Ethan gently waved away Nick's hand gripping his collar, straightened out the wrinkles, and a cold glint flashed in his sinister eyes, emanating a chilling low-pressure atmosphere.
"No need for you to remind me every time about Jessica sacrificing herself for me. It's been five years, we should all move on, not be trapped in the past."
Upon hearing his words, a burst of anger erupted in Nick's heart. His head heated up, without second thoughts, he threw a fierce punch towards Ethan's face.
Ethan didn't evade, taking the punch head-on.
His tall figure staggered back two steps.
Nick, still furious, grabbed his collar again, his expression twisted with rage. "Ethan, do you know what you're saying? Jessica loved you deeply, and is this how you repay her?"
Ethan didn't want to engage in verbal sparring. He lightly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his thumb and calmly said, "We've had our fight. Is your anger relieved now?"
"You...!" Nick became even more infuriated, raising his hand again to strike him.
The door of the hospital room suddenly burst open, a tall figure swiftly rushing in and firmly grabbing his hand. "Nick, what are you doing?"
Seeing the injury on Ethan's lip, the newcomer's eyebrows furrowed. "If I hadn't come, would you have beaten him to death here?"
Nick, looking at Oliver's sudden appearance, turned even redder in the face, abandoning his usual humor, and angrily said, "Ask him. Is he speaking like a human? He wants us to forget Jessica? How can he justify himself for the death of Jessica? Jessica died for him, but he not only has children now but also fell in love with another woman."
Upon hearing this, Oliver looked at the still unconscious Samantha and instantly understood. He released Nick, sighed helplessly, and consoled, "What Ethan said is right. She's been dead for years; we should move on. There's no need to linger in the sorrow of the past. Should we all die with Jessica? Ethan has found true love; as brothers, we should offer blessings, not hinder."
Nick's heart ached.
Thinking of Jessica, whose body hadn't even been found, he painfully sank to the ground, hands cradling his face. A grown man, crying like this.
“Jessica died so tragically. I dream of her every night, dreaming that she comes to me, asking me to watch over Ethan and prevent him from falling in love with another woman. It's my fault; if I had insisted on accompanying her to get the gift that day, she wouldn't have been kidnapped!”
Every time he thought about it, he felt overwhelming self-blame.
He blamed himself for not insisting at that time.
Why did he let Jessica leave alone?
As a result, they were forever separated.
Oliver could understand his feelings.
He walked over, crouched behind him, placed his arm on his shoulder, gently patting to console.
"Jessica grew up with us; I know how important she is to you. I also know that you've been blaming yourself for five years. But things have already passed, and you can't keep trapping yourself in this whirlpool. Ethan is starting a new life, and you should too."
Even though he said that.
Deep down, he knew.
For someone who values emotions and loyalty.
How could they easily move on?
Otherwise, this matter wouldn't have weighed on their hearts for five years.
Ethan leaned weakly against the wall, his expression pained and desolate. "Blame me for this, not yourself. Don't torment yourself anymore."
Nick remained silent. His eyes were bloodshot.
A sorrowful atmosphere enveloped the hospital room.
It was so oppressive that it felt hard to breathe.
Just at that moment.
An untimely figure hurriedly burst in.
"Samantha, how is Samantha? Is she okay? I said I wanted to accompany her, but she refused. Now, she was almost strangled by her biological father..."
Yurika carefully observed the situation in the hospital room and forcefully halted her remaining words.
She glanced at the injured Ethan and then at the seemingly crying big man on the ground. Awkwardly clearing her throat, she said, "Ahem, sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you. I came to find my friend."
Then, pointing at Nick, she incredulously asked, "He.. is he crying?"
A big man, actually crying! This is too embarrassing.
Nick's tall figure suddenly froze.
Yurika realized she had said something inappropriate and quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it! Cry if you want, it's okay to express your feelings. Keeping it inside will make you sick."
Three big men: "..."
Samantha, who had been pretending to be unconscious, couldn't take it anymore.
She felt that if she didn't intervene, Nick might actually throw Yurika out.
So—
She started a deliberate cough, pretending to be uncomfortable, and rubbed her temples as if in pain. "Where am I? Is anyone here?"
Seeing her wake up, Yurika instantly forgot about Ethan and the others. She rushed to the bedside and asked anxiously, "Samantha, how do you feel? Are you okay? Is there any discomfort?"
Samantha 'struggled' to sit up from the bed and continuously made eye contact with Yurika.
Yurikaiseemed clueless, unable to understand her signals, and asked with a concerned expression, "Samantha, how did you come here? Did you have a twitch in your eyelids?"
Her words brought a weird and awkward silence to the hospital room.
Nick forgot about his sadness, slowly stood up from the ground.
The three big men all looked at them.
Especially Nick, whose face turned as unpleasant as if he had eaten something disgusting.
Samantha despairingly closed her eyes. She really wanted to pry open Yurika's head and see what was inside.
Nick, with a gloomy face, walked to the bedside step by step, gritting his teeth, "You've been pretending to be unconscious all along?"
Samantha chuckled awkwardly.
Just as she was about to explain, she heard Yurika, this troublemaker, saying, "Samantha, so you were pretending to be unconscious! Why would you do that? Do you know how worried I was?"
Nick's crimson eyes emitted a horrified chill, and his gaze became as cold as ice.
Samantha was frightened by his appearance and quickly explained, "I wasn't pretending to be unconscious. I saw you guys arguing and didn't dare to wake up. I was afraid of interrupting the atmosphere between you."
There was no choice.
Considering how crazy Nick was acting.
The person who was supposed to be unconscious was forcibly awakened by him.
In that situation.
How could she open her eyes!
"You..." Nick was so angry that he wanted to kill her.
Seeing his expression, Samantha, in fear, instinctively moved her buttocks back, hoping to stay away from him.
Ethan noticed that something was amiss and stood in front of him, warningly looking at Nick.
The posture seemed to say, "If you dare touch her, we're not finished."
Nick, with a distorted handsome face, was inconvenient to have a conflict with Ethan in front of outsiders. He glared fiercely at Samantha and Yurika before angrily leaving.
Yurika was inexplicably stared at, not knowing what she had done to upset him.
Oliver patted Ethan's shoulder, "I'll go talk to him. Don't take it to heart. He has been tormented by inner demons for so many years, not as easy as you."
This incident had a tremendous impact on Nick.
For a long time, he had closed himself off, unwilling to emerge from the grief and self-torture.
The humorous and witty man he used to be had disappeared completely with Jessica's death.
Many times, he was advised to see a psychologist, but he ignored it.
No one knew when he would be able to move on from this event.
***