Blazing flames roared as the fire alarm wailed madly.
Amid the chaos, Alice slipped out through another exit and found a phone booth on the roadside.
She dialed the mysterious number and said, "Nick, you once said I could return to the orchestra anytime within five years, right? Does that offer still stand?"
"Of course, my dear Alice," Nick replied in his deep and resonant voice. "The fans in Velldar miss you very much."
"But there's some complication regarding my identity. It'll take three days to process the paperwork for leaving the country."
"How do you plan to get out of Gearwin? From what I know, there's no way Camden would let you go that easily."
Alice's gaze flickered. "I'm going to send him my corpse."
Hadn't Camden replaced her with someone else? Well then, she would vanish from his life once and for all.
Suddenly, a pair of warm hands circled her waist. Camden buried his face in her shoulder and said in a trembling voice, "Darling, thank goodness you're safe. If anything had happened to you, I wouldn't want to live either."
"Alice, Cam thought you were still inside. He insisted on going back to find you, saying you couldn't see. The fire was raging, and a chandelier almost crushed him in there."
Camden's best friend patted his chest, his face still pale with fright.
Only then did Alice notice Camden's arms were covered in burns and that there was a gaping hole in his clothes. His eyes, too, were bloodshot from the smoke.
Her breath hitched as a sharp pain prickled her heart.
He was willing to risk his life for her, yet how could he love two women at the same time?
"Mr. Bennett." A timid female voice sounded from behind.
Elena, dressed in a white dress, looked frail as she dragged her suitcase along.
Alice felt the hand around her waist stiffen, then slip away.
Camden ruffled her hair and lied without so much as a blink, "Darling, a business partner has come to discuss work with me. Wait here for a moment."
He then strode forward and pulled Elena into his arms.
In sign language, he said, "Elena, why did you come without me asking? Didn't I say I'd go tonight to be with you and the baby?"
"I just miss you too much. And I wanted to take care of Alice to make amends. It's me who wronged her," Elena replied in sign language as well.
"You've done nothing wrong to her! I'm the one at fault for making you bear another woman's name. I've wronged you and the baby."
He kissed Elena, his eyes brimming with so much tenderness that it almost spilled over.
"I've already picked names for the baby. If it's a boy, we'll call him Elijah, and if it's a girl, she'll be Eloise," he signed.
Alice stared dazedly at the scene before her, as if her heart were being slashed apart, each cut searing with pain.
Around this time last year, she had discovered she was pregnant. Camden had been so overjoyed that he rented out an entire hot spring mountain resort and gave her a CD filled with 9,999 words of love he had recorded just for her.
She was just about to play it when he took a call. On the other end came the faint sound of a woman crying.
Camden had kissed Alice's belly and said, "Darling, there's an emergency at the company. Wait for me—I'll be back."
Alice had suspected nothing. She waited obediently for a day and a night, but the man she loved never returned. What came instead was an avalanche, and their child died that winter.
She watched Camden tenderly caress Elena's belly with that all-too-familiar gesture, and a bitter smile tugged at her lips.
So, it turned out the only one who couldn't move on from that avalanche was her.
"Darling, I'll be a little busy these days, so I've hired a nutritionist to look after you," Camden said to Alice.
He was holding Elena's hand and looking at her with eyes full of affection.
"Hello, Ms. Wilson," Elena greeted delicately.
She had called Alice "Ms. Wilson" and not "Mrs. Bennett".
Camden frowned slightly at the form of address but said nothing to correct it.
Alice's gaze lingered for a few seconds on Elena's lips, which were swollen from his kisses, and her fingertips dug into her palm.
Suddenly, she felt a warmth settling over her. Camden had placed a wool coat around her.
"It's too cold out. Let's go home, darling."
Before Alice could react, she saw Elena make a hand sign for "gotcha", and in return, the man pressed a doting kiss to her lips.
She watched the two of them walking ahead with their fingers entwined, their intimacy impossible to ignore.
Then, she witnessed Camden—who had always hated the smell of cooking oil—put on an apron to help Elena in the kitchen and laugh heartily beneath the roar of the exhaust fan.
Lastly, she looked on as Camden, ever the considerate one, ladled soup into her bowl as he always had, only to turn the next moment and gently wipe some sauce from the corner of Elena's mouth.
"Silly woman. You're simply too adorable," he signed fondly.
Alice kept her head down as she sipped the hot soup. Her eyes stung with heat, but no tears would come.
Having once been loved by Camden, she knew his every look and his every gesture. And in that moment, Alice understood at least that he had truly fallen for Elena.
After dinner, the private doctor came as usual to check on Alice's eyes.
"Mr. Bennett, Dr. Currey couldn't make it today, so I came in his place. I've reviewed the case, and if Mrs. Bennett continues her treatment, there's a very good chance her sight can be restored."
