“Beep… beep…” The phone in her hand continued to ring.
Elisa gasped weakly for breath, the pungent smell of smoke wrapping around her airway. Her throat felt like it was being violently gripped by a hand. With one hand supporting herself on the ground, she slowly dragged her two useless legs backward, finally picking up the remote control from the floor and turning on the television.
It was exactly twelve o’clock. The engagement banquet was reaching its climax, broadcasting live on television. The engaged couple looked dazzling today. The man exuded noble grace and handsome features, while the woman beside him was wearing a long dress that complemented him perfectly. Truly a perfect match, an outstanding couple.
Elisa’s gaze fixed on Hamish. She quietly listened, waiting for the sound. After the tenth ring, she saw Hamish furrow his brows on the television, took out his phone from his pocket, and upon seeing the displayed number, immediately answered.
“What’s the matter?” Hamish inquired.
Elisa tightened her grip on the phone and spoke in a tone as light as a blend of smoke and fire, “Hamish, I can see you.”
Upon hearing Elisa’s voice, Hamish’s brow relaxed slightly. He instinctively looked around for Elisa, but then froze. Her legs were already broken. How could she possibly be here?
“Are you watching the live broadcast?” Hamish asked.
“Yes.”
“Don’t watch.” Hamish found the live camera and looked over. The two seemed to be gazing at each other across a rift in time and space.
“Not watching is not an option. After all, we’ve known each other for so many years. It’s only right for an ex-wife to give her ex-husband her blessings,” Elisa mocked as she looked at Hamish on the television. Her hoarse voice, when listened to closely, carried a chilling hostility.
Hamish frowned. Her mocking words felt like a bone-chilling knife to him, killing without shedding blood, shattering his bones.
At this engagement banquet, he could face the well-wishes of countless people, but he couldn’t accept Elisa’s, not even if it was insincere.
As he listened on the phone, he suddenly sensed a strong unease amid the crackling noise. He changed the subject and asked several questions in succession, “Why is there so much noise on your end? What about Mrs. Protich?”
There were too many flammable items in the bedroom. The fire, which was just at the doorway a moment ago, had now spread to the middle. Embers floated in the air, and in a moment, they would reach the television, causing an explosion.
Elisa leaned against the French window, one hand holding the phone and the other covering her nose. She coughed hoarsely and said, “Hamish, I’ve arranged for someone to prepare an engagement gift for you. He should already be at the venue.”
The first person Hamish thought of was Finn. A heavy stone seemed to press against his heart. It wasn’t painful, but it was uncomfortable, suffocating. He felt as if he couldn’t hold on to anything.
“I don’t want to receive the engagement gift you’ve prepared for me. If you truly want to give me a gift, then wait until I return so you can give it to me in person,” Hamish said. He felt that if he didn’t return, Elisa would disappear. The feeling of ungraspable emptiness engulfed his entire being.
“But this ‘gift’ can only be delivered by someone else on my behalf,” Elisa said, looking at the Hamish on the television with somber eyes, as dark as the night. “Hamish, you said you liked me when I was sick, loved me when I turned into a demon. My disappearance will drive you mad… I hope you remember what you said and go mad for the rest of your life.”
As soon as she finished speaking, tears welled up in her eyes from the smoke. It stung, making it hard for her to keep her eyes open. She took one last look at the blurry television screen.
The golden light in the church fell on him like a divine glow. He stood among the crowd, his expression transforming from arrogance to panic, his tightly pursed lips showing a tinge of bluish-white.
Elisa smiled. The laughter emerged from her nose, a sound between laughter and tears. She faced the glaring fire and, before Hamish could say anything, she shouted with all her strength, “I wish the two of you a lifetime of happiness, until death do you part!”
With that, she forcefully hurled the phone toward the approaching flames. Accompanied by an explosion, the phone shattered into pieces. Elisa turned around, leaned her forehead against the window, and looked atMimi, drenched in blood.
“I took care of you for only a few months, and you treated me so well, while he…” She chuckled self-deprecatingly; the light in her eyes faded in and out. “It’s fortunate. The person I initially liked wasn’t him.”
Placing her hand on the window, she touched Mimi through the glass. “Mimi, this place is about to catch fire. I don’t want you to see this. Hurry, leave. In the next life, I’ll come find you. Every year, there are fish. In the next life, I’ll bring fish to find you. Okay?”
Mimi, with a face stained red with blood, let out a hoarse meow.
The television screen went dark. Besides the crackling of the fire, there was the sizzling sound of electricity. The fire reached the wall, then quickly spread to the bed. Elisa, with a relieved smile, heard another explosion. This time, the ceiling collapsed in front of her, and the fire licked at her toes, scorching.
Enduring the pain, she collapsed on the ground, her half-closed eyes gazing at the misty sky outside.
Today was Christmas. The glass was covered in ash, resembling the falling snow. Elisa stared blankly at the sky.
If she had known this would be her end, on that Christmas night years ago, she should have let Hamish freeze to death in the water.
Elisa clutched her stomach. Her grandfather had suffered from stomach cancer and lasted two years, but she had lived for three years. It was enough.
She wondered if someone as “deeply sinful” as her could reincarnate after death. Would her parents and grandfather forgive her?
The Powell family’s former heiress had been so worthless, blindly falling in love with the wrong person, causing her family’s ruin.
She couldn’t forgive herself, let alone them.
Blood trickled from her mouth, and in agony, she seemed to see Autumn. He was just like he was in their childhood, squatting down and smiling back at her, saying, “Come up, let big brother carry you home.”
“You finally came to take me…” she reached out towards the firelight. In her brief life, she had only been warmed twice: once when Autumn carried her home at eight, and then in this raging fire, where the heat forced tears from her eyes.
Tears trickled down her cheeks, mixing with the salty taste, and she couldn’t distinguish whether it was the taste of tears or blood. But they both shared one thing: if left in the mouth for too long, they turned bitter, more bitter than any medicine she had ever tasted.
… The bird, with its wings broken and legs shattered, was finally dying.
This life had been too bitter. She hoped the next one would be sweeter. If possible, she wished that after her death, someone would put her ashes in a sugar jar, sprinkle some sugar, and throw it into the sea, because there, someone with a candy apple stick would say they’d carry her home.
As the fire scorched her feet, Elisa, in pain, clawed at the glass, her hands bleeding, leaving grotesque marks on the glass, the traces of her struggle before death.