*****Xavier could already feel it and practically see it now… the warmth Grace had begun to show slowly freezing over and sealing itself behind a thick wall of guilt, betrayal, and pain.In fact, her current silence was already enough of a proof… so heavy that it felt deafening, a cold barrier stretching between them in the cramped car.The Grace who once smiled faintly at his teasing, blushed in embarrassment at his stares, and the one who had reached for his hand earlier without hesitation was rapidly vanishing before his eyes, being replaced by the old Grace… the Grace who could look the world dead in the eye and pretend nothing hurt.She was gradually getting replaced by the woman who would rather swallow her grief whole than show it to anyone, because to her, vulnerability wasn’t just weakness… it was exposure and danger.And this realization… it made Xavier’s chest ache so fiercely and bitterly that it felt like a slow-burning pain, twisting through him from inside to outs

*****The rest of the journey unfolded in absolute silence… one so heavy that it seemed to press against every lung.The only sound was the low hum of the engine, the one coming from the other passing vehicles, and the occasional sniffle that escaped Susan’s trembling lips.The tension in the car hadn’t completely faded. It hung in the air, fueled especially by Susan’s constant muffled sobs, her whispered prayers, and the desperate pleas she kept repeating to Williams, as if he could still hear her. Still, something subtle had shifted.Grace’s frantic breathing had steadied, and her knuckles were no longer ghost-white on the steering wheel.Her gaze remained focused on the road… sharp and steady now, the previous desperate, haunted glint they once held having faded somewhat.Even her hands had loosened, her touch on the wheel no longer trembling.If anything, she drove now with careful precision… neither too fast nor too slow, moving with the calm of someone trying not to bre

*****Susan stared at Grace in a daze for a moment, disbelief widening her eyes and unable to believe what she had just heard, until finally…The tears that had been previously pooling in her eyes and clouding her vision fell, sliding down her cheeks to make her see clearly, before finally, slowly, and with trembling hands, she turned to her face to the window.Outside, the sprawling beauty of Oceanview entered her sight… the perfectly trimmed hedges, the marble driveway, the towering glass façade of Villa Number, and everything else.It was paradise to most eyes. But to Susan… at this moment, it was meaningless.All the elegance, the wealth, and the quiet luxury… it might as well have been a wasteland.Her mind refused to register the beauty, and instead, all she saw was not the hospital.Her chest heaved once before she turned back to her daughter, her panic rising like a wave about to crash.“Then… then where are we?” she demanded, her voice breaking. “Where are we, Grace?!

*****Xavier had never anticipated any of what had just transpired, and so, for a moment, he had no idea what to do.So he just stared, his brain appearing to have become stagnant, before finally… he drew in a careful breath.“Mother,” he said softly, the words startling Susan.Her head instantly snapped toward him, her eyes blinking as though she had only just remembered he existed.Seeing him, her face softened slightly… just a fraction, remembering all the ways he had helped since his arrival.“Yes?” she replied, her voice curt but less sharp now.Xavier hesitated for a moment, measuring every word like stepping over a minefield, before finally speaking carefully. “I think… you’ve misunderstood Grace.”Susan’s brow furrowed instantly, a dangerous spark lighting in her eyes.Her lips parted, ready to fire back… but Xavier pressed on before she could explode.“She was going to the hospital, driving so fast and recklessly, desperate and anxious just like you,” he said quickl

*****Inside the grand and luxurious Villa Number One, the vast living room currently glowed softly in the morning light pouring through the tall windows, enhancing the atmosphere of the calm and refined elegance that always fills the space.However, the atmosphere seemed tense at this moment.Laura, Xavier’s mother, was pacing back and forth like a restless spirit, her movements sharp and uneven.The faint shuffle of her slippers against the marble floor echoed… the only sound that broke the heavy, suffocating silence enveloping the room. At that moment, her face was pale, her hair slightly disheveled, and her hands shook as she clutched her cell phone, pressing it to her ear, pulling it away, and pressing it back again in a frantic loop.“What happened?” she whispered anxiously to herself for what must have been the hundredth time, her voice trembling. “Why isn’t he answering? It’s already seven… why is he still unreachable?”Her tone carried the raw panic of a mother trying