Not staying up late that night, Elisa woke up early and went downstairs with Hamish to have breakfast.
Elisa liked to personally take care of her pets. It was her first time raising a cat, so she wasn’t very experienced and had to learn step by step. She learned to milk-feed, bathe, and feed it, striving to become a qualified cat owner.
The little kitten had already been vaccinated, so Elisa could play with it without worry, repeatedly murmuring, “Mimi,” to it.
The kitten seemed to like this name very much. Every time Elisa called it, it would respond with a meow, even wagging its tail when half-asleep, hearing Elisa’s voice.
“I feel like you don’t love me anymore now that you have a cat,” Hamish said sourly, standing behind Elisa.
Elisa ignored his jealousy. “Why are you jealous of a cat?”
“I’m made of jealousy,” Hamish admitted. He was possessive. He had long realized that he had a different kind of feeling for Elisa.
Hamish’s approach to things was polarized – either he didn’t care at all, or once he obtained something, he wouldn’t let go. With Elisa, he wanted to possess her, not wanting anyone else to share her. Even the housekeeper and servants at home seemed intrusive to him. Now, seeing her being completely absorbed by a cat, he felt a surge of jealousy.
Just the thought of Elisa being with another man for a day made him feel as though a piece of his heart would be cut out.
…
Hamish’s injuries healed quickly. By the third day, his leg no longer hurt, leading to the following scene in the bedroom.
Elisa lazily sat on the sofa, holding the cat in her arms, with a variety of fruits and melon seeds next to her. Her eyes were fixed on the TV. She pet the cat with her left hand and cracked melon seeds with her right, looking quite at ease.
Not far from her right hand, Hamish knelt on the remote control. In order to keep the remote control steady, he had to maintain a single posture, not daring to move. However, the remote control was too small, making it difficult to control its force and balance. After a while, Hamish began to wobble.
“Control the force a bit…”
“Wait, where did you press…”
“The volume is too loud…”
“Why is the TV screen black?”
“Why is there no sound?”
“Hamish…”
After adjusting his position dozens of times, he finally mastered the technique. Watching the woman on the sofa leisurely watching TV, Hamish’s teeth ached.
This woman tormented him at night and even during the day.
“Hamish, I want to eat walnuts.”
“I’ll crack them for you.” Hamish knelt on the remote control and used his hand to crack six walnuts in a row without Elisa having to ask. Then, he obediently started shelling melon seeds until he had filled a small bowl.
“Eat more fruit.”
In the blink of an eye, a pile of food appeared in front of her again. Elisa glanced at Hamish’s reddened hands from cracking the walnuts, feeling a warmth in her heart.
Originally, she had mentioned making him kneel on the remote control as a joke, but unexpectedly, when she mentioned it today, he immediately dragged her into the bedroom.
He turned on the TV, prepared various fruits and nuts, and obediently knelt on the remote control.
Elisa made him kneel for forty minutes. She had initially wanted him to kneel for an hour, but she couldn’t bear it and let him get up.
“I’m not in pain, I can kneel a bit longer.”
Elisa couldn’t help but chuckle, “You don’t need to kneel anymore. Just remember not to cross my bottom line.”
Elisa had told Hamish her bottom line a long time ago, that he must not cheat or commit domestic violence. These were absolute, non-negotiable limits. Before Elisa lost her memory, Hamish had constantly been pushing these boundaries.
Hamish was willing to kneel as a way to punish himself, remembering the day when the Powell family went bankrupt and Koby was imprisoned. Elisa had kneeled in front of the courthouse, begging for mercy in front of all the reporters.
That day, countless people took out their phones and cameras to photograph her, capturing her most miserable moment in the pouring rain and posting it online.
Elisa had knelt in the pouring rain for half an hour until she spat blood. So, to him, these forty minutes were nothing.
…
Elisa didn’t know what Hamish was thinking, she just looked at him with some pity, unable to bear punishing him to kneel any longer. She put down the kitten and stood in front of Hamish, takinghis hand and pulling him up.
From now on, Hamish wouldn’t cross her bottom line, genuinely treating her well. Even if she remembered the unpleasant past, she shouldn’t separate from Hamish, right?
She took relationships seriously and was confident that she and Hamish could go through life together.