Unveiled: The Survivor's Triumph
Chapter 231 I Love You

The call connected, but Ethan didn't say a word.

In the dead of night, the silence was terrifying.

I yelled, "Ethan? Is that you?"

Ethan finally spoke, "Emily, I love you!"

It was the first time he said those words, the ones I had been dying to hear, but his voice was so faint and weak.

Tears welled up in my eyes, and I gripped the phone tightly.

"Ethan, what's wrong?"

"I love you, I love you, I love you!"

Hearing him repeat those words over and over, I felt my tears fall uncontrollably. But his voice grew fainter and fainter until I couldn't hear anything at all. "Ethan! Say something! Don't scare me!"

I cried and shouted into the phone, but there was no response. I jumped out of bed and ran out barefoot.

When I opened the door, Faris was standing there, blocking my way. I pushed his arm, but he didn't move. "Move," I shouted.

"Where are you going?" Faris asked calmly.

"Ethan is in trouble. I need to find him."

"You can't go."

"I have to go."

I grabbed his arm, glaring at him with red eyes, my nails digging into his flesh.

Faris didn't budge.

Recalling Ethan's weak and faint voice on the phone, I felt my heart ache terribly. In a fit of desperation, I bit Faris's arm.

He groaned, gritting his teeth, but still didn't let go.

After a moment, I released my bite, looked at him for a few seconds, and turned to walk straight to the balcony, stepping onto a stool placed there without a word. Faris strode over and grabbed me.

"What are you doing?"

Sitting on the railing, I said resolutely and firmly, "I have to go. If you don't let me, I'll jump from here. Even if I break my arms and legs, I will still go."

Faris held onto me tightly, as if afraid that if he let go, I would really jump.

His eyes glared at me fiercely, as if he wanted to devour me.

But in the end, all his momentum faded, leaving only a helpless sigh.

"What time is it now? Are you planning to walk to Starlight City?"

When I looked at the still dark sky, the endless darkness brought me boundless confusion.

No matter how urgent, I had to wait until dawn, but I couldn't wait. I didn't know Ethan's condition, and I was really worried.

I had already understood Ethan's longing from the phone call. He needed me desperately now, so I had to get to him as soon as possible.

There were still two or three hours until dawn, which felt unbearably long to me.

Ethan would be fine, he had to be fine. Someone as wise as him, how could anything happen to him?

I desperately comforted myself, trying to stay calm.

In just a few hours, I would be able to see him.

I went back to my room and started packing.

Two or three hours wasn't long, but at that moment, every minute and second was torture for me.

Faris stood by, watching me pack everything, and finally booked the tickets.

At dawn, we hurried to the airport with our two still-sleeping children and boarded the plane.

During the two-hour flight, my heart was never at ease.

When boarding the plane, I wished I could fly to his side immediately, but when the plane landed, I suddenly felt scared.

As we got off the plane, it started raining in Starlight City, as if to match my mood.

Leaving the airport, I was surprised to see Dennis there to pick me up.

Seeing him, I asked hopefully, "Is Ethan okay?"

Dennis drove calmly, and after a few seconds of silence, he said, "You need to be prepared."

My heart sank to the bottom.

Dennis drove into the Starlight City Military Hospital.

Unlike a regular hospital, the atmosphere here was serious and oppressive.

Dennis walked ahead, and I followed closely behind, with Faris carrying the two children.

Upstairs, we walked along a long corridor, and my anxiety grew.

Turning a corner, I saw several men in police uniforms at the end of the corridor.

Dennis went over to talk to them, and they occasionally glanced at me.

After a while, Dennis came over and pointed to a room, saying, "Ethan is in there."

My heart trembled, and I walked over with unsteady steps, mustering the courage to look through the window. I immediately saw the person lying in the hospital bed, surrounded by various tubes. I pressed myself against the glass, tears streaming down my face.

Several doctors stood by the bed, seemingly discussing something, then they all shook their heads. I watched as they gradually removed the equipment from Ethan and covered him with a white sheet. "No."

I tried to rush in, but a policeman at the door stopped me.

"Sorry, Ma'am. You can't go in."

The doctors bowed to the bed and then walked out one by one.

I cried, grabbing a doctor's arm, saying, "Doctor, why aren't you saving him? Please, don't give up."

