Chapter 96: Chapter 96
Inside the emergency room, Elise slowly drifted back to consciousness.
The moment she opened her eyes, she heard Madeline call out, "Doctor, my friend is awake!"
The attending physician stepped over immediately, checking her blood pressure and heart rate to confirm everything was stable.
"She’s fine now. Fasting for the blood draw triggered her low blood sugar. Now that she’s awake, have her drink some glucose water and get some food. Once she rests for a bit, she can go home."
Madeline stepped forward to help Elise sit up. Unscrewing the bottle of glucose water, she held it to her lips. "Quick, take a few sips. You scared me to death!"
Elise was no stranger to this kind of situation. She calmly took the bottle, tilted her head back, and swallowed a few mouthfuls.
Madeline then unwrapped a sandwich and handed it to her. "Here, eat."
Elise took it and bit down.
Sitting on the edge of the bed and looking at Elise’s still-pale complexion, Madeline frowned and sighed. "Elise, you really can’t live alone like this. You already have low blood sugar, and now that you’re pregnant, you have to take this seriously."
Elise swallowed the sandwich before looking at Madeline. "I know."
Seeing her so calm, Madeline asked, "Do you have a plan?"
Elise didn’t answer because she saw Dylan walking in.
Following Elise’s gaze, Madeline turned her head and felt her scalp go numb at the sight of him.
Dylan walked to the bedside, casting a commanding, downward glance at Madeline.
She immediately bolted upright. "Uh, I just remembered I have a call to return. Elise, I’m going to step out and make a quick phone call!" With that, she vanished like a streak of smoke.
Dylan was holding a takeout bag from the most famous—and hardest to line up for—breakfast restaurant in North City.
Before Elise could even react, the sandwich in her hand was suddenly snatched away by Dylan, who tossed it right into the nearby trash can.
Elise frowned, glaring up at him in anger. "Are you insane?"
"You’re pregnant right now. This kind of fast food is completely lacking in nutrition," Dylan said, setting the dim sum container in front of her. "Eat this."
Elise didn’t move.
Dylan looked at her with an icy face. "Elise, don’t mistreat yourself and the child in your womb just out of spite. This isn’t how a mature mother should act."
Staring at the food container, Elise couldn’t help but let out a low chuckle at his words. The laugh was dripping with mockery.
The crease between Dylan’s brows deepened. "What are you laughing at?"
Elise looked up at him, her beautiful eyes entirely devoid of warmth. "Dylan, do you honestly think that by doing all this, we can just pretend nothing happened? That we can keep playing house just because of this child?"
Dylan stared at her. He chose silence, knowing that anything he said right now would be futile. Elise was drowning in resentment; no matter what he said, she wouldn’t understand.
But he couldn’t just agree to a divorce either. After five years, they were finally having a second child. He truly believed the arrival of this new life could dissolve the bitterness in her heart. With a new baby and enough time, Elise would eventually let go of the past.
Watching Dylan hide behind his silence yet again, a fierce surge of unwillingness welled up inside Elise.
"Dylan, Oliver must have told you, right? I want to know—five years ago, when the kidnappers called you, what exactly were you doing?"
Hearing this, Dylan visibly stiffened. In the next instant, he averted his gaze.
To Elise, this reaction was nothing short of a guilty conscience.
"Dylan, you want me to drop the divorce and come home with you? Fine. I have only one condition. Just tell me where you were five years ago and what exactly you were doing. The moment you tell me, I’ll go back to court with you."
Dylan’s hands clenched into fists at his sides. "Elise, I can’t talk about that. Name... name another condition."
"I only have this one condition," Elise smiled, her expression laced with a tragic coldness. "You said your involvement with Quinn was just for show. Fine, I believed you! You said you never cheated, never betrayed our marriage. Fine, I believed that too!"
"Right now, the only thing left between us that I can’t let go of is that endless string of missed calls five years ago. I just want to know what was so important that you were doing back then."
Elise stared unblinkingly at Dylan. This time, she wasn’t hysterical; her tone was quieter and calmer than it had ever been. She didn’t cry either. After all this time, her persistent questioning was simply to give herself and her lost twins an explanation.
Yet, Dylan remained silent.
Elise waited and waited, but no answer came.
She let out a scoffing laugh. "Is it really that hard? What grand, unspeakable thing did you do that you dare not let me know? I truly cannot fathom what could possibly be so important that it caused you to miss the life-saving calls of your wife and children over and over again."
Dylan’s Adam’s apple bobbed as his gaze slowly shifted back to her. As their eyes met, Elise saw a turbulent wave of struggle and agony in his eyes.
Her heart tightened instinctively.
Just when she thought Dylan had finally resolved to confess, his phone vibrated with a notification.
He pulled it out, pausing slightly when he saw the caller ID, but he answered it anyway. Turning slightly to the side, he spoke into the receiver, "Fleur... what’s wrong? Call a nurse first, I’ll be right over."
Hanging up, Dylan turned back to Elise, his expression turning grave. "There’s an issue on my sister-in-law’s end, I need to go check on her. Eat your breakfast first, and wait for me to come back and pick you up."
With that hurried instruction, he turned and strode away.
Listening to the rapid footsteps fading into the distance, Elise lowered her eyes, a cynical sneer playing on her lips.
Before it was Quinn; now it was Fleur. In Dylan’s book, it seemed Elise was the only one who could always be pushed to the very back of the line. Because in his mind, no matter what he did, she would always be waiting right where he left her. It was as if the Elise who loved him recklessly was entirely invincible.
But he was wrong. Elise was only human. She yearned for her devotion to be reciprocated, and she wanted the man she loved to understand her. Yet all she ever got was being abandoned over and over again.
Elise closed her eyes, utterly exhausted in body and soul.
Since Dylan refused to believe she was completely done with this marriage, she would let him see it with his own eyes and feel it for himself. When the partner who always gave unprompted finally refused to give anymore, it meant the love was dead, and the relationship was officially over.
...
When Dylan returned to the emergency room an hour later, Elise was already gone.
He dialed her number, expecting her to ignore it, but to his surprise, she picked up almost instantly.
On the line, Elise’s voice was cold and carried an uncharacteristic authority: "I just got home. Come over alone right now. We need to talk."
