“Yes!”
This time, Hansel replied without thinking twice about his answer. He turned around to face Jayson with his lips coldly curled up.
“If she’s alive, I want to see her in person; if she’s dead, then I want to see her body! If you want to open up a case for your cousin, then bring me her fucking corpse, and then we’ll talk!”
Jayson was rendered speechless. His mouth fell agape, unable to say a single word more as he was truly appalled at Hansel’s heartlessness.
Meanwhile, I was supposedly not able to feel any changes in temperature anymore, but I still felt myself shivering from the chill.
I still smiled, however.
Hansel wasn’t going to be disappointed this time.
I had no idea where my body was now, but I knew that one day, it would be presented right before him!
I wonder what kind of facial expression he would make when he finally found out. I bet he still wouldn’t be the least bit bothered by it.
Hansel and Violet left the police station immediately, and I was forced to tag along.
Violet held tightly onto Hansel’s arm. She sighed and said, “Hansel, Lara was really so devoted to you. But she shouldn’t have used such a way to try and get you back.
“Love is a personal issue, after all. She shouldn’t be wasting police resources like this. That’s just too selfish of her. Ah, I wonder when she’ll stop pouting and return—”
“I’ll send you back to the manor,” Hansel interrupted, sounding as if he didn’t want to continue listening to her.
However, Violet just leaned against him a little more and said coquettishly, “The banquet has to be over by now. There’s no reason for me to go back. Hansel, you must be tired from running up and down because of Lara. Why don’t we find a place to rest instead?”
What she was hinting at was obvious.
She wanted to roll in the sheets with him at some random hotel.
They had both been in the mood earlier anyway when they were rudely interrupted by that phone call from the police station. They probably would just continue where things were left off.
Hansel smiled very lightly and reached out to gently stroke Violet’s face. “I must attend a company meeting, and I have to rush back soon. Maybe another day.”
I was surprised. I didn’t think that he would reject her.
Violet looked shocked, too. She continued whining, “But Hans… It’s not like the meeting can’t run without you…”
“It’s a very important meeting,” Hansel reiterated, pulling his arm out of Violet’s grip. Then, he opened the car door for her. “Be good now.”
It was just three simple words. He was spoiling her, but he was also giving her an order.
Violet knew exactly when to stop. So, she just obediently hopped into the car without saying another word.
Hansel sent Violet back to the entrance of the manor. Then, he drove off into the darkness.
Violet still smiled widely as she waved him goodbye. “Drive safe, Hansel. Call me when you’re home.”
However, as soon as Hansel’s car was out of sight, a flash of coldness appeared in her eyes. I could feel the chills coming from her.
Violet narrowed her eyes and gnashed her teeth together. “Elara Fairlight! Why are you still everywhere despite being dead?”
I was shocked when I heard her.
The police hadn’t even ruled that I was dead. Even my body hadn’t been found yet. So, how could she be so sure that I was already dead?
Could she have been the one who killed me?
A sudden chill spread down my back, making me shiver uncontrollably.
Why would Violet want to kill me? Was it for Hansel? Would she want to take my life just for a man?
How could she take a human life so lightly? She was a murderer!
Anger filled my chest. I balled my hands into fists and hurled them at Violet. Suddenly, I was jerked back and quickly found myself right next to Hansel again.
He was driving around aimlessly, letting the traffic and stop lights dictate his direction. He didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the signboards on the road either as he cruised along the road from dusk until nightfall. He still didn’t seem to know where to go.
Didn’t he say he had to attend a company meeting? Why did he look like a lost, wandering soul instead?
It wasn’t until the sky turned completely dark that Hansel finally stopped the car by the roadside. He remained quiet in the car for a while before taking out his phone and tapping into the photo gallery. Then, he chose the photo we took together and zoomed in on us.
I was shocked. I didn’t know what he was doing.
I was smiling as brightly as a flower in the photo, but Hansel was faking his smile. Actually, it was quite obvious from these little details that he never loved me. But I had been a lovesick fool back then who couldn’t see the red flags that were there all along.
