The Heart System

Chapter 567: Chapter 567

"Evan?"

"Hey," I said, taking another drag. "Mendy. How are you?"

"I’m good," she replied, though her voice came out uneven, slightly breathless. "I’m actually with Kayla right now. There’s this app she’s been talking about..."

"Oh, not you too," I muttered, exhaling smoke with a small shake of my head. "I have a theory, Mendy. Kayla is secretly the creator of that app, and she’s just using all of you as free marketing."

She laughed lightly, a soft, airy sound despite her breathing. "Hey, it works... but it’s kinda tiring."

"Yeah, I bet," I said, leaning my shoulder against the glass and looking outside again. "You sound busy, though. I can call you later if you want."

"No, no," she said quickly. "I’ve got my earbuds in. I can talk."

In the background, Kayla’s voice drifted through faintly.

"Move your right leg up. Yeah, like that. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four."

I couldn’t help but smile.

"Jeez," I said, glancing down at the street below. "She’s putting you through it, huh?"

"She... is," Mendy admitted between breaths.

I let out a quiet chuckle and tapped ash into the small tray by the railing. "Hey, random question. Do you also wake up in the middle of the night and eat bananas?"

There was a tiny pause.

"Y-yeah... that’s part of the program," she said, sounding a little embarrassed but amused at the same time. "How did you know?"

"Lucky guess," I said with a grin.

Honestly, it was starting to feel less like a guess and more like a pattern.

"Um... so..." she continued, her tone softening a bit. "Thanks for calling me, by the way. It’s been a while since we talked."

"Yeah," I admitted, watching a car splash through a puddle below. "Things have been... messy lately. A lot going on."

"Kayla mentioned something," she said. "About that... weirdo. The one who was driving his patients to suicide."

I exhaled slowly, the cigarette burning between my fingers.

"Yeah," I said. "That guy."

"Is your friend okay?" she asked. "I forgot her name... she was his girlfriend, right?"

"Ivy," I replied. "She’s... getting better. Slowly."

"That’s good," Mendy said, her voice carrying a bit more steadiness now. "What he did was horrible. I can’t even imagine... but thanks to you, he won’t be doing that anymore. You might not realize it, but you probably saved a lot of people, Evan."

I let out a quiet breath, watching it fog the glass again.

"I don’t know about that," I said. "I just did what I had to."

There was no point digging into that. Not right now.

"Anyway," I continued, pushing myself off the glass. "I won’t keep you. All I hear is you struggling over there."

She laughed softly. "Sorry... yeah, I think I need a break soon."

"Take one before you collapse," I said.

"Yeah... I will," she replied. There was a small pause before she added, a little more shyly, "We should... hang out sometime."

"We should," I agreed. "When things calm down."

"Okay," she said, sounding genuinely happy about that. "Take care, Evan."

"You too, Mendy."

"Bye."

"Bye."

The call ended, and I lowered the phone slowly.

For a moment, I just stood there in the quiet, looking out at the city through the glass. The rain had picked up slightly, streaking the surface in thin lines.

I ran a hand through my hair and exhaled.

At least for a few minutes, things felt... normal.

⟁ ⟁ ⟁

Another lead.

Cora had already gotten to work, doing her thing like she always did. I didn’t even know how she managed it this fast, but somehow she had tracked Jack Kuinn down to a bar. Not one of those high-end places he could easily afford either. This one was small, tucked away, the kind of place people went when they didn’t want to be seen.

That alone told me enough.

I pulled the car over and stepped out, the cold hitting me immediately. Snow drifted down in slow, lazy flakes, the kind that didn’t bother rushing anywhere. Every now and then, a gust of wind cut through the street, sharp enough to make you zip your jacket up a little higher.

"Cora!"

She stood across the street, right in front of the bar’s entrance. When she heard me, she turned and waved, a small smile forming on her lips. I crossed over, boots crunching lightly against the thin layer of snow that had already settled.

It was late. Two in the damn morning... way too late for normal people. The kind of hour where the city felt different, quieter but also a little more dangerous. The street itself wasn’t exactly welcoming either. Dim streetlights flickered overhead, casting uneven shadows along cracked pavement. A couple of sketchy-looking figures lingered near a corner store down the block, and there was graffiti sprayed across the brick walls like no one ever bothered cleaning it up.

The bar behind Cora fit right in.

A worn-out neon sign buzzed above the door, half the letters flickering like they were about to give up any second. The windows were tinted just enough to hide most of what was going on inside, but you could still catch glimpses of movement, silhouettes shifting under warm lighting.

"Sorry for calling you this late," Cora said, her voice a little soft as she tucked her hands into her coat. "I thought you’d want to know."

"It’s fine," I replied with a small smile. "Couldn’t sleep anyway. So... tell me. He went in there?"

"Y-yes," she nodded. "But he was alone."

"Hmm."

That made things easier and harder at the same time.

I glanced at the entrance, then back at her. "Why didn’t you go inside?"

She hesitated, her shoulders tensing slightly. "I... I got a little nervous."

I couldn’t help but let out a quiet chuckle. "Yeah, figured."

Straightening up, I offered my arm to her. She looked at it for a second, then smiled sheepishly and hooked her arm through mine, holding on gently.

"Come on," I said. "Let’s not keep our boy waiting."

We walked toward the entrance together. No line, no crowd. Not surprising. This wasn’t the kind of place people lined up for.