A Dish Best Served Cold (The Man In Rage)
Chapter 1963

When faced with great adversity, most people found solace and renewed determination for life in certain thoughts. That man had been Noa's only motivation to hold out for over a month.

Like a beacon of hope, the thought of him had sustained Noa through that period which was the darkest trough in her life. It had also filled Noa with a quiet strength she never knew was possible, which was what allowed her to endure her suffering.

As time passed, however, the torch that kept her going was beginning to flicker.

But even after a month, Noa had not heard a single word regarding his whereabouts or even his survival.

Although she had personally seen Ye Fan being severely injured during that fateful battle, and the ones present that day saw Ye Fan being wiped out under the attack of the silhouette, Noa refused to believe it. Her resolute was so strong that all she had been doing since that day, aside from grieving her father, was awaiting the man's safe return.

It's been over a month. Why hasn't there been any news at all? Could he have really died in the battle that day?

As Noa arrived at that grim conclusion while she absent-mindedly cleaned the car with her labor-ravaged hands that were once dainty, her mood became undoubtedly heavier.

Even so, she wrung a towel dry of the warm water she had dipped it in with as much strength as she could muster and slowly got to work on her brother's car.

Suddenly, Beatrice came by again. Aiming a kick at the bucket at Noa's feet, she spilled her hard-drawn water all over the porch.

"How long does it take to wash a car? You've been dawdling, haven't you? What are you standing there for? Get a fresh bucket of water and get to work! You're not to stop until you've done at least ten scrubs, do you hear?"

After her tirade, the woman led her pet dog away. Despite just passing by, Beatrice could not resist getting a few jabs in at the unpleasant recollection of how she once had to grovel at the girl younger than her. Noa could only endure the humiliation silently. She picked up the bucket and trudged as slowly as she dared back to the well.

No longer able to bear the weight of the rain after an entire day of gloomy uncertainty, the angry black clouds opened in a downpour at that moment. Then lightning flashed.

The vicious rain lashed mercilessly at everything not sheltered.

It was as if the end had come.

Though it was only morning, the whole world was as dark as night.

The dull sound of faraway thunder made Noa's body tremble. Consequently, her tender body gave way from the weight of the bucket as she fell to the ground.

Despite its recent callouses, her unblemished skin was no match for the cruelly hard and rough concrete ground. Dark red blood immediately flowed incessantly, only to be washed away by the icy rain. Unfortunately, the sharp stinging pain that wrenched her heart lingered.

This fall had been one too many, and Noa did not get up again.

Her haggard and delicate figure lay face down in the mud as she allowed the icy cold rain to wash all over her.

Noa suddenly felt exhausted, as if all the support that had been holding up her resolve until that moment was in vain.

The pain of losing a father, the humiliation of being a servant, and all the sorrows and pains that had accumulated in her heart over the past month finally broke her down as she burst into tears.

Her desolate sobs, so loud and painful to her ears, were all but muffled in the fury of the storm. They rang out sad and desperate, like a child abandoned by the whole world. No moment had Noa felt so helpless.

No matter how loudly I cry, nobody will ever show up to protect me again. Dad is dead. And that man must have fallen as well.

In fact, she had always known that it would have been impossible for Ye Fan to survive. Noa just refused to accept reality because that man was the

only thing that had been keeping her going.

If it were not for that sliver of hope, Noa would not have been able to bear the abuse of her brother and his wife during the past month.

After holding out for a month, the torrential rain seemed as fitting a sign as any of the fruitlessness of her optimism. The irony of it extinguishing the only spark left in Noa's heart was cruelly apt. She finally realized the reality of her waiting in vain forthat man.

It's my fault that he died atop Folo Mountain. Even if Ye Fan is still alive, what can he do? I am nobody to him, not even a friend. He will never see me the same way I see him

Even then, she knew that It was an extravagant hope to count on somebody who had nothing to do with her to risk great danger to save her from her hell. Since she had finally given up on him, she would have no motivation to live anymore.

In quiet despair, Noa stood up from the ground.

Her eyes were blankly set. The icy rain cascading down like a waterfall plastered her long flaxen hair and her clothes against her skin, though she did not seem to feel the icy dampness.

It was in this manner that Noa climbed the steps until, at last, the tiny figure stood alone on the rooftop several stories above the ground.

For the rest of my life, only suffering is left. Even if there is a road ahead for me, it will never be illuminated again. What's the point of hoping? What's the point of living?

Throughout her ascent, the rain poured heavierthan ever out of the clouds that were as dark as night.

Noa stretched out her hands underthe dense outpour from her precarious height to embrace the entire world from the depths of her despair.

This is what absolute grief must feel like. I have had the luxury of having a loving father in the first half of my life and never needed to know grief like this. So this is how it ends.

"I'm sorry, Dad," Noa murmured, her tears washed away by the rain. "I was a fool to pursue him despite knowing how it would end."

As she took one last look at the world, Noa could already vaguely hear what sounded like other cries of despair in the distance. Other souls in hell are calling out to me to return to where I belong.

Noa smiled weakly before she closed her eyes and took a step out into nothingness.

Her frail stature, weighing lesser than an ordinary healthy woman should, fell straight down like an angel with broken wings.

In her desperation to end her misery, Noa did not notice the thin figure emerging out of the darkness before her.

What a strange figure it was, too. Despite standing beneath a torrential outpour, the droplets evaporated and burst into a cloud of rain and fog, dispersing with the howling wind before they could touch his body The figure left a trail of corpses in his wake, marked by a grotesque river of crimson washed in all directions by the rain.

With the grace of water lilies in full bloom, that figure caught Noa as she fell to otherwise certain death.

Feeling the warmth on her body, Noa opened her eyes a crack and saw the familiar, handsome face that had consumed her thoughts for the past month.

"Are we all dead?" Noa gazed at him in a daze as she looked around with her vacant, bloodshot eyes. "Is this hell?"

A smile appeared on Ye Fan's face at her remark.

"You're not dead, and neither am I," Ye Fan said softly as he gently wiped away her tears. "We're all still alive. What's more, we will keep on living. Hush now. Come with me. I'll take you back and help you take back what's rightfully yours."

Noa trembled as if she was electrocuted while she stared with disbelief and reverence at the man in whose arms she lay.

As he met her eyes with his own deep and ethereal ones, she found answers to all her unexpressed fears without him uttering a word. Even the wind and rain seemed in awe of such a presence and fell off of him.

He looks like the king of this world.

Noa knew that she would never forget this moment for as long as she lived.

At the darkest and most hopeless moment in her life, Ye Fan was the one to illuminate her whole world with one swift and forceful flourish.

After a long silence, Noa burst into tears again. This time, however, it was from happiness.

She hugged Ye Fan tightly, conveying without words that the world was no longer bleak for her.

He has finally come back for me!