Ch4: An Impossible Dream

​A heavy silence enveloped them, broken only by the sound of Evelyn's ragged breathing. Gathering the absolute remnants of her strength, she moved slowly within his confinement to turn and face him. She looked into his sharp eyes, which radiated an intense power and possessiveness, fighting desperately to piece together the fragments of her wounded pride and raise a mask of frail strength against a gaze that felt as though it could pierce her very soul.

​She swallowed her dry spit, speaking in a tone she fought to keep steady: "You are wrong... he... he still loves me. What happened between us was only because of his grief over our great loss... He is just going through a difficult time..."

​He looked at her as if he could see right through all her lies, not moving an inch, continuing to hem her in with his body and imposing presence. He looked at the overwhelming paleness of her face, and at her hand which still bore the marks of the cannula wound, before speaking in a low voice that carried a brutal truth: "You are only deceiving yourself, Evelyn... You are imagining a love that does not exist. Is this what you call love? If so, then you have never seen love in your life."

​She took a step back, but his eyes pursued her like a hunter. Adrian smoothly pulled his luxurious phone from his suit jacket pocket and placed it on the desk before her with absolute coldness and confidence. He then added: "If you are so certain and faithful in his love to this degree... call him right now. Tell him that you are incredibly tired at work, that the fever has returned, and ask him to come immediately to take you home... Let us see the magnitude of this love you are defending."

​Evelyn froze in place, staring at the phone as if it were a ticking time bomb. Dread vibrated deep within her; she feared the confrontation, feared the collapse of the paper castle she had constructed in her imagination. But Adrian's challenging, unyielding gaze left her no choice.

​With fingers trembling violently, she picked up her own phone and dialed Kai's number. The phone rang... once, twice, three times, and he did not answer. She glanced at Adrian, who was watching her with a deadly calmness that only heightened her tension, so she called again... and again.

​On the fifth attempt, the line opened. Before Evelyn could utter a single word, Kai’s voice erupted from the receiver, sharp and filled with irritation and aversion: "What do you want, Evelyn?! Why are you calling like a lunatic while I am in the middle of my work?!"

​She gripped the phone with both hands to stop them from shaking, speaking in a trembling, unstable voice: "Kai... I... I am so tired... The fever has returned and I can't walk. Can you come and pick me up from the company?"

​A mocking laugh erupted from the other end, accompanied by a sharp exhale. Then, Kai rebuked her with callous harshness: "Tired? Have we started your damned theatrics again? All women get sick and work, enough with the acting and wasting time! Besides, I'm not coming home tonight. I have overtime and I’ll be staying out. Figure it out yourself and don't bother me again!"

​He hung up violently, leaving the disconnected dial tone to ring with a terrifying echo in her ears. Her hand holding the phone dropped to her side, her eyes freezing in complete blankness and total shock. The words dried up in her throat, and tears of disappointment poured like a flood down her pale cheeks. He had scolded her and abandoned her at the absolute peak of her illness... for what purpose was all of this?

​She turned slowly toward Adrian, who stood in his place with his complete elegance and power, looking at her tears calmly, as though he had known the ending before it even began. His eyes did not hold malice; rather, they carried that uncanny warmth and overwhelming possessiveness.

​Adrian leaned toward her with utter gentleness. With a confident, protective motion, he lifted her slender frame into his arms as though she were a piece of precious porcelain he feared might break. He carried her out of the company under his heavy security, while Evelyn surrendered completely, shattered, and drifting out of consciousness; she did not know what to do amidst her profound exhaustion, her horrific shock at Kai abandoning her yet again, and that violent, confusing night she had lived through yesterday from which she had not recovered.

​With his swift movement in the luxury car, the fever began to claw at her body again, her temperature rising to a terrifying degree, drowning her in its heat. Adrian did not wish to take her back to the hospital; instead, he took her directly to his grand, secluded mansion.

​The moment they arrived, he transferred her to his private suite and began to care for her with a profound gentleness she had never experienced from a man before. He summoned a private doctor—one of the city's top physicians—to the mansion, who examined her and administered the necessary medications, absorbing her scorching fever. Throughout that long night, Adrian did not close his eyes; he stayed awake the entire night by her bedside, monitoring her ragged breaths and changing her compresses with his own hand, surrounding her with an uncanny safety and warmth while she groaned in her bed, completely unaware of what was happening around her.

​On the other side of the city, where dim lights and raucous noise swallowed the remnants of human conscience, Kai sat at a distant corner of a bar. Bottles of liquor hemmed him in, his consciousness entirely gone from excessive drinking, fleeing from his debts and from Evelyn's pale face that haunted him.

​Upon his stool, a girl drew close to him, sliding her fingers adorned with shiny nail polish over his shoulder and chest, touching him boldly, trying to catch his attention with her borrowed laughter amidst the loud, pulsing dance music. But his mind was entirely elsewhere... absent and imprisoned inside his own head.

​Kai became detached from everything surrounding him. The sounds of the music faded from his ears, replaced by a sudden, desolate silence. From amidst the colored bar lights, a warm light beamed, and he began to imagine a scene that split his heart in two: he saw a small, warm, clean home... a home filled with a peace he had never once tasted.

​In the center of that home, he saw Evelyn... she was smiling, her eyes shining with love and life—that girl, those eyes he had loved for so long. And beside her... there was a small child, a boy of about two years old, running around with angelic laughter that filled the spaces of the room—their child, who was supposed to come into this life and make it bloom.

​The little boy turned toward Kai, stretching out his tiny hands as he came toward him, calling out in a pure, sweet voice: "Papa... Papa..."

​"My son..." The word escaped Kai's trembling lips like a pained gasp. His heavy hand reached into the air, trying to grasp the phantom of the little one, trying to reach that warm embrace and that happy life he had lost.

​But the moment his fingers drew near the phantom, the image shattered like scattered smoke. The roar of the bar returned to strike his head with cruelty, and he found the hand of the strange girl still touching him coldly. Kai shrank into himself, feeling a deadly chill invade his chest; those were his very first glimpses of hell and regret, where there was no home, no child, and no Evelyn—the innocent girl he loved.