After leaving, Louis glanced at the helicopter parked above and sighed, “If only I had also come to pick you up in a helicopter, it would have been so impressive.”
With ease, his words made Elisa burst into laughter. “I don’t like riding in helicopters; I prefer you carrying me.”
Elisa nestled close to his back, and he could feel her breath, her warmth. She spoke softly by his ear, her breath tickling his skin, causing Louis to blush from his earlobes down to his neck.
“I… will carry you back, as long as you want, I’ll carry you anytime…”
Elisa reached out and pinched his ear, which was very warm. She had wanted to do this for a long time and was just now carrying it out.
“Why is your ear so warm?”
“Is it?”
“Yes, it’s warmer than my palm.” Elisa buried her head in his shoulder, letting the scent of him envelop her.
A faint scent of mint, unique to him, belonged to him alone. Only now did her tense nerves and body completely relax.
She was still nervous after all, as this place had brought her too much pain in the past, and it invoked memories of Autumn. The sound of the gunshot that hit Autumn’s chest seemed to echo as if it had happened yesterday, making it hard to snap back to reality.
Since she arrived here, her nerves had been on edge, even when she had managed to knock Finn out and tie him up, she still had to be vigilant against others. Finn was relentless, and if provoked, he might very well take her down with him, and she didn’t want to bet on it.
Moreover, with Hamish arriving later, she also feared Hamish forcefully taking her away. Knocking down Finn relied entirely on luck and catching him off guard. Trying to do the same to Hamish was impossible.
Hamish claimed he would make it up to her and wouldn’t harm her, but who could know what tomorrow would bring. She understood the saying “the boy who cried wolf,” as she had died in Hamish’s lies. Furthermore, after her death, he had held her body, promising to let her go if she woke up, yet now she was back, and he didn’t seem to listen to her at all.
Sure enough… Hamish was a lying ghost.
She had said it before, she would never believe him again. She had seen through this man with her own death. She wasn’t afraid of the pain brought by death, nor the reopening of her wounds after they healed. She was afraid of repeating the same mistakes, of easily trusting someone all over again.
“Louis, I want to go and see the coast nearby.”
“Alright, I’ll take you there.”
Finn’s men had already taken care of the people Louis had brought, and as for what came next, Louis trusted Patrick to handle it. He carefully helped Elisa into the passenger seat, fastening her seatbelt.
Elisa heard the sound of the waves and tapped the car window as she looked outside, “Stop here; I want to go over there by myself.”
“Don’t you need me to accompany you?”
Elisa pursed her lips lightly and shook her head, “I’ll be back soon.”
“Alright, I’ll wait for you.” Louis sat in the car and watched Elisa open the car door and step out. He expected her to disappear as she usually did, but to his surprise, she took a few steps and suddenly turned back.
Their eyes met, Elisa standing in the twilight of late autumn, a chilly breeze blowing through. Her long hair swayed in the wind, her gaze as desolate as ever, but after a moment of locking eyes with Louis, her expression softened. What was once distant and unattainable now seemed within reach.
Elisa curved her lips, then turned and walked towards the coast. The wind by the sea was strong, and the sound of waves filled the air. Elisa, wearing high heels, had an unsteady gait on the rocky ground. She took out a photo of Autumn from her coat.
Looking at the boundless sea, she didn’t want to cry, but her eyes couldn’t withstand the sea breeze. A tear fell from her eyes onto the photo.
The sea breeze seemed to penetrate her body, making her already insufficient warmth gradually turn cold.
Finn had said that Autumn’s body had been thrown into the sea, leaving no complete remains.
Elisa took a deep breath, her breathing trembling, her throat choked. She brought her palm close to her mouth and cried out, “Autumn-”
Her hoarse voice, as if it would break her throat, faced the sea as she tried to force a smile.
“Big brother, I’m doing well now. I’ve been obedient and haven’t liked Hamish anymore. You were right, Hamish isn’t worthmy affection.”
“I’ve found someone I truly like now. He’s special, he looks a lot like you, and he’s as gentle as you. When I take medicine, he knows I don’t like the bitterness and will prepare candy for me.”
Elisa smiled, but her face grew colder, and tears began to flow uncontrollably.
Elisa sniffled and said, “He’s not like Hamish; he respects me, trusts me, and always appears when I’m at my most vulnerable. Today, he carried me, and his shoulder feels just as solid as yours did, providing a sense of security…”
She stood at the edge of the coast, rambling on as if she were a schoolgirl returning home excitedly after receiving praise from a teacher.
Her eyes flushed red, but at this moment, they shone brighter than ever.
“I like him because he’s him, not because he looks like you.”
Her tear-filled eyes stung as the sea breeze blew, forcing her to squint. Once everything quieted down, her mind had the time to dwell on the past.
“Little crybaby, stop crying. Big brother can’t carry you home this time.”
“I’ll give you a candied hawthorn to eat.”
“Do you have cookies? I’ll give you all of mine.”
“Can I call you Elisa?”
“Elisa, this time, you need to find your way home on your own.”
“Autumn.” Elisa choked up, “I’m not allergic to candied hawthorns anymore. I can eat a lot now. I’ve also found someone who can accompany me home. I’m very happy and content. You should be happy too.”
