Finn could only see Elisa’s moving lips, he could hear what she was saying, yet it seemed like he couldn’t.
Until Elisa’s lips stopped moving, thunder seemed to roar in his ears.
“Finn, what will it take for you to believe that Aoife is never coming back?” He asked himself, his eyes sore, his nose tingling, his throat dry, his heart aching.
Aoife had placed all her hopes in Finn, she thought Finn had saved her, the flame in her heart was ignited by Finn but also extinguished by him.
It seemed that people always see things clearer from the outside. Finn, a clever man, could see the emotional turmoil between Hamish and Elisa, but when it came to himself, he couldn’t see anything clearly at all.
Finn was now in a daze not from alcohol, but because Elisa had drugged him. Patrick had given her a ring, which she always wore on her index finger. Inside, there was a small switch hiding a bit of powder, enough to make someone confused and weak, even a big bear would be knocked down.
Presently, Finn was in a state of confusion, but Elisa was puzzled why he hadn’t passed out yet.
Finn often studied drugs, perhaps he had developed a certain resistance to them through self-experimentation.
Now, he was as if trapped in a hallucination, unable to stand up due to weakness.
He listened to Elisa’s voice, and tears fell from his eyes increasingly. He didn’t want to cry, but he couldn’t help it.
He never thought that the timid Aoife had died by suicide.
Swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills in a gas-filled room, how scared of living must she have been to choose two methods of suicide to end her life?
He never intended for her to die, he had used Aoife as a stand-in for Elisa just to torment Hamish, to make him suffer without respite.
He sent Aoife away because he was afraid, afraid of falling in love with her, getting used to her, meeting the same fate as Hamish.
He never thought Aoife would die, but his indifference, his lack of concern, became the deadliest weapon against Aoife.
Finn stared at the floor numbly, feeling a coldness in his heart, a chilling sensation spreading throughout his body, while the tears streaming down were hot, as if they could blind his eyes.
Since his mother passed away in the hospital, he had never humbled himself to beg anyone. Now, his legs were so weak he couldn’t even stand, he knelt on the ground and cried like a child who had lost a precious toy.
“I want Aoife, I want her to like me, you are not her, give her back to me, why do you have to occupy her body, let Aoife come back, please let her come back… I want to apologize to her, I want to treat her well, I will never use her as your substitute again…”
Not all apologies receive a response, not all lingering thoughts receive an echo, not all abuses for a moment of pleasure lead to a chance of pursuit, when he realized, there was no longer a person named “Aoife” in this world.
Flowers may bloom again, but youth will not return.
Every cause has its effect, this is his own predicament.
Elisa’s heart felt as if it had been pierced by a sharp thorn, causing extreme pain, she raised her hand to cover her chest, silently saying: “It’s okay, Aoife, you see, Finn has received his retribution.”
Elisa took a deep breath, squatting down, looking directly at Finn. “Finn, what’s the use of being sad here? Didn’t you make her mine? Aoife used her death to bring me back, now it’s too late for you to want her to appear.”
Finn struggled to lift his head, for a moment, he felt as if he was mired in mud, struggling to escape, while Aoife stood indifferently in the darkness.
Looking at the woman in front of him, memories from a year ago flooded his mind.
At that time, Aoife hadn’t changed her name yet, he brought her here like keeping a pet, but Aoife thought she had found a home.
She was so careful to be good to him, her gentle smiles and shy confessions, blushing as she told him she liked him.
On the day Aoife left, she said: “Things that are sent away will not return.”
He didn’t take it seriously, because he clearly remembered Aoife whispering in his ear once when he was drunk.
“Finn, I’ve used all my strength to love you, I really like you, I’m so silly, clearly a substitute, but I like you so much.”
He always bullied her, threatened her, and humiliated her, yet she still liked him so much. How could something sent away not return?
Finn was so confident, he thought Aoife’s weakness was temporary, that after she had her fun outside and learned how cruel the world could be, she would come back with just a wave of his hand.
But he hadn’t anticipated that Aoife’s departure would be a farewell without turning back.
Elisa stood up, she wasn’t Aoife, although there were still some of Aoife’s emotions within her. But seeing Finn in such a “miserable” state, she felt no emotional fluctuation, and even had the urge to laugh.
She raised her foot and stomped fiercely on Finn’s head, hearing a “thud,” Finn collapsed on the ground, his face against the floor tiles.
Elisa picked up the half-empty glass of red wine on the table and poured it over Finn’s face.
“I congratulate Aoife; she will no longer revolve around you, she has finally gained her freedom.”
Finn and Hamish were the same kind of scumbag, both liked to have their cake and eat it too.
He actually liked both Elisa and Aoife, in a nutshell, he liked Elisa’s body but fell in love with Aoife’s soul.
Chauvinistic, self-centered, once he set his eyes on something, he wanted the whole world to revolve around him.
It was sickening.
Finn always thought Aoife was weak, but in reality, it was he who was weak, unable to even face his own feelings.
Finn, trampled under Elisa’s foot, with his face splashed with red wine, looked brutish, one cry louder than the next, his mouth gaping like a fish stranded on land, struggling in its dying moments.
The last bit of clarity in his mind gradually faded, and he fell completely into darkness.
Seeing the person under her foot motionless, Elisa lifted her foot and kicked him twice, indeed, he was as lifeless as a dead fish.
Elisa walked around the room, found a chair in one room, and a rope in a utility room.
Finn was tall and heavy, not easy to move, but fortunately, Elisa had been exercising recently, her arms had gained muscle, and she managed to tie the unconscious Finn securely to the chair with the rope.
Elisa looked at the sky outside, she had to go back, it would be dark soon.
There was only an elevator to go down, but there was no button to go down…