Alice stood just outside the door, listening to the doctor and Camden discuss her condition.
She felt a sharp, bitter ache swelling in her chest. What did it matter if her vision came back? After all, there was no going back to how things were with Camden.
In this game built on lies and deceit, she would rather remain a blind woman.
All she wished for in the five days left was to leave Gearwin without trouble. After that, she and he would never see each other again.
It was silent inside the room for a few seconds before Camden said coolly, "No, that won't be necessary."
"Didn't Dr. Currey tell you that for the past five years, I've only had him prescribe the most basic supplements?"
"If she were ever to see again, what place would that leave for Elena?"
A sharp crack split the air. Alice had snapped the diamond ring on her hand clean in two, and now blood was seeping between her fingers.
She all but bolted back to her room, trembling so hard she wasn't even aware of it. In her panic, she knocked over the wedding photo on the table. In it, Camden was leaning down and pressing a reverent, solemn kiss to Alice's forehead.
Her tears hit the floor without warning. She started sobbing hard before suddenly breaking into a hollow laugh, her stomach convulsing as bitter bile rose again and again.
"Ha! Camden, you really are unbelievable!"
It turned out all the thousand nights she had spent stumbling in the dark, terrified and helpless, had all been part of Camden's design.
Her tears had already run dry. She pulled the wedding photo from its frame and fed it into the shredder.
As the photo broke apart, it felt as if every tender memory she had once shared with Camden was being ground away with it.
"Darling, what are you doing?"
Alice emptied the pale shreds into the trash and said hoarsely, "Nothing. Just getting rid of a document full of mistakes."
Camden frowned at the scraps, finding them naggingly familiar. But before he could think further, Elena walked in carrying a bouquet of flowers.
In an instant, his attention was drawn entirely to her.
Elena shoved the bouquet into Alice's arms.
"Happy birthday, Ms. Wilson!"
Overwhelmed by the thick scent of the flowers, Alice coughed until tears streamed down her face.
Elena even covered her eyes and steered her firmly toward the dining table.
"Are you ready? Surprise!"
On the pristine marble table lay a few ribs, still streaked with blood, alongside vegetables fried for so long they had turned nearly black.
The sight was laughable, almost cruel in its irony.
With a dramatic slap to her forehead, Elena exclaimed, "Ah! I forgot Ms. Wilson can't s—"
She broke off mid-sentence and suddenly clamped a hand over her mouth, her expression one of feigned regret at having let the wrong words slip.
Camden quickly signed to comfort her. "It's alright. Alice won't mind."
Elena lowered her head in dejection and signed back, "Why is it that I can never do anything right? You know what, it's fine. I've also baked a mango cake for Ms. Wilson."
When he saw this, pity welled so strongly in Camden's eyes it nearly spilled over.
"Darling, go on—have some cake," he urged Alice.
Alice remained where she was, her fists clenched tight. A sudden weariness pressed down on her, and when she finally spoke, her voice was hoarse and scraped raw.
"Camden, today isn't my birthday. Instead, it's the death anniversary of my baby. And also, I'm allergic to mango."
Camden froze, regret flickering in his eyes. "Darling, I—"
But Alice ignored his attempt to keep her and simply turned to leave the dining room.
Once she was back in her room, she closed the door to shut out both Elena's sobs and Camden's gentle words of comfort.
She didn't know how long she slept before she was roused by strange noises coming from downstairs. Blinking groggily awake, she saw a familiar figure.
Camden was sitting at her bedside gazing tenderly at her. "Darling, you're finally awake. I made you some sticky date pudding, so won't you have a little?"
Alice quietly pulled back from his touch. "No, I don't have an appetite."
His hand hung stiffly in the air before he let out a faint sigh. "Darling, don't lie to me. You're still angry, aren't you? Once I get through this busy period, I'll take you to a concert, alright?"
Alice turned her face away and fixed her gaze on the loose curl of her hair, saying nothing.
Seeing this, Camden frowned slightly and pressed his lips together.
Then, he took Alice's hand and said, "Darling, Elena has prepared an animal show to make amends to you."
She furrowed her brows lightly and was about to refuse when Camden suddenly swept her up and carried her downstairs without giving her a say in the matter.
The January night wind was bitterly cold.
Alice was dressed only in thin pajamas. The cold had drained the color from her face, but the heavy night concealed it.
As she stood there shivering, she saw Camden walking straight to Elena with some clothes in his arms. He helped her put on a thick protective suit, gloves, and a helmet before tenderly kissing her on the cheek.
"Elena, don't push yourself too hard. You and the baby are what matter most."
The wind carried his gentle words into Alice's ears, and they struck her like a heavy blow.
The moment Elena lifted the cover off the cage, Alice's pupils contracted sharply.
