The tiny entrance was quite dark and the lighting was dim, making it too dark to see anything at all. Rachel’s red sedan was practically buried underneath the double-story house that had toppled over and at the moment, the whole place looked like wreckage from the outside.
Frankie rushed over with a hot water bottle and a thermos flask in his hands. “President Burton.” However, Justin didn’t reach out to take the items. The entrance was too small and he couldn’t even fit his fist inside, so there was no way the thermos flask and hot water bottle could fit.
“Where’s the fire brigade? Have they not arrived?” Justin hollered at Frankie. At that moment, Frankie trembled in fright. “I’ve told them to hurry up. There’s an issue with the phone signal here and she’s buried quite deep, so perhaps the fire brigade has overshot. Mr. Finnigan’s already waiting by the junction.”
However, Justin was impatient and he couldn’t wait any longer. He then started to use his bare hands to shift aside the broken boulders and bricks. Soon after that, his hands, which were originally frozen from the cold, bled from the cuts suffered due to the broken boulders. Yet, he persisted and seemed to be numb to the pain as he shifted the broken boulders mechanically.
Frankie knew that there was no point in trying to stop Justin, so he returned to the car to grab some equipment.
Meanwhile, Harry rushed over with a shovel and pick. He helped to clear the snow and broken boulders while whispering a question to Frankie, “Who’s buried underneath? How are they related to Mr. Burton? Why is Mr. Burton so agitated?”
Frankie held onto a shovel and used all his might to remove the stones. The plume of breath he released fogged up his vision. “That person means the world to President Burton.”
Indeed, Rachel meant the world to Justin. Presently, Justin worked very hard to try and shift the broken boulders and his eyes were reddened from his efforts. When did Rachel figure out her identity?
Was it six years ago when she left Riverdale back then? She must have been under so much mental torture as she carried the burden of the truth all by herself. How did she even survive the past six years?!
“Rae! Don’t fall asleep!” he roared in the direction of the car and his voice was raspy as his tears fell into the wreckage. However, he no longer received any response from inside the car. Justin yelled several more times anxiously. “Rae?”
“Rae!” The fear hit him like a wave. “President Burton, has there been no response from inside at all?” Frankie asked gingerly.
“Keep going! Continue digging!” Justin’s voice trembled as he said that and shot a murderous look at Frankie. Frankie shuddered in fright and didn’t dare to slack off. He continued to dig among the rubble with all of his might.
At that moment, it started to snow heavily, and it felt as if the entire world was about to be blanketed in snow.
After quite some time, the blaring, red fire truck. finally arrived on the scene. The emergency. lights of the truck flickered brightly and the fire brigade quickly used their crane to lift the heavy roof of the collapsed house from the ground. Finally, a red little car that was crushed underneath a tree was revealed.
As soon as Rachel was lifted onto the stretcher, Justin’s legs buckled and he suddenly fell onto his knees with a thud.
“President Burton!” Frankie hurried forward to help Justin to his feet. “President Burton, are you fine?
However, Justin didn’t say a single word. He only took forceful steps and trailed after the paramedics to get into the ambulance.
Along the way, he kept his eyes fixated upon the woman on the stretcher. His eyes were extremely red and bloodshot. It looked as if he had not been sleeping for multiple nights previously, and it was like blood was about to leak from his eyes.
However, Rachel remained unconscious. It was as if she had lacked sleep for years, so she was now in a deep slumber.
The surroundings were starkly white and it felt as if this was somewhere with snow, but it didn’t seem cold. Rachel scanned the area and thought that she must be dead, and that this was heaven. I’ve never done anything bad in my life, so I should be able to enter heaven, right? Luckily, I’ve said what I should have said before I passed away.
She previously told Justin that she had recalled for ages that she was Katie, so he should. realize then that her understanding behavior was all because of her identity as Katie.
She was the only one who could resolve this matter as she was the critical person involved. Ultimately, everything was technically her problem, so she had to be the one to end things personally.
Her only regret was that she didn’t have the chance to watch the two kids grow up and see Jolly walking down the aisle. Furthermore, she hadn’t had the chance to tell Julian not to continue committing his mistake.
She was just about to calmly accept the fact of her death when a conversation between two people suddenly rang in her ears.
“Everything’s fine. She’s just been in the cold weather for too long so there was some damage to her muscles. That’s why she might experience some muscle weakness, but that will resolve itself after a few days.”
“She has a head injury. Is that fine?” “I’ve had a look at the X-ray and she only has a mild concussion, so it’s alright.”
“Thank you, doctor.” A silent Rachel suddenly opened her eyes and the sight that greeted her was the stark white. ceiling of the hospital.
“Cough…” She tried to say something, but she suddenly choked on a breath of air that hit her and she coughed violently. “Cough! Cough!”
As soon as Justin heard that, he was overjoyed and rushed forward. “Rae, you’re finally awake!” She glanced at the man in front of her with a shocked expression. “Am I still alive?”
“Don’t spout nonsense! The doctor mentioned that you only suffered some slight frostbite. You were asleep for so long because your body was exhausted after driving continuously for the past twenty-odd hours.”
As soon as Rachel heard that, she grimaced slightly. Was I just dreaming earlier on? Since when did I start that dream? Is it all just a dream? So was the part where I gave my final words to Justin just a dream as well? “Um… How did I end up in the hospital?”
“The fire brigade arrived just in time.” Justin tucked her under a blanket. “You’re currently in the town hospital of Baybrook City. The conditions in this hospital aren’t that great, but it’s more than enough to treat frostbite and a mild concussion.” At that point, Rachel heaved a sigh of relief. It’s great that I was rescued by the fire brigade..
She tried to sit up in bed but her body wasn’t fully within her control, so she couldn’t move an inch.
When he saw that, seeing that, Justin stopped her by reaching out to push her back into bed.. “Stop moving around. The doctor said that you’ve injured some muscles, so you need proper rest for the next few days.” Rachel clenched her teeth. “But I… I need to use the bathroom.”
He frowned involuntarily at that moment. “I can’t hold it in any longer!” She bit hard on her lip and she nearly drew blood. “Get me one of the nurses!”
However, he suddenly flung aside the blanket and lifted Rachel into his arms. She exclaimed in fright but she was afraid that he would drop her, so she ended up wrapping her arms around his neck as support. “What are you doing? Let go of me and just get one of the nurses to help me.”
He immediately headed to the entrance of the bathroom with her in his arms. “The staff members in this hospital are limited and most of them have been assigned to help on the disaster scene, so just bear with me.”
Their faces were practically next to each other and Rachel held her breath the whole time. She didn’t even dare to exhale.
“Do you need more help?” Justin kept his eyes on her. Suddenly, Rachel came to her senses and her face was bright red. She shook her head hard. “That’s alright. Let me down. I can do this myself. Otherwise, does he plan on removing my pants on my behalf?
She sat on the throne and glanced toward the frosted glass door of the bathroom several times with a torn expression because Justin actually stood outside like a statue the whole time without even moving an inch.
Then, she held back for quite some time before expressing, “Hey, Justin?”
“What’s wrong?” Rachel found the whole situation quite odd, especially as they spoke over the glass door to the bathroom. However, she continued to speak. despite the awkwardness she felt. “Could you leave? With you standing by the door, I can’t seem to…”
I can’t seem to relax. The awkwardness in the air persisted for quite some time. “Yell if you need anything. I’ll wait for you outside.” After Justin said that, he finally left.
At that point, she heaved a sigh of relief and significantly relaxed.
