, even though it wasn't my fault. If we couldn't find her, I'd always carry the blame.

We stayed quiet; they didn't seem optimistic. Ethan sat in the middle of the sofa, with Oliver and Jason on either side, while I stood on the terrace. The villa was eerily quiet.

Scruffy sensed my anxiety and circled my feet to comfort me. I stood still, staring at the gate until dusk.

"I'll cook; you come help me." Jason's voice snapped me back to reality.

I turned and saw him beside me, though I hadn't noticed him walk over. Nodding, I followed him into the kitchen.

Jason dumped the cold, untouched breakfast into the trash, then closed the kitchen door, opened the fridge, and took out some tomatoes and eggs.

He handed me the tomatoes and said, "No matter what happens, we still need to eat. If we're going to search, we still need the energy, right?"

Honestly, I thought he knew Faye first and had a deeper friendship with her, so he should blame me in his heart.

But he didn't.

Jason had always been a stand-up guy, and his voice was especially gentle now.

I didn't know if I was touched or felt wronged, but my eyes suddenly felt hot.

I nodded, put the tomatoes in the sink, and turned on the faucet.

The sound of the kitchen door opening startled me.

Turning around, a large hand had already wrapped around my hand, which was about to go under the faucet.

"Your hand is injured; let me do it." Ethan's voice was surprisingly calm at this moment.

I lowered my head, my nose tingling.

Staring at the back of my hand, the burn had already healed. The ointment Aurora gave me worked really well, leaving no scars.

Ethan was seriously washing the tomatoes, while Jason looked at my hand and asked, "What happened to your hand?"

I shook my head. "It's nothing, just a small burn from a few days ago. It's already healed."

Jason made tomato pasta. When Ethan ate, he picked the fried egg from his plate and gave it to me. I said I didn't want it and told him to eat it himself. He looked at me while twirling a forkful of pasta. "You eat more. I can go hungry for a few days, but you can't."

After saying that, he lowered his head and ate the pasta. I stared at him, tears welling up in my eyes.

His stomach wasn't good; had he forgotten?

I picked up the fried egg and took a bite, and tears instantly fell into my bowl.

Not wanting anyone to see, I buried my head and ate the pasta quickly.

Halfway through, Ethan's phone rang. He answered it, listened for a while, then asked, "Where are you?"

We all gripped our forks, staring at him.

After hanging up, he said, "There's news."

Leaving the half-eaten pasta, we immediately set off.

Ethan drove in silence, not saying what the news was. I kept glancing at his face, too afraid to ask, worried it might be bad news.