In his eyes, there was only Elisa, completely ignoring Louis beside her. Both of them appeared in the same photo, and even he himself felt that the two looked good together.
He wanted to enlarge the photo with his hand to carefully look at Elisa, but as he raised his hand, a drop of blood fell perfectly on the screen, covering Elisa’s face.
With the faint white light from the phone screen, he looked at his hand and saw glass shards embedded in the flesh of his palm. His hand was covered in sticky blood, initially not feeling the pain, but now realizing it belatedly.
Hamish used to not understand what love was, and he scorned the idea of giving up everything for love, willingly accepting suffering. Looking at the blood on his palm, he understood that feeling. It was like just now, surrounded by darkness, falling into a pile of glass shards, feeling the pain in his hands and feet. But his first reaction wasn’t to check his injuries, it was to continue reaching for his phone because the text message might be from Elisa. For a “maybe,” he was willing to endure all this pain.
The photo was sent to Hamish by Elisa, with a side note: “I won the bet.” The implication was that she wanted Hamish to let go of the White family.
Trembling, Hamish stood up and moved to the wall to turn on the lights. The messy room reflected in his eyes, blood everywhere on the floor. Besides the pain in his hands, his knees also throbbed.
Looking down at his legs, the bloodstained knee and the remnants of glass shards on his pants, he now understood how it felt to kneel on broken glass. The pain and injury Elisa had suffered were brought on by him, and now he had brought this upon himself. Hamish knew it all too well.
Hamish felt resentment in his heart, clinging to unrealistic fantasies. He fantasized about tit for tat. If he endured all the pain Elisa had ever suffered, would she come back to him? With medical advancements today, even stomach cancer could be treated, and maybe lung cancer could be too; his condition wasn’t as severe as the hospital had claimed. He just coughed, occasionally bringing up some blood; it wouldn’t kill him.
He had been repenting all this time, not having the chance to treat Elisa well, and Elisa had already chosen someone else without giving him the slightest opportunity. In fact, getting married meant nothing; people could come back from the dead, and marriages could be annulled… Perhaps, after he died, God would give him a chance to come back, just like Elisa.
People always liked to hold onto unrealistic fantasies, and in the end, regret scattered everything.
Elisa had waited for a long time without receiving a reply from Hamish. Hesitating for a moment, she called him.
Hamish held the phone, his phone case stained with blood. Before he could come to his senses, he heard Elisa’s voice.
“Hamish, I got married.”
The villa was very quiet, and Elisa’s sudden appearance made it feel like an illusion.
Hamish lowered his head, staring at the phone he held tightly. It turned out that he had unconsciously answered the phone.
Hamish fell silent. Elisa thought he hadn’t heard, so she repeated herself.
“I got married.”
“I heard you,” Hamish’s hoarse voice leaked through the phone, lacking much emotion.
Elisa said, “The bet you made, I won. It proves that Louis is not you. He won’t abandon me for his own interests.”
Hamish’s voice was heavy, “Why the rush? I haven’t done anything yet. Moreover, this bet is not just about Louis; it also involves his family. Elisa, I ask you, is a marriage without family blessings happy? When you marry Louis now, have you considered whether you can bear the bankruptcy and imprisonment of the White family? Will you feel guilty every day in your future with Louis because of this?”
“Enough!” Elisa interrupted his threat. “Hamish, that bullet should have gone through your head!”
Elisa really didn’t understand too much. He spoke for her good, but time and time again, he pushed her into a corner. He said he wanted her forgiveness, but she had said in the hospital that she had let go of the past. People couldn’t always live in the past. They had parted, each finding their own happiness. Wasn’t that good?
Hamish walked unsteadily to the window, opening it, letting in the cold wind, as if someone was crying outside. The heart was colder than the body.
He said, “Let’s arrange a time to meet, or you choose a location, and I’ll wait for you.”
Elisa said, “What can we talk about face to face? Or do you want tokeep me locked up in the house like a dog, as you did before?”
“I was wrong back then… I won’t do that again.”
“Don’t be in a hurry to say such things. When did Mr. Burns ever keep his word? People need to have a long memory,” Elisa scoffed, “Living beings need to have a long memory.”
Hamish could imagine Elisa’s expression: her face probably stern, her eyes reddened, gritting her teeth, holding back her anger… If he were standing in front of her, he might have received a slap.
Elisa had a good temper. Hamish once said she was like a rabbit, lacking any threat when angry.
Elisa’s character was not as dark as his. Her softness had been with her since birth, like cotton, not making a sound even when a knife fell on it.