“Hamish hopes you remember what you said, to live your life to the fullest,” came Elisa’s heart-wrenching voice from the phone, “I wish the new couple a long and happy life, until death do you part.”
Accompanying Elisa’s “blessing,” a chaotic and deafening sound erupted from the phone, almost shattering his eardrums.
Like a thunderbolt striking him, Hamish staggered backward, standing frozen in place. His ears were ringing, as if something had collapsed.
“Elisa?” Hamish tentatively called out.
Silence filled the phone, leaving an unsettling stillness.
“Elisa, answer me,” he implored.
“Stop it…” Hamish’s throat choked, as if there was a clot of blood stuck in his vocal cords.
“I’ll be back soon. Lila and I are just putting on a show. I don’t like her. The engagement was only to save your life with my blood,” came Elisa’s voice.
“Do you understand?” she asked, “Answer me… Elisa.”
No one replied. Hamish’s face turned deathly pale, his silence spoke volumes.
The phone screen went black. Hamish shakily redialed, veins bulging on his forehead, cold sweat trickling into his eyes. Something dripped onto the phone screen as he wiped his trembling hand.
His hand continued to shake, tears sticking uncomfortably in his palm. He wiped his hand and the phone, incessantly redialing.
“Elisa, please pick up, please, answer my call…”
Moments ago, his hand trembled, but now his entire body quivered. His scalp tingled, his vision blurred.
Why was it so cold? He turned to look out the window.
Someone exclaimed, “It’s snowing outside. Hasn’t Chiwood not seen snow in six years? Unexpectedly, it’s snowing this year, on such a special day.”
“Yeah, snowfall on the engagement day is an auspicious sign. The snow falls on us, symbolizing a lifetime together.”
So it was snowing. That explained the cold. Hamish watched the snow outside, falling like feathers.
Elisa loved snow in winter, but being born in the south, seeing snow was rare. Even when it did snow, the flakes were tiny, fleeting in the palm, nothing like these large, fluffy snowflakes he’d never seen before.
Hamish watched the large snowflakes outside the window. It was perhaps the most beautiful snow he had ever seen in his life.
Someone had opened the window, and the cold wind rushed in. Hamish snapped back to reality and suddenly ran outside in a frenzy.
Lila, who was being interviewed, saw Hamish’s panicked expression and her heart skipped a beat. She lifted her skirt, hurriedly moved past the guests, and chased after Hamish.
“Hamish, where are you going? Today is our engagement party!” Lila, in high heels, couldn’t catch up and could only shout from behind.
Hamish didn’t stop. Lila panicked, not caring about the reporters around, and directly threatened loudly from behind, “Hamish, if you dare to walk out of here today, don’t come begging to me if something happens to Elisa!”
Indeed, Hamish stopped. He turned, the rims of his eyes reddened as if blood might seep out. Lila had never seen such a look in his eyes.
His gaze was so dark, as if it could hook out her heart and tear it to shreds. She took two steps back in fear, trembling, and said, “Today is our engagement party. With so many people watching us, can’t you deal with it after the media leaves?”
Hamish’s furrowed brow had not relaxed since earlier, and a vein near his temple pulsed slightly. “I have urgent matters to attend to. I have to go back now!”
“What about me?” Lila’s heart ached, tears nearly spilling. She approached Hamish unsteadily, “I prepared this engagement party for two months. Now, because of your so-called urgent matters, you’re leaving me here alone. Have you thought about my feelings?”
Several inexplicable glances were cast her way. Lila’s fingers trembled, stung by those looks.
Taking a deep breath, she restrained her anger and spoke calmly, “Even if you don’t consider me, at least consider Elisa. After all, she’s about to undergo stomach cancer surgery soon. If something happens to me at this time, she’ll lose one more chance at life.”
Lila had spent a lot of money on this engagement party, whitewashing her image, and had the media heavily promote her and Hamish’s “love.” Some uninformed onlookers thought of Lila as Hamish’s childhood sweetheart, but unfortunately, she had been separatedfrom Elisa, who had “stolen” his love years ago, forcibly breaking them apart for seven years.
Inside the hotel, the wealthy ladies lowered their voices discussing Elisa, shaking their heads in disgust. They were ready to defend against Elisa as if she were a fire or a thief.
Finn stood by the second-floor French window witnessing it all. He lit a cigarette, glanced at his watch. At this time… Elisa should…
His heart suddenly pricked. He rubbed his chest, dispersing the unusual ache. He couldn’t let an inconsequential person affect his emotions. For his goals, he could do anything. Sacrificing a life meant nothing to him. In the twenty-plus years he had lived, the lives lost by his hand were countless. What was one woman’s life to him?
Shaking off his thoughts, he took a drag of the cigarette, the ember casting intermittent flashes of light as it fell to the ground. Half-squinting, he looked up at the snow outside.
“Elisa, even the heavens pity you. Chiwood hasn’t seen snow in so many years, and now it comes after your death. Unfortunately, you won’t be around to see it.”
“Is everything taken care of?” Finn flicked the cigarette between his fingers.
His subordinate standing behind him replied, “We’ve swapped out the USB drive on the screen and linked up the surveillance feed.”
