บททั้งหมดของ Love and pain : บทที่ 131 - บทที่ 140

Oliver didn’t answer the message immediately.Neither did Ariana.Even Daniel stayed quiet now.Because somehow—those two words changed everything.*I don’t.*Not manipulation.Not pressure.Not control.Uncertainty.Real uncertainty.And coming from Elias—that was almost impossible to imagine.The hospital waiting room felt colder suddenly.Quieter.Oliver stared at the screen for a long moment before locking the phone without replying.Ariana looked at him carefully.“You’re thinking too hard again.”Oliver exhaled slowly.“He’s changing.”Daniel frowned from across the room.“Your terrifying mastermind villain is having an emotional crisis?”Oliver ignored the wording.But Ariana noticed something important.He didn’t disagree.“That’s dangerous,” Oliver said quietly.Ariana tilted her head slightly.“Why?”“Because uncertainty makes people unpredictable.”A pause.“And Elias hates unpredictability.”Daniel leaned back in his chair.“So basically we emotionally damaged the superv

Nobody spoke for a long time after that.The café noise around them faded into the background completely.Students walked past.Coffee machines hissed softly behind the counter.Life continued normally around them.But at their table—everything had changed.Ariana stared at Oliver quietly, still trying to process what he’d said.*I chose who stayed behind.*The sentence echoed in her head over and over.Not because she thought he was cruel.Because she could hear how deeply the decision still haunted him.Daniel finally broke the silence first.“So… Elias thinks you made the correct choice.”Oliver nodded once.“Yes.”“And you think you didn’t.”Another pause.“Yes.”Daniel leaned back slowly.“Well that explains literally everything.”Honestly—he wasn’t wrong.The pressure games.The impossible scenarios.The obsession with sacrifice and emotional detachment.It all came from that moment.That one decision.Ariana spoke softly.“How old were you?”Oliver looked out the window brief

Rain covered the city again by midnight.Cold water slid across empty streets while distant thunder echoed somewhere beyond the skyline.The old train station stood abandoned near the edge of the industrial district, surrounded by rusted tracks and broken lights.It looked dead.Forgotten.Perfect for Elias.Oliver stepped through the entrance slowly.Alone.At least—that was what Elias expected.Ariana waited two blocks away with Daniel despite Oliver arguing against it for nearly twenty minutes.“You’re injured, emotionally compromised, and walking into a trap,” Daniel had said.“Objectively terrible plan.”Oliver didn’t disagree.But he came anyway.Because Clara changed everything.The station interior was dark except for faint overhead emergency lights flickering weakly across cracked concrete floors.Every footstep echoed.Every shadow felt deliberate.Oliver’s breathing remained controlled as he moved deeper inside.Not detached.Focused.There was a difference now.And somewh

Nobody moved for several seconds after Clara spoke.The station remained quiet except for the rain outside and the distant hum of old electrical systems buried somewhere underground.Ariana stood beside Oliver now.Close enough that her shoulder brushed lightly against his.Grounding him again without saying a word.And Elias noticed.Of course he did.But this time—his reaction was different.Not irritation.Not calculation.Observation.Like he was seeing something he still didn’t fully understand.Daniel looked between everyone awkwardly.“So… are we at the point where the psychological war ends or the point where it gets worse?”Honestly—nobody knew.Clara stepped slightly closer toward Elias.“You should tell them the rest.”Elias’s expression sharpened faintly.“That would complicate things.”Oliver’s eyes narrowed immediately.“What rest?”Silence.Then Clara answered for him.“He went back.”The station fell quiet again.Oliver frowned slightly.“What?”Clara looked directly

The train station suddenly felt smaller.Like the walls themselves had closed inward after Elias’s words.*There were people above us.*Oliver stared at him carefully, trying to decide whether the new tension in his voice was genuine.It sounded genuine.That was the problem.“Start explaining,” Oliver said coldly.Elias remained calm outwardly, but Ariana noticed something different now.Less control.More urgency.“The operation from seven years ago wasn’t independent,” Elias said quietly.“It was funded.”Daniel blinked.“Funded by WHO?”Elias didn’t answer immediately.Which made the silence worse.Finally—“A private research organization.”Oliver’s expression darkened instantly.“Cross Biotech.”Clara looked surprised.“You knew?”Oliver laughed sharply under his breath.“Not officially.”A pause.“But their patterns were always there.”Ariana frowned slightly.“You’re talking like this company created all of this.”Elias looked toward her.“In some ways…”Another pause.“…they