Rachel felt like she was suffocating, but it did not seem like Justin was going to let go anytime soon.
When he was hugging her, he felt like he was alive again. As if he was holding onto his life savior, he never wanted to let go.
“Ahem!” Nathan’s cough could be heard from inside the room. “If the IV drip isn’t changed soon, someone’s life might be in danger.”
Rachel tapped Justin on the arm, hinting at him to let go. After a few taps, he finally released her unwillingly.
Watching Nathan approaching, she was so embarrassed that she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her.
However, he seemed unfazed and proceeded to change the IV drip. After he was done, he left the room and closed the door as if nothing happened.
Now, Rachel and Justin were left alone once again.
Justin’s gaze was locked on her face even when Nathan was changing his IV drip.
She turned around and their eyes met before she asked, “Are you feeling uncomfortable?”
He shook his head.
After a moment of silence, she stood up. “I’ll get you some water.” However, he grabbed her hand.
Rachel saw the bandage covering his hand from the corners of her eyes and could not stop herself from feeling sad. Her eyes darkened and she clenched her fist.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice was so low it was almost buried by the wind outside.
“You don’t need to be sorry,” Justin refuted.
“But your finger…” Rachel bit her lips, trying to force the words out. “We missed the optimal treatment period. We can’t reattach it anymore.”
“I know. It’s fine,” he assured her. He was not surprised because he knew the condition of his body. The moment he woke up, he knew it was too late.
“How can it be?” Tears filled Rachel’s eyes as she held onto his injured hand. “How could you be so dumb? I told you to leave me.”
“If anything happened to you, I will never forgive myself. That’s why I couldn’t leave.” Justin looked at her calmly. He was always the rational one; collected and keeping his emotions in check. However, she was his only exception.
“It’s okay. Really!” He pulled Rachel to sit by the bed. “It’s only a finger, it won’t affect my life much.” Even though he said that, she still could not accept it.
“Anyways, where are we?” He subtly changed the topic to distract her from wallowing in guilt.
She collected herself and looked out the window. “We’re on Idyll Mountain.”
Justin was dumbfounded.
Rachel continued to explain, “It was Mr. Keaton who saved us.”
Three days ago, Caroline helped both of them escape from Dillon’s evil clutches. At first, they planned to follow a small trail down Idyll Mountain to the airport below to leave Enistan, but Justin fainted mid-way.
“Luckily, Nathan found us after following the blood trail and brought us up the mountain. This is Mr. Keaton’s private residence atop the mountain. It’s not far from the resort.”
When the fire broke out at the resort that day, the firefighters took the whole night to put it out. At the same time, people were searching the mountain for them. Those people looked everywhere, but did not dare come into that private residence.
It was the best option Justin and Rachel had. It was the safest place, but unfortunately, they missed the best time to treat Justin’s fingers.
She knew some medical knowledge, but it was only enough to sanitize and bandage his hand; she could not reattach his fingers. After that, Justin’s wound was infected and he had a fever for three days.
“Had you not woken up sooner, I would have asked Nathan to get us down the mountain and look for a hospital.”
“Don’t worry, I only slept for a while.”
“No, you didn’t. It was three days.” Rachel still could not forget how Justin’s finger was amputated because of her and tears filled her eyes. “I don’t even know if there’s a way to fix your finger.”
“Rachel.” He held her hand tightly. “Stop being sad. I have gotten so much more than I have lost.”
She was stunned.
Justin looked at her quietly as if he found his lost treasure. “I wonder if there’s a parallel universe. When we die, will we still have our consciousness?”
“Why did you think of this so suddenly?” Rachel asked in puzzlement.
“I hope the answer is no. If I can’t see you and don’t know how you are doing in the other universe, that’s worse than death itself.”
When they were facing Dillon that day, this was what he thought about when all hope seemed lost.
Rachel was still stunned.
Suddenly, Justin tried to sit up. “Rae, I’ve been on bedrest for too long. Help me up. I want to head out for a walk.”
“Okay. Slowly.” She came back to her senses and reached out to help him.
It was already evening. There were two times of the day that were the best. One was at dawn when the sun was about to shine; it was the time of the day when hope was at its highest and anything was possible. The other was dusk when the night fell; no matter what happened that day, if it was good or bad; if it was what you wished for or feared; everything would stop then at the end of the day.
During dinner, Justin asked about the owner of the residence. “Was it Mr. Keaton that took us in?”
Nathan was busy serving the table and glanced up at him. “Master Keaton ordered me to protect Miss Hudson.”
Justin and Rachel wanted to know why Nathan addressed her as Miss Hudson. However, no matter how they tried to pry, he would only reply, “Miss Hudson is Miss Hudson; there are no other reasons.”
“So, this house belongs to Mr. Keaton?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Can’t I just know?”
“No.” Nathan placed the bowl down forcefully and demanded, “Eat your food.”
However, he quickly went forward and totally changed his attitude when he saw Rachel walking out of the kitchen carrying some soup. “Miss Hudson, please take a seat. Let me help you with this.”
“It’s okay. I’m free anyways.”
“Please. Let me.” Nathan insisted. Without a choice, she could only pass the bowl to him.
“Nathan, come eat with us,” she asked.
“It’s alright, Miss Hudson. Please carry on without me. I have something I need to tend to,” he answered and went into the kitchen.
Rachel scrunched her eyebrows at his words. “What’s there to do during meal time?” she mumbled. She stood up, wanting to get him to return, but Justin pulled her onto her seat again.
“Don’t get him. It’s probably his rule.”
“What rule? Are there rules about eating sequences?”
“He regards you as Miss Hudson. Don’t you think it’s weird?”
Even though it was common for rich families to hire maids, especially in families like the Burton and Hudson Families, maids would usually address the children as Young Master, Young Lady, Mister, or Miss. However, it was apparent that Nathan’s “Miss” was not just a title. He was putting himself on a lower rank than her.
