Chapter 280 Amnesia by Trauma
“It’s best if you can accept this. And if you can’t, it doesn’t matter to me.” With that, Rachel mentally gathered herself. Alas, after several seconds of standing off, she pushed Justin away.
The moment she left the study, sounds of items shattering could be heard inside. “Mommy!” Charlotte had been startled from where she had pressed herself against the door as she hadn’t been able to leave in time.
Rachel was also stunned by Charlotte’s presence, but hearing the noises behind her, she quickly took Charlotte’s hand. “Let’s go. It’s time for dinner,” she said nonchalantly.
Charlotte shyly nodded and followed Rachel downstairs, but she couldn’t stop herself from looking back. She didn’t particularly understand the laws of the world due to her young age, but Charlotte was good at figuring out people’s emotions. It was just as Samuel said—Justin was the one who came looking for trouble first. So, making Rachel angry was his own fault.
But for some reason, Charlotte found Justin pitiful. They clearly had a huge fight, but Rachel wasn’t angry at all––even Charlotte was at a loss for words when faced with Rachel’s icy demeanor.
Adult relationships were just too hard to understand.
Justin had completely trashed the inside of the study––even the shelves had been pushed over. At that moment, the place was a complete mess.
Beyond the door of the study, it was quiet.
In the end, he sat in the middle of the carnage, suffering from his pain as he pressed a hand to his aching forehead. He remembered when he saw the picture in that email at his office earlier. When he saw Rachel and Janice standing together, fragments of an image flew through his mind.
It was an image of Janice, Hans, and Rachel standing together in an old alley. Rachel grinned between the two, her smile warm and gentle as Hans pulled her away from a cyclist cycling down the alley.
That scene had wounded his heart and his mind buzzed that instant. It felt like all those fragments had wound themselves together to assault his mind, making his temples hurt. He was in so much pain that he couldn’t even grip his mouse properly.
Right now, that scene once again assaulted his mind in the remains of the study, as though someone was hitting his temples repeatedly with a hammer, trying to make his insides burst out. The pain was agonizing.
“Hello?” In his pain, Justin called a doctor. “Dr. Aurich, where are you?”
Rachel brought the children to the dining room for dinner as the ruckus upstairs had been noticeable. The babysitter didn’t dare to speak much, opting to stand by the side and watch instead.
Not long after, Justin could be heard coming downstairs.
“Where are you going, Mr. Burton?”
“Daddy!” Charlotte looked at Justin too. As long as he apologized, Rachel would forgive him, right?
However, it was like he hadn’t heard anything as he rushed out of the house.
“Charlotte, eat your dinner.” Rachel’s voice brought Charlotte’s eyes back to her food. She then dropped a shrimp on Charlotte’s plate. “Have another shrimp.”
Charlotte was a little worried. “Mommy, Daddy hasn’t eaten yet.”
Rachel was busy peeling the shrimp for Charlotte, so her answer was half-hearted. “He’s a grown-up. He’ll eat when he’s hungry.”
“Did you fight with Daddy again, Mommy?” Charlotte’s voice was small. “If you guys don’t make up, are you going to take Samuel and leave me and Daddy?”
Rachel’s heart skipped a beat and she stopped peeling the shrimp when she heard Charlotte’s question. Immediately, her heart ached terribly. Regardless of what Justin did, it was his own mistake––the same went for her. What did the children do wrong? Yet every time she and Justin argued, it only worsened Charlotte’s anxiety.
“I won’t.” Rachel wiped her hands before touching Charlotte’s face. “I won’t leave you, and I haven’t been fighting with your father.”
Charlotte didn’t quite believe her. “Really?”
“Miss Charlotte, why would Miss Hudson lie to you?” The babysitter pointed at the fish soup on the table. “Miss Hudson specially ordered me to buy this fish today. It’s supposedly a good recipe for people who are still healing. Tell me now, who do you think this soup is for?”
Charlotte sat there blankly for a moment before she responded by yelling in surprise. “It’s for Daddy!”
Justin’s injuries hadn’t been able to heal properly. Debts should be repaid. Rachel did not want to owe him, so she paid special attention to Justin’s meals, but she hadn’t expected him to lose his temper like this today.
Charlotte relaxed after hearing the babysitter’s words.
Seeing that her daughter was willing to eat again, Rachel let out a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, Justin had gone to see Dr. Aurich. The pain finally began to subside after he sat in the treatment chair for a long while.
“Feeling better?”
“Yes.” Justin closed his eyes. “I’m thinking of staying here for a bit longer. I seem to sleep better here. You don’t mind, do you?”
“No, but from the looks of it, your headaches seem to be more frequent, right?”
“It is a little more frequent than before.”
Dr. Aurich flipped through Justin’s medical records. “I told you before to not exert yourself in the near future. Your amnesia was caused by trauma, and the memories you forgot were ones that had a heavy negative impact on you. It’s your body’s self-defense mechanisms protecting you. If you force yourself to remember, you’ll be fighting with your body,” he said gravely. “You’ll have to do this slowly.”
“I can’t delay the return of my memories anymore.” Justin’s eyes were shut tightly. His forehead was screwed up tightly as well. “I’m worried I won’t make it.”
“What?” Dr. Aurich looked at Justin in confusion. “What do you mean by that?”
Justin did not answer his question. In truth, he also couldn’t explain it either. He just felt that he would miss some major event that would never be able to be fixed if he couldn’t recover his memories faster.
Dr. Aurich knew how Justin was, so he didn’t continue to question him further. “Rest well. I’ll leave you be. By the way, do you need me to wake you later?”
Just when Dr. Aurich had only just pulled open the door and asked Justin this question, Justin’s phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Burton, where are you now?”
“What is it?”
“Jefferey Hudson is dead,” came Frankie’s voice over the phone.
Justin’s eyes promptly flew open and he sat up from the chair. “When did that happen?”
“Well…”
Meanwhile, Rachel received the same news as well.
Riverdale Penitentiary was near the mouth of the east coast ocean. The area was chilly, and the winds in the wee hours of the morning were especially strong––strong enough to pull a person in and rip them to shreds.
By the time Rachel rushed over, Jefferey’s corpse was already cold.
“It was an acute heart attack. There were no signs.”
“Did no one notice this in time?”
“It was already lights-out at night, and the prisoners were supposed to go to sleep. With that, everyone in the cell was already asleep, so no one noticed when the heart attack happened.”
Rachel’s brows knitted together.
“Sorry. By the time we discovered him, there were already no signs of life. The paramedics carried out basic first aid, but it was futile.” The head of the prison bowed to Rachel in apology. Although Jefferey was sentenced to life imprisonment, he was still entitled to basic human rights. He shouldn’t have died without cause, even inside a prison.
Before Rachel could ask further questions, a sharp voice rang out behind her.