The doctor shook his head helplessly. "I'm sorry, we've been trying to resuscitate him for five hours. We've done everything we could. Mr. Windsor actually had no heartbeat for a long time." With red eyes, I glared at the doctor and the police officers.

"I don't believe it. He called me early this morning, and now you're telling me he had no heartbeat?"

One of the officers stepped forward.

"Are you Emily?"

I looked at him through my tears and nodded.

He took a bag from his pocket and handed it to me.

"He asked me to give this to you when he was in trouble."

With trembling hands, I took the bag and emptied its contents into my palm.

Seeing what fell out, I felt my tears burst forth again.

A set of keys, the keys to the villa.

And the bullet he wore around his neck, now with an added item on the string a diamond ring I had seen but he had never shown me.

The diamond ring was stained with blood, his blood.

Recalling his last phone call, those words must have been said with his last bit of strength. Imagining him entrusting these items, I felt my heart shatter completely.

Clutching the items tightly, I slowly squatted down and broke into uncontrollable sobs.

What kind of pain was that? It felt like my entire heart had been gouged out.

The police, the doctors, Dennis, and Faris, none of them tried to console me.

In the face of life and death, words were utterly inadequate.

After crying, I slowly stood up, looked at the person lying quietly in the room, and said firmly, "I want to take him home."

The officer stopped me again. "He was a soldier who sacrificed for the country. You can't take him. Besides, according to Ethan's records, he was single and had no family."

For the country? Sacrificed? Soldier?

"Also, you can't attend his funeral. This is for your protection."

I couldn't see him, couldn't attend his funeral, couldn't take him away.

With just a door between me and Ethan, I couldn't do anything.

I clung to the window, refusing to leave, no matter who tried to persuade me.

It was the cries of the two children that woke me up.

Whether influenced by my crying or a father-son bond, they too felt the pain of losing.

"Let's go back. The kids are hungry," Faris said.

I didn't know how I walked out of the hospital.

The rain outside was getting heavier, but I didn't want to avoid it. I walked straight into the rain, ignoring Faris's shouts behind me.

What was rain to me? How could it compare to the pain in my heart?

I desperately needed this rain to wake me up.

I must be having a nightmare. Yes, it must be just a dream.

What soldier? What did that have to do with him? It was ridiculous.

Dennis drove slowly, following me.

"Get in the car. I'll take you back," Dennis called out.

Faris, holding the two children in the back seat, said to me, "Do you want the kids to suffer with you?"

The cries of the children and the sound of the rain, combined with my current mood, sounded tragic.

Standing in the rain, soaked to the skin, I felt like I had lost the whole world.

I had experienced many losses in my life, each one knocking me down to hell.

I thought to myself, 'Yes, I wanted to be the person who gets up the hundred and first time after being knocked down a hundred times, but why did fate think I could always get up? I'm just a human!' Numbly, I let Dennis help me into the car and asked him to take me back to Ethan's villa.

I took out the keys and opened the door. A familiar scent greeted me, and every familiar sight pierced my heart, bringing tears to my eyes again.

"Your clothes are wet. Change them, or you'll get sick," Faris said.

Soaked to the bone, I didn't feel the cold, and I walked inside with waterlogged shoes.

Everything seemed unchanged, just as it was when I left.

Rollie appeared from somewhere, rubbing affectionately against my shoes.

Faris put down the two children, brought in the luggage, and then busied himself with feeding the kids.

I wasn't sure if Dennis had driven away.

Like a walking corpse, I trudged upstairs. The hallway was cluttered with several strollers. I walked to the door piled with strollers and pushed it open.

It was a fully furnished children's room, filled with dolls for girls and toy cars for boys, and an unfinished airplane model.

Imagining Ethan sitting cross-legged on the floor, building the model, brought tears to my eyes.

I pushed open my own room's door; nothing had changed.

On the small sofa lay that guitar, and sheet music was on the coffee table.

I walked over and picked up the sheet music.

My heart ached as if run over by a truck, and tears dripped onto the paper.

There was also a USB drive on the coffee table.

I picked it up, plugged it into the computer, and opened it.

Inside was a video. The handsome, charming Ethan, whom I endlessly adored, appeared on the screen.