"I can't find him."

Alexia's stomach sunk. For this past week Teodoro has been searching for Jason everywhere, trying to find him or even a trail of him, yet he was nowhere to be found. Many people had told her it was impossible he was still alive after the burn wounds he must've received—that is, if he had been in the fire.

No one believed Jason had been there as well. Alexia knew he was the one dragging her all the way to the exit when she was panicking, although he was severely hurt. As much as she begged him to just let her go, he wouldn't listen to her. He was stubborn and kept pulling her towards the door.

When Jason passed out she knew that he wouldn't wake up unless he was brought to a hospital. He seemed to be harmed more than she was. He reeked of vomit and blood was all over his body. It was scary. As weak as Alexia was, she grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him out of the burning house, slowly dazing into unconsciousness with her hand still holding on to Jason's. I will never let him go was the last thought consuming her mind as she passed out, too.

She woke up in the hospital. Alexia remembers seeing all of her siblings, her parents and even Carina. Damian, however, wasn't there. She was glad.

The doctor had informed them about her second degree burn wounds. When Catalina had shamelessly blared that she didn't know the difference between first, second and third degree burn wounds, the doctor elaborated.

Second degree burn wounds are more serious than first degree burn wounds because the damage extends beyond the top layer of the skin. This type of burn causes the skin to blister and become extremely red and sore.

Alexia didn't care. Her mind was only focused on Jason. The burn wounds only covered part of her calves, so she wasn't concerned. The doctor said the wound would heal within two to three weeks with supposedly no scarring, just a pigment change to the skin. All she had to do was keep the area clean, apply the antibiotic cream and just deal with the pain it may cause her. The doctor then said he wasn't doubtful about her recovery. He was not worried about her burn wounds, there was something else that grasped his attention more.

The fire didn't wrong her enough for her to pass out. Nonetheless, she did, and although the doctor said it could've been because of the lack of oxygen, he wondered if she'd panicked to the point where she fainted.

Alexia of course said yes—seeing Jason lifeless was the final straw.

That is when all hell broke loose. What was she doing with Jason? Why was she at his house? Why wasn't he in the hospital? Why didn't Damian mention seeing him if he was there? They attacked her with questions, causing her head to spin until the doctor shut them all up and told them this wasn't good for her.

Teodoro softly told her there was no Jason. He had gone over there to see the damage and talk to Jason's parents, and he had seen no sign of another person that could've been inside. Her dad and Dominic both agreed to that, telling her there hadn't been anyone else too. Besides, Damian said she was the only one caught in the fire. Why would Damian lie?

Alexia scoffed at the memory.

Anyway, they kind of pushed the entire thought of Jason out of her head, although she was sure he had dragged her to the exit and she had hauled him outside. She remembers all of it, it wasn't a hallucination.

Jason had been there with her, alright. They were making out just a second before going inside. Where would he have gone if he wasn't inside with her? He literally walked beside her as they entered the building. She was not stupid. She was not dumb.

Despite all the memories as proof, she still was a little unsure. Where would he go? She knew for a fact that Jason was too hurt to walk away, and even if he wasn't, he wouldn't walk away like that. That's not like him.

So she ordered Teo to look for him. His parents didn't know where he was, Maria didn't know, Chaz and Ryan didn't know... In no time it had been one week since anyone last saw Jason, and to be honest, it was scary. Alexia knew for a fact that he was more hurt than she was—he definitely had third degree burn wounds and after looking it up a little bit on Google she realized he had to come back soon to get it treated.

Her stomach convulsed whenever she thought about that day, whenever she thought about Jason. So far she's been suffering from nightmares every day, the dreams varying from getting burned to death to Jason never coming back. Chloe was an amazing friend about it, dealing with it and comforting Alexia whenever she woke up crying. Even if it was in the middle of the night.

So, hearing Teo say he couldn't find Jason anywhere was disastrous. If Teo can't find someone... no one can.

"You okay, Lex?" Teo murmured, gently wrapping an arm around Alexia.

Alexia shrugged his arm off passionately. "No. Where the fuck is he, Teo? He would never just take off like that!"

"Lexi, please calm down," Teo furrowed his eyebrows, "you can't do anything about this. Just please, calm down. We'll find him, I promise."

Her mind was working at full speed, contemplating options about his whereabouts. She was enraptured by the thought of him being somewhere, alone, totally in need of help.

