Chapter 004

“Miss Eliana, you have to get discharged. Your parents will be coming around today to pick you up isn’t that exciting? Please, hang in there.” Sarah spoke worriedly. She was one of the nurses who had diligently been taking care of the woman during her stay in the hospital.

It had been over a few months now since Eliana was registered in the hospital. After her parents’ sudden appearance in her life, she turned her back on the entire world. Every Tuesday, she desperately asked if her husband had come to seek her, and yet nothing. He didn’t bother to check up on her, call or text, to ask if she was still alive.

To worsen her diabolical situation, she was sent an envelope, and inside it were divorce papers. She had been beyond shattered. Her entire life and dream were ruined. She thought she was nothing but an empty vessel. Her parents tried to support her. They tried to revive her lost soul, but it was long gone.

During that challenging period, she met Sarah. Even though she was not often responsive to her medication, she at least listened to the young nurse who had been nothing but a good companion in her dark times. Sarah was aware of Eliana’s depression. Of course, she was. She was the messenger who delivered pieces of information about her ex-husband to her. But there was one piece of news she would never deliver, which was his marriage to another woman.

She didn’t dare.

“Eliana, you must have your medicine; otherwise, your child won’t…”

At the call of her child, Eliana jolted up immediately in a flash and began to eat and digest every meal on the table, peacefully. She took her medicines and the prepared nutrient water without any complaints. Sarah watched everything with bitter tears.

Only one thing made Eliana still want to live, and it was her child. Her dead child. It was sad.

Unable to look at the devastating scene anymore, Sarah quickly cleaned the place and carried the emptied bowls on the tray to depart.

Eliana sniffed. She looked out the window blankly and rashly, and she ran to the toilet. There, she stuck her fingers into her throat to vomit up every single meal she had eaten out of her mouth. For a couple of minutes, she rested her head on the lid and eventually went out.

On getting out of the toilet, the sounds of refreshing waves of laughter passed through her blocked ears. Out of the blue, a wall inside her chest was cracked. A light suddenly crackled in her dull eyes. Her ears perked up, and her jaws twitched.

‘That was you.’

She heard a pale voice say in the back of her mind.

‘Without the burden’

‘On your shoulders’

‘Without fear.’

‘Yes, you were that happy too.’

‘You were the happiest.’

Without her knowing, her slim legs took control, carrying her to the window, where she got hit by the soft breeze and the joyous sounds of people. She settled her gaze on each one of them. From the color of their clothes to assessing their purpose over there.

From the side of her eye, she couldn't help but notice a young boy, probably not above the age of five, in the playground. He was swaying his body on the swing, happily, yelling at his mother to continue. 

Eliana stopped her gaze over at him. Her eyes soon watered when she coincidentally slid her hand to her empty stomach.

It’s been months.

“Hahaha, swing, swing…”

Eliana tilted her head to the side, and her pale face showed a few new colors. She smiled.

She was smiling.

“Hahaha, swing, swing…”

And in a short second, she sobbed. She wept depressively. 

Her entire body was on fire. Like she was caught in flames and was burned alive.

She fell on her knees and let the tears flow willingly, without suppressing them or pretending to be fine any longer.

At that moment, the door to the room was opened, and the sight before the intruders was tear-jerking. Eliana was crawling her shivering body against the wall like an infant, crying mercilessly.

Her mother whimpered beside her husband when they finally saw their daughter cry. She was never this weak, this fragile, this vulnerable. Before Eliana was thrown out of the house, she was the pride of her parents. She was the only joy and light in the home. While they were tired, she was the shoulder to lean on, instead of the opposite. She must have bottled everything in.

“We should give her space.” Mr. Queens advised. 

He failed. He failed as a father. He wasn't oblivious to that fact.

“But…” Elizabeth hesitated. That sight was unbearable. Never had she seen her daughter cry before, and watching her now… was too much to take.

“She will be fine. I promise you. That ungrateful man will regret ever treating our daughter this way.” Mr. Queen remarked, taking his wife out.

---

Outside New York City.

On top of the mountains in Italy, on the outskirts of Milan.

‘Whop… Whop… Whop…’

Three helicopters are seen on the surface below the damp clouds as they make their way down to an empty-looking villa. The blades of the helicopters thrummed and whooshed as they settled down underneath.

Inside the helicopters were groups of men in military clothes. A particular man was sitting in the middle. In contrast to the rest, his clothes were shinier with gold ranks on his shoulders. Before long, he got down and they followed.

The villa, which seemed lonely, was filled with other people. One by one, these other groups of men were cheering in loud voices.

“We won. Commander, we came victorious!!”

They began to chant simultaneously.

Behind the other groups of men was a young-looking man, sitting in a wheelchair. The expression on his face was far blander than the face of a hedgehog. He pushed himself out of the villa and came face-to-face with the soldiers outside.

“Hello, Brother…”

“You can take the uniform off, Alex.”

The man named Alex was left speechless, and he frowned, but in no time, a smug look appeared on his face. He lowered his head to the man in the wheelchair and was tempted to laugh. Ah, he wanted to laugh.

“You are boring, Ricardo,” he confessed.

“As your considerate twin, I went to a grave that wasn’t mine, came victorious, and what I get is a cold shoulder? You are annoying.” Alexander groaned. He ran a hand through his messy blonde-platinum hair and grunted louder.

The man in the wheelchair, Ricardo, didn’t bother to hear any more nonsense and wheeled himself back to the villa.

Behind him, he could hear his brother’s exasperated cries.

“You are being ridiculous, Ricardo!”

“You should be grateful to me. I solved a case you couldn’t decode. Not three years ago and not now! Argh! You are pissing me off, you ungrateful bastard!”

“Are you going to ignore me? Just wait and see.”

The banter couldn’t go unnoticed by the other soldiers. From the undisrupted look on their faces, it appeared they were used to it.