My eyes fluttered opened. The bright lights of the hospital room greeted me. After blinking a few times to adjust my vision, I saw that my mother was asleep beside me. I gently tapped her.

She slowly opened her eyes and let out a yawn. When she looked up to see what had disturbed her sleep and saw that it was me, she nearly jumped out of her seat. "You're finally awake!!" my mother said happily. "Let me get the doctor." And then she ran out of the room.

She came back a couple minutes later with a doctor behind her. He was in his late 40s, with wrinkles already appearing on his aged face. He was dressed in a white coat, a stethoscope hanging around his neck.

"This is Dr. Barnes, he's your doctor," my mother introduced. "You should thank him, he was the one who saved your life."

"Thank you, Dr. Barnes," I said gratefully.

He smiled warmly at me. "Just part of my job. I'm glad to see that you're awake, Mr. Wright. Your parents have been waiting anxiously for this day."

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked him.

"You were in the ICU for the first 2 weeks, then your condition stabilized so we moved you into the room you are in right now. Here, you slept for the about 3 months," he explained.

"Your father and I were so worried that you'll never wake up. We were beginning to lose hope. Every day we came to see you, but you showed no response. Your injuries were already starting to heal but you weren't waking up. I hired the best doctors to come and treat you but they all said that they couldn't do anything. It was all up to you, to wake up. So then we just waited until today."

I nodded, absorbing the information.

"How is he doing now that he's awake?" my mother asked Dr. Barnes.

"We will do a CT scan on him and see if there are any problems. If there aren't, your son can check out of here by the end of the week since most of his injuries have already healed completely," Dr. Barnes said.

"Well I think I should get going, Christian should get some rest now since he just woken up." my mother said.

"I agree. Resting properly greatly impacts how quickly your body will heal. And I'm guessing you aren't planning on staying any longer." Dr. Barnes said.

"Wait, where's Cali?" I asked, realizing that she wasn't here.

"Are you talking about the young lady who brought you to the hospital? I thought she was your girlfriend at first, but I must've been wrong. She never visited you after that day," Dr. Barnes revealed.

My mother gave him a cold stare. I could see daggers shooting out of her eyes.

"Uh- I'll take my leave now," he excused himself and hurried out the door.

"The young lady he spoke of... is he talking about Cali?"

"No, it was just a kind woman who called the police and came with you on the ambulance.. no one else."

"Don't lie to me," I warned.

"I'm not lying," she persisted, looking away.

"Then where exactly is Cali?" I changed the question. "She was there when I got hurt, there is no way she would stay away knowing that. I know her."

"You must not know her well enough then, son. I've been here ever since you got into the hospital and I never saw her visit you even once."

"I know everything there is to know about her. She must be using the restroom or something..."

"Face reality, she's not here, she won't be coming. She probably thought you were going to die so she left. I told you she was with you for your money, I told you."

"That's not true!!" I screamed, not believing a word she said. "Tell me where she is!!"

The machines beeped loudly as my heart rate increased due to my anger.

"We'll talk about this later when you're all better. I'll leave now and let you rest." With that, my mother picked up her handbag and shut the door behind her.

I slammed my fist on the mattress in frustration and anger. What my mother said.. it wasn't true.. it couldn't be... Cali didn't leave me... my mother was just lying...

For the rest of week, I dutifully listened to the orders of the doctors and nurses and worked hard to make a speedy recovery so then I could talk with Mother to get to the bottom of things.

And I did. I was discharged from the hospital a day earlier than the doctors predicted.

I stepped out the entrance and spotted Mr. Soo who was standing beside my black Porsche. He came to me with a wide smile. "Christian! It's good to see you back up on your feet," he smiled.

"It's nice to see you again, Mr. Soo," I chuckled.

We walked over to the car and he opened the car door for me. "Now get in. The wind is pretty strong today and we don't want you to catch a cold and get sick again."

"I won't get sick that easily, I'm not weak."

"Just get in."

