This time, his voice sounded clearly in her ears, causing Angela to dart to her feet in fright and stare at the direction of the clock. “Richard, is that you?”
“It’s me.”
“Where are you?”
“You don’t have to know. Go and get the first aid kit from the cupboard and treat your wound.”
Angela’s pale face flushed red in an instant. She couldn’t believe that he was actually monitoring his room. If that was the case, everything she did in the room just now, including the way she went mad and sobbed like a fool, had been seen by him.
All of a sudden, she didn’t even want to remain alive anymore. She felt humiliated, ashamed, and furious at the same time, and she couldn’t help but yell in the direction of the clock, “Richard, you’re terrible!”
“I thought you didn’t want to see me?”
“I… I don’t want to see you, b-but why are you spying on me?” Angela asked, feeling distressed.
The man on the other end fell silent and did not answer. Angela glared in the direction of the clock resentfully. If she had carelessly taken off her clothes in his room earlier, or came out with just a bath towel wrapped around her to get her things, wouldn’t he have seen it?
“Get the first aid kit. Don’t let your wound get infected,” he ordered in a low voice.
Hence, Angela could only head toward the door of the cupboard and open the third compartment, where she brought out the first aid kit from inside.
As she sat on the couch and opened the first aid kit, the man immediately told her which bottle was the antiseptic so that she could clean her wound and bandage it.
While listening to his instructions, Angela cleaned the blood stains around her wound. Finally, after she bandaged it and sorted out the first aid kit, she said to the man on the other end of the camera, “Do you really have to leave the base? Are you never coming back?”
“Yes.”
“What about your engagement with Annie?”
“I’ll cancel it.”
“C-Can’t you consider Annie’s feelings?”
“Do you think she’d be happy if I married her without loving her?”
Angela couldn’t answer this question all of a sudden, but she knew that Annie had fallen in love with him at first sight.
“Annie really likes you.”
“Her one-sided love wouldn’t be able to keep us together. A happy marriage requires effort from both sides for it to work.” He began reasoning with her all of a sudden.
Angela couldn’t refute, but she didn’t know what else to do.
“Besides, wouldn’t you be sad if I married another woman?” the man questioned in a low voice.
Angela suddenly looked in the direction of the camera. Perhaps it was because they were talking through a screen, but she found it much easier to speak to him.
“I wouldn’t be sad if you married Annie. I’ll be happy for the both of you and wish you the best instead. I’ve decided to continue my studies abroad and live there for a long time, so I won’t disturb you.” Angela had already come up with a back up plan.
“Then, why did you cry so sadly earlier?”
He scoffed. Angela fell silent and pursed her lips, her head lowering in embarrassment.
“Is it because of me?” Richard’s voice sounded in the room again, as if reading her mind.
Angela took a deep breath and raised her head firmly. “I admit that I feel sad, but this sadness will only be temporary in order to secure Annie’s happiness.
Richard, I will not allow you to disappoint Annie. You can try to accept her and like her. I believe that any kind of feelings can be developed.”
“If it were you, would you be able to develop feelings for another man as soon as you meet him? Are you going to forget about me just like that?” In the room, the man’s slightly hoarse voice carried a hint of anger and frustration.
Angela’s heart throbbed suddenly. The conversation was about him and Annie, but why was he questioning her instead?