The biting sea breeze suddenly turned gentle, softly drying the tears on Elisa’s face. She rubbed her eyes, placed the photo back into her coat, and slowly turned to leave.
Louis stood by the front of the car, his gaze fixed on the direction Elisa walked. As soon as Elisa returned, he saw her.
Elisa caught his eyes from a distance, and Louis’ eyes were like the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, and the rivers. He smiled, his eyes gentle, as if a night of snow in the north suddenly bloomed with a field of flowers in the south.
He stood tall, with long legs.
When Elisa stopped, Louis walked towards her without asking anything, wiping the tear marks from her face with a tissue.
“Don’t you want to ask me why I’m here?”
Louis shook his head, “If you want to tell me, I’ll listen. If you don’t want to, I won’t ask.”
Elisa looked up, grabbing Louis’ hand holding the tissue.
“Autumn died here, her body was thrown into the sea after her death.”
Louis stiffened.
Elisa’s voice was still hoarse from crying, and it was strained and harsh, “I just went to see ‘him’ and talked to him about many things. I told him that I’ve met someone I really like, someone who can take me home.”
Louis’s heart raced, as if a herd of elephants were stampeding inside him. He could hardly control it, his blood rushing, and his eyes heatedly fixed on Elisa. His ears were burning, his face red, and he couldn’t bring himself to continue, afraid that he might misunderstand Elisa’s meaning.
“Idiot,” Elisa’s eyes welled up with tears, she laughed, unable to contain herself, reaching up to pinch Louis’s tousled ears. “I like Louis, only Louis, it has nothing to do with anyone else, just because you are you, do you understand?”
Louis’s mind was blank, but his mouth couldn’t help but curve upwards, forming an extravagant smile. “What kind of like is it?”
“Probably…,” Elisa said seriously, “the kind of like that wants to get married.”
Louis, excited, leaned in and embraced Elisa tightly, his chin pressing against her ear. “Elisa.”
“Yeah.”
“Elisa.”
“I’m here.”
“Elisa.”
“I’m here.”
He called her, and she responded each time. “I love you.”
Elisa listened to Louis’s rapid heartbeat. “I do too.”
Love is only meaningful when it flows both ways. For the person who had been waiting for so long, this moment finally brought him her precise response.
Louis’s gaze focused on her face, and he casually swept her up, one arm around Elisa’s waist and the other beneath her legs, carrying her horizontally. “Let’s go home.”
“Together.”
In the car, Louis couldn’t contain his excitement. Pressing on the gas, the car lurched forward, repeatedly stalling with each brake and acceleration. He had never felt so embarrassed in his life.
“I feel like I’m dreaming right now.”
Seeing Louis’s silly expression, Elisa opened the car window to let in the cold air. “Do you feel the wind? Do you still think you’re dreaming?”
Louis stepped on the gas, and the car roared forward, the rushing wind becoming even more intense. A chill ran through his skin, and he gripped the steering wheel, laughing like a fool. “I’m not dreaming. Elisa likes me! She wants to marry me!”
Elisa’s heart clenched. “Drive slower, for safety.”
Louis quickly eased off the gas, slowing the car down. He turned to look at Elisa, a smile playing about his eyes. The only regret on his face was the missing tooth, making him look somewhat out of place.
For some reason, Louis’s face lit up, and his ears wiggled with pride. “I knew you’d like me.”
“Why do you say that?” Elisa asked curiously. She found that Louis was really easy to please. They had just had a misunderstanding during the day, but it seemed to be forgotten in the blink of an eye.
In his heart, Louis disregarded his resemblance to Autumn. Just like his mother said, Elisa had always been different with him, her care for him was genuine, and he didn’t need to doubt his uniqueness. In this world, he was indeed one of a kind.
He was grateful that Elisa’s life had a person named “Autumn,” as it was because of “him” that Louis had the opportunity to get to know Elisa. He did not know much about Elisa’s past, the only clue he had was that she was Hamish’s ex-wife, who died in a fire at the age of twenty-seven.
Her ability to remember Autumn so vividly indicated that this person had been very kind to her, and had a significant impact on her.
He was thankful for everyone who had been good to Elisa, because of them, he had such a wonderful Elisa.
“Elisa, let’s go back to that coast again sometime. I also want to talk to the person named Autumn, thank him for letting you meet me, and for being good to you when I wasn’t by your side.”
“Aren’t you jealous?” Louis shook his head.
Elisa realized that Louis seemed to like her even more than she had imagined. It turned out that being liked felt like this.
…
Hamish watched as Louis walked away with Elisa on his back, taking a few steps forward but forcibly stopping himself from following. He tugged at the corner of his mouth, his expression revealing a deep sense of melancholy.
This time, he could no longer find even a trace of himself in Elisa’s eyes. Even the previous hatred had disappeared. Elisa had truly let go. But what about him? What was he supposed to do?
He lowered his head to look at the syringe Elisa had thrown on the ground, and he picked it up. Finn was still tied to a chair, his back to Hamish, unaware of what Hamish was doing.
“Seeing Elisa leaving with someone else, have you ever thought that maybe it would be better if she didn’t come back? This way, at least she would stay in your memory, belonging only to you.”