A Practical Guide to Ending a One-Sided Love - Chapter 75

As Leila covered her mouth at the shocking sight, she heard a faint muttering voice.

“Leila, please… please don’t go. Leila…”

The words repeated like a prayer were none other than her name. The moment she realized it, Leila collapsed where she stood.

Her legs gave out and she sank down. Allen and Todd tried to support her, but she refused their hands.

“He has been repeating only those words, so we went to bring you here, Miss Bailey. We thought it might help even a little. Even if not, we thought you should at least exchange final words…”

Final words. The mere implication made her shudder. Gritting her teeth, Leila dragged herself toward Bjorn, almost crawling because her strengthless legs would not lift her.

Todd’s warning not to get too close did not register. In her mind there was only one thought, no matter what happened she had to hold Bjorn’s hand.

Hand or anything else, if it was something she could do she wanted to do it. The boy she had cherished since meeting him at eight years old, reduced to this state. The person she treasured, her only treasure, broken like this. Her heart felt not merely torn but as if her soul itself was shattering.

“Sir Bjorn, it’s me. It’s late, but I… I came to see you.”

She wanted to tear off all those horrible devices binding him and embrace his entire body. But all she could do now was grasp the hands bound behind his back.

She held tightly his swollen, bruised hands. Behind her, Allen and Todd prepared themselves in case of danger, but she did not care. If Bjorn rampaged and she died caught in it, she would accept it.

For a while there was no reaction from the hand she held. Then after a long time, just before Allen and Todd, unable to endure, tried to pull her away before it became more dangerous, she felt his large restrained fingers twitch.

“Sir Bjorn, are you coming to? Can you hear my voice? Sir Bjorn, hiic…”

The tears she had been holding burst out again. At the same time, as if seeking warmth, Bjorn’s hand fumbled and clasped her hand tightly.

“…Lei, la…?”

The pronunciation was unclear with his face pressed to the floor, but unlike before it was certain his consciousness had returned. At the voice asking as if to confirm the owner of the hand was Leila, Todd let out a small cry.

“It’s working, it’s working!”

For the past few weeks, dominated by divine power and devoid of reason, Bjorn had not recognized anyone.

“Yes. It’s me, sir. Are you conscious?”

Now Bjorn reacted violently to her words as if fully awake. Struggling to turn his barely movable head, he stared with wide eyes to confirm her face. The sight was desperate itself.

To keep him from hurting himself, she leaned into his field of vision. The violet eyes drenched in madness reflected her. When the storming gaze met Leila’s eyes, it stiffened as if frozen in shock.

“Is it really… you.”

In a voice close to a rasp from strain, Bjorn asked again.

“Yes, Sir Bjorn. It’s me. Don’t move too much. I’ll stay here.”

“Why… here… this shabby… not a place for you. My appearance… is a mess…”

Even now he worried about her. Her chest collapsed further. At that moment, the dam holding back her stagnant emotions finally broke.

After seeing this, she could not hesitate any longer. The decision she had postponed reached a conclusion instantly.

She could never give up Bjorn. Even if he deceived or betrayed her, no matter how tattered her soul became because of him. Rather than the pain of losing him, enduring the pain he caused felt better.

She no longer knew where or what had gone wrong. Perhaps she had been born fated to chase after Bjorn her entire life, and even until death.

Leila actually knew why she had hesitated all this time. She had denied it to the end, but she had been angry too.

From the moment he stopped looking like an idol and began to look like a man, the texture of her feelings toward him changed. So she began to feel resentment, blame, hatred, disappointment. Feelings that inevitably arise between people, within exchanges between a man and a woman, painfully human emotions.

In the end, Leila… had been hurt.