Since Alia Garcia went on a business trip, Christopher Hart had been sleeping restlessly.
Especially since his mother had fallen ill and been hospitalized, which made his already shallow sleep even worse.
At night, before trying to sleep, he made an international call, but it didn’t connect.
He didn’t know if that woman was angry and refused to deal with him or was just busy and couldn’t reply. His mind was troubled, yet he didn’t harass her again.
In the dead of night, he was without a hint of sleepiness.
If it were just like usual, his insomnia would have been tolerable, but tonight he was full of irritation, a mounting panic hard to suppress.
Thinking about how he was being tornted by an ungrateful woman to the point of losing his peace of mind, he was angry at heart. He lay rigidly on the bed, clenching his fists, trying to clear his mind, not to care about her.
However, the more he convinced himself, the more he reinforced the mory. Her face persisted in his mind.
Although he had traced that delicate and stunning face with his hands, he still longed to see her with his own eyes.
He was going crazy with the desire...
Finally, his eyes suddenly opened wide, and he simply gave up the struggle, allowing that shadow to wreak havoc in his heart.
The childhood mories, inherently deeply etched in his mind, coupled with the fact that he had sneakily caught up with the latest part of the novel in recent days, made those mories even more vivid.
"Brother Christopher, how do I solve this problem? Explain it to ."
"Brother Christopher, climbing mountains is so tiring, why do you guys always love to climb?"
"Brother Christopher, will I die from losing this much blood?"
"Brother Christopher, how do you know girls need to use this thing? I... I don’t know how, no one has ever told ..."
Her clear, pleasant voice echoed in his ears, her smile appeared before his eyes—bright, hearty, brilliant, reserved, shy...
The irritation in his heart smoothed inexplicably, and sleepiness gradually deepened.
Just as he was about to fall asleep and continue to drown in the romantic spring scenery, the buzzing of his phone woke him from under his pillow.
Incoming call.
The drowsiness vanished in an instant, and he thought it was her finally calling back. He imdiately grabbed his phone.
But it wasn’t her.
The screen displayed an unknown number. Perhaps the forr him would have recognized who it was, but now his mory hadn’t recovered.
It was nearly dawn; who would be looking for him at this hour?
"Hello..."
"Christopher Hart! It’s Snow Fitch! Sothing might have happened to Alia!"
No sooner had he answered the phone than an urgent female voice ca from the other end, frantic with anxiety.
His mind exploded with the sound, and he froze for a mont, suddenly understanding the reason for his unease tonight.
He propped up slightly, trying to calm the turbulent heartbeat in his chest, and made his voice steadier, "Tell clearly... what happened to her?"
"Alia’s flight was supposed to return ho today, and I was ant to pick her up at the airport, so I’ve been following the flight information. I just saw a news update on a foreign website that said a Swiss Airline plane encountered extre weather and had to make an ergency landing in Dubai, and it seems like there was an accident during the landing..."
Snow’s words ca out rapidly. Christopher still half propped up, didn’t need to hear the rest to be overco with panic that far exceeded confusion and fear.
"She... she isn’t supposed to return until the day after tomorrow?" The man’s voice was weak and eerily distorted.
"It was supposed to be, but because of the issue of transferring your assets, she was rushing back to deal with it and changed her return to today. She didn’t tell anyone, and I only found out when I contacted her today."
His heart was pounding, as if all his blood vessels were spasming and twisting together, a naless pain surged violently through him. He lowered his head with great difficulty, breathing harshly, "Is the news... credible?"
"It should be correct. I can’t get through to Alia or her assistant’s phones, and I’ve tried calling the airline custor service, but it’s constantly engaged. Probably everything is in chaos right now, so I thought to inform you to see if you could contact friends abroad or soone who can confirm the situation as soon as possible."
"Alright, I got it..."
After hanging up the phone, he sat stunned for a second, feeling as if his chest was constricted, unable to breathe, his brain quickly going blank from the lack of oxygen.
So the woman didn’t answer the phone because she was on the flight?
Just fine, she had returned early...
Brows furrowed deeply, he couldn’t support his feeble body and collapsed back onto the bed.
Multiple pains overlapped; he held his phone but couldn’t grip it, and it fell, hitting him in the chest.
He imdiately picked it up, intending to call Benny Palr.
But his hand trembled fiercely, and his vision blurred, as if he was about to go blind again.
"Soone! Co quickly!"
After shouting twice and before the caretaker could rush over, he hurriedly tried to get out of bed, but he used too much force and rolled off the bed.
His head hit the bedside table, a piercing pain shot through him, but he ignored it, grabbing whatever was at hand and hurling it toward the door.
The huge commotion awakened everyone in the villa, and soon, the caretaker and Fuller arrived almost at the sa ti.
"President Hart, what’s wrong? Which part of you is uncomfortable?"
"Fuller, call Benny Palr... quick! She’s had an accident..."
Fuller, not understanding the situation but seeing his urgently pale expression, didn’t dare to delay and quickly took out his phone to call Benny.
"President Hart, I’ve called..."
The call connected. Benny’s voice ca through, annoyed, "It’s late at night, what’s the commotion..."
"Benny, her flight had an accident, quick... confirm—"
Benny shot up from the bed, not clear about the situation, "Whose flight?" He asked, and then it dawned on him, "You an Alia? She’s returned to the country?"
"Snow said she ca back early. The flight encountered an accident and had to make an ergency landing in Dubai, and now they’re out of contact..."
Fuller knelt on the ground, supporting his weak body.
Hearing that, Fuller’s face also turned pale, his eyes filled with dread.
Air travel incidents are uncommon, but when they do happen, they tend to be life-threatening, even catastrophic.
How could such an extrely low-probability event befall his wife?
Benny was still on the line, already up and dressing swiftly, his tone urgent and grave, "Okay, I got it. Don’t panic, I’ll confirm the news right away, wait for my call!"
After the call ended, Christopher frowned deeply, bowed his head and closed his eyes, then opened them again. For so reason, everything started to go dark before his eyes, as though the fluttering snow on a black and white television indicated the system was about to crash.
"Fuller, the wheelchair..."
"President Hart, it’s the middle of the night, where are you going..."
"Hurry up!" Christopher ignored his advice, pushing him away brusquely.
Fuller had no choice but to bring the wheelchair over, and with the help of the caretaker, they moved him onto it.
But where could he go at this ti?
All he knew was that the woman might have had an accident, Snow said the flight made an ergency landing in Dubai, but Dubai was far away in the Middle East. Not to ntion his current inability to move around, even if he were fully able-bodied, he wouldn’t be able to get there right away.
So, he sat in the wheelchair only to suddenly freeze, becoming motionless.
Fuller looked at him, his mouth moved, but no sound ca out; he just quietly stood by his side.
The room was deathly silent, the air felt as if it had solidified. Despite the constant temperature and humidity, at this mont, it was as cold as an ice cellar, chilling to the bone.
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