Estelle’s parents had forbidden her from eating food from stalls, considering it unhygienic. Despite this, whenever she craved snacks from the stalls, Cristofer would secretly take her to the snack street and buy whatever she desired. As they strolled along the street, Estelle would lead the way while Cristofer followed, carrying numerous food bags in his hands.
Whenever she wanted snacks, Cristofer would hand them to her. If she wished to buy other snacks, she only needed to indicate the stall, and Cristofer would get it for her.
However, that day they couldn’t make it to the snack street.
Inevitably, boys often collided with each other while playing basketball.
At their age, boys were full of energy and strength. During the basketball game, Cristofer collided with several players and fell to the ground.
Accidentally, someone stepped on his shin, resulting in a fracture.
He had wanted Estelle to see how handsome he was but got injured unexpectedly, which made him feel embarrassed. When others asked about his condition, he insisted that he was fine and didn’t need to go to the hospital. However, his leg swelled up soon, and he grimaced in pain.
After a while, he hobbled over to Estelle, held her hand, and said as if nothing serious had happened, “Let’s go. I’ll take you to the snack street now.”
Without listening to him, Estelle directly took him to an empty classroom.
To avoid embarrassing himself, Cristofer declined to go to the school infirmary. Estelle made sincere efforts to convince him, but her attempts proved futile.
Eventually, Estelle had no other option but to seek advice from the school doctor on how to handle the fracture.
Shortly after, she returned with various medical supplies and placed them on the desk.
Then, she patted her chest and expressed her confidence, saying, “I’ll take care of your treatment. Don’t worry. Even if you become disabled, I’ll marry you and take care of you in the future.”
Estelle also recalled that when Cristofer heard her words, his eyes filled with pleasant surprise and excitement. Ignoring the pain, he stood up, gazing at her with a bright smile, and asked, “Really? Please don’t lie to me.”
“I truly mean it,” Estelle nodded firmly.
“Estelle, if I ever upset you in the future, feel free to scold me, ignore me, or even beat me, but please don’t lie to me, alright?” Cristofer expressed earnestly.
Confused, Estelle asked, “When have I ever lied to you?”
“It’s not that you’ve lied to me. I’m just afraid of losing you. I fear that all my efforts for you over the years will be in vain,” Cristofer explained with a smile.
A gust of warm wind suddenly blew on Estelle’s face and into her hair, wrenching her mind back to the present.
So many years had passed, but the past between her and Cristofer was still fresh in her memory, as if all those things had just happened yesterday.
“Estelle?” Mr. Mysterious called her name when seeing her lost in thought.
“What’s wrong, Sir?” Estelle asked with a smile.
“Is this temperature okay?”
“What?”
“Is the air conditioner temperature okay?” Mr. Mysterious asked once more, holding the remote control in his hand and reaching out to feel the air. “It feels a little chilly, so I increased the temperature to avoid you catching a cold.”
With this explanation, Estelle realized that the warm breeze she had felt earlier was actually the air conditioner’s warm setting.
“The temperature is perfect. Thank you,” Estelle replied with a nod.
Observing Mr. Mysterious, who was sitting at the edge of the bed, she noticed that he appeared to have lost some weight. His face seemed more defined, but he still retained his gentle demeanor.
He had taken off his black jacket and was now wearing a black T-shirt.
Estelle then carefully examined the wound on his left arm.
The upper arm looked fine, but the forearm was broken, and his left hand was bloodless.
Estelle gently touched his forearm, and Mr. Mysterious didn’t react. But when she touched his upper arm, she saw him gritting his teeth against the pain.
Trying to keep calm, she sat down beside Mr. Mysterious and began to disinfect his wound with the cotton ball soaked with disinfectant water.
“Does it hurt?”
Mr. Mysterious shook his head and smiled, saying, “No, I’m genuinely enjoying this moment.”
Estelle gave him a stern look and asked, “Are you saying that because of the pain?”
“No, Estelle, I truly feel happy right now. I never thought I could be with you in this lifetime, but fate has been kind to me and granted me this opportunity. If I had to lose an arm just to be with you, I’d willingly do it,” he confessed with sincerity.
As Estelle carefully cleaned the blood from his wound with cotton balls, she noticed the blue veins on his upper arm repeatedly bulging and receding, indicating the pain he had been enduring. Moved by his determination, she approached him and gently blew on the wound.
“Are you feeling better?”
“Yes, I’m much better,” Mr. Mysterious nodded.
“You are seriously injured.”
“It’s okay.”
“Did you really have a motorcycle accident?” Estelle asked suspiciously.
Mr. Mysterious held her hand and requested, “Can we stop talking about it? I don’t want to dwell on the unhappy experience anymore. Let’s focus on discussing how we will decorate our new home once we settle down abroad.”
“Your arm was not broken in a motorcycle accident, right?” Estelle asked in a soft voice.
Cristofer was silent.
Estelle spoke with certainty, “Your arm was broken because it was deliberately beaten, not from a motorcycle accident. If it were a motorcycle accident, there would have been bruises on other parts of your body, not just your forearm.”
Mr. Mysterious looked at her with surprise and hesitation, seemingly unsure of how to respond to her observation.
“Estelle…”
“Sir, you said you wouldn’t lie to me,” Estelle said as her face gradually darkened.
Estelle showed understanding, saying, “I can see that you lied to protect me from worrying, and I appreciate that. I won’t hold it against you. Now, please be honest with me. Did you end up in this situation because you offended someone you couldn’t afford to?”
Mr. Mysterious turned his face away and responded with an unnatural look, “No.”
“Look into my eyes,” Estelle gently urged as she set the cotton balls aside. She then held his face in her hands and compelled him to meet her gaze.
“Sir, I understand that you prefer to keep your identity, past, and name a secret, and I’ve respected that by not pushing you to reveal them. I know you may have many identities and hidden truths. But why won’t you even let me know who hurt you? You asked me not to leave you and to be with you for the rest of my life, yet you’re hiding everything from me,” she expressed with heartfelt concern.