Finn’s lips curled slightly. The subordinate inquired again, “Mr. Snearl, are we going down now?”
Finn extinguished the half-burnt cigarette, flicking it into the trash. “What’s the rush? Let the dogs fight first. What if they end up biting a person?”
Elisa had provided him with information about the shipment to South Water Island. It was only fair to give her a “gift” in return.
Finn pointed at the two people downstairs and asked his subordinate, “Do you know what this is called?”
The subordinate looked puzzled, shaking his head, unable to guess what Finn was trying to convey.
“This is called ‘a prostitute matches a dog, lasting forever.'”
…
The news of Hamish and Lila’s engagement was being broadcasted on various platforms. Even Hattie, who usually paid little attention to the internet, saw it, as did Micah, who had just returned to the country with research results for cancer treatment.
At the banquet, the emcee took the stage, earnestly introducing the story of how the couple met, knew each other, fell in love, and eventually got engaged. Then, the couple was invited on stage to exchange engagement rings.
“Lila softly said, ‘Hamish, at the very least, we should exchange engagement rings, right?’ Exchanging a ring would take at most a minute or two, maybe even less.
Hamish gritted his teeth, his jaw clenched. His face looked grim. His mind was preoccupied with various thoughts-Elisa’s final scream, Lila’s blatant threats.
He wasn’t afraid of Lila’s threats, but he was afraid of something happening to Lila. If that happened, Elisa would lose another chance at life. He couldn’t gamble with Elisa’s life.
But at this moment, he couldn’t reach Elisa on the phone. Intense unease gripped him. He tried to comfort himself: Elisa was at home with a broken leg and Mrs. Protich was watching over her. What could possibly happen?
“After we exchange the engagement rings, I’ll leave immediately,” Hamish said, reaching into his jacket to retrieve the engagement ring.
Seeing him pull out the ring, Lila breathed a sigh of relief; her previously dark eyes once again lit up.
The two walked up the red carpet, Lila continuously waving to the guests and media friends, leaning towards Hamish, announcing to everyone that this man was hers. The emcee stood in the middle, smiling at the two. “Exchange engagement rings,” he said. Hamish just wanted to finish this process immediately and go home to be with Elisa. He thought to himself, Elisa’s words on the phone were just in a fit of anger. When he got back, they would have dinner together as usual, take a walk together… and embrace each other at night for a peaceful sleep.
Yes, this was just another ordinary thing, every day the same. How could it possibly change? “Mr. Burns, exchange the ring,” the emcee reminded the man softly as he didn’t move. Hamish held the diamond ring, looking at the lights on the live camera. The thought of Elisa watching this scene through the lens made him feel as though the light was piercing his eyes like knives.
Suddenly, he remembered the simple wedding he had with Elisa, and the lies he had told in front of the priest. He said he would protect her for a lifetime, love her, never leave her… Hamish suddenly clutched his chest, feeling a sharp pain as if a rib had been broken and thrust into his heart.
In a daze, Hamish put the diamond ring on Lila’s finger. It fit perfectly, not like the two rings he had bought for Elisa, which were always either too big or too small, never just right. Lila looked at the diamond ring on her ring finger, her face beaming. She was finally engaged to this man, and now everyone knew that Hamish was hers, and Elisa was just the despised third party.
After the ring exchange, the emcee had the backstage crew play the pre-prepared video. As the video became clearer, the crowd suddenly gasped. The engagement video they had prepared had turned into a limited edition video, showing a man and a woman naked in bed…
The video played at maximum volume, suggestive sounds continuously emanating from it, reaching every person’s ears. Everyone present was captivated; the men looked on with sly smiles, the women screamed and covered their eyes.
The emcee was stunned, and in a professional reflex, he tried to turn off the video, but no matter what he did, the computer remained hacked. At first, Hamish had no reaction, but when he saw the woman in the video, his face instantly darkened.
“Why does the woman in the video look a bit like Miss Morris?” he said.
“What do you mean ‘a bit like’? That’s her, the voice and the face are identical, and those legs on display are just like the ones today, aren’t they?”
Lila, who had been so self-satisfied just a moment ago, turned pale. She bit her lip, not snapping out of it even when she accidentally bit into her lip. She felt as though she was in a nightmare from which she couldn’t wake up, and the “naked” gazes of the people around her felt like sharp knives tearing through her clothes.
She had never experienced such humiliation before today, and she couldn’t understand why the video of her and Hugo in bed had surfaced in this setting. The scene in the video was in a hotel, their usual meeting place. The two in the video were not obscured by any mosaic, everything was clear.
Lila felt as though her blood was running cold, a sensation of icy needles entering her bloodstream. She suddenly covered her ears, crouching on the ground, screaming hoarsely, trying to block out those dirty sounds.
“It’s not me, that’s not me!”
Hamish stared at the big screen with dark, intense eyes, looking down at Lila trembling on the ground. “If it’s not you, then who is it?” Lila cautiously looked up, but was intimidated by Hamish’s fierce gaze, falling back and ending up in a sorry heap on the ground. She anxiously knelt, grabbing onto Hamish’s shin.
“Hamish, I…” Before she could finish, Hamish pulled away from her, and Lila, unbelieving, met Hamish’s disgusted gaze, feeling a chill run down her spine.