Elisa isn’t foolish; she knows that Louis is deceiving her. Whether it’s for the sake of the show or his appearance, the excuse of extracting teeth is just a cover. Louis must have his own intentions for keeping this from her. She shouldn’t ask too much, but she can’t help but wonder.
“If you’re afraid of pain, then let’s not extract the other one,” Elisa suggests.
Louis’s hand, covering his mouth, stiffens slightly. He smiles faintly and says, “Leaving the other one untouched would make it asymmetrical, wouldn’t it?”
Elisa changes the subject, “Where did you arrange to meet? I’ll go with you.”
“Well, here…” Louis begins, but Elisa turns and says, “I’ll go in and tell the director, it won’t take long. You wait here, I’ll just get my bag.”
“Okay,” Louis watches her go in, then his gaze suddenly darkens as Finn emerges from the corner.
“Long time no see,” Finn says, a cigarette held between his fingers, unlit. His tone and actions exude a slow, disinterested manner.
Louis’s attitude towards Finn is no different from his attitude towards Hamish, not hiding his displeasure.
“I am the investor of this play, and today’s wrap-up feast was all prepared by me. Why do you think I’m here?” Finn smirks with a hint of malice. “Louis, aren’t you curious about the relationship between Elisa and me?”
“I’m not curious. Can you leave?” Louis replies.
Finn clicks his tongue. “So indifferent. But the less you care, the more I want to say. Elisa used to be my lover.”
Louis’s expression changes, but not as explosively as Finn had expected.
He calmly says, “The person you’re talking about should be called Aoife, right? Didn’t she die a long time ago?”
Finn’s expression instantly becomes subdued, returning to his usual cold tone. “When did you find out?”
“At least before you did.”
Did Hamish also know? So, he was the only one left in the dark from start to finish, the last one to know that someone had changed?
Finn doesn’t know how to feel, like he swallowed a bitter pill that lingers in his throat.
“Now that you know Elisa has changed, you should also be aware of her past relationship with Hamish. Can you still like her in this state?” Finn keenly observes Louis’s less-than-pleasant expression, realizing that Louis hasn’t recovered his memory yet.
If he remembered the torture Elisa endured, with 28 steel needles inserted into her fingertips to save him, he wouldn’t show such an ugly expression because of Elisa and Hamish’s relationship three years ago.
Finn glances behind him and says, “Louis, you should be grateful that you look like a human, or else you wouldn’t even be able to get close to Elisa. You’re worse than a dead person and worse than Hamish. At least Hamish once had Elisa, but you are a shadow. Even I understand her better than you…”
Before Finn can finish his sentence, there’s a loud thud as Louis lands a punch. His speed catches everyone off guard. Not even Hamish was as quick.
Caught off guard, Finn staggers back from the blow. Before he can steady himself, Louis seizes his collar, bringing him down to the ground, not giving him a chance to retaliate. Louis pins him down, fists clenched, striking at Finn’s mouth, as if wanting to smash it to pieces.
Finn happened to provoke him just like Hamish had, and this was his chance to let out the frustration he had been holding in for a week.
Louis, with hot breath and red eyes, pays no attention to the onlookers as he violently assaults Finn, drawing blood with each blow. Those around want to intervene but dare not.
“Lou… is!” Elisa’s voice is unheard amidst Louis’s fury. Her mind is filled with rage. Suddenly, she feels a tug at her waist and turns to see Louis.
His eyes, already bloodshot, now seem even redder. It’s strange; even though he was the one attacking, seeing Elisa triggers a strange sense of injustice. He sniffs, worried that Elisa might notice something amiss, quickly turns his head, and loosens his grip on Finn’s collar, letting him fall to the ground.
Finn is in disarray. His carefully styled hair is now a mess, his face bruised, and his mouth bleeding. He touches his aching jaw, feeling the pain.
If he couldn’t beat Hamish, that was one thing, but he couldn’t even beat Louis. The talent for physical combat is truly frustrating. If he hadn’t been mentally impaired for 15 years, wouldn’t his talent for physicalcombat be limitless?
Finn moves his shoulders, limbs, and neck, relieved that nothing is broken. If Elisa had been a little later, he might have broken his hand here.
“Elisa, did you close your eyes when choosing men? They’re all violent thugs. Look at me, all injured for no reason. If you’re not careful, they might end up hitting you one day, and that could be fatal.” Finn knows Elisa fears domestic violence; a decade of abuse makes one cautious about marriage.
He tries to play the victim in front of Elisa, but he forgets that Elisa isn’t Aoife. If Aoife had genuinely cared for him, she would have been worried sick at the slightest injury. But Elisa… even if he were on his deathbed, she wouldn’t spare him a glance.
Louis, on the other hand, looks tense and anxious. He knows Elisa dislikes violence. He falls for Finn’s trap. What if Elisa truly detests him and leaves him? What will he do?
He hangs his head, like a child caught misbehaving, fidgeting with his hands.