Hansel’s thumb was right above my cheek. I saw his finger move very slightly. It was as if he wanted to stroke my cheek through the photo.
I felt my heart skip a beat.
What was he doing? Did this mean that he missed me, too?
But would he even miss me?
I suddenly asked myself the question, and the answer was no, of course. Why would Hansel even miss me? I was just one of his toys anyway.
After staring for a while, Hansel exited the photo gallery, propped his arm against the window, and lit a cigarette as he smoked in the car.
He glanced out the window to look at the night scene and slowly puffed out a cloud of smoke. The wisps of smoke were thin like a screen, wrapping delicately around his facial features and giving off a rather mysterious aura.
What was on his mind?
I sat in the front passenger seat and turned my head to the side, looking at the man I’d loved so deeply. I couldn’t help the tears forming in my eyes.
It was precisely his very handsome side profile that made me fall in love with him at first sight.
Nine months ago, I bumped into Hansel while running away from a group of thugs. He held a stick in his hand as he fought off the gangsters and saved me. He was my savior, guardian angel, and shining beacon of light.
He single-handedly fought off three gangsters by himself, and his heroic acts completely stole my heart.
When I gave it some more thought, I realized that it had probably been an act all along to get close to me. He probably even orchestrated the whole thing by himself to save me from certain danger.
It was the oldest trick in the book, yet I had fallen for it—hook, line, and sinker.
Nevertheless, I didn’t know why he wanted to get close to me and then play me for a fool. Was it all really because he just wanted to toy around with a poor, pitiful young lady’s love and sincerity for him?
If he knew that Violet had been the one who killed me, would he still thank her for it? Or would he feel at least a little bit sorry for me?
I chuckled coldly.
That would be entirely impossible.
Hansel looked down on me and scorned me every moment he could. Why would he ever feel apologetic to me in the first place?
He would probably just feel liberated instead.
Hansel was emitting a bone-chilling aura. I didn’t want to stay next to him any longer. I was just about to leave when I suddenly realized that he’d tapped into his text messaging app next and was looking at our chat window.
Our last exchange had been on the day I was killed.
The final message on the screen had been from me. I had texted, “Honey, I’m almost there!”
At that time, I had just finished selling my blood and finally managed to get enough funds to buy him his expensive medication. He asked me for my time of arrival, so I sent him that text message in reply.
It was the first time I’d called him “honey” but also the last time.
I had thought that since we were getting engaged anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to change how I addressed him just a little earlier. He would be my fiancé very soon anyway, and we would be even closer than if we were just seeing and dating each other.
However, Hansel didn’t reply after that text message.
And yet, I never realized that Hansel was rejecting the very idea with his silence. I was still happily thinking about our future together, making plans for the future, without knowing that I was just one of his playthings.
Hansel stared at the date on the last text message.
It was five days ago.
He hadn’t heard from me in five days.
In his recollection, nothing like this had ever happened before. The first thing I always did after waking up was send him a good morning text. And the last thing I always did before falling asleep at night was to send him a good night text.
Now that I thought of it, I had always made the first move to contact him.
I had been so blinded by love last time that I never even realized that I had been the one initiating all of our conversations before. These small red flags had been hidden in plain sight. Alas, I had been blind to all of them. I didn’t even sense that anything was amiss.
In his memories, I was a very clingy person. So, for such a clingy person to suddenly go incognito for five whole days was out of the ordinary. Even if he had dumped me first, I was still so in love with him that I would never have just given up on him so abruptly if I hadn’t died.
I would still continue throwing myself at him, nonetheless.
But in reality, I hadn’t.
After that final phone call, I had disappeared entirely from his world.
Hansel looked out the window and stared straight ahead, as if finally wondering if something terrible had happened to me.
Hansel drove off after that.
Ten minutes later, he slowed his car to a stop. As it turned out, he’d gone to Lake Clearwater, the very place where I’d met my fateful death.
What was he doing here in the dead of night?
