She stood by the ledge, which was only as wide as a palm, with her hands on her shaking head. “I’m sorry, Scarlett. I can’t take it anymore. I’m suffocating seeing all these. Do you know that when I got close to him—when I felt his cold body and saw the flatline on the ECG—I felt a pain you could never imagine. The world spun, and it felt like my soul had left with the warmth of his body. At that time, I fell to the ground. I knew I can’t live anymore. If not… If not for the nurse passing by the ward at that time, I might have followed his footsteps there and then.”
Her eyes were red from crying, and she stared at me as tears kept falling. It felt like I was staring at a frightened rabbit. “I’d rather die than to go through that again. Tell me your answer now, Scarlett. Do you want us dead or alive?”
Loud white noise exploded in my head. It was as if she had dunked me in an icy lake and froze my brain.
Am I forced to become a killer if I stick to my principles?
The officer behind me urged, “Look at the big picture. Let’s save her first before we talk about anything else.”
The negotiator at the side was even stomping his foot. “Hey, lady. I’m reminding you now that there are legal repercussions if you decide to let her die. You’d better think properly on how you’re going to reply to her!”
“I…”
Before I could say that I agreed to her words, Camelia screamed hysterically again, “I don’t want lies! Scarlett Stovall, I want you to agree to marry Marcus as soon as possible. Otherwise, even if you stop me now, I still have countless ways to die in front of you!”
“Say yes to her! What are you waiting for?”
“You can always get a divorce even if you marry him! What’s the big deal about this? Save her!”
“I…” Ashton’s face emerged in my mind, and I lowered my head. In a voice almost inaudible to everyone but myself, I said, “I don’t want that. I can’t do it.”
Right as those words left my mouth, the screams of others traveled into my ears.
“No!”
I snapped my head upward only to see Camelia’s figure stepping off the ledge and falling off the building.
“Camelia!”
Despite everyone running toward her immediately, no one could make it to her side in time.
I could imagine what I was going to see next—an unmoving husk of a body and the red that would stain the entire ground around it.
Fortunately, that was not what I saw. Instead, what greeted me when I peeked over the edge was a gigantic safety air cushion. Camelia was in the middle of it, wrapped protectively by the cushion like a newborn baby. It was difficult for us to see whether she was hurt or not from our angle. We could only see that she had passed out from the immense impact.
My heart rate slowed down. Finally, I could calm down and take in a deeper breath.
Everywhere in the inpatient department, I could see small groups of two to three people. All of them were talking about Camelia’s incident with varying responses—from indifference to interesting gossip.
No same misery existed in two people, so it was normal for them to think of the incident as an interesting tale to tell.
However, I found them noisy, so I quietly walked past them with my arms folded.
After what happened earlier, I finally understood what Camelia felt. The very moment she stepped off the ledge, I was willing to give up all my principles to keep her in the living world.
I’ve got to look for an appropriate way to deal with this.
“Where have you been?” Came Ashton’s familiar voice that snapped me out of the daze I was in. Slowly blinking, I watched as he draped his jacket on me with empty eyes.
Clothes… Jacket… I got it!
My eyes lighting up, I grabbed his arm and said, “Ashton, I’m going to agree to Marcus’ terms.”
Ashton knitted his brows and lowered his voice, “Say that again.”
Knowing that he had misunderstood what I meant, I gave him a helpless smile before tiptoeing to circle my arms around his neck. “I said, you’re going to be a matchmaker.”
Hearing my tone, the gloominess on Ashton’s face dissipated as a smile grew on his lips instead. “Are you sure that I’m going to be a matchmaker instead of a cuckold?”
As he spoke, he even vengefully pulled me closer toward him until the two of us were squeezed together.