Teo sighed. "I'm serious, Alexia. Stop it. Don't over think this—you've got enough on your plate as it is already."

She sharply looked at him. "Enough on my plate?"

He nodded. "The wedding, classes, the fire..."

Flashes of unbearable warmth and orange-y flames shot through her head. Jason's voice echoed through her brain, It's okay, I'll get you out of here, panic circulated through her body and her breathing accelerated. Teo saw how she slowly got terror-stricken by the reminder and immediately tried to console her, pulling her into a tight embrace. Alexia didn't feel any better, the opposite, she felt worse. All she wanted was to be sure Jason was safe, to be sure he was okay and not endangered in any way.

She's been feeling awful non-stop for a week now. The only thing that would make her feel better was Jason, hugging her and reassuring her everything would be okay. Countless people have told her—yet they were all empty promises unless it was Jason. He wouldn't do that.

Her heart ached languishingly as she held back the tears, her body pining for Jason.

Where was he, God damnit?

"Shh... I know it's difficult." Teo whispered as Alexia clung to his shirt, biting her lip hard enough for her tears not to spill. She didn't want to cry more than she had done for the past days already.

"Do you?" She mumbled. Although she loved Teodoro to bits and he was the sibling she was the closest to, she didn't believe him when he said he understood. Sure he had girlfriends in the past and in those moments he genuinely believed he liked them, but Teo has never loved a girl as much as she loved Jason.

"Yeah of course I do."

"I can't remember the last time you've really been in love.."

"I'm seeing someone right now." He simply justified with a shrug. Alexia knitted her eyebrows together.

"You what?"

Teo rolled his eyes. "Don't act so surprised."

"I'm just... I didn't expect that." She murmured, looking at her brother. She was going to be honest—this wasn't exactly a nice surprise. Teo deserved having that 'big love' more than anyone she could think of, yet she was sceptical. He wasn't exactly known to be good in picking women and so far every girlfriend was just a gold-digger.

He let out a small chortle. "You'd like her."

Alexia puffed out a breath. "I've heard that before."

Silence overcame them. Alexia stared at her hands, her mind racing from her brother's girlfriend to the fire, from Jason's health to where the hell he was and from Damian to... well, Jason.

Somehow it all lead back to him.

She had noticed how Teo was thinking too, his gaze fixated on the floor and his body flexed. She didn't ask, but he didn't seem at ease. Upon seeing that, she realized she may have gotten self-centred to the point where she hadn't paid any attention to her brother's well being because she was only busy with herself. That's why after just a few moments, Alexia claimed she wanted to meet this mystery woman.

"You're kidding, right?" Teo stated, his eyebrows pulled up. She knew it was kind of hard to believe. It was normal for her brothers to despise the boys she dated, nevertheless, that didn't mean she was obtaining of her brothers' girlfriends. They brought the most bizarre girls back to the house, totally oblivious to the girls' true intentions. Fortuitously for them they didn't care as much.

When Dominic started dating Carina, Alexia was just as wary. Although Carina appeared to be a very nice and genuine woman—Alexia was leery and young. It had taken her months to fully get used to having another woman around all the time, especially one that was all over her brother.

She couldn't complain, though. Carina turned out to be the loveliest, most admirable woman ever. Her and Dominic were a match made in heaven and that was proven when they had their first son a couple weeks ago.

Despite the fact that Dominic settled down early and his relationship actually worked out, that didn't mean that Stefano, her oldest brother for God's sake, was following the same path. Stefano had certainly had his fair number of girlfriends but none of that was serious. When he reached the age where he found out it was socially acceptable to just have sex and leave it at that, he never got another girlfriend again. No one really cared unless they were being too loud, which was usually always. The only person that bothered reasoning with him was their mother, and clearly that wasn't working out.

Teo had always been in the middle. He definitely wasn't the one to settle down and had had plenty of occasional fucks, but that didn't mean that he'd never had a relationship he'd taken serious.

"I know it sounds surreal coming from me," Alexia rolled her eyes but couldn't help the smile that curled her lips, "but if you say you really love this woman, I would love to meet her."

He grimaced, not immediately returning the smile. Alexia dropped her smile and looked at her brother in concern. "What?"

"Nothing..."

"Teodoro Javier Valdez, you better tell me now." She hissed, seeing him wince upon hearing his full name. He threw his hands up in the air defensively, "Okay, okay, just don't use my full name. It makes you sound like mother."

