Still inside the Birch's mansion
Elena's POV
I watched Hazel climb the stairs, slow but graceful, her elegance never faltering despite the long ascent.
She must have gone to use the elevator but changed her mind. Perhaps it was faulty or it was occupied… Nevertheless, she remained elegant.
Seconds turned into minutes and still no sign of Hazel.
Suddenly, applause filled the room. I turned in the direction everyone was looking and saw Seraphina descending the stairs. She was so beautiful. Her strawberry blonde hair fell over her shoulders and she wore a beautiful white gown.
The applause continued as she walked down the stairs and to the podium designed for this.
She smiled as the applause died down.
"I want to thank everyone", Seraphina started, "for coming to celebrate with me at my engagement party with Collins. I also want to specially thank my friends Lady Hazel Jade Maple and Nurse Elena Prescott for coming to show their support to me. I love you girls so much, you mean a lot to me."
There was soft applause and a handsome brunette man joined her and planted a soft kiss on her cheek. He spoke softly with a rich baritone voice,
"The pleasure is all mine. Thank you dear for accepting to be my wife."
There were crowd chuckled but I felt uneasy. Where was Hazel? Was she still looking for Seraphina or had she gotten lost in the huge mansion?
"Elena", I heard Seraphina. I turned to see her a few steps away from me.
She pulled me into a warm embrace and whispered "I'm so happy you made it here for me."
I smiled as she released me. I didn't know she liked bodily contact.
"I didn't think you were the hugging type", I said smiling at her.
She let out a low chuckle and whispered in my ears. "I only hug beautiful women."
I was about to laugh but it got stuck in my throat when the thought hit me again that Hazel wasn't here.
"Hazel went looking for you. Did you see her?", I asked.
"No", she sighed and continued, "this mansion is very huge. She might have missed her way. I'll send someone to find her."
She signaled to a man wearing a black suit and dark shades, he came closer. She then whispered something into his ears, he gave a light nod and disappeared into the crowd but he didn't take the stairs.
Curiosity made me ask her. "He didn't take the stairs?"
Seraphina turned to look at the stairs, "Oh. The stairs isn't the only entrance leading to the floors. And this house has seven exits."
I nodded. She smiled and held my arm, "Come on let's go sit at the extreme. I want to show you something."
She pulled me away and I glanced up to see her fiance looking at her tenderly.
****
Seraphina had shown me a catalogue of beautiful lavender wedding themes fifteen minutes ago.
It turned out that lavender reminded her of her mother so she wanted to honor her mother by wearing lavender on her wedding day.
It was hard to make a choice as they were all beautiful.
I glanced at the clock that hung above us when I saw that same guard. He walked over to Seraphina and whispered something in her ears. She frowned and nodded. He walked away.
She turned to look at me and said, "There was no sign of her in the mansion but the security checked the camera footage and saw her leave the mansion."
The bodyguard returned and handed her a tablet and she took it and watched it for a moment.
"It seems that Lady Hazel also drove away. It's captured here in the footage."
She handed me the tablet and there I saw a dim footage of Hazel walking past some people and getting into her car and driving off.
I felt really hurt. Why didn't she at least call me or text me? But then I chastised myself. Maybe it was an emergency. I should care about her more.
I gave Seraphina back the tablet and she looked at me worriedly as she took it and handed it back to the guard.
"Are you okay?", she asked.
"Yes", I replied standing up before saying, "but I have to go home now."
Seraphina stood up also, "Let me drive you back home", she said.
"No", I immediately refuted, "It's your day. I will take a taxi."
"Are you sure?", she asked worriedly.
"I'm sure", I nodded, "I'll call you when I reach home."
She still looked a little worried so she turned to the guard and said, "Donald, see to it that Elena gets home safely."
I shook my head. "It's not necessary."
Seraphina tilted her head a little bit and said, "It's getting late Elena. Allow me to do this for you, okay?"
"Alright", I relented because I knew that Seraphina would not let me leave her house alone when it was just a few minutes to midnight.
She smiled as I agreed and came over to hug me. "Stay alive", she said softly.
I chuckled, "You too", I replied.
She hummed and let me go.
Donald then proceeded to lead me out of the mansion. I walked slowly and paused to catch my breath for a second. I was very tired.
I couldn't wait to reach home so that I could just take off my clothes and sleep.
****
I sat at the back of the car while Donald was driving. He was trying his best to speed up so that I could reach home immediately because I have been drifting in and out of sleep in the car.
Suddenly the car screeched to a stop and I sat upright. There were flashing blue and red lights. I deduced that it was a police van.
Donald got out of the car and I opened the car door and got out too. Outside, there was yellow tape with warning signs and plenty of police vans.
Donald moved forward to a police officer standing with his colleague in front of the line.
"I've orders from the Silver-Birch's mansion to drop off Miss Elena. Can I be granted access?", he asked.
The officers looked at each other and one of them straightened up and said,
"We are sorry sir but we can't."
"Why is that?", he asked.
By now I was already freezing cold. The other police officer that was quiet said, "Lady Hazel of the Jade Maple family was involved in a car accident not quite long. You'll have to wait a little longer, I'm afraid or take another route."
My body went numb as I tried to replay what the officer had said in my head. Hazel? Accident?
Tears began to form in my eyes.