"Alright alright."

Mr. Soo closed the door behind me and got in the driver seat. He started the car and drove out of the hospital parking lot.

"How have you been these past 2 months?" I asked, starting a casual conversation with him.

He peeked at me through the rearview mirror. "Are you still sick?" he asked jokingly. "This is the first time you asked about me."

"Getting in that car accident, being in the hospital has taught me how fragile life is," I said looking out the window and at the bright blue sky.

"I'm glad to hear that and see that you've finally grown up. You were so immature before. I like the new you way better than the old one," he commented.

"Finally growing up? I've always been like this," I said matter of factly.

He scoffed. "Sure you were, I bet that if you didn't meet Ms. Wilson, you would still be snobby, spoiled, rude, inconsiderate... the list can go on forever."

"Speaking of Cali, is it true that she didn't visit me at all when I was in the hospital?" I asked hoping that he would say no and tell me that it wasn't true.

"I'm sorry Christian, I didn't see Ms. Wilson at all when I came to visit you, but.. I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for why she didn't."

So what my mother said was true? She really didn't visit?? Was she telling truth about her leaving me too then?? I had to check.

"Mr. Soo, drive faster."

He sped up and we arrived at my apartment complex in less than 15 minutes. I quickly got out and ran inside. The elevators weren't arriving fast enough so I decided to take the stairs instead. I knew that I just recovered but what mattered at the moment was Cali, not me.I pushed open the door and started to run up the steps.

-------------------

I scrambled to get my keys and unlocked the door. I pushed it open and walked into a quiet and completely empty apartment. "Cali? Are you here?" My voice echoed through the house. "Cali?" I slowly went to my bedroom and into my walk in closet. I hurried over to the area where Cali put her clothes and prayed to see her things still there.

It wasn't. It was empty. Her clothes were gone. Her things were gone. Everything. There was no trace of her. She really had left. I'm positive my mother had something to do with this. She must've made Cali feel guilty for what happened to me. I ran out the door and took the elevator downstairs.

Mr. Soo was inside the car, waiting for me. I opened the door and pulled him out of the driver's seat.

Mr. Soo tried to block me. "What are you doing? Your parents specifically told me to not let you drive."

"Get out of my way, I need to do something important, don't block my way."

He backed off and let me get in. I started the engine and backed out of the parking space. I drove off, pressing hard on the gas pedal.

-------------------

I barged into the study for the third time and pointed at my mother. "What did you say to Cali??!?" I yelled. "You must've said something to her otherwise she wouldn't have left!!"

"Honey, I did this all for you."

"For me??"

"This was all her fault, my poor baby got hurt. I did what I had to do for my son's future and safety."

"Where did she go? Where??!?" I shouted.

She didn't answer.

"WHERE?!?!"

"I don't know. I just handed her a check and told her to leave the country. I have no idea where she went."

I groaned. "Do you know what you've done??? You just ruined my life!" I took out my phone and called Mr. Soo.

"Hello?"

"I need to do something for me."

"Go ahead and tell me, I'll try my best."

"I need to you find out where Cali is."

"Ms. Wilson? Did something happen to her?"

"Someone.." I said staring hard at my mother. "Told Cali to leave so I need to find her and get her back."

"I'll do my best to find her. I'll call you when I find something." He hung up.

I turned to my mother and spoke to her in a serious tone. "Even if I find Cali, it'll be hard for me to forgive you this time."

"Honey-"

"I don't want to hear another word from you," I said before leaving.

Mr. Soo tried all that he could to find her but there were no records of her leaving the country. I first suspected that she didn't leave the country but my mother did say that she did so I scratched that thought out. I tried calling her many times, but the number was no longer available. I traveled to many countries to find her, but there wasn't a trace of her. I roamed the streets asking people if they saw her, but it was no use. No one had seen her. My father threatened to disown me when he found out that I skipped work for almost a whole month. I had no choice but to return back to the US and get back to being the CEO.