"You fucking—"

Teo burst out in laughter, blocking the punches Alexia was throwing. He grabbed her wrists and held them close to her face. "Stop it, you're so annoying."

"Says you!" She altercated, but she was smiling.

He let her go and leaned backwards against the chair, looking at Alexia's desk in front of him. "I'll tell you."

Alexia kept her mouth shut, looking at Teo eagerly. She was interested and also just wanted to get her mind off her own problems.

"She's... How do I say this? I feel like she's very hard to get through. I don't know whether I love her," he gulped, almost whispering the word, "but it's harder to guess whether she loves me. She's not into talking about feelings and all that. I can't gauge her, you know?" He nervously fiddled with his fingers, avoiding eye contact with his sister at all costs. Alexia frowned. She's never seen her brother so unsure when he's talking about a girl.

"Well..." What is better than seeing for yourself? "Let's go visit her, now."

He scoffed. "I was actually going to see her after I was done visiting your lame ass, I am not taking you with me."

Alexia pouted. "Why?"

Teo shook his head. "No way, you are not coming. Cat already scared the poor girl by immediately talking about her shitty love life, giving her every single detail like how I beat both of her ex-husbands up," He snickered softly, "and I know for a fact that you are worse than Cat."

Ouch. Cat had already met the girl? "Why has Cat already met her and I don't even know her name?" Alexia snapped, feeling the tiniest pang of jealousy.

He shrugged. "You were busy."

"With?"

"The fire, Lex. You've been moping around all week and it's kind of hard to burst through your sad bubble when you're like this."

Alexia gritted her teeth together, instantly being reminded again of the horrendous fire and Jason's disappearance. Her stomach turned and flashes of the last time she saw Jason shot through her head, his voice echoing 'It's okay, I'll get you out of here' over and over again.

"Anyway," Teo forcefully retorted, waking her up out of her thoughts, "you're not coming and that's that."

She just sighed.

-

"Ring the bell, Teo."

Alexia and Teo were standing on the girl's porch. Although it wasn't as cold as it had been for the past months, Alexia was still slightly shivering and inwardly cursed at her brother as he had his jaw clenched and his hands stuffed into his pockets, too much of a pussy to even ring the bell.

Alexia had a suave way of behaving when she wanted something. As much as he was against her coming with him to see the girl today, she smugly talked him into letting her. Teo had loudly exclaimed that he was already regretting his decision the second they got into his car.

"Teo, come on." She nudged his shoulder. He sharply looked at her, his eyes narrowed.

"Don't look at me like that. What's her name?"

He took a deep breath. "Maya Lucas. Don't give me orders."

Alexia ignored his last comment because she knew it was true anyway. Teo was still her older brother—as little as a one year difference is—and he would always demand respect from her just as much as he would from anyone. Ordering one of her brothers or her father around? Alexia knew that was like asking to be yelled at.

Compared to the others, Teo took it lightly, too.

"Sorry," She mumbled, looking at the door. He sighed and rang the bell.

After a few short moments, the door opened and revealed a tall, blonde woman.

Teo's eyes lit up, stepping forwards to plant a kiss on Maya's lips. She happily kissed him back and pulled away quickly before it got too deep, gliding her eyes over Alexia curiously.

Alexia smiled.

"Babe, this is my little sister Alexia. Alex, this is Maya." Teo awkwardly introduced them, motioning for Alexia to step inside too.

Maya was wearing sweats and a loose shirt, her hair tied up in a tight ponytail. Alexia had to admit—Maya was pretty, very pretty. It was unusual for Teo to hook up with a non-Latina, so this was something new.

"Nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you. Come in!" Maya smiled widely and turned around, walking away. Teo hesitantly looked at Alexia with warning eyes as if he was saying 'behave' and then followed Maya inside towards the living room. Alexia just chuckled, slowly skipping behind them.

The apartment was small but cosy. She slid her eyes over the walls, looking at all of the picture frames as she walked in the living room, where Teo and Maya had both taken their seats across from each other.

Alexia pulled up her eyebrows as she stiffly sat down on the white couch, eyeing the room.

"Why are you guys sitting so far apart from each other?" She questioned. Both Teo and Maya looked at each other for a mere second before they turned to reply.

"It's eh..." He mumbled, not finishing his sentence. Maya snickered. "We are a little bit clingy, so sitting like this is better."

