Felix’s eyelids, which he had struggled to keep open, drooped shut from exhaustion. His head lolled forward, his upper body held tight by the seatbelt.
"Felix, Felix—"
Raina called out twice, but he didn’t answer.
Paradics rushed over with a stretcher, and Ethan Lancaster pulled Raina away.
The rescue was difficult. In the end, the fire departnt had to be called in to cut the door open and pull Felix out.
Raina’s hand was clenched into a tight fist, and she didn’t dare to loosen her grip for even a second. Hidden in her palm was what felt like a key; its rough, tallic edges seed to dig into her skin.
Felix was lifted onto the stretcher. A paradic stood up. "Is there any family here?"
Raina took a step forward. "I am."
"What are you doing?" Ethan gripped her wrist.
"I think he’s not going to make it, Ethan. He was my classmate."
’Felix was in Miles Hawthorne’s car... does that an the crash was originally ant for Miles? Could this be related to that information?’ Ethan’s heart softened for so reason.
Raina followed the paradics into the ambulance. Seeing this, Ethan went with them.
Felix was rushed into the ergency room. Miles Hawthorne arrived as soon as he got the news. Although he was surprised to see Raina and Ethan, he didn’t have ti to dwell on it.
Raina sat hunched over, motionless, staring at her feet. Occasionally, she would reach up to wipe the corner of her eye.
Back in school, Felix had been a troublemaker. He hated studying and was often sent to stand outside the classroom with a book on his head, yet he had sohow clicked with her and Miles.
Back then, they had made a pact to go to the sa university. Miles had even laughed that with Felix’s grades, he could at least make it to the sa city.
It was just that they would attend the best university, while he would go to the worst one in that city.
Miles paced anxiously outside the ergency room. He had already lost too many people; he couldn’t lose the only trustworthy friend he had left.
Ethan glanced at Raina. She still had her head down, her loose hair hiding her face.
He didn’t know how to comfort her. ’She’s a doctor. She should be more accustod to this than anyone.’
The ergency room doors opened. Raina instinctively pulled her legs back. ’Felix was only just taken in. For the resuscitation to end this quickly... that can’t be good news.’
Miles didn’t dare to ask, but he saw the doctor shake his head at him.
"What... what does that an?"
"I’m sorry. He was already gone by the ti he was brought in."
Raina stood up and saw Miles rush inside. Ethan’s phone rang in his pocket, and he stepped aside to answer it.
Raina followed him in. Seeing Miles standing beside the resuscitation table, she charged over and punched him hard in the back twice. "Are you satisfied now? Are you satisfied?!"
Miles stood frozen. Raina grabbed him, spun him around to face her, and held out her clenched fist. "And what is this? This is what you wanted, isn’t it?"
She opened her fingers, revealing a key in her palm. Raina threw it at him. "Was it worth a life for this thing?"
Miles had always had a cold and distant deanor, but now his expression had changed completely. It was as if the conviction he had held onto for so long had crumbled. He looked back at Felix, a sorrow seeping out from the very marrow of his bones.
"How many more people are you going to get killed?" Raina demanded loudly.
Miles braced his hands on the edge of the bed, his shoulders trembling slightly. Even his voice shook. "Raina, then you tell , what should I do?"
The words were on the tip of Raina’s tongue, but she couldn’t say them. ’That’s right... if it were , what would I do?’
’Such a good man like Hawthorne died an unnatural death. What else could he do?’
So things are wrong if you give up, but pursuing them seems to be wrong too. It was a dead end either way. It was just that no one was standing in Miles’s shoes.
Raina looked at her childhood playmate, now lying there as a corpse, and she sobbed so hard she could barely speak.
Miles lowered his head as dark, wet circles blood on the white bedsheet. The hands he used to support himself slowly clenched into fists. "My dad is gone. My mom... she doesn’t have much ti left. Raina, I lost you, too, and now even Felix is gone. Soon, I’ll be all alone. You tell , if I let this go, what future do I have?"
Raina couldn’t answer. All she knew was that her heart ached, so much so that she could hardly breathe.
She turned to leave, her steps unsteady. Suddenly, Miles caught up to her, pulling her into a tight embrace from behind.
"Raina, if ti could be turned back, I wouldn’t have ended up like this. Wouldn’t it have been great if we had just stayed together?"
The sharp, antiseptic sll of the hospital filled Raina’s senses. "Miles Hawthorne, have you ever thought about what would happen if, one day, you were the one lying there?"
Miles’s voice was thick with emotion, his composure on the verge of shattering. His arms around Raina tightened. "Then... you can cry for like this, too. You’ll feel better after you cry."
Hearing this, Raina’s tears flowed even more fiercely, and her whole body felt like it was about to collapse.
After finishing his call, Ethan turned and walked back toward the ergency room. Just as he took a step inside, Raina pushed Miles away.
The two stood facing each other. Ethan saw Raina raise her hand and strike Miles with a force that was clearly all she could muster.
Miles was tall, and her first blow landed on his neck. Raina was hitting him without any specific target. The second strike hit his face, followed by his shoulder, his face, his face...
The man stood perfectly still as his face and neck turned red. A few of the slaps made a sharp, cracking sound, and one left a deep, red mark on Miles’s face.
One was willing to hit, the other willing to be hit. But even after venting her anger like this, the suffocating feeling in Raina’s heart remained.
’He made it sound so simple,’ she thought. ’Soone dies, you have a good cry, and then everything is fine. Is it really like that?’
SMACK! Raina landed another slap. Miles turned his head to the side. Her hand was trembling, as was her entire body.
Ethan strode in quickly, put an arm around Raina’s shoulders, and pulled her away. "That’s enough."
Her faltering body finally found a point of support, and she leaned against Ethan’s arm. Miles looked disheveled but paid it no mind. He turned and walked back to Felix’s side.
He picked up the blood-stained sheet and pulled it over Felix’s face.
Ethan held Raina, intending to lead her away. He lifted her hand and glanced at it. "Were you trying to beat him to death?"
"Ethan, this is none of your business."
’Yes, she could hit him if she wanted, as hard as she wanted.’ The reason he had pulled her away wasn’t that he was worried Miles would get hurt. He just saw how much force she was using and was afraid she would hurt herself.
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