“Mr. Burns, why don’t you have a seat? Let me pour you a glass of water.” The principal noticed the tense atmosphere and quickly spoke up to ease it.
Elisa seized the opportunity and ran towards the direction of the storeroom.
Hamish narrowed his long eyes, a faint hint of danger appearing.
Elisa’s casual remark pierced his ears like a needle. He knew he couldn’t push Elisa too hard, or she might have another episode like before.
But the moment she escaped his field of vision, even for a short while, he felt an uncomfortable pang in his heart and an itch under his skin.
Hamish despised this feeling of losing control. Just the thought of Elisa running into that fool again made him want to grab her and lock her in a room forever, where no one would be allowed to see her.
He was so obsessively possessive that he even thought Elisa being sick in the hospital was a good thing. If she was sick for the rest of her life, he could take care of her properly.
Hamish sat on a chair. Some of the furniture in the orphanage had already become worn out, like the armchair he was sitting on, with its peeling leather, giving off a bleak and shabby appearance.
“Can I smoke for a while?” he asked.
The principal glanced at his face and then at the children nearby. Finally, he nodded and said, “Yes.”
Hamish took out a cigarette case, picked one, and lit it. The smoke wafted around as he casually looked at his wristwatch.
Even if Elisa went to see that fool, he couldn’t do anything significant in just ten minutes.
The orphanage wasn’t big. The last time Elisa visited, the principal took her around for a tour, so she knew where the storeroom was.
When she arrived, she found the door wide open, and a figure was crouched on the floor in the dimly lit room.
“Autumn, what are you doing here?”
Autumn was organizing gifts and quickly looked up when he heard Elisa’s voice. His eyes were a bit red, as if he had been rubbing them.
“I knew you would come.” Autumn picked up the gift bag. “Let me take it to your car.”
“No rush.” Elisa looked around the storeroom, which was more like a miscellaneous room with everything in it. She found a place to sit down. “Let’s sit for a while and chat.”
Autumn hesitated and sat nervously beside Elisa. He put the gift he was holding aside on the floor, his head lowered, hiding his expression.
“I’m sorry. I was supposed to come to the orphanage to see you a month ago, but something happened.”
“What happened?”
“It’s a small matter. I got sick and had to be hospitalized.”
Although Autumn was a fool, he understood better than anyone else. If it was just a small matter, why couldn’t he reach her on the phone or get a reply to his messages?
“Is that person really your husband?” Autumn asked.
Elisa leaned her chin on her hand and answered casually, “Hmm.”
“Is he good to you?” Autumn asked again.
Elisa smiled in surprise. “Why do you ask? What does it have to do with you?”
Autumn suddenly stopped speaking, and it felt like his breath was caught in his chest. Elisa’s words might have been unintentional, but he still felt a sharp pain in his heart, as if a knife was stirring inside.
To Elisa, that person was the closest person to her as her husband, while he was just a fool she had met once. There was no comparison between the two, and he seemed insignificant.
Yes, what did it have to do with him? But from the moment he saw Elisa, he wanted to give her everything he had.
“Why are you so good to me? We’ve only met once, right?” Elisa turned her head and looked at him. In the dim light, the handsome features of the man were faintly visible, and his deep peach blossom eyes were now focused on her face.
Elisa’s relaxed expression suddenly became stiff for a moment.
Autumn, with a troubled look, pointed to his left chest. “It hurts here.”
Seeing Elisa unhappy made him feel pain, and knowing that she was hurt or sick made it difficult for him to breathe.
He couldn’t ignore her. He just wanted to be good to her.
His inexplicable words made Elisa pause for a moment, then she burst into laughter. “Don’t be good to me; I’m not worth it.”
Elisa glanced at the time. She had been away for six minutes already. If she didn’t go back soon, Hamish would get angry.
She stood up and said playfully, “But thank you anyway. After all, there aren’t many people in this lifetime whotruly treat her well.”
Her smile was radiant, but Autumn could see that it wasn’t genuine.
Elisa reached out to pick up the gift bag, but as soon as her hand touched it, a dark shadow darted out from a dark corner like lightning-a rat.
Elisa was afraid of rats, but when she was scared, her face would just turn pale. She wouldn’t scream or shout.
On the other hand, Autumn swiftly lifted his foot and stepped on the rat’s body, then picked up a discarded pair of scissors from the ground and ruthlessly cut off the rat’s head.