Hamish knelt in the water, the turbid river water submerging his head. He coughed, feeling as if the ribs in his chest had turned into thorns, tightening with every struggle. He wondered, was Elisa feeling the same agony when she died?
As one approaches death, there is a certain calmness, as if the soul detaches from the body and hovers in mid-air, observing the peaceful self in the water, like a piece of driftwood.
Chills invaded his body from all directions, as if his internal organs were frozen, the pain… a tearing pain throughout his entire body.
Tobias laboriously jumped into the water, embracing Hamish tightly. His entire body was drenched, holding him as if he were ice. Tobias exerted all his strength to drag him out of the water onto the shore.
“Mr. Burns, are you okay?” Tobias, his face pale with urgency, supported Hamish with one hand while reaching for his coat on the ground to find his phone with the other.
As Hamish gradually regained sensation, he instinctively gasped for a breath, but what he seemed to inhale was not air but sharp thorns. The pain permeated his entire heart, causing uncontrollable shudders. He coughed, and each spasm brought forth a gush of blood, staining his pale cheeks a glaring red.
“Mr. Burns, I need to get you to the hospital immediately.” Tobias was alarmed. Hamish had spit blood before, but this was the first time Tobias had seen him spew so much, as if it wouldn’t stop.
He had already dialed the emergency number on his phone and was about to call, but Hamish raised his cold hand to stop him.
“I need… to go down… to find Elisa… her hair tie…” His voice choked, trembling, unsure if it was from the cold or the pain.
“A hair tie?” Tobias quickly understood. He asked, “And if you find it, then what?”
Hamish had lost his rationality. The only clear thought in his clouded mind was Elisa’s final words.
– If you can’t find it, don’t come to see me.
Elisa was punishing him for the sins he had committed in the past, and he deserved it. He had to find it, he had to find her hair tie.
“If I find it… if I find it… she will forgive me and come back with me…”
Tobias: “She’s deceiving you.”
Hamish murmured, “No, Elisa wouldn’t deceive anyone.”
Seeing Hamish’s freezing white face, Tobias knew Hamish’s stubbornness. Once he decided on something, it was difficult to change his mind. This was also why three years ago, he had turned a good path into a dead end.
“Such a small hair tie, thrown into the river… it’s impossible to find. It’s better to buy a new one than to go searching with your life…” Hair ties all look the same; he didn’t believe Elisa would recognize it.
“Even if they look the same, it’s not the one she lost…” Hamish had gradually regained his senses, speaking with weakness but without the earlier tremor. He stared back at the river. It was already so dark. The dim yellow light of the street lamps spilled onto the water.
He looked back in the direction of Louis’s villa. It extended into darkness, with no lights. Had they already gone to bed?
The thought of Elisa lying in another man’s arms at this moment, embracing each other, caused his heart to ache terribly.
Would Elisa treat Louis as she had treated him in the past? Would she prepare a table of food for him and gaze at him tenderly, deeply in love with him?
Stop thinking… he couldn’t think anymore… Hamish covered his eyes, and the hot liquid that fell into his palms didn’t matter… as long as Elisa came back. He didn’t care about these things, as long as she was alive in his world… that would be enough…
Tobias’s words fell on deaf ears as Hamish was determined to find the hair tie, as if an obsession had been planted in his blood, the roots reaching into his bones, pulling his weak limbs off the ground.
Completely relying on his strong will, Hamish pushed his body up. His eyes revealed vulnerability and sorrow as he crawled toward the riverbank. Tobias couldn’t stop him, unable to understand how Hamish still had such strength.
Tobias forcefully held him down. “Mr. Burns, let’s come back tomorrow. Right now, you should take care of yourself. It’s not easy to find her, and then collapse again.”
Hamish was eager for success and was now suffering from a backlash.
Tobias had many things he couldn’t understand, but the one that puzzled him the most was why “Aoife” hadbecome “Elisa.” Was it an act? But Tobias had been there before and indeed felt that it was Elisa.
For the first time, he had heard that a person could die… and then come back to life.
Hamish was shaken by Tobias, feeling not the weight of Tobias, but as if a mountain were pressing down on him. He pressed his lips tightly together, the taste of blood filling his mouth. His remaining consciousness was painfully fixed on the river, even though he could have rolled over and jumped in, he just couldn’t get over there.
“Let go of me!” His fingers dug into the ground, the fingertips bloody and raw. The stinging pain brought some clarity, but he was still too tired and in too much pain.
