What Separates Me and You

Lewis was in the hospital when he awoke. He opened his eyes and realized many people had crowded his ward.

"He's awake!" Conrad cried out with relief before rushing to get the doctor.

In less than a minute, a doctor arrived and examined every part of Lewis' body in detail.

"How is he?" Conrad asked.

"Everything's okay now that Mr. Alvarez is awake. He should rest more and refrain from having drastically unstable emotions. He'll need to recuperate.

"Otherwise, his body will only collapse if he continues like this." The doctor then looked at the crowd and added, "Also, try not to have too many visitors in the room. It will affect his rest."

"Everyone, please leave. I'll stay behind and look after him," Conrad told the others.

Nancy glanced at Lewis like she had something to say. Yet, she knew it wasn't the right time for that, so she left with Murray.

Tyler nudged Avery to leave, but the latter refused. She stormed ahead to question, "Where's Josephine, Lewis? Where have you taken her?"

Lewis forced himself to sit upright. He ignored Avery while removing the IV drip needle from his arm.

Conrad stared at the former with concern. "You haven't finished your bag of IV fluid yet, Chairman Alvarez."

Lewis said nothing. He swung his coat over his shoulders, then walked past the crowd to exit the ward.

Avery hurried to block his path. Her eyes burned holes into Lewis like she wanted to kill him. "Where are you going? Also, you haven't answered my question. Where is Josephine? Tell me what happened to her!"

She had discovered the truth some time ago but was in denial. After all, she had just spoken to Josephine days ago. She couldn't bring herself to accept Josephine wasn't there anymore.

After all, it was challenging and would take a long time to cope with a loved one's sudden death. One could only come to terms with the loss of another after time passed and they processed the memories of times spent together.

Lewis' gaze lowered emotionlessly onto her. "Move."

"No. I won't move unless you tell me where she is!"

Lewis didn't answer her and only stared at her.

The two's eyes met, and tension filled the air at once. In the end, Tyler forced Avery aside and apologetically said to Lewis, "Avy's just worried about her friend. Don't pay her any mind."

"Tyler-"

Tyler shot Avery a stern look as if asking her to stop.

Lewis ignored the two and left the room.

Conrad raced after the former.

When they returned to Styx Mansion, the funeral home's person in charge and its employees stood in the living room. They had been waiting with uneasy expressions. Among them, someone whispered, "He's here."

The funeral home's employees became hushed and no longer spoke after that. Their heads hung low as they peered at Lewis' legs that strolled by. A trail of the hospital's disinfectant lingered where he passed. "Chairman Alvarez, all the personnel present that day are here."

Lewis sat on the couch. He glanced down at the urn on the coffee table. It contained Josephine's ashes. A hint of sorrow flickered in his eyes, but he soon withdrew his attention and focused on the group before him.

Conrad ordered, "Relay everything that happened on that day in detail."

He had already interrogated them earlier, but it was only to get a summary.

The manager came forward to say, "I wasn't at the funeral home that day. I just heard they received a body and asked us to cremate it urgently—"

Conrad interrupted, "So, did you guys not know our men had snuck into the place?"

"I-I ... I swear I had no idea." The manager wiped the sweat off his forehead. "We don't have surveillance cameras. Besides, why would anyone hang out at a funeral home for no reason?"

Since the employees had no idea that the bodyguards had infiltrated the place, they naturally didn't know whether Kiran's men had gone in.

"So, who was in charge of cremating Mrs. Alvarez's body?" Conrad questioned.

The group unanimously looked at the person to the left. They made it crystal clear that he was the culprit.

The man got so shocked that he teared up and stuttered, "I-I had no clue what was happening! I just prepared everything as told when I got the body! Before I could even start anything, someone knocked me unconscious. When I awoke, the person had taken all of my clothes! I almost thought a ghost did it!"

He made his bitterness known. After all, he didn't know anything, yet everyone blamed him.

Conrad glanced at Lewis, who didn't react much, before asking the group to leave. Once the crowd departed, he said, "It seems that Kiran had arranged for someone to break in and impersonate an employee. That person then waited until you came in to cremate Mrs. Alvarez before your eyes ..."

He got angry as he said those things. The mysterious impersonator was utterly wretched for making Lewis watch Josephine's body get cremated. That instant must have tortured Lewis to the core. It was likely worse than if Lewis got murdered.

To Conrad's surprise, Lewis didn't blow up. The latter sat still while staring at the urn on the table with a bleak expression. He either wasn't convinced those ashes belonged to Josephine or refused to believe it. Either way, he stared at it for ages and didn't touch it.

A sigh left Conrad's lips as he stood beside the former.

"Have our men found them?" Lewis suddenly asked.

Conrad was quick to respond, "Not yet. The pilot in the helicopter you arranged got switched out, and the aircraft never arrived at the destination. They also changed to other means of transportation after departing Elysium, so it's difficult to track them."

Lewis lit a cigarette while casually glancing at the urn.

That was when a cautious Mrs. Larson approached. "Mr. Alvarez, I've prepared your herbal concoction. Do you want me to bring it over?"

Lewis peered at her, which made her shrink away in fear. She understood what he meant and was about to leave.

Yet, Lewis' voice abruptly rang out. "Bring it here."

Mrs. Larson was dubious but soon became relieved with joy. She hurried to take the herbal concoction from the kitchen before handing it to him.

Lewis accepted it, then downed the bowl's contents in one gulp like water. He didn't even blink. Following that, he looked at the empty bowl and spoke pensively. "It's bitter as expected."

Although he said that, his expression didn't react the same way. He then recalled something and asked Mrs. Larson, "Do we have any ice cream?"

"Y-Yes, we do! I'll fetch them!" Mrs. Larson spun on her heel to grab some ice cream of various flavors. She put them on the table.

Lewis picked a fruit-flavored one at random, opened the lid, and scooped a mouthful to eat.

Conrad and Mrs. Larson shared a look.

Meanwhile, Lewis didn't say anything as he ate his ice cream. He finished the first one before picking up a second small tub. It wasn't long before he ate all five that Mrs. Larson brought over. "Chairman Alvarez, your body hasn't fully recovered. You should stop eating that," Conrad advised.

Lewis paused to look down at the ice cream in his hands. He murmured, "Conrad, the ice cream is bitter."

Conrad pursed his lips and dared not say anything. He knew the ice cream wasn't bitter. Anything Lewis ate would taste bitter since Lewis' heart was full of grief.

Lewis shut his eyes while leaning back into the couch. "Please leave."

Conrad nodded before shooting a look at Mrs. Larson, hinting her to exit. After stepping outside, he reminded her, "Please take care of Chairman Alvarez. Call me if anything odd happens, okay?" Mrs. Larson nodded eagerly. "Don't worry, Mr. Berg. I got it."

Still, Conrad gave her a few more reminders before leaving.

Deep down, Mrs. Larson thought about how she had to look after Josephine before. Now, she needed to take care of Lewis. To be fair, there wasn't anyone else she had to worry about.

Yet, she realized Lewis had disappeared when she entered the villa. Amidst her panic, she heard a loud noise from the storage room. It jolted her down to her bones.