Chapter 9
I packed overnight and bought a ticket abroad under cover of darkness.
I’d just reached the lobby when blinding headlights hit me.
Alex approached step by step, shadows covering his face. “Emma, where are you going?”
I turned and ran.
But he caught my wrist in one swift motion.
A white handkerchief covered my nose and mouth.
When I opened my eyes again, I was in the basement of a suburban mansion.
Seeing me awake, Alex’s fingers gently traced my face, like caressing a lost treasure finally recovered.
“Emma, you should be able to forgive me now, right? The people who hurt your sister, who hurt our child-I made them all pay. No one can separate us anymore.” His eyes sparkled with expectation. “We can remarry. We’ll have children again. Little Star will come back. She’ll probably look like you-round eyes that look like a little pufferfish when you’re angry. You
know I can’t live without you.”
I found it laughable. “Are you dreaming? From the beginning, you were the root of all my pain. If you hadn’t enabled Sophia, we never would have reached this point. Lily and my child would still be alive. How could I possibly forgive you?!”
Alex froze, unwilling to give up. “Even if you don’t forgive me, I won’t let go.”
I grabbed a porcelain bowl from the coffee table and smashed it.
Quick as lightning, I picked up a sharp shard and pressed it to my carotid artery. “Then do you want my corpse?”
His pupils contracted sharply. “Why? Emma, is this all we can be?”
I smiled palely, tears falling. “Two lives lie between us. This is all we can be.”
His fingers clenched white, still refusing to relent.
The shard had already cut my skin, blood flowing down my neck, staining my collar red.
We remained locked in this standoff.
The air was suffocatingly still.
After a very long time, he suddenly smiled, his voice light as a sigh. “Then… let’s die together, okay?”
He cupped my face, his thumb wiping away my tears. “That way, you won’t have to forgive me. We’ll still be together.”
I looked into his mad yet gentle eyes.
The burning intensity was the same as when we first met.
I slowly nodded. “Okay.”
He chose the anniversary of our first meeting, wearing the same white shirt from that day as if it were a date, holding my hand while softly reminiscing about my shy smile and our early moments together.
He said meeting me was the luckiest thing in his life, and from that moment, he knew he’d never let go-even in death-
before handing me a pill and taking one himself.
“Just sleep, and it’ll be over.” He kissed my forehead. “In the next life, I’ll love you with a clean slate. There won’t be any
barriers between us.”
He watched me swallow the pill and close my eyes, then took his own and lay beside me, pulling me into his arms while his breathing gradually weakened, though his fingers still gripped me tightly until he lost all strength.
I lay quietly for a long time, and once I was certain he’d never wake up, I slowly sat up and spat out the pill I’d hidden
under my tongue.
I placed a kiss on his face. “Sorry, Alex. Someone like you doesn’t deserve to have me die with you.”
I walked out of the basement and pushed open the mansion door.
Dawn broke with light so bright it hurt my eyes, while the wind blew past, empty and hollow-nothing left.
“Goodbye, Alex,” I whispered, walking into the sunlight without looking back.
