Chapter 290 - 290: Let's Investigate Her

When Erick and Elle reached the XXX Crime Investigation Headquarters they saw Sandy and Josh standing in the entrance of the building, waiting for Elle.

With her grim expression, Sandy immediately dragged Elle away from Erick. Josh politely greeted Erick before he followed Sandy and Elle going to their company's car.

As expected, Sandy ranted at her friend for leaving without even telling them.

"Ali! How dare you leave us here? Where did you go with that Chief Detective? You are always disappearing! What if something happens to you? You are my responsibility here. Did you forget?"

"Hey, calm down. I just went out for lunch. Why are you overreacting like this? Nothing will happen to me, especially the person with me is a detective." Elle said helplessly to Sandy.

Sandy glared at her. "I will report this to your guardian! You are doing a lot of weird things lately since the day you arrived here at City Z."

Elle felt alarmed when Sandy mentioned about her guardian. She immediately held Sandy's hand and said, "Sandy, please don't! I promise I will behave now." 

Seeing the pleading look coming from Elle, Sandy just heaved a sigh of defeat.

"Alright! Alright! I won't tell him anything. But from now on, don't disappear from my sight without telling me. Is that clear?" 

Elle just nodded in agreement.

"Okay. Let's go now and visit Senator Mondragon. We need to set an appointment with his secretary for our one on one exclusive interview with him."

With that, the three of them left the XXX Crime Investigation Headquarters.

Meanwhile, Erick had just entered their office. His team was dumbstruck to see him with a very bright mood. The smile never left his face.

"Oh my gosh! Chief Lee looks very charming every time he smiles like that." Rose mumbled, her eyes filled with admiration.

"Omoh! I feel like crying right now. I missed Erick's old self," she added, as she wiped her invisible tears.

April couldn't help but laugh at Rose's reaction. On the other hand, June rubbed his chin, thinking. 

"I wonder where did Aliyah and Chief Lee go this afternoon?" June said as he pondered to himself.

"I think they took their lunch together," Bryan responded to June.

The three of them agreed on Bryan's remarks. Then June asked them to go near him. He had something to discuss with them. Bryan, Rose, and April exchanged glances with one another before they went to June's table as they gathered together.

"I have a suggestion. Let's find out if Aliyah is Elle. Her action is a little bit suspicious. Did you see how she hugged Erick back a while ago? She might be Elle. Do you agree with me?" June shared his thoughts with them.

But Rose contradicted June's statement. "There's nothing suspicious there. Any woman is willing to throw herself to Chief Lee. I will be more shocked if she slapped Chief Lee because he hugged her suddenly."

"I agree with Rose!" April said which garnered a warning look from Bryan.

"So you also want to throw yourself to Erick?" Bryan said, there was a hint of jealousy in his voice.

Cough! Cough!

"Of course not!" April denied but she couldn't look at him straight in the eyes.

A deep frown appeared on Bryan's face. April quickly wrapped her arms around his waist to appease her jealous man.

"Cutie… don't be upset! I'm yours now, did you forget?" April softly said to him. 

Bryan knew that she was referring to the marriage proposal she accepted. And just like that, April succeeded in appeasing the jealous Bryan.

"Ouch. My eyes are hurting. When did these two become sweet like this?" June turned to Rose and asked her.

Rose just shrugged and laughed at them. Bryan hit June's head.

"Ouch!"

"We are overloading with sweetness because we love each other!" Bryan said to June confidently.

"Fine! Fine! You don't have to hit me for that!" June complained.

"Back to our main topic. Let's investigate Aliyah Ross." June suggested to them.

April: "Ok!"

Rose: "Let's try!"

Only Bryan didn't respond.

"Are you not wondering? If Elle is alive then why she didn't come back for these past two years?" Bryan told them his doubts.

The three paused for a moment, thinking about Bryan's rhetorical question. Suddenly Rose raised her hand.

"What if she lost her memory just like agent Marie?" 

"That's right! It might be the case!" June agreed to her.

"Bryan, what's wrong?" April said as she noticed his troubled face.

"Are you thinking that Elle died that day?" Rose asked Bryan.

"I don't know. I also wished that she survived. But I just don't want to give Erick a false hope." Bryan said to them truthfully.