Alexia smiled warily as she looked at her brother, who was looking at his girlfriend admirably.

They talked. Maya was twenty one, the same age as Teo. Apparently she studied at NYU, trying to get her degree in Tourism management, which was amusing considering the fact that Teo couldn't just go wherever he wanted with the position he was holding in the business. Apparently Maya didn't know about the business because Teo kept avoiding the subjects work, goals in life and why they hung out in her apartment. It was expectable.

See, Maya wasn't Latina. This meant that she, in no chance, could be affiliated with the business, nor can she ever know about it unless anyone told her about it. With that being said, she probably doesn't know about the fortune Teo, Alexia and the rest of the family owned. That leads to her not being a gold digger or a social climber, simply because she doesn't know.

Alexia still didn't trust her.

Maya talked about her life and in return asked Alexia about hers, although she was pretty vague. Maya seemed to be okay and Alexia was too tired to check every little detail the way she usually did. Teo noticed this, because after an hour and a half he stated that they had to leave.

"Already?" Maya looked at him disappointingly, but immediately tried to keep that hidden by plastering a fake smile on her face.

Teo nodded. "Sorry, babe. I know for a fact that Alexia is very tired..." he looked at Alexia in concern.

Alexia rolled her eyes. "Oh stop it. You act like I'll burst out in tears any moment."

He cleared his throat. "Well... can't say that hasn't been happening."

"Teo! Christ!" She felt her cheeks heating up and glanced at Maya apologetically, earning a reassuring smile back. At least she wasn't trying to get in between Alexia's and Teo's conversation, Alexia gave her props for that.

He shrugged. "What? I'm just saying! All I'm doing here is looking out for you, Lex, you've been fucking miserable for a week now. I'm not blaming you, but that doesn't mean that I can't be worried."

She heaved a sigh, forcing herself to not think about last week. "Just don't treat me like some porcelain doll, I can take perfectly care of myself."

"Oh yeah, like that time you got caught in a fire." He sneered, his eyes darkening. Alexia did the same, changing her entire demeanor as she showed him how there was no way in hell he was going to speak to her like that. All he did was snort.

"Classy, Teo, very classy. Obviously I wanted that to happen, especially with Jason around." She snapped, her heart clenching at the mention of Jason's name. Teo let out a loud groan.

"Stop talking about him! You know he's dead, right?"

Silence. Alexia froze, his words repeating in her head.

"What makes you say that?"

He broke off their eye contact and nonchalantly shrugged. "You said he was in there with you, there's no way he could've survived walking away with all of the wounds he must've gotten."

"No," Alexia murmured, narrowing her eyes at her brother. "No," she said again, her heart starting to beat faster. "You're lying, fuck, you know something I don't!"

He shook his head, but it was too late. Alexia knew all of his quirks and habits and she knew damn well that when he was lying, he couldn't look her straight in the eyes. As a member of the business this didn't apply to other people, Alexia was the only person he couldn't lie to.

"I'm not lying." He defensively hissed. Alexia let out a humourless chuckle. "You're telling me everything you know, now."

"Do I look like your dog?"

Her breathing was uneven as she yelled, "Tell me! I can't believe you, you out of all people, are keeping something from me? About Jason? You're the only one that fucking knows how I really feel, God damned!"

"Do not yell, I'm warning you." Teo spoke, his voice low. "You're paranoid, we're going home now." He tried to keep his cool since Maya wasn't aware of the way Teo could be when he was angry.

Alexia frantically ran a hand through her hair, feeling panic boiling up as she tried to suppress the memories that wanted to flood back. "Stop lying to me! I know you Teo, you know I know you! Why are you doing this?"

His eyes flickered from a shocked Maya to his angry sister. "Shut up! You're making a scene like the dramatic brat you are when you've got no proof that I know anything."

An unpleasant feeling settled itself in Alexia's stomach. "So, you're admitting."

"It's not my place to tell you." He shot back, but Alexia didn't bother listening to him any longer. Instead, she turned around and stamped to the door, ignoring all the orders and screams coming from her brother in the living room.

Where did he get the nerve to lie to her about this? Teo was one of the few people that visited her daily since the fire, trying to make sure she was okay. He put up with her crying, her panic attacks... He promised her he would find Jason, he came over to her dorm room every day, giving her all the details of where he'd gone that day so they could cross that off the list of possibilities of where Jason could be.

