Chapter 11
Maybe it was for revenge. To make the person who had tormented Abigail for years pay.
Three days later, the police called and asked me to come in for questioning.
“Have you been extorted or had your personal safety threatened recently?” they asked.
I shook my head, unsure of what to say. They continued to ask, pressing for
any unusual occurrences in my life or enemies I might have made. I had only just arrived here, my social circle limited to colleagues and industry contacts. It seemed unlikely that I had anything to worry about.
That was until they showed me the surveillance footage from near my house.
The police explained that, over the past week, two people had repeatedly been in the vicinity of my home. One of them, just
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this morning, had put a hallucinogenic drug into the fresh milk I usually ordered.
Luckily, I had been in a rush this morning and hadn’t collected the milk in time.
The surveillance footage was clear. After reviewing it multiple times, one of the figures was unmistakably Daniel.
The police brought me to see him. When I sat down and met his eyes, which had lost all their usual spark, I couldn’t help but feel a pang in my heart.
“You poisoned me?” I asked, my voice. trembling with disbelief.
Daniel’s smile was bitter, and his voice quiet.
“Lily, am I so unbearable to you?” he asked, his words sending a chill down my spine. “I came here last week. I found you then. Why do you think I didn’t approach you right away?”
His words sent a shock through me.
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Chapter 11
“The person who hurt Abigail,” he continued, his voice growing colder, “he couldn’t go back to Washington to bring her back, so he found you instead.”
I remembered that I had attended an art trade appreciation event in the next state before, but I never imagined I would run into him there.
“He knows your information and your connection to me,” Daniel said, his hands cuffed, trembling.
“So you followed him, afraid he might attack me?” My voice shook with the weight of it.
“So what you said that day… you didn’t want me to go through what Abigail did?” I asked, struggling to understand.
Daniel didn’t respond. He was led away by the police to go through the necessary legal procedures before being sent back to our country.
Before leaving, he handed me a letter.
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Chapter 11
Inside was a photo of us at graduation. It was a moment I had cherished, when I wrote in my yearbook: “Lily will marry Daniel, a couple for life.”
On the back of the photo, Daniel had written: “I owe you. I hope to repay it.”
It felt like my heart had been struck by a blunt force, a deep discomfort that lingered far longer than the pain itself.
Daniel, even now, couldn’t hear my farewell.
Three years later, Daniel was released from prison. His sentence was reduced due to my testimony, which led to his conviction on self–defense grounds.
On the day of his release, I went to pick him up. I took him back to the house we once shared for seven years. It was still the same–clean, with only a few traces of me left behind. I hired hourly workers to maintain it, but there were no signs of my presence.
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Chapter 11
Following tradition, I prepared grass to ward off evil spirits and a brazier to keep him safe. I also told him I had helped Abigail find a job, and she was now doing well in another city.
I returned the photo he had left me all those years ago.
“Daniel,” I said softly, “I hope you live a good life.”
Daniel didn’t speak. His eyes, however, remained fixed on the wedding ring I was wearing.
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