MasukThe large wrought-iron gate of the Chandler family’s main residence slowly opened, allowing a black sedan to glide into the spacious, smoothly paved courtyard. The warm yellow garden lights reflected across the hood of the car, revealing a grand yet strangely desolate and empty atmosphere in the courtyard that night.Calvin slowly stepped out from behind the wheel. He opened the rear trunk, lifted out his black leather suitcase, then closed the trunk again with a soft thud that broke the silence of the night. Every step toward the main entrance felt incredibly heavy, as though the shoes on his feet were bound by invisible lead. The images of his children crying hysterically on the staircase of the main residence earlier still spun vividly through his mind, leaving an unbearable ache in his chest.As the large mahogany door was opened by the Chandler family’s head butler, Calvin was greeted by the grand yet seemingly deserted interior of the old house. Ziy
The afternoon breeze blew gently, slipping through the gap of the master bedroom window at the Ashford residence, which had been left open by half an inch. The temperature inside the room felt unbearably stuffy, filled with the remnants of heavy breaths and a long silence that seemed to have no end.In the corner of the room, near the large teakwood wardrobe, Calvin stood upright in a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The middle-aged man held a pitch-black leather suitcase on the marble floor. One by one, he folded his work clothes with slow but steady movements, placing them into the suitcase without making a sound.Every time a piece of folded fabric passed through his hands, his chest rumbled as he suppressed an unbearable tightness. For weeks, he had tried every method he knew. He had knelt, cried, begged for forgiveness, and remained by the bedside even though his presence was treated as if it did not exist. Yet all he received in
The distinctive smell of disinfectant and the sterile scent that had been part of the Ashford family’s days for nearly three weeks finally began to fade as they stepped out of the elevator on the hospital’s ground floor. That day, the discharge authorization had officially been issued by Dr. Hendra. Physically, Camelia’s condition had shown significant improvement; the wound from her emergency surgery had healed well, and her health parameters were stable.However, her return home brought none of the warmth one would expect from a family reunited under the same roof.Inside the luxurious sedan with a black license plate speeding through the streets of the capital, the atmosphere felt heavy and suffocating. Calvin sat in the driver’s seat with both hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. The middle-aged man wore formal clothes that were as neat as usual, yet the lines of exhaustion and dark shadows around his eyes reflected an extraordinary degree of in
The distinctive smell of disinfectant and the sterile scent of the VVIP hospital room felt sharp in the nose, creating a cold atmosphere that seemed to freeze the blood of anyone inside. Three days had passed since the night that emotional explosion erupted—the night Camelia awoke from her long coma, only to discover that the little world she had longed for had shattered into pieces.Since then, an invisible wall had formed inside the spacious room.Camelia lay stiffly on the bed, facing the large window that revealed the gray city sky outside. The middle-aged woman no longer cried; her tears seemed to have dried up, swept away by the storm of anger that had now transformed into a silence far more frightening. Every time Calvin approached, carrying a tray of warm porridge or simply trying to straighten his wife’s blanket, Camelia consistently showed the same attitude: she tightly closed her eyes, pressed her lips firmly together, and flatly refused any in
The sound of the wall clock ticking in the corner of the VVIP hospital room seemed unbearably slow and agonizing. Half an hour had passed since Dr. Hendra left after conducting a thorough examination of Camelia’s physical condition. According to the doctor, the woman’s vital signs had begun to stabilize medically, her blood pressure was gradually returning to normal, and her organs were responding well after two weeks of being deeply unconscious in a prolonged coma. However, that medical calm was completely out of sync with the storm preparing to erupt inside the pristine white room. Camelia lay in bed with the backrest raised halfway. Her face was still pale, but as time passed, the fog of confusion in her mind began to dissolve. Fragments of memories from before she lost consciousness that night gradually came together in full inside her mind—the suffocating pressure in her chest, the pool of fresh blood on the bedsheet, and the overwh
The bright white light from the fluorescent lamps on the ceiling of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) room felt piercing as those eyelids slowly began to move. There was no thunderous sound or grand surprise to welcome those precious seconds. The first sounds were merely the soft hiss of oxygen flowing through the respirator tube and the constant beeping of the electrocardiogram monitor.The slender fingers that had previously lain rigidly limp on top of the white bedsheet suddenly twitched faintly.Calvin, who for the past two weeks had not moved even for a second from the chair beside the bed, immediately jolted upright. The middle-aged man leaned forward, his eyes widening as he stared at his wife’s face, his breath suddenly caught in his throat.“Camelia...?” Calvin called in a hoarse voice, trembling violently, almost inaudible.Slowly, Camelia’s eyelids opened completely. However, the gaze behind her eyes held no clear focus. The woman







