“Get in, Miss Powell,” Finn said.
Elisa, in general, was kidnapped by Finn.
“Will you hand over your phone, or should I have someone frisk you?” Finn’s domineering aura enveloped the car.
Forced into the car with no way out, Elisa couldn’t seek help. Finn was right-she couldn’t seek vengeance without getting close to him.
The retaliation Elisa planned couldn’t be completed easily. As she contemplated, her eyes hung low, her brows furrowed, her long eyelashes curled like butterfly wings, her crimson lips pressed with undisguised coldness, radiating an edge.
Finn didn’t give her much time to think. Elisa twisted the ring on her index finger, feeling a bit relieved. She took out her phone from her pocket and threw it to Finn, who then handed it to his subordinate outside the car.
“Drive.”
The car slowly entered the main road. Finn wasn’t concerned at all about Elisa’s potential escape; he openly let her gaze out the window.
In the three years since her ‘death’, she had been away from Bankshire for almost five years. When she lost her memory, Hamish took her to Chiwood, a strange land where she couldn’t return home even in death.
Five years had allowed Bankshire to rise to the top. Even the outskirts were filled with skyscrapers. Upon returning to Bankshire, she was busy with work all day, and due to her special status, she rarely went out.
Sitting in Finn’s car, she realized how much Bankshire had changed. The seemingly familiar route and the surrounding commercial buildings had all changed.
The route became increasingly remote. This place… Elisa paused.
“Although Bankshire has changed a lot in recent years, do you not feel very familiar here?”
Indeed, it was very familiar, familiar enough to make her heart skip a beat. This was the place where Finn had tormented her five years ago, and also where Autumn had died.
Her hand clenched tightly on her knee, yet Finn seemed oblivious to her anger.
“After I shot that fool dead, do you know where I threw his body? Right into the sea over here. Behave well by my side these days, and when I’m in a good mood, I’ll take you to pay your respects to him. It could be considered as comforting his soul.”
Elisa’s eyes turned as red as splattered ink, and she lowered her head, not allowing anyone to see her expression.
“Are you angry?”
Elisa then lifted her gaze. When she raised her eyes, her lips curled slightly, as if to say, “Who do you think you are.”
Finn didn’t feel an ounce of humiliation. He adored the rebellious and assertive feeling emanating from Elisa. Only in this way could he experience the pleasure of destruction.
The car soon pulled in, and Elisa’s familiarity with this place came entirely from Aoife’s memories. Finn had built a tall house here.
Aoife had been arranged to sleep here during that year.
Standing on the top floor, one could still see the scenery by the seaside. Aoife had gazed out many times, and even the most beautiful scenery could become tiresome. She had stood there, actually contemplating jumping from the top, but never dared.
Aoife longed for freedom, even though she was forced to be a stand-in, she still held hope.
Because of Aoife’s memories, even returning to this place that had tormented her for half her life, Elisa didn’t feel afraid.
The car slowly stopped, Elisa opened the car door and got out. Finn walked in front of her, his tone light, “Let’s go.”
Elisa followed him into the elevator and went straight to the floor. The room was decorated with the simplest three colors: black, white, and gray, making the already dim place seem even darker.
This was where Finn usually resided. One could feel the essence of life here.
“I didn’t eat much for lunch today. Make me something to eat, just like before,” Finn commanded as soon as he spoke, paying no attention to whether she was willing or not, much like Hamish.
Unlike before, Elisa had never cooked for him. Only when Aoife was with him did she cook every day.
Elisa didn’t object and, as she went to the kitchen, she observed her surroundings. There were no cameras, and Finn’s men were downstairs. There were only the two of them here.
It was a good opportunity.
Elisa opened the refrigerator, which was filled with vegetables, obviously prepared in advance.
Elisa picked out a few home-cooked dishes that Aoife used to make, including spicy and sour shredded potatoes, braised pork, lotus root and pork rib soup, and mapo tofu. Enough for Finn to eat alone.
Finn wasn’t as picky an eater as Hamish, and could manage with whatever was served.
Elisa washed her hands, lit the stove, first stewed the pork rib soup, then washed and cut the vegetables. When the soup was nearly ready, she started stir-frying the dishes.
The soup would take about an hour to cook. During this time, Elisa leisurely moved about the kitchen. Finn, on the other side of the wall, could feel her presence even without turning around.
Finn opened a bottle of wine, drank while watching the silhouette in the kitchen. He thought it would be nice if things could stay this way. He entertained the idea of imprisoning Elisa, even though he knew she was no longer “Aoife.” But looking at her face, he could still deceive himself.
