The old house had poor soundproofing. When Lillian walked up the stairs, she could hear the wood creaking beneath her.
She knew there was a burning gaze on her back, but she didn’t want to turn around, didn’t want to face it.
Back in her room, she didn’t even bother changing her clothes, just threw herself onto the bed.
She didn’t want to think or do anything.
She buried her face in the covers, but when she closed her eyes, all she could see was that man.
She couldn’t sleep at all.
Lillian felt restless, so she sat up abruptly, grabbed her pajamas, and went to the bathroom to wash up.
Old floral tiles, dim yellow bulbs.
Lillian spent a long time in the bathroom, and when she opened the door, she even cracked it open slightly, glancing into the room to make sure she was alone before stepping out.
Once she was out, she sat on the bed but still felt agitated.
The rain was beating heavily against the windows, and the air inside was even more damp than outside.
Lillian closed her eyes.
Soon, she heard Conrad coughing downstairs. It was a stifled, continuous cough.
She shot up from the bed, grabbed her phone, and wanted to demand what he was up to. Was he just looking for trouble? But then she realized his number wasn’t even in her contacts.
She pulled the blanket over her ears, thinking that if she didn’t listen, it would all go away.
After a while, the sounds downstairs seemed to stop.
But then, she heard the sound of a glass shattering downstairs. She could no longer tolerate it. She threw off the blanket, jumped out of bed, and stormed downstairs.
“Conrad! What do you want from me?” she whispered fiercely, not wanting to wake her grandma.
Conrad was probably in the living room. His tall frame was hunched slightly now, and the glass had shattered right by his feet.
When Conrad heard Lillian’s sharp tone, he pursed his lips and silently walked back to the room.
Lillian was beyond frustrated and marched down the stairs, questioning him. “What’s with all this noise? What do you want?”
With every breath, Conrad felt like coughing. He was clearly angry, but he didn’t want to engage with her. Instead, he just lay down.
Lillian wanted to argue with him. She turned on the light, but when she saw the scene in front of her, she froze in shock.
Conrad’s shirt was damp in one spot. Although he usually preferred wearing black clothes, the large, sticky stain was still very noticeable.
It was a chilly early spring day, sometimes colder than winter, and yet he was lying there asleep, only in a thin suit shirt, not even bothering to take his shoes off.
His face looked unusually bad, and since Lillian had turned on the light, he just rested his elbow on his forehead, saying nothing.
Lillian leaned in and whispered, “Are you out of your mind? You’re losing this much blood and you’re not telling me?! Get up and come to the hospital with me.”
Conrad didn’t move.
Lillian reached out to pull him up.
He shrugged her hand off and opened his eyes, staring at her coldly. “Aren’t you sick of me? What are you doing down here?”
Lillian bit her lip. “I’m afraid you’re going to bleed out and die in my house. I can’t explain that to your family. I’m not brave enough to handle this, and I can’t stand the idea of you scaring me. Get up now!”
“You’re being dramatic. I’m not going to die.” He said that, but his throat tickled again, and he couldn’t stop coughing.
Lillian felt helpless, unsure whether she should pat him on the back.
When she touched him, his body felt burning hot.
“You have a fever? When did that happen?”
“I don’t know.” Conrad was still acting like he was indifferent.
Lillian honestly wanted to just leave him there.
“Are you going to the hospital or not?”
“No.”
She turned and walked away.
Conrad just shielded his eyes with his arm, not sure why he wasn’t getting up and leaving. It was as if this self-destructive pleasure was better than not being able to see her.
But soon, she came back.
Lillian walked in carrying a medicine box, and pointed an ear thermometer at him.
Conrad opened his eyes. “You’re the first person who’s ever dared to aim a gun at me.”
“Come on, it’s just an ear thermometer. It won’t kill you.” Lillian was speechless.
After making that remark, she saw the red screen on the thermometer. “It’s 40C. Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?”
“Just give me some medicine. I don’t want to go through the trouble.” Finally, he said something sensible.
Lillian left to find anti-inflammatory and cold medicine for him.
She grabbed some ice packs from the fridge to help cool him down.
The most important thing was to stop the bleeding.
She was running back and forth, finally bringing the water in. “Where are you hurt?”
Conrad replied, “It’s nothing. I won’t die.”
“I’m asking where you’re hurt.”
He opened his eyes and said, “You’ll know if you take my shirt off.”
She really wanted to just throw the towel in his face but had no choice but to grit her teeth and start unbuttoning his bloodstained shirt.
The blood had been flowing for quite a while.
As she undid it, Lillian’s fingers trembled, and the pads of her fingers got stained with his blood.
The black shirt had already stuck to the wound, and Lillian wasn’t experienced in handling this.
She carefully used a cotton swab with iodine to separate it and finally managed to get his shirt off.
There was a round hole in his abdomen, along with several deep knife wounds. Lillian gasped and covered her mouth.
He had taken such a serious injury and still came here like this!
“W-What happened to you?” She almost blurted out if it had something to do with his father, but instinctively shut her mouth.
She had told herself she didn’t want to get involved with his family’s affairs.
“How do I treat this? I don’t have any hemostatic medicine.”
“Andrew has some.” Finally, he spoke.
Lillian quickly got up to make a phone call, but as soon as she stood, her wrist was grabbed.
She turned around, and Conrad said, “Were you really happy when I let you go?”
She didn’t know how to respond, so she just lowered her gaze and said, “What’s the point of asking that now?”
But he wouldn’t let go of her. “Were you happy?”
Lillian took a deep breath. “It was a relief, okay?”
She yanked her hand out of his grip, and it was the first time she had been able to do so so easily.
In the past, this man would hold onto her hand tightly, never allowing her to say such things.
And she never had the courage to say them before.
Lillian walked outside, only to find a black silhouette by the door.
She flinched, almost screaming.
“It’s me,” Andrew said.
“When did you come in? You almost scared me to death.”
“Sorry.”
“Forget it. You came at the right time. Take him to the hospital. His wounds are bleeding.”
Andrew handed her a bag of hemostatic medicine and bandages. “Mr. Conrad won’t go, and it’s not a familiar hospital. It’s not safe.”
Lillian mumbled, “What’s unsafe about a hospital?”
“When Mr. Conrad was eighteen and just returned to the Brown family, someone drugged his coffee. He almost died from organ failure. And when he was twenty, something similar happened.”
Andrew’s tone was always flat, but when he spoke about things like this, it made Lillian picture those scenes in her mind.