A stinging pain shot through her right hand. As she looked down, following the pain, she saw that the blood had flowed backwards and dyed the entire intravenous tube red.
Several hot search topics kept popping up on her phone. Elisa now felt like an obsolete machine, moving slowly and reacting sluggishly. She clicked into a hot search topic about someone jumping off a building with a shudder.
A livestream popped up. As soon as she clicked in, piercingly horrified screams rang out, accompanied by chaotic background clamor – confused noises, crying, shouting, women and children’s cries, roars, displaying all facets of humanity in just a few seconds.
It felt like her heart had been gouged out by a blunt knife, leaving her desolate. She wanted to stop looking, but her brain forcibly compelled her eyes downwards.
Then, she saw the mangled, unrecognizable face of Koby lying in a pool of blood.
“Ah-” Elisa opened her mouth, letting out a choked sob. Her emaciated shoulders shook violently. She didn’t even know what was happening – it was as if her soul had left her body. She floated in midair, watching the quivering figure below holding the phone, like a withered leaf that could be shredded by the slightest gust of wind.
“Elisa.”
Someone called her name. She blankly lifted her head, the unsettled terror and despair in her empty eyes frighteningly dark.
When she saw Hamish walking towards her, Elisa looked horrified. She leapt up from the wheelchair like a madwoman trying to rush over.
But in her current weak state, she crumpled to her knees before even standing up straight, knocking over the wheelchair. The IV stand fell with a bang, sending the hanging fluids crashing to the tiles. The intravenous tube, still connected to the needle in the back of her hand, tore out flesh and all.
Blood dripped steadily onto the white tiles, soon forming a small puddle, glaringly visible.
The loud commotion instantly drew the gaze of everyone in the hall towards them. They saw a woman pathetically collapsed on the ground, head lowered, just the trembling of her frail body visible. The white tiles were stained with splattered medicine and blood – the sight made one wince in sympathy.
Someone moved to help, but Hamish had already rushed to Elisa’s side.
“How can you be so stupid,” Hamish said, tone derisive even as he reached to pick her up.
Elisa somehow found the strength to jerk away from him violently. She slapped him and screamed hoarsely, “Hamish, my dad jumped off a building and committed suicide!”
Koby had committed suicide by jumping off a building? That weak, pathetic man?
Hamish couldn’t believe it, but seeing Elisa’s anguished grief left him no choice. His seemingly unbreakable heart plummeted as a sense of panic washed over him.
If Koby really was dead… he didn’t dare continue that train of thought.
Tears streamed uncontrollably as pain lanced through Elisa’s heart. The image of her father’s mangled face kept flashing through her mind.
“Hamish, I hate you! You killed my dad!” Her screams dissolved into sobs. She choked back tears, her heart wrenching agonizingly.
Hamish’s heart seized at hearing her say she hated him for the first time. It felt like his heart was being clenched tighter and tighter.
He suppressed the pain and crouched down, grasping Elisa’s trembling body. “Elisa, I’ll take you to see your dad. He’ll be fine, trust me.”
“Hamish, what do I have left to trust you with? Weren’t you the one who told me you’re a dishonest man? What can I believe in you anymore?”
She had given up her dignity and pride, kneeling and begging, just to save her father’s life. Yet he had still committed suicide.
However little Koby cared for or cherished her, he was still her family, her father. And now, she had nothing left.
Elisa’s already pale face had lost all color, her body shaking violently. No matter how hard Hamish held her, he couldn’t stop the tremors.
Leaning into his shoulder, Elisa opened her mouth and bit down, using all her strength to hurt Hamish, though it wasn’t the slightest pain to him.
In her weakened state, Elisa quickly lost all her strength. Her jaw went limp against Hamish’s shoulder as tears soaked into his suit.
Choking back sobs, Elisa said in a quavering voice, “Hamish, how can you be so cruel?”