When Rachel exited the hospital, the sky was already dark.
“Rachel?”
A familiar voice from behind her caught her by surprise. Instinctively, she turned around and saw Janice.
The woman was holding a thermal container and had just left the parking lot. She seemed to be walking toward the inpatient department.
“Have you come to see Hans?”
Rachel shook her head and frowned.
There’s something I have to deal with here.
“To think I expected you to have thought it through.” Suddenly, Janice’s face turned gloomy. “What did you say to Hans that made him drop the lawsuit out of nowhere? He’s returning for further treatment at the end of the month.”
However, Rachel revealed nothing.
Despite the guilt in her heart, she didn’t know how to explain things to Janice. Perhaps in this case, saying nothing was the best choice as a late apology could never justify one’s mistakes.
“Where are you headed to?”
Home.
Janice nodded her head and said, “I see. Coincidentally, Hans wanted me to hand you something, but since you’re already here, why don’t you go and get it from him instead?”
Upon hearing that, Rachel was taken aback.
When she saw how the woman hesitated, Janice vented her frustration and said, “He’s leaving soon. Aren’t you going to see him even for a bit? Where’s your heart, Rachel?”
I don’t mean it like that.
“In that case, what are you waiting for?”
As soon as she finished speaking, Janice put the container in Rachel’s hand.
With that, Rachel entered the ward with the container in hand.
Janice was right-Hans was leaving soon, and it was only right for her to see him for one last time.
In the ward, Hans was seen reading a book by the window while sitting in a wheelchair-the sight pained her deeply.
When she saw him, Rachel zoned out and stood by the door for a long while.
As if he had a detector in his brain, Hans suddenly turned around and saw Rachel by the door. He was stunned, but his eyes lit up. “Rachel?”
In that instant, Rachel felt like she was carrying the weight of ten elephants. Eventually, she started walking into the room.
Janice wanted me to give this to you. She said that you’re leaving at the end of this month.
When Hans’ eyes fell on the container, they dimmed slightly.
“Yes, the doctor suggested overseas treatment. We’ve even contacted the hospital I’ll be heading to.”
That’s good to hear.
Hans grabbed a wooden box from a bag beside him and handed it to Rachel. “By the way, I believe this should be returned to its rightful owner.”
As she stared at the wooden box, Rachel was devastated inside.
Back when she decided to fake her death and escape, she had gotten Hans to help her safekeep the wooden box as it was the only thing her mother had left behind for her.
Thank you.
“I’ve dropped the lawsuit against Justin.”
She nodded her head and signed some gestures. I heard it from Janice.
“Do you have nothing else to say to me?”
Stay well when you go abroad for your treatment.
As she clutched the wooden box, Rachel turned around and left.
She feared that if she were to stay any longer, she wouldn’t be able to hold back her tears. By then, her emotions would flood the room, and it would be a hassle to control the situation.
Before she exited the room, the voice behind her exclaimed, “Rachel, I don’t believe that you’ve fallen for Justin, nor did you have me drop the lawsuit solely because you love him! Can’t you at least tell me the truth before I go?”
Upon those words, Rachel’s hand that was on the doorknob slightly trembled. However, she simply left the room in the end.
As she made her way home in a taxi, she clenched her teeth while her eyes turned red.
Watching as the hospital faded away from the view, she couldn’t hold in her tears any longer.
The pain in her heart was so agonizing that no words could describe the despair that was surging through every vein in her body-she felt weak.
In this world full of man-made rules, Hans and Rachel were merely a raft that was struggling not to be swallowed by the deep abyss of a sea.
The Burton Family was the enigma, and Justin was the hell.
For Rachel who had been living in hell, Hans was her last ray of light, and she wouldn’t mind watching it from afar. She even hoped for the light to be safe as it continued to glow for a long time.
Soon, the sky started pouring as the sound of rain engulfed the city.
When Rachel finally reached home, it was already pitch black.
“Where were you?”
As soon as she entered the house, Justin’s voice echoed through the living room.
With that, she stopped taking her shoes off.
I went to visit Grandma.
“Is that so? Until this hour?”
Something happened on the way, and it took some time.
“Did something happen on the way, or did it happen to a person that you couldn’t let go of?”
As he stood up from the couch, Justin looked at her with an icy gaze.
Rachel took a step backward as she shivered. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
“How was your chat with the man? Merry?” Justin started to approach her. His giant body resembled the colossal, grey clouds. Although he wasn’t even close, his appearance alone was enough to suffocate her.
He was angry-exasperated, even.
Rachel started committing herself to work and slowly neglected him. Not only that, she started spending all her free time with her grandmother, and all she did when she got home was to sleep.
Ever since then, Justin had been bearing the frustration. When he was notified that she went to meet Hans again and had also received the files, he could no longer put up with it.
Hans is leaving Riverdale, so I’ll never meet him again. I was only there to retrieve something that was mine. I honestly have no other intention.
As she ignored her grandmother’s advice, she anxiously pulled out the wooden box from her bag.
“What is this?”
It’s something my mother left behind before her death. It was with him, and he returned it to me. That concludes whatever connection we have between us.
“Why would your mother’s inheritance be with him?”
Immediately, Rachel was stupefied.
How could she have forgotten that the wooden box symbolized something significant?
Just then, the thunder roared across the sky as the rain got heavier.
Not only was Justin going to inquire more about the box, he then coldly added, “I heard a joke earlier today, the deputy chief of the Investigation Bureau purchased a corpse from the black market.”
At that, Rachel felt the goosebumps on her body and started sweating profusely.
“Since you can’t explain why it was with him, why don’t I give it a go instead?!”
Suddenly, Justin revealed a dull face as he tossed a folder of documents at Rachel.
Papers of documents fell upon the ground with a whoosh.
Among the papers, Rachel was shocked by a couple of photos.
He knew.
He knew about the faked death…
Justin strangled her ferociously and struck her against the wall. He then growled, “On the day of the accident, why did you drive all the way down the hill? Spill!”
He yelled as if he had forgotten that Rachel was a mute that didn’t have the ability to speak.
As his growls echoed in her eardrums, Rachel felt like she was being torn apart inside out as buzzing sounds were all her brain could receive.
“You were slowly setting up your escape plans. I’ve got to give it to you-they were flawless. Why have I never realized that you’re such a scheming b*tch? Are all your friends like this too? Huh?”
As his grip tightened, the green veins in his hand palpitated violently.
Meanwhile, Rachel’s throat was constricted; all she could make were noiseless wails as her face turned purple.
Her eyes seemed as if they were popping out as she was attempting to cry for help.
What was a moment more depressing than death?
Perhaps it was when one was getting strangled by their beloved with no ways to escape.
