A Wrong Surrogate for the CEO-Chapter 117: He didn’t lie

After what felt like forever but in reality, was just a few hours, the rain stopped.

Shivering and numbingly cold, Lara knew that she had to find shelter away from the cold if she didn’t want to be frozen to death.

Her tears had dried with the rain, and there was nothing left but an empty hollowness in her chest.

There was only one person left in her life. One person she could trust, the one person that hadn’t lied to her ever since she woke up from the damned coma that was tearing her life into shreds right now.

With shaky hands, Lara dug into her bag and picked up her phone.

Then she dialed Kayla’s contact.

"Hey girl. What’s up? How are you doing?" Kayla’s chirpy voice floated into her ears. At the sound of how cheery her best friend was, Lara choked back tears.

When she didn’t speak immediately, the cheeriness in Kayla’s voice dropped as she spoke again.

"Hello? Lara. Are you there? Is everything okay?"

Slight worry coated the words, and Lara closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she responded.

"I am sorry for calling you so suddenly. I...I need you. Please come and pick me up," she said, her voice coming out as weak and raspy.

Lara was unable to keep the pain she was feeling from seeping into her words, and Kayla must have caught on that something was happening because she spoke with a great deal of worry. And urgency.

"Baby. Where are you, sweetie? Why do you sound like you have been crying? Are you stranded somewhere?"

Lara choked back tears at the worry in her friend’s voice, but when she spoke, she couldn’t hide the fresh wave of pain that slammed into her.

"I...I need you, please. I’m standing in front of Curtis’s house, and I’ll...I’ll explain everything later. I just need to get out of here," she whispered.

"Okay. Just hold on for me, okay? I’ll be there in a few minutes," Kayla reassured.

Lara hung up and crouched down, leveling with her now soaked traveling bag.

True to her words, Kayla’s car stopped before Lara a few minutes later.

As soon as Kayla saw Lara, she instantly knew that whatever happened was bad. Very very bad.

Lara was soaked to the bone and shivering uncontrollably. Her skin was pale, as if someone had drained each and every single drop of her blood.

But her eyes...

Kayla’s heart dropped into the bowels of her stomach at the pain in Lara’s eyes.

She ran to her friend, arms outstretched. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Oh my goodness, Lara. What the hell happened to you? Did you and Curtis get into a fight?"

At the mention of Curtis, the tears that Lara thought had dried up bubbled out of her.

Unable to help herself, Lara started to sob. Again.

Kayla’s heart broke at how small Lara looked at that moment, and she dragged her into a hug.

Kayla gently patted her on the back, her eyes misting with pity tears as Lara cried on her shoulders.

She said nothing, knowing that this was not the time to push Lara for details about what happened.

After a few minutes, Lara eventually managed to compose herself. She pulled away from Kayla’s hold, breaking the hug.

Her eyes were extremely red now, and puffier than they had ever been.

Without saying a word, Kayla grabbed the handle of Lara’s travelling bag and walked back to her car, dropping it in the trunk.

Then she opened the door for Lara and said: "Get in. I’ll drive you home."

Lara gave her friend a grateful smile as she walked into the car. "Thank you, Kayla," she whispered before shutting the door.

Kayla walked to the other side, got into the driver’s seat, and turned up the heat.

They drove in silence for a long while, and silence stretched between them, thick and filled with tension.

Kayla had almost gotten to her house when Lara spoke. Her voice was small, quiet. But it filled the car regardless.

"I didn’t have anywhere else to go," she stated.

Kayla took her eyes off the road for a moment to spare her a glance.

"What happened, Lara?"

Lara swallowed past a lump in her throat, unable to speak.

Kayla sighed.

"It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it. I understand."

Lara shook her head, her heart aching at the warmth in her friend’s voice.

"I want to talk about it. I just...I need a moment to gather my thoughts."

Kayla reached out to squeeze her hand, and there was a small, sad smile on her face.

"Take your time, sweetie."

Lara took a deep breath, closed her eyes to ward off the sting of tears already building in her eyes.

Then she started to speak.

"Curtis lied to me..."

Very carefully, Kayla listened to Lara’s explanation. Her heart shattered at the pain in her friend’s voice, but she didn’t interrupt, letting Lara finish her explanation before she spoke.

By the time Lara was done explaining what happened, they had gotten to Kayla’s house.

Kayla parked the car and turned off the ignition. Then she turned to face her friend.

"I am so sorry about all of that, Lara. Really. But I’ve known Curtis for a while now, and before the coma, you explained everything that happened between you guys. He didn’t lie to you, sweetie. He never did. And you guys are really, truly married."

Her voice was filled with reassurance, and even though Lara knew that Kayla only had her best interest at heart, even though she knew that Kayla would not lie to her, her pain was too much for her to bear.

She didn’t want to hear about how valiant and loving Curtis had been. All Lara wanted to do was sleep the pain in her chest away.

So she held Kayla’s gaze as she responded. "I don’t want to talk about Curtis. I don’t want to hear about our relationship from a third party. I need to remember everything by myself, Kayla. Please, please don’t try to make me go back. Once my memory is fully functional, I will decide if I want to go back or not," she said firmly.

Kayla understood what Lara wanted, and she nodded at those words.

"Sure. Okay. I won’t mention anything about it again," she promised.

Lara smiled and reached out to squeeze her friend’s hand. "Thank you."

Kayla smiled back."Come on. Let’s go in and get you out of that wet clothes. I’ll make you a glass of hot chocolate."

And as they both made their way into her house, Kayla could only hope that Lara’s memories resurface as soon as they could.

Because no matter what Lara said, Kayla knew that her friend was going to be very miserable in the absence of her husband, Curtis.