He Told Me to Disappear, So I Did のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 21 - チャプター 30

Keegan’s father spoke so weakly and unevenly that no one could make out most of his words.Jensen bent closer and listened for a moment.He caught only "Lauren Sullivan" and "car accident."Even those words made his head ache. "It happened a long time ago, sir. You don't need to carry it with you. She wouldn't blame you."The older man didn't calm down. He grew more agitated and tried to speak, but a violent cough shook him. His face darkened, and he pointed at Jensen, desperate to get the words out."All right. I'll tell him," his wife said.She wiped her tears and spoke through sobs. "Five years ago, my husband drove while exhausted. He pressed the accelerator instead of the brake and nearly hit an expensive car. “Then another car suddenly came from the side and struck his. It was Miss Sullivan’s car. She knocked his car away, and they both ended up in the hospital..."We were struggling financially. Our eldest was studying overseas, and we still had two younger children in schoo

Everyone fell silent.Jensen never usually came to gatherings like this.When Zane called, Jensen didn't say he would come.So, the others spoke freely.Now he heard them.The mood shifted at once."Come on, you're grown men. Why do you gossip so much?"Zane tried to ease the tension. "They talk nonsense after a few drinks. Don't take it to heart, Jensen.""What did you say about Lauren?"Jensen’s voice was quiet and cold, almost frighteningly calm.No one answered.More than a hundred people filled the room, yet not a sound came from them."Why shouldn't Mr. Shaw hear it?"Someone rose from a table. "I'd like to ask you something, Mr. Shaw. When you refused to claim Lauren’s body, did you remember that she nearly died beside you in those ruins?"Someone motioned for him to stop."That's their private business. Stay out of it...""Lauren’s gone now. Let it be."More voices joined in.Every word struck Jensen like a splash of cold water.He gripped the edge of a table and almost lost hi

Jensen approached the woman and caught her wrist.The next moment, he lost control of himself and pulled her into a tight embrace."Lauren!"His voice almost shook."Jensen Shaw! Have you lost your mind?"She shoved him away and stood. He finally saw her face clearly.It wasn't Lauren."So, you can't sleep now?" Evelyn asked.For some reason, she wore a long pale blue dress in Lauren’s favorite color. With her hair loose, she looked so much like Lauren from behind.“Funny, I can't sleep either. Every night, I dream Lauren tells me how cold it is down there, all alone.”Evelyn threw another piece of clothing into the fire. "I warned you not to regret what you did.""Where is Lauren?" Jensen asked, his eyes red.Evelyn ignored him and tossed the books beside her into the flames."I'm asking you where Lauren is," he said again.Evelyn laughed coldly and brushed ash from her hands. "Do you really want to know?"Jensen stared at her.Lauren had few friends. After they married, Evelyn was

Jensen didn't know when he began to cry.His tears fell onto the diary and blurred Lauren’s words.She wrote so much.Yet nearly every entry was about him. She hardly mentioned herself.He never knew that loving someone could make a person put herself so far beneath them.Jensen closed the diary and looked out the window.Daylight came without him noticing. Birds chirped nearby.One perched on the window, then fluttered away as the first sunlight spilled into the room. It was so bright he could barely keep his eyes open.Lauren said mornings like this were her favorite.Jensen closed his eyes and lay back.At some point, sleep overtook him.He fell asleep and drifted into a hazy dream.He was back in the ruins, with aftershocks still shaking the ground.The world around him seemed to fall silent.Dust kept raining down. The smell of blood hung in the air, and people cried out in pain. Only the girl who reached through the rubble and clung to his hand seemed real to him.The scene faded

Six years later.The private investigator who watched Evelyn and Miles around the clock finally uncovered something promising.Someone across the ocean had called Evelyn and said, “I’m doing well.”That was all.The caller hung up.But after years of living on takeout while he watched them, the investigator recognized the voice.That same day, Jensen took his private plane to Greyhaven.Lauren had written in her diary that she wanted to feed pigeons with him in the square.She had listed plenty of other little things they could do together to pass the time.They had sounded silly to him.After she left, Jensen went there alone several times.The square was usually crowded. Rain made it quieter, and if he sat on a bench, the tame pigeons sometimes landed on his shoulders.He remembered all the “chance encounters” Lauren had described in her diary.After a week in Greyhaven, he finally had a chance at one of his own.It was five o’clock on Friday afternoon.As Jensen went out, the house