Chapter 6

It was pouring cats and dogs. Anthea stood by the roadside, holding the umbrella. However, the wind was so strong that her umbrella soon broke. The rain came pouring down on her. She was completely drenched and could not get a cab, so she could only walk back home. The freezing rain seeped into her wounds, causing her to feel a piercing pain. She had walked for such a long time that her legs were numb and her vision became blurry. At last, she arrived home. However, she could not hang on anymore. Everything around her went dark, and she collapsed on the floor. The freezing cold woke Anthea up. When she pushed herself up, she realized that she was still on the cold floor. The pain from the injury on her shoulder was searing. The clock at the entrance showed that it was 4:00 am. Harlan's slippers were still sitting neatly on the shoe rack—an indication that he did not come home. Rising to her feet with great difficulty, Anthea took two pills to reduce her fever and staggered to bed. She had a dream that went on for a long time. In the dream, she was 17 years old and secretly following behind Harlan. Her heart was pounding as she looked at his tall back. She desperately wanted to run up and stop herself, noticing that her eyes were twinkling. She wanted to tell her to stop liking him because nothing good would come out of it. … The room was still empty when Anthea woke up. She grabbed her phone, wanting to look at the time. But she accidentally saw Beatrice's Instagram. "Someone locked me in the room and said I was flirting around, so he doesn't allow me to leave. He even said he wants to personally keep an eye on me. Say, what does he think about me?" she wrote under the photo of a hand she posted. That hand once embraced Anthea gently as its owner called her his darling. That hand used to hold hers throughout the night when she ran a temperature, but it now belonged to Beatrice. … For the next few days, Anthea stayed at home and packed the remainder of her items. At the sight of suitcases lying everywhere when he returned, Harlan couldn't help but frown and ask, "What are you doing?" Anthea lied, "We're having a change of seasons. I'm worried things will get moldy, so I took them out to organize them." Something was clearly off, but he did not ask any further. He simply apologized for abandoning her the last time and dragged her to the theatre to watch a movie. "It's the movie that you've been wanting to watch," he explained. "Take this as an apology from me, Thea." He refused to take no for an answer. As soon as they took their seats in the movie theatre, Anthea saw Beatrice. Beatrice was seated in front with a man whom Anthea did not know, behaving intimately. Harlan's expression darkened, and he kept his gaze on Beatrice ever since the movie started. Anthea suddenly remembered the time someone had asked for her number in the past. At that time, Harlan merely stroked her hair with a smile and said, "Look at how popular my darling is." As it turned out, if he truly liked the person, Harlan would be fuming with jealousy. … Halfway through the movie, Anthea lost interest. Just as she was about to find an excuse to leave, she heard a commotion outside. The fire alarm went off almost immediately after that." "There's been a fire! Quickly run!" someone screamed, causing the crowd to fall into chaos. Thick smoke gushed in through the vents, and Harlan quickly wrapped Anthea in his jacket and protected her while they rushed out. However, after they arrived in the safe zone, he started to look for something. Anthea looked in the direction of his line of sight and noticed that the man who was with Beatrice had come out alone. Beatrice, however, was nowhere to be seen. Before Anthea could make sense of the situation, Harlan dumped her there and rushed over. "Where's Beatrice?" Grabbing the man by his collar, he growled, "Why didn't you bring her out with you?" The man did not know who Harlan was, but he was so frightened by the air Harlan exuded that he stuttered, "W-Who cares about her? We just got to know each other online. Of course, I'll save myself in a life-or-death situation!" After giving him a hard punch, Harlan rushed into the fire without hesitation. The firefighter who rushed over stopped him with all his might and shouted, "Don't go inside, sir! We'll conduct the rescue work. The fire is too strong now! You'll die if you go in now!" "It'll be too late if we wait any longer!" Harlan shouted. His eyes were red as he pushed the firefighter away and ran into the fire, completely forgetting that his girlfriend was next to him.