Becoming A Tech Tycoon Begins With Regression novel Chapter 167

Chapter 167: Aria’s Worries

Completely Useless.

That’s exactly how Aria currently felt. She blamed herself for letting her friend leave alone that night.

She could’ve offered to accompany her, or even convinced Lillian to stay, but no. She was too absorbed with Gabriel to pay attention to her friend.

And the next thing she knew, Lillian had been kidnapped and worst of all, this information only reached her the next day.

Ethan had promised to find her, but would he?

It had already been two days with no new info from him and that caused her mind to spiral with thoughts that didn’t help her mind’s peace, not in the least bit.

Gabriel had promised to contact a few friends, but even they had come up with nothing.

The best they got was that if Lillian had been kidnapped, she wasn’t in the US anymore.

Aria lay on her bed, her eyes fixed on the ceiling and fingers gripping the fabric of her sheets so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The late afternoon sun filtered weakly through the blinds, painting long, tired shadows across the room.

Her phone lay face-up beside her, as she waited for a message or anything that’d reassure her that her friend was okay.

A knock was heard on the door, but she did not bother replying, so the person just let themselves in.

Walking in was Doctor Gabriel, not in his usual lab coat, but an outfit that looked comfortable.

He quietly closed the door behind him with his elbow, careful not to spill what was on the tray that was in his hand.

The smell reached her first. It had the scent of something warm and buttery. Pancakes, maybe? And coffee.

Aria didn’t look his way, her eyes still fixed on the ceiling, her mind in a completely different dimension, one in which she was constantly blaming herself.

Gabriel stood by the bed for a moment, taking in the sight of her, the untouched glass of water on the nightstand, the pillow with faint tear stains and the phone that lay beside her.

It hurts him to see her like this, yet, he couldn’t do anything to help.

Aria had previously screamed at him to leave, to stay away, but he refused. She was his girlfriend now and whatever she goes through, he would be there with her.

"You haven’t eaten," he said softly, setting the tray down on the desk beside her bed.

"I’m not hungry," Aria murmured without looking at him.

He sighed. "You said the same thing this morning and last night."

Gabriel hesitated for a moment, then sat down in the chair next to her bed. "You’ll make yourself sick like this," he said quietly.

"Maybe I should," she muttered, her tone flat, tired.

"Aria—" he started but she cut him off.

"What?" Aria snapped, her tone a lot harder than she intended but she couldn’t control it, "I call myself her best friend and yet, I couldn’t even convince her to stay longer or even allow me to accompany her?"

"It’s not your fault," he gently said, "there’s no way you could’ve known what would happen."

"Maybe if I had gone with her—" it was obvious enough that she wasn’t listening but Gabriel cut her off with a small frown on his face.

"You don’t know that," he said, "for all we know, that would’ve just put you too in danger."

"At least then I’ll be next to her, knowing that she’s safe," was Aria’s response.

"Then what about me?" Gabriel said in a quiet tone, "how do you think I’d feel?"

There was silence after his question, Aria finally turned as she locked eyes with him. She could see it, her words just now had genuinely hurt him.

But he still sat there, ready to comfort her. This wasn’t the first time during these two days that she had said something that hurt him, and yet, he stayed.

Before she could open her mouth to say something, her phone let out a ding, causing her to immediately move towards it.

Gabriel also moved a bit closer, as he watched her unlock the screen and open the message.

There was no number with the message and it seemed it just appeared out of thin air. The message was just a photo attachment which caused Aria’s eyes to widen.

The photo was of Lillian, peacefully asleep and covered with white sheets. She had a small smile of satisfaction on her face as she peacefully rested.

Below the image was a short text, "she’s safe, you can stop worrying now."

Even without the number, she knew who had sent this. Ethan had promised to find her, and he did.

She felt a wave of relief wash over her and in one motion, turned to Gabriel and pulled him in a tight hug.

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