"That's why we need to do this. Let's investigate Aliyah's background. If she's Elle then that's good news." June insisted.

"Erick is thinking that she's Elle. Will this investigation be helpful? So what if we couldn't find anything. Do we have the heart to crush Erick's hope once again?"

Everyone could feel the heaviness in Bryan's words.

"Come on, Bryan. Don't be so pessimistic. If the result of our investigation is not good then let's just hide it from Erick."

"Alright. Let's do that." In the end, Bryan agreed on June's suggestion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*** Elle's Apartment ***

Today was a long and busy day for Elle. After conducting an interview at XXX Crime Investigation Headquarters, setting up an appointment with Senator Mondragon, Sandy and Elle wrote six news articles which had to be submitted before COB ( close of business).

When she arrived home, she slumped her body at the soft cushion of her bed. She felt exhausted. Ever since her body was poisoned by a toxin she easily got tired and felt weak sometimes.

She decided to take a quick shower before she could finally rest tonight. She just got out of the bathroom when her phone suddenly rang. It was a long-distance call from abroad.

"Doc Argus, how are you? Great timing, I am about to call you." Elle greeted the person on the other line.

"Ali, we are doing great here. I should be the one asking you that. How's my miracle patient? Is your body doing better now?" Doctor Argus asked her.

"Yeah… I think I fully recovered now," Elle replied.

"Don't be so confident, dear. Take good care of your health. There are still residues of toxins in your system. We don't know if you will be experiencing another aftereffect. It's a good thing that your body develops antibodies to fight the effect of that toxin." 

"I understand doc. By the way, how is he?" There was deep concern in her voice as she asked him that.

Elle heard Doctor Argus heaved a deep sigh before he answered her.

"His condition is stable for now. But still, he is in a coma. We are also giving him medicines that will protect his organs from the negative effect of the toxin. I call you because of that. But don't worry, we are doing our best to make the antidote. Can you send us again another blood sample of yours?"

She felt saddened after hearing the news from Doctor Argus. Until now, there was no progress in his condition.

"Alright, doc. I will send you another blood sample, first thing tomorrow. Please take good care of him. Please save him, doc."

"I will. Just leave it to us. Don't worry too much. You should also monitor yourself. If you feel something unusual report it to me asap.Okay?" Doc Argus reminded her.

"I know my body well, doc. Have confidence in me. Remember, I am your miracle patient." Elle reassured him.

Doctor Argus let out a soft chuckle because of her response.

"Hahaha. I know. It's just that I couldn't help it. Supremo will kill us if something bad happens to you."

Elle's face was filled with complicated emotions after Doctor Argus mentioned Supremo.

"Ali, are you still there?" Doctor Argus asked her when she suddenly became silent.

"Yes, I am still here."

"Ahem. Is it true that you and Supremo fought about something?" Doctor Argus asked her curiously.

"Huh? Where did you hear that?"

"His men got a lot of scolding. He's been in a bad mood lately. I thought it was because of you." Doctor Argus said matter of factly while teasing her.

"We didn't fight. We're okay." Elle simply said as she laughed awkwardly.

"Okay. I believe you. Maybe he is just moody because of your absence. Tsk tsk tsk. Why don't you give him a call? His subordinates are suffering because of him. Give him advice. I know he will listen to you."

Elle took a deep breath and said. "Ok. I'll give it a try."

After reminding her a few times Doctor Argus hung up the phone.

"Hmmm. What's wrong with him. I thought we already agreed on our terms. Why is he having a mood swing now?" Elle mumbled to herself.

Elle was about to call the person whom they called Supremo when she received another call. This time Elle's fatigue dissipated into thin air in an instant after seeing the caller's name. It was Erick.

She answered it right away.

"Chief Lee, is there an interesting case that we can cover that's why you call me?" Elle asked him enthusiastically.

Erick chuckled from the other line.

"Yes, it's an exclusive interview," Erick said.

"Okay. With whom?"

"With me." There was a hint of humor in his voice when saying that.

Elle was at a loss for words.

'So shameless!'

"I just did an exclusive interview with you this morning."

"Hmmm. This time it's different. Let's make this interview a personal one!"