Chapter 4

Five days later, the cruise ship arrived at port and docked.

Throughout those five days, Aiden and I did not exchange a single word. It was not until the day we disembarked that he bought me a bouquet in an attempt to make peace.

"I was too rash that day. I'm sorry."

The words were an apology, but his expression remained perfectly at ease.

He had always thought I was easy to coax. In his mind, the smallest gesture was enough to ensure I would never stay angry with him for long.

I looked down at the flowers in my hands and smiled faintly: lilies.

They were Dawn's favorite flowers, and I was allergic to their pollen.

Without a second thought, I tossed the bouquet into a nearby trash can.

Aiden's face darkened, but before he could say anything, tears suddenly spilled down my cheeks.

My gaze had fallen on a little girl nearby who was selling flowers, and I began to cry.

"What's wrong?" Aiden immediately panicked. "If you don't like them, that's fine. I'll just buy you another bouquet—"

"Aiden," I signed, cutting him off. "I had a dream last night. I dreamed we had a daughter, just as adorable as that little girl."

Aiden froze for a second, then smiled as if he understood. "Isn't that a good thing? If we really had a daughter, even spoiling her rotten like a little princess wouldn't be too much."

I smiled quietly, but my eyes were as lifeless as stagnant water.

Aiden's phone suddenly rang.

"Wait." He stepped aside and covered the receiver.

A moment later, he hung up in a hurry and said, "Dawn isn't feeling well. I'm going to get her a cab to the hotel. I'll be back soon. Just wait for me here. Don't wander off."

I nodded quietly.

He turned and hurried away.

The next second, I raised my hand, flagged down a taxi, and climbed in.

A fluent string of words left my mouth. "To the airport."

My throat had only just recovered, so my voice still felt rusty, and a faint ache lingered there.

I leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes.

Once again, everything before me was drenched in red.

Five days earlier, I had stepped into a memory from ten years in the future and witnessed with my own eyes the moment Aiden "cured" me.

His method was my daughter. He had Dawn push my daughter down the stairs, exactly as my mother had fallen all those years ago.

"Dawn is writing a paper. The subject is whether patients who lost their voice due to psychological trauma can be shocked into speaking again if the original traumatic scene is recreated.

"Vesper, to control the variables, I had no choice but to use your daughter for the experiment. She's your only family left now, after all. Only this way will the shock be strong enough. Only this way will my data be precise enough.

"It's just an experiment. I took precautions. Nothing will happen to her. Don't blame Dawn for this."

The two of them traded excuses back and forth until their experiment succeeded.

I cradled my daughter's body as she lay in a pool of blood and let out a raw, agonized scream.

Their so-called precautions had done nothing. The fall left my child with permanent brain damage.

The instant my 18-year-old self witnessed that scene, I nearly screamed along with her. That was how I regained my voice ten years early.

My future self held me tightly and apologized again and again as her body slowly turned transparent. "I didn't expect you to feel this much pain, even though you haven't lived through any of it yet. But at least now, I get to live a different life."

At last, she smiled with contentment, for her freedom and mine.

The taxi pulled away. I stared into the distance and never looked back.

-

An hour later, Aiden returned to the waiting area and froze.

A passerby offered the information out of simple kindness, unaware of its significance. "You mean the girl in the white dress? I saw her get into a taxi. Looked like she was headed to the airport."

The bouquet Aiden had just bought for Vesper slipped from his hand and crashed to the ground.

How could this be? What would Vesper be doing at the airport? How could she possibly leave him?

He spun around, ready to chase after her, but someone suddenly blocked his path. "She's gone. She won't be coming back."

Aiden from ten years in the future stood before him, drenched in blood from head to toe. His mocking gaze settled on his 18-year-old self.

The younger Aiden stared in terror at the face identical to his own. He stumbled back a step and cried out, his voice cracking, "Who... Who are you?!"