“My teeth are loose from his punches…” Finn begins, but Elisa interrupts, her voice cold as ice. She doesn’t even spare a glance at Finn, instead taking Louis’s left hand and walking away.
They had barely gone to retrieve her bag when the fight broke out. Finn must have intentionally provoked it.
Silently, Elisa leads Louis to an inconspicuous corner, her face stern as she questions him for the first time.
“Why did you start a fight?”
“I…,” Louis begins but is cut off by Elisa’s scolding. “Haven’t your injuries healed yet? Do you want to get into an accident and break a few more bones? Finn’s words were hurtful, but you didn’t have to listen. There are people around, are you looking to trend? You’re showing off and making the people who care about you worry.”
“But I couldn’t just ignore what he said,” Louis replies with a bitter smile.
Elisa stares at him, sensing a tremor in his voice, as if he were holding something back.
Louis has a small cut on his lip from Finn’s retaliation. Elisa reaches out to inspect it, but Louis shifts away before her hand touches his face.
“Elisa, do I look a lot like Autumn?” Louis suddenly asks.
Elisa’s breath catches, memories resurfacing. She remains composed. “How do you know Autumn?”
“Finn and Hamish told me. They said you just saw me as a replacement for him. I didn’t believe it until I saw this picture.” Louis retrieves the photo from his pocket and shows it to Elisa.
“I never thought I would look so much like him. Even our teeth are identical. Elisa, let me ask you, if I didn’t resemble him, would you have paid any attention to me in the first place?”
Elisa’s silence is the most complete response. She wouldn’t have.
Actually, she knew from the beginning, and Louis didn’t know what he was hoping for. He had wanted to keep this to himself, pretend not to know, and continue to act as a proper substitute. Then, narcissistically, he believed that Elisa loved him, that she stared blankly at his face, sent him messages during meals, said goodnight every evening, and thought of him first when something happened.
“How many times did you stare at my face thinking of Autumn?” Louis’s eyes darken.
“The first time you came to my place, we watched a movie together. You suddenly leaned in and touched the corner of my mouth. I was so happy then, but now I realize how foolish I was. When you touched my mouth, you were thinking of Autumn. You didn’t call my name at first because you were thinking of Autumn. A. W. Group is the name you created for Autumn. I was truly foolish. It took Hamish and Finn to remind me of all this,” Elisa says.
The light in Louis’s eyes dims bit by bit, his body becoming frigid. He seems numb, not feeling the cold at all, and he continues to speak to Elisa, “Do you remember where we first met, at the airport? At that time, I felt that the way you looked at me was different. I thought you felt the same way about me as I did about you.”
As he recalls these memories, his smile becomes increasingly bitter, and he’s almost at his breaking point.
Elisa opens her mouth, feeling a lump in her throat that seems to lodge in her heart. She never intended to treat Louis as a substitute for Autumn. They looked so much alike, and she couldn’t help but be drawn to him then, wanting to confirm if he really was Autumn. She had considered keeping her distance from Louis, but as they spent time together, he gradually filled her heart. Even if he wasn’t Autumn, it didn’t matter.
“Louis, I never intended to treat you as his substitute,” Elisa says, though her non-admission leaves Louis feeling as if his heart has plunged into an icy abyss. “But what I said just now, you didn’t deny it. Do you not think of him when you look at my face? Louis, I asked you to forget about Autumn and be with me. Will you marry me?”
Elisa stares at Louis’s face, and in her mind, a slender figure wearing a worn white shirt suddenly appears. It’s impossible for her to forget Autumn; she can’t and won’t.
How could she forget Autumn, who had always wanted to carry her back home, even in death?
Elisa, wearing a thin long skirt, feels the wind lift the hem, the sound ringing in her ears, unusually heavy. The late autumn in the south isn’t as cold as winter, but Elisa shivers, her teeth chattering. She shakes her head, fixing her gaze on Louis’s mouth. “Did you have your teeth pulled out because of Autumn?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you lie to me, saying you did it for a role?”
“I never intended to deceive you,” Louis says, his voice choked with tears, “I didn’t want to be a substitute, nor did I want to leave you. So I pulled out my own teeth. That way, when you look at my mouth, you wouldn’t think of him, would you?”
“Louis, I…”
Elisa’s voice is barely audible, and Louis doesn’t stop.
“Elisa, I get jealous, I get upset. I’m afraid of exhausting your novelty for me. I hate being someone else’s substitute. But this past week, while I was recovering from the accident, I locked myself in the bedroom, day and night, thinking, ‘If I’m not his substitute, what can I use to get close to you?'”
Elisa listens blankly. Between her and Louis, there had always been cautious probing. This was the first time Louis had revealed his feelings to her, and in such a heavy way.
With red eyes, Louis says, “I have never felt so humble in my life, never bowed my head so low, never liked someone so much, and never been so pathetic. Elisa, you are the first and last person to make me act like this. Can you choose me once? I will definitely be better than Autumn, gentler than him.”