Bowing his head with the pain, his chin against the ground, Hamish, half-lidded, suddenly brightened his eyes. The hair tie he had been searching for was looped around his ring finger, like a ring.
His hand had been numb from the cold river, and he had been searching in the water, but hadn’t looked at his fingers. When he came to his senses, he realized that what he had been searching for was right there on his finger.
From despair to joy, his emotions were like a rollercoaster. He touched the hair tie on his ring finger, carefully wiping off the dirt and then solemnly held it up to the light.
“I… I found it…” This time he finally collapsed to the ground, a beautiful smile on his lips. He had found Elisa’s hair tie. Would she forgive him and come back with him?
The three most beautiful words in life: reunion after a long separation, recovering what was lost, and a false alarm.
The reunion had already happened, but could he regain what he had lost? Were all the sins he had committed just a false alarm?
Hamish looked at the hair tie on his hand and put it back on his ring finger. This time, he closed his eyes.
The ambulance that Tobias had called arrived quickly. The blood was wiped from Hamish’s face, and the blood that had flowed into his neck dried under the car’s heater, becoming stiff and dry. The car was filled with the smell of blood.
…
Elisa returned home and saw a figure crouching at the door.
Louis sat at the door, tightly gripping his phone, looking in Elisa’s direction as she left, his eyes eager, resembling a loyal dog waiting for its owner to return home.
Seeing Elisa’s figure, he quickly stood up and ran to her, ignoring the rain outside.
“He didn’t bully you, did he?”
“No…” Elisa looked at Louis’s concerned eyes and felt a slight daze. If it were Hamish seeing her with another man, his first reaction wouldn’t be concern, but to inspect her body to see if his toy had been dirtied by someone else.
In Hamish’s eyes, she had always been a plaything for him to toy with, a plaything that didn’t require dignity.
“Your hands are cold. Let’s go back so I can blow-dry your hair for you.”
He held Elisa’s hand tightly and, upon returning home, brought out hot milk for her to drink. After the hot milk entered her stomach, her entire body warmed up. The living room was also heated, and the warm air made her pores contract.
Louis knew that Elisa was sensitive to the cold. The first time they met was on the plane, and she had been wrapped in a blanket despite the moderate temperature.
Louis plugged in the hairdryer and wanted to blow-dry Elisa’s hair for her.
Elisa, still wrapped in his coat, declined, “Thank you for the coat. I can dry my hair myself.”
Elisa wasn’t used to being too close to people. Louis was very kind and had helped her a lot, but she couldn’t take advantage of his kindness for her own gain just because he was good to her.
The emotions need a response, nobody is obligated to be good to you. If there is no response, the connection should be cut as soon as possible. Time and emotions are the most precious things on a person.
Louis froze, tightening his grip on the hairdryer for a moment before eventually setting it down to take Elisa’s coat from her hand.
He hung the coat by the door, listening to the hum of the hairdryer. For the first time, he felt the place was filled with a sense of festivity. Finally, his place felt like a home. If only it could stay like this…
He had this confidence when Hamish hadn’t appeared yet, but now he realized how foolish his confidence was.
All this time, it had been his arrogance. He had never truly understood Elisa. Besides her name and gender, he knew nothing about her.
Louis watched Elisa, sitting on the sofa, tilting her head as she blew dry her hair.
Perhaps this was the strange closeness and yet distance in the world. Even though Elisa was right in front of him, he couldn’t even touch her. There was an invisible wall between them.
He quietly went to the kitchen to start cooking – a meat dish, a vegetable dish, and a soup would be enough for them.
Louis only knew how to make some home-cooked dishes – a plate of shredded green peppers, hot and sour shredded potatoes, and boiled cabbage soup.
After drying her hair, Elisa discarded the hair tie, her long hair falling inconveniently around her. With a glance, she noticed a pen holder on the living room bookshelf and casually took out a pencil to tie up her hair.
“Do you need help?” she asked.
Louis turned around, “No need for help, there’s just one more dish to finish. Are you hungry?”
“I’m okay,” Elisa looked him up and down, Louis was wearing a black and white apron with a slim waist and a height of 1. 89 meters. He held a spatula, a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, his gaze focused on the dish in the pot.
“The kitchen has a lot of smoke. You should leave quickly,” she said. His movements were just orderly a moment ago, but as soon as Elisa appeared, he became flustered, as if he wished he had eight hands to use.
Not only did Elisa not leave, but she also walked into the kitchen. Louis’s kitchen wasn’t big, but it was stocked with everything, showing that he must cook often. She leaned against the wall, watching the man cooking with a focused gaze.