Reborn, Reawakened, Rekindled novel Chapter 229

Kitty looked at me with a face full of exasperation. "You really don't get it, do you?”

Just then, her phone rang. She took a glance at the caller ID, then quietly stepped aside to answer it, and I went off to find my car.

As I was getting in, I saw Kitty rushing back to say a few words to Neil before hurrying off. The moment she left, Neil’s gaze was fixed on me.

But he stayed true to his word. He had promised not to seek me out anymore, and he had kept his promise. The Twitter drama and today’s chance encounter weren’t his doing.

While avoiding Neil’s gaze, I opened the car door and got in. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him slump to the ground.

I was startled. What the hell happened?

Although Neil had fainted in the hospital lobby, it was already pretty late, and the place was deserted. Who knew when the medical staff would find him?

"What a pain in the ass!" I muttered, reluctantly getting out of the car to check on Neil.

He looked terrible. He was clutching his upper abdomen, and his face was breaking out in a cold sweat.

But he was still conscious. In spite of the pain, he actually pushed me away. "Don't worry about me!"

"I'll go get a doctor; wait here!" I didn't argue with Neil, quickly getting up to find medical staff.

A few minutes later, I watched as Neil was wheeled away to be examined. I should have been free to go, but because Neil had passed out, I had to stick around to pay the fees and complete the admission procedures.

After finishing the paperwork, I called Mitch. Despite the late hour, he rushed to the hospital with Cooper.

By then, Neil had regained consciousness. He didn't react much to seeing Mitch and Cooper; instead, he started blaming me. "I told you not to meddle! Are you just doing this to make me owe you a favor?"

I looked at him, feeling puzzled. Was saving a life now subject to ulterior motives?

Mitch quickly intervened after noticing my exasperated expression. "Rena, we really appreciate your help tonight. It's late; you should head home now."

"Yeah, you guys take care of him." I didn't want to argue with Neil, so I just turned to leave.

But Neil called out to me again. "I didn't mean to drag you into my issues with Bonnie. I'm sorry."

I was starting to think Neil's issue wasn't with his stomach but with his head. One minute he was cold and rude; the next he was all sincere and apologetic.

I never blamed Neil for the Twitter fiasco.

"Uh-huh, I get it. I don't hold it against you." I replied in a softer tone.

Neil looked like he had more to say but remembered our agreement and held back.

As soon as I left the room, Mitch followed me out. "Rena, I need to talk to you about something."

"What's up?" I asked.

"Can you and Neil be friends again? He's been under a lot of stress lately. You know about his breakup with Bonnie, but what you might not know is that Gloria has been using the incident with Karina's death to smear his name. It's been causing him a lot of mental stress. He's even been to see a psychiatrist." Mitch's voice was filled with concern.

I had no idea about any of this.

I remembered how tired Neil looked the day he came to see me. His dark circles were heavy; clearly, he hadn't been sleeping well.

Turned out he had been dealing with baseless accusations for a while now. He had always felt guilty about Karina's death, so I could only imagine how terrible he must be feeling.

"Now that the truth is out, hopefully people will stop blaming him." I tried to offer some consolation, even though there wasn't much more I could do.