What Separates Me and You

Yannis had Mrs. Larson deliver dinner to the couple's bedroom.

Mrs. Larson hadn't realized the severity of things, so she served dinner like usual. She didn't feel like anything was wrong when she entered the room. She only saw Lewis cleaning Josephine's face and arms with a damp cloth.

"I'll leave dinner here, Mr. Alvarez." After setting the food on the nightstand, she turned to leave.

She couldn't help taking one last glance before exiting the door. Doubt filled her chest as she wondered, "Why would Yannis say Lewis has lost his mind when he seems so normal?"

She shook off that thought before exiting and shutting the door behind her.

The snow outside had melted by then. Water dripped from the roof. It sounded crystal clear from the quiet bedroom.

After Lewis cleaned Josephine's face, he picked up the bowl and brought a spoonful of soup toward her. Yet, as he poured into her mouth, it only spilled back out from the corner of her lips.

Lewis instantly wiped it up with his handkerchief before feeding her another spoonful. He repeated those steps several times.

Josephine's eyes remained shut as she peacefully lay on the bed like she were asleep. The bowl of soup gradually emptied, yet Josephine hadn't taken a single sip.

Lewis stared at her with a blank look. He held the bowl of soup while sitting there, unsure what to do. Eventually, he reached out to touch her face.

"Josephine, please get up and eat. Otherwise, you'll starve. Why aren't you behaving? I'll kill everyone in this house if you don't eat now! Do you hear me?"

He appeared to talk to himself. Although his murmurs rang out in the room, he never got a reply.

"Didn't you want to ride on a hot air balloon, Josephine? Come on. Wake up, and I'll take you there now. You said you wanted to go home, right? I'll take you home, okay?" Lewis had said everything he could, yet he never got the reaction he wanted. A bitter smile curved on his face.

The sound of snow melting grew louder, like the clock's ticking. That went on all night.

Like usual, Lewis lay beside Josephine and hugged her in his arms. He kissed her forehead as he said, "Rest for now. I'll take you to ride a hot air balloon tomorrow."

That night, the villa was extraordinarily silent. It was like the calm before the storm.

The next day, Mrs. Larson brought breakfast into the room and saw Lewis cleaning Josephine's face.

"Mr. L-" Before she could finish speaking, Lewis raised a finger to his lips and silenced her.

That baffled her, but he soon explained, "Don't wake her."

Mrs. Larson dubiously nodded, then gently placed the breakfast onto the nightstand. She couldn't help but take another peek at Josephine. The latter was still in the same position on the bed with a pale face like always. Mrs. Larson couldn't tell if there was anything unusual.

Avery visited not long after, but she got stopped from entering the villa. "What's the meaning of this? You're not letting me in?"

Darren replied, "It's Master Lewis' orders. You don't have to visit anymore."

Avery tensed, and then her face grew pale. "What happened to Josephine?"

"Please leave."

Avery's gaze hardened as she lunged at the gate. Because her injuries hadn't healed entirely, her many attempts at barging into the villa failed. She even got thrown out in the end.

"Lewis!" She willed herself to stand before yelling in the villa's direction. "Why won't you let me in? Weren't you the one who previously asked me to come over? What has happened to Josephine? Come out here this instant!"

Darren frowned, stepped forward, and said, "Please keep it down, Ms. Green. Don't disturb Mrs. Alvarez's rest."

Avery's panic slightly lessened when she heard that. "Has she not awakened for the day?"

"No."

"Fine. Then, I'll wait until she wakes up," said Avery, who sat beside the gate.

Darren couldn't do anything about the former's stubbornness, so he left her be.

The temperature had dropped significantly due to the sudden snowfall. There were still piles of snow along the road that hadn't melted. So, it wasn't long before the cold affected Avery's limbs and made her shiver. She rubbed her hands together, then looked at the time on her phone.

It was already noon.

She stood to ask again, "Is she still not awake?"

Darren shook his head. "No."

Avery glowered at him but returned to her seat.

As time went by, even Mrs. Larson felt things were not right. She had delivered breakfast earlier, yet they hadn't been touched. Not only that, but Josephine remained asleep until now. She headed downstairs to ask, "Yannis, why hasn't Mrs. Alvarez awoken?"

Yannis slumped onto the chair while weakly looking into Mrs. Larson's eyes. "She's never waking up again."

Mrs. Larson's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"I mean just that, but I suggest you act like you're unaware. And don't mention it to Mr. Alvarez, or you're life will be at risk."

Chills tingled down Mrs. Larson's spine. She didn't think anything was off when Yannis said Lewis had lost his mind last night. Only now did she realize what Yannis meant. "So... he's been living with her c- corpse?"

Yannis nodded. It bothered him so much that he kept scratching his head. The current low temperature allowed Josephine's body to stay preserved, but there was no telling what would happen after two days. Goosebumps prickled Mrs. Larson's skin. She shivered and crossed her arms around her chest to soothe herself.

Conrad came over later that day. He handed Lewis a letter while he explained, "Chairman Alvarez, we received this file from an anonymous source. Do you want to look at it?"

Lewis glanced at the file and saw it was addressed to him. There was no other information on it. He accepted it, opened the document, and flipped through its contents casually. As he reached the end of its contents, his gaze darkened. "Where did this come from?"

"No idea," Conrad awkwardly stated, "Someone handed it to me the day before yesterday. She claimed the delivery person had left it with her and insisted that I urgently pass it to you. Why?" Lewis put the document back into its file, then marched out the door with it.

Outside, Avery saw Lewis leave the villa. She wanted to approach him, but he got into a car and drove away before she could. That made Avery frown. She wondered if he had rushed out because something had happened.

...

Lewis drove to Alvarez Manor, exited the car, and stormed toward the living room.

There, Nancy was sipping on some tea. She jolted and nearly dropped her mug when she saw the former approach furiously. "L-Lewis, what brings you here?"

Lewis slammed the document onto the table. "Is this true?"

With a confused frown, Nancy lifted the document and looked at it. Her features turned pale as a ghost just then. "Where did you get this?"

"Answer me! Is it true?" Lewis raised his voice, which nearly shattered Nancy's eardrums.

She instantly denied it. "It's obviously fake! Who gave this to you? I bet they have ill intentions. Find this person and bring them to me. I must punish them for slandering me like this!"

Lewis wanted to speak, but his phone suddenly rang. He took out his phone and saw it was a call from Styx Mansion.

"Bad news, Master Seth! Dr. Halliday has-" Darren bit his lip before blurting out, "He's working with a third party, and they've taken Mrs. Alvarez away!"

Lewis' gaze sharpened at Nancy.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Nancy asked while cautiously stepping backward.

Rage boiled in Lewis' eyes like lava as he flashed a half-smile. "Well played, all of you!"

With that, he turned to leave Alvarez Manor. He drove back to Styx Mansion at lightning speed. Then, he kicked the front door open. As expected, the living room was empty. Even the anti-theft window bars weren't there anymore.

A frightening chill radiated from his body as he stood at the door. The atmosphere grew colder than when it snowed.

"Chairman Alvarez, Kiran sent us a text." Conrad handed his phone to Lewis.