Elisa cleaned the bedroom, touching every inch, smoothing the sheets. She moved the sunflower pot, where Jade was buried, to the balcony in the living room. She walked over, caressing the withered leaves. Sunflowers would wither in winter without sunlight, but after pruning the dry branches, they would grow again the following year, facing the sun, thriving.
She gently touched the withered leaves, “Jade, please watch over him for me.”
Even though she had taken what she was supposed to take, she felt like she had forgotten something. Elisa stood on the roadside and hailed a taxi.
“Where to?” the driver asked.
“North Bankshire.”
Elisa looked outside; the smell inside the car was stuffy, making it hard to breathe, suffocating. Elisa opened the window to let in the cold air.
The driver in the front reminded her, “Miss, the air conditioner is on in the car. Isn’t it cold to have the window open and feel the cold wind?”
“Not cold, I feel a bit carsick.”
Once the driver heard about her carsickness, he stopped objecting. It was a small matter being cold; he was worried about her getting sick and vomiting, which would be troublesome to clean up.
Elisa looked at the passing scenery outside. The cold wind made her eyes sore, but she tried hard to keep them open, attempting to let the cold wind dry the tears in her eyes. However, the more she tried to control her tears, the more uncontrollable they became. She lowered her head and looked at the ring on her ring finger.
Inside, the inner ring was engraved with a line.
love you as before
To love you as before, as always, deeply and without regret.
Tears kept falling uncontrollably. Elisa leaned against the car door, silently crying, with only heavy and uneven breaths and body tremors, making it uncomfortable for anyone to hear.
The driver thought it was the sound of the wind outside. At first, he didn’t pay much attention, but the more he listened, the more he felt something was wrong. He looked through the rearview mirror and saw the woman behind him with red eyes, crying fiercely.
The driver drove all day and had nothing to do to pass the time, so he couldn’t help but chat with anyone who took a ride.
“Miss, what’s wrong with you? Why are you so sad?”
Elisa wiped her tears and with a hoarse voice said, “It’s nothing.”
“If there is anything, talk about it. I won’t talk about it outside. Don’t keep it inside and feel uncomfortable.”
Elisa sniffed and remembered the year she was diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer. When she left the hospital, she took a taxi, and it was also a kind-hearted driver who asked her what was wrong.
The driver told her that everything would pass, and the sun would rise again, bringing a new day.
But what if she couldn’t wait for the sun the next day?
“Driver, are you married?”
“Married, I also have two children.” When it came to his family, the driver’s face was full of happiness, and his mouth couldn’t help but curl up involuntarily. He worked so hard to drive a taxi, not just to make his family live a little better. As long as his family lives well, it doesn’t matter how tired he is.
“I want to ask you a question. If one day you become a burden to your family, and your presence will inevitably cause them harm, what would you do?” Elisa’s voice was very light, light enough for a gust of wind to blow away, and her face was also sickly pale.
The driver took a breath and weirdly said, “Why do I feel like you are cursing me? What accident, what trouble? We drivers are most taboo about these words.”
Elisa quickly apologized, “I’m sorry.”
The man was magnanimous and didn’t argue with Elisa. After driving for a while, he encountered a red light and stopped. The driver stepped on the brakes and said, “If one day I become a burden to my family, I will secretly find a place to die.” After he finished speaking, the driver chuckled lightly.
He continued, “I used to have a colleague who was diagnosed with cancer. He bought a high amount of insurance for himself, and then staged a car accident. After he died, all the money went to his wife.”
See, in this world, there is more than one person who makes such choices.
Elisa didn’t expect the driver to respond to her words. She was stunned and asked in a hoarse voice, “Your colleague must have loved his wife very much, right?”
Who knows, thedriver chuckled and sighed, “Who knows, my colleague lived in the same community as me, right across from our building. They quarreled every day, and no one could persuade them. He even hit his wife, yet they wouldn’t divorce. The couple seemed like grasshoppers entangled in a vine, determined to be bound together. Who knew he got cancer.”
“This person, too complicated, can’t understand. If he loves, how could he bear to lay hands on someone? If he doesn’t love, they’ve been together for 15 years. How many fifteen years does one have in a lifetime? As an outsider, no one has the right to judge the marriage and emotions between them. Whether they are living well is only clear to them. But in my opinion…” The driver paused. “It’s just a waste of time.”
After listening, Elisa fell silent. The red light turned green, the driver released the brake and yelled, “Let’s go.”
The car stopped outside North Bankshire. Elisa paid the fare and got out. Over the years, many changes had taken place here. There were more tall buildings, better landscaping, and many beauty shops outside the neighborhood.
The properties under Hamish’s name were still under investigation, but no one was investigating here because the property rights here belonged to the Powell family, the deceased Elisa’s family. Initially, Elisa sold this place to Hamish. Hamish gave her some money and they signed the agreement, but for some reason, the agreement never made it to court.
Elisa didn’t come here to reminisce about the past. If she forcibly recalled the past, all that would remain in her mind was pain. North Bankshire had witnessed her four years of foolishness. Shallow Water Bay was where Hamish had locked her up like a dog. Chiwood Royal Garden was where he deceived her, treating her like a fool, and where she ultimately died, unable to even return home.
Hamish always said to her, “Come home with me.” But which “home” was she supposed to return to with him? Did they even have a home? These seemingly luxurious villas were actually like windowless cages.
Elisa got out of the car. The cold wind blew through her hair. She casually tied her hair back and then wrapped her down jacket tightly around her body, lowering her head as she walked inside.
Even though it had been a long time since she had been here, she still felt familiar with the place. She turned left from the entrance and walked towards the familiar route to the house, a five-minute walk from here.
She walked slowly. It took her ten minutes to reach the downstairs of the house along the five-minute route. There was no one around, and with the gloomy weather, the villa area seemed unusually desolate.
The door was locked, she didn’t have a key, and fingerprint unlocking was not possible. After all, she had changed bodies. She walked down the stairs and found a key next to a row of potted flowers against the wall, in the corner. She picked up the flowerpot and found a key at the bottom.
The key was still in its old place. Elisa used the key to open the door. There was no strange smell inside. Elisa looked inside and saw that the living room was very clean, with all the furnishings and decorations, but for some reason, it all gave the impression of being hollow and unfulfilled, probably because there was no liveliness.
As she walked in, she saw that familiar figure on the stairs. Hamish was carrying a bucket of water, crouching there, wiping the steps so diligently, as if trying to wipe something away, cleaning it thoroughly.
Elisa squinted slightly, looking at the steps, and probably understood what Hamish was wiping away. He was wiping away the vanished bloodstains, wiping away the little lost soul.
This was where she had fallen, where she had miscarried, where Hamish had hit her, made her kneel, scolded her, and where she had suffered so much pain.
She tried hard to recall some good memories of this place, even just a tiny bit, but there were none. She didn’t quite understand why Hamish could still live here and how he could live here so guiltlessly.
Once a person develops a negative impression of someone, everything they do in the future will be questioned and not believed. Doubt leads to disappointment, and disappointment leads to hatred, until eventually, the heart turns to ashes. Elisa had experienced all of this.
As Hamish turned his head, even with his complexion turning sickly pale and his eyes lifeless, he looked so useless. But all she could think of was him grabbing her by the throat, calling her “Elisa!” with a vicious and insulting tone, calling her a “wretched woman.”