"Sophia! Is that you, Sophia?! Sophia?" When Sophia's thoughts were getting fuzzier, she suddenly heard someone yelling out her name.
She opened her eyes with all her might and saw an anxious-looking Megan standing on the other side of the glass door.
When Megan noticed her complexion, she was not only anxious but also flustered. "Sophia, what's the matter with you? Don't be afraid, I will open the door for you!"
"Leave... Cough, cough... Leave..." Sophia wanted to say âleave me aloneâ, but the phlegm had accumulated in her throat. She could not help coughing every time she spoke. She could not even finish a three-word sentence.
Megan turned pale in panic. She kept telling Sophia not to be afraid and picked up her mobile phone to call Marie. "Marie, Sophia is locked up on the rooftop. Sheâs dying... C-can you hurry up and get the key h-here?"
She was so anxious that she did not know what to do. Her tears started falling somehow.
After receiving Marieâs affirmation, Megan hung up the phone and started pacing back and forth like a headless fly. "Sophia, don't be afraid, you will be fine... I think thereâs a fire extinguisher somewhere around here. I will go and look for it. Don't be afraid... You canât be afraid..."
Her speech was incoherent from either being too nervous or too scared.
Sophia's breathing grew even more rapid now. Her heart was racing at an alarming rate as well. She could not even speak a word at this moment and was simply coughing non-stop.
Her face was greyish white, and the purplish-blue color on her lips looked much more vivid than before. She knew that if she did not make it to the hospital in time, then she would die sitting here.
However, she was not afraid at all and was even looking forward to it. This was the same feeling she felt when she had her arms outstretched as she walked toward the oncoming car.
Sophia was not afraid of hell nor worried that there would be no heaven. She prayed that Megan would locate the fire extinguisher late and send her to the hospital late so that she would be able to leave this world as she wished.
In the end, things still turned out contrary to the way she wished.
Crash!
The ordinary glass doors installed on the rooftop were not exactly solid. After Megan got her hands on the fire extinguisher, she broke the glass door effortlessly.
She ignored the large wound on her arm. After smashing the door a few times with the fire extinguisher, she tossed the fire extinguisher aside in a haste and maneuvered through the broken door to get to Sophia.
"Sophia, I've called 120, you just..." Megan wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes. The blood on her arms was smeared across her face. âJust hold on a little longer. Youâll... Youâll definitely be alright!"
Sophia resisted the strong desire in her throat to cough. She clutched Megan's hand tightly and begged, "If you... Cough, cough... If you treat me as a friend, then... Cough, cough, cough cough, cough, cough, cough..."
She coughed violently. The bloody phlegm that she coughed out was quickly washed away by the rain.
Terror filled Meganâs eyes. "Sophia... Sophia, you... You..."
"Let me... Cough... Leave just like this." Sophia tugged at her lips with all her might and said in a hoarse voice, "I... Cough... I beg you."
She had no more fond memories of this world. Her only wish was to leave this painful world as soon as possible.
Megan opened her lips slightly. Her body could not help shaking under Sophia's pleading gaze. She wiped the blood from the corners of Sophiaâs mouth with trembling hands, her eyes filled with indecisiveness and pain.
"Please... Cough, cough, cough!" Sophia clasped her hand tightly. There was a strong desire in the depth of her eyes that she had never seen before.
The tears on Megan's face flowed down along with the rain. Her long hair was stuck to her face that was now smudged by her dissolving makeup.
She turned her face away from Sophia at first, then said as she choked with sobs, "I will... I will call 120 and ask them not... Not to come over anymore.â
Sophiaâs smile formed ripples in the depth of his eyes. She was coughing so much that she could no longer say a word. She was simply smiling at her, waiting quietly for death to arrive.
Megan listened to her increasingly rapid breathing, looked at her increasingly pale face and blue lips. She could not help but ask, "Sophia... Is there nothing left in this w-world that makes you want to k-keep on living?"
Sophia exhausted all her strength and shook her head at Megan.
Maybe her brother and Nicole were the motivation for her to keep on living. However, after Charles' constant torture and humiliation, Leah's betrayal and falsification of truth, and her parentsâ indifference and vilification, this bit of motivation was not enough for her to keep on living.
She wanted to die. This was her only wish at the moment *
It was already a quarter past two in the morning when Charles received Marieâs call. The force of the rain outside had lessened, but it was still pattering non-stop, making him uneasy for no reason.
When she said that Sophia was about to die, thoughts like fondness, betrayal, the marriage with the Jones family, and the clues to the car accident all vanished into thin air. Charles' mind went blank in an instant.
He staggered to his feet in his pajamas, shuffled on his slippers, and rushed down the stairs.
"Charles, I really like you. Can I be your bride when I grow up?
"Weâre childhood sweethearts since we grew up together. I heard that childhood sweetheartsâ children are way smarter!
"Charles, I told Aunt Harris that I want to be her daughter-in-law!
"You agree? You agree to get engaged to me? Let me record it down. You canât go back on your words, okay! Let's go!
"Are you satisfied now, Mr. Harris?
"You broke one of my legs and put me in prison for two years. My debts have all been written off, no?
"Yes, to seduce you then take a video to threaten you so I can leave Dream Club."
Memories rolled and surged in his head like a flood. Sophia, the unbridled and hedonistic chatterbox, overlapping with the reticent and submissive Sophia today, only to form a single sentence.
She was dying.
Fear.
An unprecedented fear.
"Are you okay, Mr. Harris?" A servant ran out with a drowsy look on her face. She shook her phone screen in front of Charlesâ face and asked whilst rubbing her eyes.
Atrophy of Love: Mr. Harris, Stop Fooling Around!
ï¤Chapter 128 Might As Well... Just Die Like That There was buzzing in Charles' ears. He could not even make out the question she was asking him, nor was he in the mood to listen to her. He dragged his sore and weak limbs and dashed out of the villa.
The servant ran out after him and shouted anxiously, "Where are you going this late at night, Mr. Harris? It's raining outside! Take an umbrella with you if youâre going out!"
Charles did not even stop. He went out in the pouring rain, opened the car door, and got in. His car vanished into the curtain of rain in no time.
The servant wiped the rain off of her face and sighed.
As there was too much noise, Yvette walked to the entrance of the villa in her nightgown and asked the servant standing in the rain, "Whatâs going on?"
"Iâm not so sure myself. Looks like something urgent has come up. Mr. Harris went out in the rain in his pajamas and slippers." The servant shielded her head with her hands and ran to Yvette before saying these words.
It was a little over two o'clock in the morning on a rainy night, so there were basically no cars on the road.
Charles stepped on the accelerator all the way. His trembling hands nearly failed to grip the steering wheel. A flash of lightning tore through the sky, illuminating his taut and handsome face. The cold sweat on his forehead and nose was clearly visible.
The rain poured on the windshield repeatedly and the wipers could barely catch up. His line of sight when he looked out of the car was pretty blurred.
Even so, he did not drop his speed even the slightest.
There was only one thought in his mind at the momentâ
Sophia must survive!