Elisa repeated the same motion expressionlessly. The sound of Hamish’s murmuring was making it impossible for her to find peace and quiet.
“Bang!” An abrupt explosion and Elisa burst a balloon in her hand.
“Can you just be quiet and stop mentioning the past?”
Hamish pursed his lips and hoarsely replied, “But now all I can do is reminisce about the past…”
“Do you know who constantly reminisces about the past?” Elisa scoffed and answered herself, “Someone who is about to die.”
“Elisa, what if I told you I’m dying?”
“And when exactly are you dying? Don’t just talk, put it into action,” Elisa coldly stared at him, her gaze icy as if she were facing an enemy.
Seeing how spirited Hamish still was, she began to doubt whether the diagnosis letter she received on her phone a while back was fake.
Hamish froze and looked at the burst balloon absentmindedly.
He thought about how good Elisa had been to him in the past, how she put so much effort into learning to cook the dishes he liked, even though she knew he wouldn’t taste them. She persisted in cooking for 1, 364 days, quietly waiting for him, even if he only glanced at it, her heart was satisfied.
She had a lot of work to do every day, and in the winter, her hands were so cold they trembled, making it difficult to even sign her name. Yet, she endured the cold and knitted scarves for him.
He had a bad temper, and she always accommodated him, even if he used her as a punching bag.
The stomach cancer was so painful, it caused her to vomit blood, but she bit her tongue and never mentioned leaving him calmly.
The more he thought about how good Elisa had been to him in the past, the more uncontrollable thoughts he had about how poorly he had treated her.
Perhaps, as Elisa said, only those who are about to die like to dwell on the past. After all, once a person dies, they can’t dwell on anything.
The year they got married, Elisa took care of everything. It was a simple wedding, they invited the media, and after that, she blew up 520 balloons by herself and placed them in every corner of the room, tying them to the railing.
She made 1314 gifts, 1314 packs of candy, all by herself. While thinking about it, her fingers became sore.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t afford to hire someone, but she felt that doing it herself might be more meaningful.
After bursting one balloon, Elisa didn’t want to continue.
What other meaningful things were there? It all depended on whether you were willing to do them. If you weren’t willing, no matter how significant they were, they would be meaningless.
They didn’t blow many balloons, just a symbolic gesture. Hamish cut paper and pasted it on the window, in the shape of a cat, it looked a lot like Jade.
It was a beautiful red color, but looking at it for too long made Elisa’s eyes ache.
…
Without Elisa’s help, Hamish worked through the night and finally finished in the early morning of the next day.
There were still a few days until New Year’s, there was no need to rush this moment. Why did he stay up all night preparing for something?
…
Elisa didn’t receive a reply from Louis after sending that text. She felt uneasy for no reason, got out of bed, and her right eyelid twitched uncontrollably. She sat up and gently patted her eyelid, trying to make it stop.
Hamish came in and saw Elisa holding her forehead, thinking she had a headache, he asked, “What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”
After a few more twitches, her eyelid finally calmed down.
“Hamish,” Elisa called his name.
Hamish responded, “What’s the matter?” If there was nothing wrong, Elisa wouldn’t use his name, that’s how realistic it was.
Elisa smiled, “I still remember the things you said while holding my lifeless body when I died…”
The fact that she had become a ghost after she died, she hadn’t told anyone about it. This time, she suddenly brought it up, but she just suddenly wanted to see Louis.
“You said that if I were alive, you would do anything for me, even if it meant letting me go, you would do it willingly. But now, you haven’t fulfilled that promise.”
Elisa had a good memory, she remembered many things, vividly as if they happened yesterday.
Every time she was injured and hospitalized, she could see the regretful expression on Hamish’s face, but in an instant, he repeated his mistakes.
Every time he was serious, every time he learned his lesson, every time he wavered, every time he softened, every time he was wronged, every time he was sad, every time he tortured himself, every time he was heartbroken, every time he made a mistake, every time he was forgiven, every time he was serious, every time he was discarded, every time he was perfunctory, every time he forgot, every time he deserved it.
“Well, I forgot, you, Mr. Burns, are a man who can lie even to the Godfather. Now that you’re facing the consequences, you won’t take responsibility for what you said in the past,” Elisa laughed, with an indescribable tone of mockery.
Hamish asked, “Is it necessary for you to leave me?”
“I never thought about staying by your side.”