When We Were In Love

The dust that blew directly in his face was suffocating. Flying debris kept scratching his skin. He had to hold his breath, rummaging through the wreckage of the car like crazy.

The car was already reduced to tiny pieces. He found the electronic shackles he had forced Vivian to wear near the damaged car.

He had despised those shackles. Now the very sight of it was heartbreaking.

"No..." He was stunned and totally unprepared for the unexpected disaster.

The police and paramedics arrived soon. The scene was chaotic.

"Sir, you are injured." A white-coated doctor took him out to check his wounds.

Despite the doctor's advice, he grabbed a police officer who was surveying the scene of accident and said anxiously, "My wife, my wife is still in there. Please go find her. Why couldn't I find her? Why...'

"

The police officer saw his desperation and confusion, yet he didn't know how to comfort the poor man who had just lost his wife.

Several paramedics worked together to push the deranged widower into the ambulance.

The tremendous impact of the explosion had sent Christian temporarily insane. He yelled and struggled for a while, and then fell into a deep sleep.

The car explosion happened suddenly and it was his car. As soon as he woke up, he was questioned by the police.

Apart from his bandaged face and some cuts and bruises on his body, he wasn't badly injured.

"Sir, since you are the injured party in the explosion, I'd like to ask you some questions."

Standing by Christian's bed, the officer was very serious, which suggested that the accident wasn't as simple as it looked.

Christian wearily raised his eyelids, and ignored the officer's demand.

"Where is my wife?"

He had failed to find Vivian, and he didn't take it very well.

Looking at the haggard man in the bed, the young officer awkwardly opened his mouth and hesitated to tell him the bad news.

"I'm sorry, Sir, your wife was killed in the explosion. My deepest condolences."

Christian's eyes were suddenly wide open. He looked pale and mournful.

"Who allows you to say that she is dead? She isn't! She would never die!"

He knocked over the nightstand angrily. His wounds hurt more and he couldn't help crying out in pain.

Now that Christian was extremely uncooperative, the officer had to stand by the bed perplexedly. He hesitated before handing the report to Christian.

The torn wounds had brought Christian to his senses. Although he had witnessed it all, he found it hard to accept the fact that Vivian had passed away in this way and he hadn't even have the chance to save her.

He reluctantly took the report.

The officer looked at Christian with sympathy. He seemed used to scenes like this, so he didn't say anything.

Christian turned to the first page of the report. The words were clear and unbearable, like wiggly worms.

The forensic report showed that DNA from the ruins had been confirmed to be Vivian's.

The car explosion was too fierce to retain Vivian's body. Thus the DNA residue would be the last proof of her existence.

She was dead!

He read the report word by word and over and over again in disbelief.

This was the truth. Vivian had died because of him. If he hadn't locked her in the car, she wouldn't have lost her life.

"Sir, I'm sorry for your loss." The officer tried to comfort Christian.

"Our investigation showed that the cause of the explosion was that the fuel tank was caught on fire somehow. Based on the on-site surveillance, we don't rule out the possibility that your wife committed suicide."

"Suicide...Huh..." Christian's mouth twitched self-mockingly, recalling how desperately Vivian had been crying when he got off the car.

He had hounded her to death.

He crumpled the report in his hand and his heart was beating irregularly.

Growling, he smashed his fist against the wall and it was soon red and swollen.

He hadn't punished Vivian enough. He hadn't made her completely cave in to him. How could she have killed herself?

Still recuperating in the hospital, Jessica was planning her next move against Vivian when she heard the shocking news.

Vivian was dead. Jessica found it hard to contain her joy.

Since Vivian had died, Jessica didn't have to do it herself.

She switched to the look of tremendous grief and went to Christian's ward.

"Christian," Recovering very well from her recent operation, Jessica still looked fragile.

She approached Christian and caressed his wounds with great concern.

"Christian, how could it have happened? How could my sister have died?" Jessica held his arm and cried painfully.

Christian refused to believe that Vivian had died in this way. The car explosion was very questionable. He had to get to the bottom of it.

He had been upset and suspicious. So he wasn't very fond of Jessica's concern and sorrow. In fact, he found it repulsive.

He pushed Jessica away with a straight face and returned to bed wearily.

"I'm exhausted, Jessica. You haven't fully recovered yet, so why don't you go back and have some rest?"

He turned his back to avoid Jessica's concerned eyes. He was busy thinking about what exactly had happened.