And now that he was in a relationship, shouldn't he understand the pain she was feeling knowing that Jason could be lying in a ditch somewhere, suffering from all the pain the fire had caused him?

Alexia brushed her hand along her sticky cheeks, just wanting to go home so she could cry in peace. Once again, the realization hit her that he was nowhere to be found. It hit her hard.

-

She'd slowly gotten back to campus. She had to take three buses, but in the end she finally made it. The first thing Alexia did, was taking a long shower.

After that, Chloe barged in their room and forced her to come down stairs with the others for dinner, pulling Alexia with her without giving her any space to respond.

So there she was, sitting in the cafeteria with Chloe, Chaz and Ryan, nibbling on a piece of bread.

The atmosphere was smothering. No one spoke but Chloe, who clearly tried to ease the rigidity between the three of them. Chaz hadn't even looked up from his plate of fries. His eyes were burning holes into the plate, not moving his hand to actually pick one up and eat it. Ryan was staring at the wall in front of him, calmly drinking his coffee, although the fear for his best friend was drawn in his eyes. They were dull.

Everyone was worried and everyone dealt with it their own way. Alexia cried all day, while Ryan kept silent and spent his days skipping colleges to go see Sienna. Chaz was snappy and cranky and pushed Chloe away as much as he could. Chloe, however, tried to do whatever she could to make everyone, especially Chaz, feel more comfortable. She went out of her way to bring him food he liked, made sure he was still up to speed with everything that had been going on in classes and didn't leave his side.

Of course she was worried about Jason, but not as much as they were. She didn't understand the pain they were going through as they waited day after day for a sign of him. Ryan and Chaz both had been there for him whenever he wasn't okay—they knew all the trouble he could get himself into. They knew how he was not a rational thinker at all. They knew how he wouldn't survive without them.

Alexia had already lost Jason once. Knowing that she might've lost him again was a thought she tried to subdue at all costs.

No one believed he was dead—yet they were all cautious with saying it out loud. Nobody wanted to jinx it.

The evening was a real blast. Please, note the sarcasm.

In the end, nobody had eaten their food and they slowly separated again, walking back to their rooms. Ryan was the first to leave, not saying a word as he threw his empty cup of coffee in the trash can, passing Maria without even a simple 'hello'. Maria didn't mind, she was just as freaked out as everyone else was. Jason was like a son to her.

Chaz stood up second, immediately gaining all of Chloe's attention.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to my room."

Albeit it was hard on everyone, it was even worse for Chaz. He was the one who shared his dorm room with Jason and he was the one who had to wake up with an empty bed beside him, stare at all of Jason's stuff and in the end come back to an empty room, knowing there was someone missing.

"You didn't eat..." Chloe sulkily mumbled, her eyes travelling back to his full plate.

Chaz sighed deeply. "You're not my mom." He didn't even look at her as he turned around, exiting the cafeteria as well.

Chloe was left, stunned. Alexia felt bad for her because everyone saw how hard she tried, yet Chaz wouldn't take any of it.

Chloe didn't waste any time. She quickly stood up and pushed her chair back, running after Chaz.

Alexia narrowed her eyes in annoyance, getting up as well. Jesus, so much for a nice dinner with friends. She walked towards the door sluggishly, making sure she greeted Maria before stepping outside.

There was no sign of Chloe back in her room, so she decided to take off her shirt and stare at her tattoo in her mirror.

The little wave brought back many pleasant memories and she closed her eyes, letting herself remember all of that before she opened them again.

She was stupid. Why was she staring at that tattoo? How was that going to help her feel better?

Still staring in the mirror, she noticed a white shape on her bed. She turned around, narrowing her eyes. It was a little piece of paper, neatly folded and put on her pillow.

Alexia's heart raced as she nearly ran towards her bed, grabbing the note and unfolding it.

I came to visit you but you were out, I promise I'll try again sometime next week. I'm okay, don't worry about me.

I love you princess

J

--

Heyy lmao I KNOW I keep making false promises about not uploading again, but I'm so addicted :/ besides people keep convincing me to do otherwise.

Anyhow, now I SWEAR that I won't upload until Tuesday, y'all can mark my words.

See what I did there?

Enjoy the chapter!! I don't like how it turned out but as many times as I edited it, it turned out shit with every try so I gave up. 

Love you bitches