Relative

Standing in the door frame was a woman younger than Blake's mother and who had her hair tied up at the back in a ponytail. 

"...Lena?"

The name slipped out of Blake's mouth almost unconsciously. 

"You remember me? Oh, that's great! It's been too long.", she beamed.

"...Yeah."

Blake looked away and rubbed the bridge of his nose before remembering the issue at hand.

"Uh-"

"Sorry for not visiting you earlier by the way. I figured you'd want some alone time before you had someone bothering you."

"No, I-"

"So how are you? O-Or do you not want to talk about it?"

"Ah-"

"Oh, I know what'll take your mind off of things. How about we play a game?"

She dug through her bag looking for something. As she did, Blake sighed and all the memories started flooding back to him. That's right, she was always like this, Blake recalled.

"I brought a pack of cards. We can play that one game we used to. Remember? What was it called again?"

"...Big two?"

"Oh yeah, that's right! Big two! Wanna play?"

She eventually found the cards in her bag and dropped it on the bed as she approached the chair next to it. Finally, an opportunity for Blake to speak had come up and so he took it.

"Look, right now I'm not in the mood for a game, I need you to do something for..."

Lena was totally engrossed in her phone now. Just how scatterbrained is she, Blake screamed internally. Completely exacerbated, he just looked at her blankly. And she must have noticed the silence, which is why she eventually looked up apologetically.

"Sorry, I totally zoned out. So? Wanna play?

Blake rubbed his face in utter frustration and as he did, he contorted his neck in all sorts of directions. He soon found himself looking directly at the suit sitting to his left. After brief consideration, he grabbed it, balled it up as much as he could, and threw it at Lenna.

He took care not to put too much force into it, which seemed to work since she was able to catch it out of reflex. She stared at the suit for a bit before tilting her head and asking something.

"The heck was that about?"

"I'm asking you for a favor. It's really important."

"Oh, well why didn't you just say so? What's up?"

Blake looked at her in disbelief for a bit before answering.

"Okay so, my mother left that suit for me, but honestly it doesn't seem like the most comfortable thing to wear when I get out of here."

Lena looked down at the suit, opened it slightly to examine it closer, and saw just how dirty it was. She frowned slightly.

"Are you kidding me?", she muttered.

"Do you think you can get me another set of clothes?"

Lena looked back at him.

"Sure, that's no problem. But... Is that all?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you said this was really important. I guess I just wasn't expecting something like this?"

She scratched the back of her head as she said that.

*Vroom*
A car pulled up into the parking lot of the hospital. The suited man stepped out of it walked briskly to the entrance. He then made his way to the reception deck and pulled out a photo from his breast pocket.

"How can I help you?", the receptionist asked.

"I'm here to see this person."

Handing her the photo as he said it, he looked around the waiting area for any sign of his target.

"Rom 102.", the receptionist said.

Without even stopping to take the photo back, the suited man walked towards his destination. 

Back in Blake's hospital room, Lena still hadn't left yet.  

"Do you want me to get you anything else while I'm out?"

"I don't."

"Are you sure? I really don't mind."

"I'm sure. Just get going already."

As they had their back and forth, Blake noticed the door to the room opening slowly. He leaned forward to confirm what he saw and then turned to look at the clock. Just like he thought, it was too early. 

"Lena, you should go now.", he said hurriedly.

The suited man stepped into the room as soon as he finished talking.

"Blake. I need to speak with you."

Lena looked back and forth between the two. 

"Do you know each other?", she asked.

"Actually-"

"Yes.", Blake interrupted.

A brief silence.

Blake cleared his throat before speaking again.

"Sorry Lena. I'd rather speak with him in private."

"Okay..."

She tightened her grip on the suit before putting it into her bag. Still unsatisfied however, she pulled out a pen and paper, then jotted down something quickly before tearing it out and handing it to Blake.

"Call me if you need anything."

He looked at it oddly before taking it.

"I'll be back soon.", she said.

"Take your time.", Blake responded.

She exited the room and the suited man's gaze followed her. His eyes lingered on the door for a while before turning toward Blake.

"That was your cousin, right?", he said.

Blake simply nodded in response. As he did, the suited man approached.

"Name's Ethan."

He extended his arm out as if to offer a handshake, but Blake didn't feel the need to comply. He was too busy paying attention to his reflection out of the corner of his eyes. 

"I heard you weren't the most social person, but..."

I almost got caught because of you, Blake thought as he glared at his doppelganger. His frustrations with his future self wouldn't end there however as it seemed his reflection had shown up just to provide him with one bit of last-minute information.

"They'll catch you, you know..."

Blake narrowed his eyes in response to that. How could that possibly happen? As soon as he had pondered this question, his reflection answered it. 

"In about five minutes, he's going to leave this room and go after Lena."

"Son of a-"

Blake bit the inside of his mouth before he could finish his initial reaction. After giving his reflection a spiteful side eye, he turned to look at the suited man. Luckily, Ethan didn't seem to notice anything wrong as he stared at the floor in total silence. 

Perhaps it wasn't so lucky though as Ethan looked up almost immediately and asked something that sent a chill down Blake's spine.

"How long has it been since you last spoke with her?"

A brief silence.

"...Sorry, who are you talking about?"

"Your cousin. What was her name, Lena?"

It didn't take a genius to see where this was going after that. Ignoring Ethan now would be a death sentence. The more he was allowed to think; the sooner the pocket watch would be discovered. But at least, Blake knew exactly what to do now.