Hamish just kept staring at Elisa working hard, running up and down, inside and out. Finally, Elisa’s stomach really couldn’t stand it anymore. She went back to the bedroom, opened the drawer, and took out those two bottles of medicine, taking one pill from each.
“What medicine are you taking?” Hamish asked. He had seen those two glass bottles of medicine in the drawer before but hadn’t asked about them until now.
Elisa calmly said, “Medicine for my stomach. The doctor prescribed them.”
Hamish didn’t ask any more. He knew she had a stomach illness.
After a pause, he said, “Since your health hasn’t recovered, don’t think about moving.”
“I’m not moving because I want to. I need to sell this house urgently because I’m short on money. Hamish, you should know better than anyone why I’m short on money. If Hamish had been a little more considerate of their marriage and left her a way out, she wouldn’t have had such a hard time these past few years.”
“How much are you planning to sell this house for?”
“I paid 5. 69 million for it all at once. Ignoring the extras, I’ll sell it for 5 million now. Housing prices now are much higher than three years ago. Don’t say 5 million, even 8 million would have buyers. It just needs some time.”
But time was exactly what Elisa didn’t have. She didn’t have that much time to wait.
Hamish stood with his arms crossed, his eyes like a hawk’s, too intense to look at directly. After a long pause, he said to Elisa, “I’ll buy the house. We can consider it marital property.”
“You’ll buy it?” Elisa reacted quickly. “Fine, as long as you pay, the house is yours.”
Hamish took out a cigarette pack from his pocket, took out a cigarette and lit it without putting it in his mouth. He just held it in his hand, playing with it. The orange-red light flickered brightly in the shadows.
Hamish didn’t actually have a smoking addiction. He would only smoke a couple when he encountered something vexing. Hamish held the cigarette in his mouth and took out his wallet from the inner pocket, pulling out a bank card.
“There’s 5 million on here.”
Elisa walked over and took the bank card. “I’ll arrange for the lawyer to transfer the property as soon as possible.”
She couldn’t stand the smell of smoke. In the past, when doing business deals, she would inevitably encounter people who loved to smoke, and she could endure it then. But now with stomach cancer, the irritating smells provoked a stress response.
Hamish had clearly also noticed she didn’t like the smell of smoke. He left the room, “You don’t need to move out of the house. Live here. Also, in a couple days, Lila will move in here.”
Lila move in here? Hamish’s tone indicated he wasn’t consulting her, just informing her. Elisa looked at him probingly, suddenly struck by a nauseating idea.
Hamish was unwilling to divorce her. Could it be for the sake of keeping the red flag at home while the colored flags flew outside?
Elisa frowned and smiled, “Fine, whatever makes you happy.”
Hamish had come today specifically to tell Elisa this matter. Yesterday, Lila had asked him again about divorcing Elisa. Knowing he wouldn’t divorce, she then proposed wanting to live with him even if Elisa was around. He had no choice but to agree.
But Hamish hadn’t expected Elisa to agree so readily. This was not at all in line with her personality. Elisa had an ostentatious personality. After taking over the Powell Group for so many years, her innate aura towered over ordinary people. Her pride didn’t allow her to easily bow her head to others, much less live under the same roof as a “lover.”
Hamish couldn’t decide in that moment whether he was happy or unhappy. He murmured some irrelevant explanation, “Don’t overthink it. Lila moving in is also to take care of you.”
Elisa couldn’t control her emotions, her eyes flashing contemptuous ridicule. With Lila’s occasional anemic constitution, she would take care of her?
She had seen clearly what kind of woman Lila was four years ago. She held no good feelings for that kind of woman. But since Hamish wanted her to move in, then move in she shall.
No longer moving, Elisa also felt relieved of a burden. She put the things she had packed that morning back in their original places. Just as she was about to throw the dispensable wedding photo into the clutter room, Hamish came over and took the photo from her hand, looking at it pensively and saying, “Hang the photo on the headboard in the bedroom. I’m going to find a nail.”
Without asking if Elisa agreed, he went straight to the bedroom to measure out a spot with a ruler.
Elisa leaned against the wall, watching Hamish’s busy back, and spoke up, “Hamish, aren’t you afraid Lila will see this wedding photo and make a scene with you?”
Hamish didn’t seem to care at all. His hand hammering in the nail didn’t pause for a second. With his back to Elisa, he said, “Lila is different from you.”
Elisa scoffed and couldn’t help mocking, “She really is open-minded, able to tolerate the man she loves being sticky with another woman all day. It’s unclear whether this mocks Lila or mocks himself, or both.”
As she spoke, her tone changed again, “She and I are indeed different. At least Lila still likes you, whereas I no longer like you.”
No one likes self-torture, liking an unfaithful person.