SWITCHED|VegasPete|

9: REALITY

***

"Who am I?" Pete asked as Vegas looked at him in confusion.

Pete looked frantic and Vegas was quick to see how the latter's hands shook. Vegas ran-walked to Pete's direction and it's clear that something just happened.

"Pete, what's wrong?" Vegas asked, getting down on one knee before holding Pete by the arm making the latter look at him with teary eyes.

"Who am I, Vegas? Who am I?" Pete asked on repeat, his voice slowly fading by the end of his sentence.

"Hey Pete!" Vegas called out when Pete suddenly passed out from exhaustion.

..

After carrying Pete to his room, Vegas stood by his bedside unable to leave for some reason. Something about Pete has always bothered Vegas and with what happened today, his suspicion elevated.

"What do you mean?" Dr. Klyde asked on the other line after Vegas just told him what happened.

Dr. Klyde was the very person Vegas thought of the moment he saw how similar Kisha and Pete were. Vegas thought that no one else could understand him more than the man who's going through something similar.

"Like I said, he's been acting like Khiara. From the way he behaved and talked, to the food she liked and didn't, everything's too similar." Vegas repeated while looking at the unconscious Pete.

"Are you sure? Maybe you're just overthinking? As you've mentioned, he looks similar with her. Maybe you're just seeing things in a different light since they look alike." Dr. Klyde asked making Vegas shake his head.

"No, that's not it. I spent weeks observing him and it's too much to be just a coincidence, if you could only see it. Also, the way he treats Venice is just..." Vegas paused as he remembered how Pete looked at Venice like how a mother would look at her child, well atleast from how Khiara looked at her tummy before.

"Hm... You sure you've never met him before?" Dr. Klyde asked but Vegas is quite sure that he never met him.

"No, never." Vegas answered making Dr. Klyde let out a sigh.

"Have you checked if they're related? With Khiara I mean."

"I had his background checked but there's nothing significant. He was born in Thai but spent most of his years here in Korea. There's a slim chance of them even meeting since Khiara never left the Augustine mansion and barely left after we got married." Vegas recalled.

Dr. Klyde went silent for a good while, as if thinking of how he could help his friend.

"How about we do this? I'll call Dr. Gram and set you an appointment." Dr. Klyde proposed making Vegas think.

"How on earth am I going to make him go? I can't just tell him that he needs a check-up since he's going crazy." Vegas said making Dr. Klyde cackle on the other line.

"Oh man, you always make the craziest comments. Just imagining you saying that cracks me up." Dr. Klyde said as he caught his breath, still laughing at the thought of Vegas actually saying it to someone.

"Wait a damn minute, when did you ever care about other people's feelings? Far as I remember, you said my suit made me look fat on the day of my wedding." Dr. Klyde reminded making Vegas raise a brow.

"Well, you did look fat in that suit." Vegas repeated making the doctor scoff.

"See what I mean? You, my friend, are acting suspicious." Dr. Klyde pointed out making Vegas feel uneasy, he needs to end the call before the latter pries even more.