The man smiled, helped her sit up, and placed a pillow behind her back.
"If I told you... this was The Elysian Fields, would you believe ?"
Her eyes fell, crestfallen.
"If only there really were an Elysian Fields..."
’If there really is an Elysian Fields, I think I’d probably go there after I die.’ In her twenty-so years of life, she had never done a single bad thing. She was a devout Buddhist. Surely a place without suffering would let her in.
After thinking this, she rembered the others who had been in the shipwreck with her and quickly asked the man,
"What about the others?"
"Dead."
The man’s reply was very calm. Her face was a mask of terror and disbelief. Seeing her doubt, the man explained further,
"Only a few were rescued. Most of them are dead. You’re one of the lucky ones."
She clapped a hand over her mouth, jumped out of bed, and leaned over the nearby trash can, retching violently. The horrific image of dozens of people perishing in the sea made her stomach turn. She heaved over the bin for a long ti before she started to feel a bit better. The man’s calm voice sounded from behind her.
"Oh, right. I forgot to tell you—you’re pregnant."
Her legs gave out, and she collapsed to the floor, her face as white as a sheet.
’Pregnant? How could I be pregnant? Why now, of all tis? I had already made up my mind to leave him, so how could I be carrying his child? It must have happened during that ti before he went back to ridia. We were together so often, and sotis we forgot to use protection.’
A wave of despair washed over her.
Suddenly, her emotions shattered. She sat right there on the floor, buried her head in her knees, and began to wail. It was a release, a raw, unrestrained sob like a child’s. In all her life, she had never cried so hysterically. It wasn’t her style; she would usually just shed silent tears or hide all her grievances deep in her heart.
"Uh..."
The man, startled by her sudden breakdown, walked over and looked at her as she sobbed with her head buried.
"If you don’t want the baby, you can get an abortion. dicine is so advanced these days. I run a hospital; I can arrange it for you. Why are you crying like the sky is falling...?"
The man tried to comfort her with his kind words, but she couldn’t hear any of it, lost in her own relentless crying. He sighed, brought a box of tissues over and placed it in front of her, then turned and walked out.
She just kept crying and crying until the despair and helplessness coiling in her heart began to dissipate and her mood eased a little. She didn’t know how long she had been crying. She only rembered that when she pushed the door open to go outside, she saw the man leaning against the deck railing, enjoying the breeze. They were sailing on a vast, calm, and boundless sea.
She walked over, her eyes red and swollen, and thanked the man.
"Thank you for saving my life."
A smile played on the man’s lips, the lapels of his shirt fluttering in the sea wind.
"Finished crying? So, tell , how are you going to thank ? I don’t think repaying with your body is cliché at all!"
The man’s humor made her burst out laughing.
"A ’buy one, get one free’ deal is a bargain for other things, but for sothing like this, don’t you think you’d be getting the short end of the stick?"
The light in the man’s eyes dimd slightly.
"So you’ve decided to keep the baby?"
"Yes. The baby is innocent..."
She walked over and leaned on the railing, letting the sea wind whip against her face and toss her long hair. As she gazed at the horizon where the sea t the sky, her view seed to open up, and so did her heart.
"So what are your plans now?"
The man turned to lean on the railing beside her, then tilted his head and asked. She shook her head.
"I don’t know. Where are you headed?"
’My plans are in complete disarray now. I have no idea what to do. I’ll just wait for his boat to dock. I’ll get off wherever it stops and then figure out how to support myself.’
"Emberton, Syan!"
The man replied with two words. She looked at him, stunned.
"Wincastle?"
Wincastle was Julian Donovan’s hotown. She had been there several years ago with Ian Shaw for his dical treatnt and surgery.
The man’s gaze suddenly turned solemn and serious.
"You don’t rember , do you?"
"Have we t?"
She was completely astonished. She stared at the man, studying him closely, and then, as if a mory had suddenly surfaced, she asked hesitantly,
"Vice... Director Donovan?"
The man smiled, acknowledging the identity she had nad. Half-joking, half-serious, he said,
"And here I’ve been thinking about you all these years, and you don’t even rember !"
"You must be joking!"
She pretended not to see the emotion in his eyes. The man just smiled.
"Why don’t you co with to Wincastle? At least you’ll have an acquaintance there in , right?"
She thought about it, decided he had a point, and agreed. The man glanced at her again and asked hesitantly,
"What about your family...?"
A dull ache throbbed in her heart, and she lowered her eyes, her expression darkening.
"Regarding the fact that you saved ... can you please keep it a secret for ?"
The man instantly understood what she ant and didn’t press the issue. Instead, he asked,
"Then, can you tell your na?"
She remained leaning on the railing with her head down, scenes from the past six years replaying over and over in her mind: his indifference and cruelty, her own humility and compromises, and that final scene of him holding Juliet Jennings in the rain...
She opened her mouth and softly spoke two words.
"Anna Quinn."
’From this day on, I’ll forget the past completely. I hope my future will be peaceful and safe, without so many twists and turns.’ The mont the words left her lips, a single, hot tear escaped from beneath her dark hair, falling into the spray kicked up by the ship and vanishing in an instant.
"Anna Quinn?"
The man murmured her na.
"A na that suits you. Quiet and peaceful."
The man’s interpretation of her na made her heart ache with a bitter pang. She blinked hard, forcing back the tears that were about to fall. Tilting her head up, she spread her arms to the sea breeze. ’From today on, I will never shed another tear for that man. From today on, I will live my own life.’
After that, she followed Sean Donovan to Wincastle. Sean Donovan was the director of Donovan Hospital, and through him, she was able to get a job at Donovan Hospital and return to her beloved nursing profession. Later on, that led to her and Joy’s life now.
In the morning, while she was still asleep, she felt a small hand gently pushing her. She groggily opened her eyes and saw that Joy was already awake, sitting up and looking at her pitifully. She scrambled out of bed, scooped Joy up, and rushed to the bathroom. She used to wake up very early every morning to take Joy to the potty on ti. The exhaustion from too many nightmares last night must have made her oversleep.
Joy had always been silent, never speaking. At first, she thought it was just a case of a child being a late talker and didn’t worry too much. But when Joy was still not speaking at two years old, she began to panic and rushed her to the hospital.
The doctor said it might be autism. The news was like a bolt from the blue. After the initial diagnosis, she held Joy and cried all the way ho. But then, unexpectedly, Joy had called her "Mama." That single word convinced her that Joy couldn’t possibly be autistic, which was why she was now taking her to rcy Hospital.
The thought that the director of rcy Hospital himself would be examining Joy today filled her with hope. She took extra care dressing Joy, putting her in a pink hoodie with a cute cartoon hat, hoping the director would see what an adorable little girl she was and give her a more thorough examination.
Just before leaving, she rembered what Sean Donovan had said last night. She took the diamond engagent ring he had given her from the drawer and put it on. ’Right. Since I accepted his gift, I should wear it. Even if I’m not used to wearing a ring, I’ll get used to it eventually.’
Ever since she had uttered that indifferent "And you are...?" before disappearing from his sight with the child in her arms, Julian Donovan’s mind had been in fragnts. He had to smoke an entire pack of cigarettes in his office just to calm down from the shock of seeing her.
That face. He was certain it was her.
But her indifferent gaze, and the aura she had now... He took another harsh drag from his cigarette. She felt like a stranger.
After composing himself, he had soone schedule an appointnt for her to bring the child in tomorrow.
’When I see her tomorrow, I have to get to the bottom of this. And that child... the thought of that child’s age makes want to kill soone!’
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