Rachel turned her head to look at Victor but for a brief moment only.
“It may not be convenient for you to go upstairs because of your wounds. But you can use the small
washroom over there so you can change your clothes and take a shower after Roger comes out,”
Rachel said in a bland tone as if she hadn’t heard Victor’s question. Victor held the clothes tighter. His
eyes darkened.
“I’m fine,” he said, his voice taut.
“I can go upstairs and change my clothes.”
“Okay.” Rachel replied frostily.
“I’ll go now and see if Lila needs my help.”
“Are you inviting Roger to stay for dinner?” Victor couldn’t help but ask.
“Yes, I am. Didn’t you hear my invitation?”
Victor noticed that Rachel had this habit of frowning when something displeased or annoyed her. He
raised his hand instinctively. He wanted to smoothen the frown lines between her eyebrows.
Rachel saw Victor’s raise hand, and she turned her head away from him. Victor pulled back his hand
but not before his cold fingertips touched Rachel’s face.
Looking forlorn at her, he said, “I’m hungry, too.”
“Carson just texted. He should be here soon,” Rachel said as she stepped backward to keep a distance
from Victor.
“If you are hungry, I’ll ask Lila to make some rice paste for you so you can eat some. When you get
back to the hospital, you can eat some more.”
“I’m not going back to the hospital.” His eyebrows drawn together, Victor asked, “Rachel, are you still
mad at me?”
Rachel just shook her head.
“Then why would you want to live here? Why not in our home? Why are you driving me away?” The
hurt in Victor’s voice was discernible.
“Rachel, I am jealous.” Rachel was dumbstruck for a moment. She didn’t expect to hear the word
“jealous” from Victor, and he was pertaining to himself.
“You are jealous?”
“Yes, Rachel, and for a good reason. You asked me to go back to the hospital but you’re letting Roger
stay here. How do you that makes me feel? If you’re angry at me, let me know. Throw your temper at
me if you have to. Just don’t do this to me.” Rachel narrowed her eyes.
“Victor, I think I should tell you something. You know that the two of us have already…”
“Ahem!” Victor suddenly coughed, interrupting Rachel. He put a hand on his chest and coughed again.
Rachel opened her mouth but words were stuck in her throat when she saw Victor’s face turning face.
“Rachel, I feel so cold,” Victor said, his voice trembling a bit.
Rachel clenched her fists, still looking at Victor. He had coughed at a critical moment and it interrupted
her as she was about to say they were divorced. And Victor had done that several times. He suddenly
coughed when she and Roger were about to enter the house a while ago, and his back even hit the
railing with a thumping sound. Was that a coincidence?
That was too much of a coincidence that Rachel even doubted if Victor did it on purpose. She
wondered if Victor had regained his memories.
Rachel scanned Victor’s face to see if there was anything strange with him. His face was losing color.
She felt her temples throbbing. She thought that it would be more worrying if Victor fainted in front of
her.
She looked at her watch and reckoned that Carson should be on his way here. Victor wouldn’t be
staying for long.
With this on her mind, Rachel softened her tone and said, “of course, you’ll feel cold. You got wet in the
rain. Now, go upstairs and change your clothes.”
Rachel then turned around and left the room.
Victor watched Rachel go. He stood in his place for some time before he walked to the second floor.
Carson had just finished a meeting. He had three meetings, one another after. There were some
problems in the Baltimore project so they had to think of viable solutions. After everyone had left the
meeting room, he took out his phone and saw the message sent from Rachel. There were also missed
calls from Lukas. The message read, “Victor’s here with me. Take him back please.”
Carson frowned.
‘Is Victor crazy? He could barely get out of bed, and yet, he left the hospital on a rainy day!’
As soon as Carson texted Rachel back, he picked up his coat on the armrest and walked to the door. In
his haste, he bumped into Ivan who had some documents in his hands.
“Mr. Scott, are you going out?”
“Yes.” Carson put his phone in his pocket.
“Go and pick up your boss.”
Ivan’s eyes widened in confusion.
“Mr. Sullivan?” he asked uncertainly.
“Why, do you have other bosses?”
“But Mr. Sullivan is in the hospital. Is the matter so serious that you’d want Mr. Sullivan to leave the
hospital and personally solve it?” Ivan didn’t think that whatever it was, it wouldn’t warrant Victor’s
attention.
After all, the Sullivan Group had gone through all kinds of ups and downs during these years.
“It’s not a big deal. I can handle it,” Carson said with a smirk. “Then…”
Carson pursed his mouth and then said, “Victor is not in the hospital now.”
“Not in the hospital!” Ivan exclaimed.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. He is at Rachel’s home.” Carson took out his phone again and accessed Rachel’s message. He
then threw his phone to Ivan so he could read the message himself.
“He’s unbelievable! What was he thinking?” Ivan shook his head after reading the message. Just then,
the phone rang. The two men looked at the caller ID. Victor’s name appeared on the screen.
“Of course, he could call at an opportune time, just when we are talking about him.” Carson took back
his phone to answer the call. In an ingratiating tone, he said, “Mr. Sullivan, what can I do for you?”
“Where are you?” Victor’s voice was low and hoarse.
“Where else would I be? I’m on my way to pick you up and send you back to the hospital.” Victor was
silent for a moment.
Standing in front of the washbasin in the bathroom, he felt dizzy for a moment. He held the edge,
closed his eyes, and said in a deep voice, “You don’t have to come here.”
“Do you want to die?”
“I won’t die.” Victor could barely spoke. He felt blood in his mouth. He suppressed the sense of
suffocation from his chest.
Then, he hung up the phone.
Carson could only stomp his feet in frustration. He wasn’t able to tell Victor what was on his mind.
“Mr. Scott, what did Mr. Sullivan say?” asked Ivan tentatively.
Carson showed Ivan his phone on which the screen showed that Victor had already hung up.
“You want to know what Victor told me? He said that he’d rather die in Rachel’s home.” Carson angrily
put his phone back in his pocket and threw his coat on the chair.
“Mr. Scott…” Ivan could tell that what Carson said was not the truth. He knew that Carson was just
angry with Victor. From what he knew of Victor, he knew what Victor would say without asking.
“Don’t worry. He won’t die.” Carson knew what Ivan was worried about.
“Look, Rachel doesn’t want to be with Victor anymore. But for the sake of his life, she won’t be cruel to
leave him.”
Carson looked at the rain outside the French windows.He didn’t know if it was good for the two people
to keep on pestering each other like this.
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