Hamish held Elisa’s icy hand, applying the ointment gently. This was the first time in his life that he had treated someone so carefully. If people who knew him saw this, they would definitely be shocked. Who was Hamish? The mention of his name evoked thoughts of arrogance and conceit. How could someone like him kneel before a woman and tend to her wounds, especially when this woman was the one he despised the most?
Hamish didn’t notice his own actions at all. Elisa also seemed to have lost her soul, staring blankly ahead. Only the nurse noticed – one sitting, the other kneeling on one leg, the two formerly hostile people now so harmonious, as if no one could come between them.
Rumors online said that their fake relationship had broken down, but looking at them now, that didn’t seem to be the case at all.
Clearly, online gossip couldn’t be trusted.
Hamish had never tended to another person before, let alone dressing wounds so meticulously. After applying the ointment and wrapping the bandages around the wounds, it was done.
Worried that Elisa would fall like earlier, Hamish strapped her into the seatbelt before pushing her wheelchair to the back.
The nurse hesitated for a moment as she watched their retreating figures, before hurrying forward a few steps. She stared after them until they were out of sight before turning back to find Micah.
The half hour car ride felt endless to Elisa. All kinds of images flashed through her mind – her bickering with Koby, their arguments, faded old photos of Koby hugging her with a smile at the corners of his mouth.
These memories were so fragile, like soap bubbles that would burst with a single poke, crowding and jostling as they obscured the bloody, mangled face she had seen on the video of Koby.
Curled up in the passenger seat, Elisa leaned against the right side. Her long lashes were half-lowered, her hair draped over the back of the seat.
Elisa seemed so fragile then, like a cracked crystal doll that had to be handled gently, as if she would shatter into pieces with a single poke, never to be made whole again.
Hamish called Tobias – Koby’s corpse had been transferred to the police station by now.
Following the GPS, Hamish parked outside. Elisa was like a soulless shell, staring blankly ahead with vacant eyes.
Hamish got out of the car and unbuckled her seatbelt. She neither cried nor screamed, a far cry from how she had bitten him in madness earlier. But this Elisa made Hamish even more uneasy.
Hamish bent down and gently picked Elisa up. The woman in his arms was quiet and pitiful like an injured cat. He placed her in the wheelchair.
Tobias was waiting at the door. Seeing Hamish push Elisa over, he immediately jogged forward to lend a hand. “Mr. Burns, let me push her.”
Hamish dodged him without a word, just giving Tobias an icy stare.
Tobias immediately stopped in his tracks, standing stiffly to one side as he watched Hamish push Elisa inside.
He belatedly realized his faux pas and scratched his head awkwardly, thinking to himself: He says he doesn’t care about Elisa, but his possessiveness betrays him.
Tobias led the way, explaining that Koby’s horrific death had been placed in a room no one usually entered, worried it would be too traumatic for Elisa.
Police stood guard outside the closed room. Staring at the door, Elisa’s eyes glazed over for a moment. Seeming somewhat afraid, she timidly asked the officer, “Is my dad inside? How is he now? Is he badly injured?”
The police officer lowered his head to look at Elisa, his lips working soundlessly as if cotton balls clogged his throat.
Elisa looked confused, as if not understanding why he didn’t speak. “My dad is Koby. He’s in there right? He was supposed to go to court for a retrial today.”
That’s right, Koby was supposed to have his retrial today. There was ample evidence to prove his innocence. He wouldn’t get the death penalty now.
The court didn’t even sentence him to death, so how could he have lost hope and committed suicide by jumping off a building?
That man was just angry – angry that she had taken his lover’s life just by being born, resentful that she had taken the Powell family from him, hateful that she neglected him those four days. So he made up this act to trick her.
When someone suffers a tremendous shock and sinks into fear, the body automatically triggers protective mechanisms. The person seems to retreat into a hard shell, the mind goes blank, and they start doubting reality, thinking they are experiencing a hallucination. As soon as the person wakes up, the nightmare will be over.