Why did he need to deceive himself that Aoife wasn’t dead?
Finn didn’t understand. It was as if his normal life had to be this way, just like the sunrise and sunset, waiting for the sun to rise every day, as normal as can be.
Finn silently drank his wine, feeling oddly empty inside, as if a piece of him had been carved out. At this moment, he admitted to feeling somewhat lonely.
Elisa saw that the pork rib soup was almost done, so she started cooking the dishes. She was skillful, quickly preparing the food and setting it on the table.
“Let’s eat,” she said.
Finn set down his wine, washed his hands, and took a seat at the table. Faced with a spread of dishes, his once dull eyes suddenly brightened for a moment.
These were the dishes Aoife used to make, and even the aroma was the same. Elisa served half a bowl of soup in front of Finn.
Watching Finn drink the soup, she smirked, “Is it good?”
Finn said nothing, picked up his fork, and tasted a few dishes. They all had familiar flavors.
Having just finished a bottle of wine, and not knowing if he was a little tipsy, he felt dizzy. Something flashed through his mind so quickly that he couldn’t grasp it. He held his head, determined to finish every dish on the table, even though his hands trembled.
“Are you Aoife, aren’t you? You pretended to be Elisa because I made you, but you can’t deceive me. How could someone else recreate the exact same taste as before? I remember the meals I had for over two hundred days. I remember everything.”
Leaning on the table, he struggled to raise his hand, wanting to touch Elisa’s face. His hand trembled so much, and the person in front of him turned into a blur. No matter how he reached, he couldn’t touch her.
Finn looked pained, his eyes like a glass ball about to crack, as if it would shatter at the slightest touch.
“Finn, you’re drunk.”
“I’m not drunk.” He usually drank a lot of wine, so how could he be drunk from just one bottle? But why was his head so dizzy, and why couldn’t he see clearly?
In a hoarse voice, he said, “I just have a bit of a headache.”
Headaches were an old ailment. In the past, when he had a headache, Aoife would apply a hot towel and massage his head, but now… he looked at the woman in front of him.
Playing with the ring on her finger, Elisa murmured, “Why hasn’t it killed you with pain?”
That didn’t sound like something Aoife would say. She was timid and meek, speaking softly and never daring to defy him. How could she have the courage to curse him to death?
Finn tried to stand, but his body swayed, and his legs knelt down in front of Elisa.
Elisa looked down at him and delivered a cruel truth from above, “Aoife is already dead.”
“She’s not dead. She must still be in this body, otherwise how could the food you made be exactly like hers?”
“That’s just her habits; her habits are ingrained in the blood and bones. Even if the soul disappears, it still remembers what you like.” This was the truth. Elisa made these dishes based on Aoife’s memories. She knew how much salt to use just by holding it, knew when to start cooking and what to use, it was all habit.
After speaking, an indescribable sadness surged in Elisa’s heart, almost overwhelming her. She covered her chest with her hand.
Even after all this time since Aoife’s death, her body still felt sorrow when facing Finn.
Finn knelt on the ground, unable to control the shaking of his body, he said in distress, “I never thought she would die.”
But you, Finn, are the one who forced her to death,” Elisa taunted, “Do you love her, Finn?”
Finn didn’t answer that question. He didn’t need someone to love, but he needed someone to love him. The thought of lying alone on a sickbed with no one around was more painful than death.
Perhaps genuine love couldn’t put food on the table, but it could be the anchor that kept one going, the reason to persist.
Finn realized it too late. When he finally realized, the person who truly loved him was already dead.
“Never again will there be someone to massage your head when it hurts, to leave the light on for you when you come home late, to prepare sobering soup for you when you’re drunk, someone who racked their brains every day thinking about your preferences, thinking about how to make you happy,” Elisa said.
“She’s not dead!” Suddenly Finn burst into laughter, his face icy, until he tasted the saltiness of tears in his mouth, only then did he realize he was crying.
Elisa was not at all frightened by his voice, she just stared at him calmly, and said each word, “The Aoife you wanted is already dead. Her heart broke when you used her as a stand-in and gave her to someone else. She died in despair after being abandoned and treated with cold indifference. In the 385 days she was with you, you slowly suffocated her. She can’t come back.”
“Finn, do you know how Aoife died? She took a whole bottle of sleeping pills, turned on the gas, and quietly lay down in bed to die.” Elisa looked at Finn with empty eyes, her fists clenched, her nails almost digging into her flesh.
Her previously calm emotions were now trembling. Elisa spoke hoarsely, “You know how much hope she had for the future, how much she wanted to live. It was you who personally extinguished the last flicker of hope in her heart!”