“Chris is so persistent! Today, he would either ignore me and stare out of the window in a daze, or he would pester me for Yvonne’s whereabouts! Each time he asks me that question, I get so nervous that I have no idea how to answer him.” Monica heard the sound of a wheelchair approaching just then. Her eyes flashed with joy and she went on, “I didn’t know that Chris was secretly so deeply in love with a woman! No wonder he rarely went home since he came back last year. Even if he does go home, he’s always in a hurry to leave. He has been very opinionated since he was young and very obsessive about the things he loves. I just can’t bring myself to tell him!”
Meanwhile, Julia was completely oblivious to Christopher’s presence behind her. She shook her head sadly at Monica, her face creased with concern.
“Why don’t I speak to him instead? Darius is very busy lately, and Gordon isn’t the best person for this job. Let me do it. Although he’ll get angry, it’s better than him being angry with all of you. Sorry for troubling you, Monica, but thank God you’re around! Otherwise, I wouldn’t know what to do!”
“It’s no trouble! I’ll do anything for Chris! That thing with Yvonne isn’t our fault. Chris will understand,” Monica said with a smile. That woman is dying anyway! I’m not doing anything wrong; I’m just making plans for myself.
“What were you two talking about? Why don’t you repeat what you’ve just said?” Christopher appeared around the corner suddenly and asked in a cold voice.
Upon that, Julia and Monica whirled around in panic. Christopher was staring at them, and his entire body was shaking in rage. He looked as if he wanted to rip them apart.
“Chris!” Monica exclaimed.
“I asked you to repeat what you’ve just said! What do you mean Yvonne is dead? She cannot be dead. I survived! So, how could she possibly be dead?” Christopher roared as he violently pushed himself upright from his wheelchair. At the very next second, he fell to the ground with a thud.
“Chris, please don’t be too upset. We didn’t mean to hide this from you. Get up quickly!” Julia said rather nervously. She was stunned by Christopher’s sudden appearance. I wasn’t ready to tell him yet! How could he have overheard us?
“Tell me what you two were talking about! I want to know the truth! Stop lying to me!” Christopher grabbed Julia’s hand and said in a serious tone, “Mom, I want to know the truth. I want you to tell me the truth.”
“Well… Ms. Tanner is currently in a hospital in the city. Why don’t you focus on getting better first? Once your injuries are healed, I promise you that I’ll take you over to meet her. Please get up now,” Julia said. Then, she quickly masked her expressions to hide her nervousness.
“Is that true?” Christopher had never felt so agitated before in his life. He could have sworn that he had heard Monica say that Yvonne was dead. How could she be dead?
“Yes, really! I promise you that you’ll meet her soon,” Julia said in a soothing tone.
“Julia, let’s not lie to Chris anymore! Even if we manage to hide the truth from him today, what about tomorrow or the day after that? He’ll find out eventually! Let’s just tell him the truth now. Chris, actually—” Monica cried out, her voice cracking with pain.
“No! No, you can’t tell him!” Julia cut Monica off and shook her head vigorously.
“Monica, tell me!” Christopher said firmly to Monica. “Tell me everything you know!”
“Chris, we’re so sorry. We didn’t want this to happen either.” Monica met Christopher’s eyes, and her heart trembled at their intensity. After a while, she lowered her eyes and whispered in a low voice, “Ms. Tanner has passed away. She couldn’t wait for our rescue plane to reach her.”
At that moment, Christopher felt as though the very ground had fallen away from under his feet.
“No way! That’s impossible! You’re all lying to me! She was with me, and she never once let go of me while I lost consciousness. I suffered such serious injuries and survived, so how could she die? You’re lying to me!”
“It’s true. When we reached the deserted island, we only found you and Lyle. We saw her shoes on the beach, but there was no sight of her. Lyle said that she had gone into the sea to look for something to eat, but she never reappeared after that. We really tried to look for her, but we couldn’t find her anywhere!” Monica could not bring herself to look at Christopher’s face. Hence, she just kept talking with her head down. She was also trying to convince herself that this was the truth.
“No way! I don’t believe it! I don’t believe even a single word you’ve just said! I’m going to find Yvonne. No matter where she is, I’ll find her!”
