“No, I’m not,” Jamie replied. “I’m at the sanatorium right now. Earlier this morning, the Doc asked me to find a type of medicinal herb that could be used as incense that would help Alicia sleep better and would also be beneficial for her condition. I brought it over after work. Did you head to the office to look for me?”
“No. I’m heading home now. You don’t need to pick me up.”
“Okay, darling. Go ahead and get ready first. Your fiancé will be right there.” After ending the call, Narissa glanced up at Jamie’s office before turning around and walking back to her car.
Jamie pocketed his phone with a loving expression on his face and turned around. That was when he realized that Alicia had come downstairs at some point and was now standing right in front of him.
This meant that she heard everything he said to Narissa earlier. Their conversation might have triggered her. Jamie frowned at once and he pondered how he could salvage the situation.
Alicia clutched her chest and swallowed as she tried to hold back her tears. Her eyes were watery as she asked, “You’ve gotten together with Narissa, right?”
She wasn’t a fool. Over the past few days, she heard snippets of the conversations that Jamie had with Narissa over the phone.
It was already a possibility that she had long since deduced, but all this while, she could not bring herself to accept it. She didn’t want to believe it. Jamie looked down. His silence confirmed it.
Alicia felt as if millions of tiny needles were stabbing into every inch of her skin. She closed her eyes and clenched her fists as she told herself to hold onto the very last of her dignity.
“Go on. She’s waiting for you. You don’t need to come over anymore. I’ll be just fine by myself.”
She turned around and held the wall as she tried to make her way back upstairs, but she was so weak that her body kept quivering. Jamie quickly rushed forward to help her. “I’ll help you up.”
“I don’t need your pity!” Alicia gathered all the strength she could muster and flung his hand away from her. She glared at him with red, teary eyes. “Jamie, since you can’t give me your love, don’t get involved with me, and don’t make me rely on you! There’s no such thing as someone dying if they can’t be with someone else, but if someone gives another person hope in their darkest days before suddenly taking it away again, then there’s no telling whether the person can carry on living.”
She was that person. Jamie was the only hope she could grasp onto, but now, the ray of light she found was not hers to have. When it came to love, no one was in control of anything.
Alicia had heard an elderly person saying this on the street once. She only felt that it was an insightful saying back then, but now, she finally realized what those words truly meant.
Not all feelings were reciprocated. Not all love ended in a happily ever after. Those who were not meant to be together would part at some point.
Jamie watched as Alicia walked up the stairs with great difficulty. Each step she took was like a heavy thud in his heart. He was already ridden with guilt, and now, he felt as if he would never be able to make things better.
One hour later. Alicia sat on her bed and stared out the window. in a daze. The moonlight shone in through the window and cascaded across her body but failed to illuminate her expression.
Thus, Paul didn’t notice that Alicia was crying. Paul placed the rose he wanted to give Narissa into the vase on the table before sitting down beside Alicia. He stared out at the moon as well.
Right here, right now, it was as if the two of them had gone back in time, where Paul was still a carefree, reckless person, and Alicia wasn’t sick.
Paul sighed. ‘We both developed feelings at the same time, and we both ended up brokenhearted on the same day. We’re siblings who’ve fallen on hard times together.”
He reached out to Alicia and leaned her head on his shoulder before he continued saying, “I know how upset you are right now, but you know, it doesn’t matter. Even if we lose everything in the world, we still have each other. We’ve been together ever since we were in our mother’s womb. I’ll accompany you even in our next life. We’ll grow old together, so don’t be afraid even if you don’t find someone to love you, got it?”
Paul and Alicia were fraternal twins. Their mother had died in childbirth and their father died in a plane crash soon after. They had been together since birth and barely spent any time apart.
Although Paul was a reckless daredevil, he never allowed Alicia to get hurt in any way. He was both a brother and a father to her.
Alicia’s burning hot tears dripped down on Paul’s neck. He adjusted his position before patting her gently on his shoulder and encouraging her warmly. “Get better soon, okay, Alicia? I know that you’re not a weak and helpless girl.”
It had been quite some time since Alicia last cried, but now, all her walls broke down as the hurt and grievance she felt burst out of her. “Paul!”
It was dawn. Griffith Manor’s main entrance flung open and Irvin stepped out. He walked out and crossed the street before entering one of the smaller bungalows on the opposite side.
Soon after Alexander bought Griffith Manor, he bought this bungalow as well. The basement wasn’t enough to house all of his research equipment.
Irvin walked up to the research lab entrance before fishing out his key and heading in. However, Irvin found Zephyr inside the lab studying a test tube of the stimulant that Irvin had successfully created.
Zephyr didn’t turn around at the sound. He kept shaking the test tube in his hand as he commented, “Not bad at all. It’s a very precise formula. You’ve got talent, though there’s room for improvement as well.”
Once the chemical reaction inside the test tube was complete, Zephyr placed the test tube back down and wiped his hands as he remarked nonchalantly, “You’d become even better if I mentored you.”
“What is it that you want to say?” Irvin piped up impatiently.
Zephyr came over and asked eagerly, “Do you want to be my student?”
Before Irvin could respond, Zephyr began to boast about himself. “As you know, I’m your father’s honored guest. It’s not a shameful thing to acknowledge me as your mentor. I’ll turn you into the next world’s greatest doctor.”
“Are you imploring me?” Irvin replied coolly as he held his head up high. “Nope.” Zephyr wasn’t going to admit to that. “I’m just giving you a suggestion-a marvelous, flawless suggestion.”
“I’m not accepting it,” Irvin responded curtly. Up to now, Zephyr hadn’t done anything that convinced Irvin to take Zephyr as his mentor.
Zephyr started getting a little frantic. “Are you sure about that? I’ve never taken anyone as my student before. This opportunity won’t be around forever. If you don’t seize it now, it’ll be lost for good.”
“That’s true.” Irvin walked past Zephyr and headed over to his research specimen. “Who knows how long you’ll have to wait if you lose the opportunity to take on a student as smart as me? Unless my parents give birth to another child, but even then, it’ll be another seven or eight years before the child becomes old enough. I’m not sure if you can wait that long.”
Zephyr, one of the greatest doctors in the world, was rejected outright by a child. His expression became incredibly unpleasant.
He turned around in a huff and walked toward the door, but then he marched right back. All his anger disappeared as he stared at Irvin.
What a handsome face, and what a remarkable talent. It’d be such a waste if someone else gets to him first and steals him away! I can’t let that happen! I have to make him my student!
“Ahem-”
Zephyr pretended to clear his throat. He walked over to Irvin with his hands behind his back and tried to speak up several times, but still, he couldn’t bring himself to get the words out.
Irvin smirked mischievously as he purposely relaxed his stance. “Well, it’s not impossible for me to agree to let you be my mentor. You just have to accept three conditions.”
“I’ll agree to thirty, let alone three!”
“Thirty conditions it is then.”
Zephyr was speechless. He had only just exhaled in relief a moment ago when his breath got caught in his throat again. How can this child be so cunning?
