Chapter 283 - 281: Third Brother is Fine【1 More】
On the side, Elia Spencer looked at Maya Spencer biting her arm and lifted her leg to kick her in the stomach. Every movement by Maya was causing deeper harm to Liam Spencer.
So when Maya was kicked, she didn’t retaliate. She just held tightly to Elia’s right arm, refusing to let it shake, to prevent more severe injuries to Liam.
Elia shouldn’t have kicked Maya. Once she did, Liam Spencer got angry and sternly commanded, "Maya, stop this nonsense."
When Maya heard Liam accusing her of nonsense, she couldn’t stop her tears, released Elia’s arm immediately, hid behind Liam, and cried silently.
Her tears warmed Liam’s heart, even down to the hair strands that felt delighted.
Then, Liam let go of the knife he was holding, pushed Elia’s arm aside, and ordered Elijah Reed, "Elijah, take her to the police station."
Upon hearing Liam’s orders, Elijah promptly rushed forward and quickly subdued a shocked Elia.
At that moment, Liam turned around with a smile and stretched his left arm, pulling Maya into his embrace, consoling her tenderly, "Maya, be good, your brother is fine."
Listening to his words of comfort, Maya buried her face in his arms and cried even more sorrowfully.
Ordinarily, she doesn’t cry easily. Tears would hardly be counted on two hands, but today, witnessing his bravery, feeling his protection, she couldn’t hold back, she just wanted to cry. All previous gripes and grudges, love and hate were cast aside; there was only pure heartache, purely crying.
Looking at the small woman in his embrace, Liam tightly held her with his left arm, ignoring the injury in his right hand. Watching her cry more and more sadly, his smile grew even brighter.
This time, Maya truly cried for him, cried out of heartache. As long as he could reach her heart, it was worth anything.
Moments after, an employee nearby, unable to stand seeing their injuries, proactively stepped forward, suggesting they be sent to the hospital for bandaging.
Inside the car, Maya and Liam sat together in the rear seat; Maya sat to Liam’s right, her hands gently cradling Liam’s arm. Watching his bandaged right hand from superficial treatment, her heart ached.
Beside her, Liam looked at the girl’s aggrieved look, raised his left hand to touch her little face, comforting, "Little crybaby, I’m really okay."
Listening to his bravado, Maya raised her head, tenderly glared at him, and criticized, "Who told you to be so foolish? Don’t you know knives are dangerous? You grabbed it bare-handed."
Hearing her reproach, the man used his left hand to rub her head, then kissed her forehead and said, "As long as you’re not in danger, it’s fine."
Liam’s words carried no extra sweetness, they were sincerely heartfelt. Listening to his words, Maya didn’t continue speaking, just kept her eyes fixed on his injured right hand, leaning closely on his shoulder.
At that moment, Maya’s mind was blank, only quietly leaning on his shoulder, as they headed to the hospital together.
By seven in the evening, their wounds were bandaged, the doctor said Maya’s injury wasn’t deep, no need for hospitalization, yet suggested Liam stay for observation.
However, Liam didn’t want to stay in the hospital, and following Sister Taylor’s strong insistence that they move back to the villa where she’d take care of them, Maya then led him back to her villa.
Inside the villa, Maya’s room was newly furnished in an overall European retro style, looking very mature and composed.
In the study, Liam looked at the tall dark wood bookshelf before him, gazing at the books inside, his mind again flashed scenes of Maya retrieving medicine from the shelves.
Taking a deep breath, he gently opened the glass door on the right side, trying to find Maya’s medicine inside.
He thought, alas, he hadn’t visited Maya’s villa for a long time, Sister Taylor shouldn’t be guarding against him now. Unfortunately, he still didn’t find Maya’s medicine in the bookshelf.
Feeling helpless, he sighed deeply, and started flipping through the books.
He discovered each book contained Maya’s handwriting; her script was very neat. Looking through the books she had read, he chuckled to himself, "Little thing, quite a number of books you’ve read."
As he took out a collector’s edition of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" from the shelf and leafed through it, he found a handcrafted bookmark inside.
Upon seeing the illustrations and text on the bookmark, he could no longer smile.
He then flipped through many books and discovered two other similar bookmarks in two different books.
Looking at these bookmarks, his face turned dark as if he’d swallowed explosives, ready to explode at any moment.
All along, he thought Maya’s heart was like dead water, besides revenge, having no other passion. Never did he imagine she’d have such budding feelings.
He felt jealous, stifled; this uncomfortable feeling was no less than when he saw the miscarriage report.
His right hand hung weakly beside the desk, with his left hand clutching those bookmarks, wishing he could crush them into ashes.
At this moment, Maya walked out from the bedroom; seeing Liam’s face like iron and the books on the desk, her heart "plopped" into an icy cavern.
Her little secret had been discovered.
Seeing Maya walking towards the desk, Liam took a deep breath, grabbed a bookmark with his injured right hand and threw it at her, angrily asking, "What is this?"
Watching the man’s fury, Maya swallowed, unhurriedly squatted down, picked up the bookmark he had thrown to the floor, and explained calmly, "I’m also human, I also have the seven... emotions... six... desires."
Listening to the girl’s defense, Liam nearly fainted from anger, lowly questioning, "Your seven... emotions... six... desires include eying your brother-in-law, someone else’s man?"
"I didn’t, I only had a crush, never eyed him." Liam’s accusation was unacceptable to Maya, she had merely a crush after all.
Her feelings, aside from herself, were unknown to anyone else.
Three years ago, she realized she liked Lillian Morris; she couldn’t pinpoint exactly when, maybe from the time when she was desperate after falling into the sea, he appeared before her, hence she entrusted her heart to him.
Listening to her confession, Liam watching her guarding those bookmarks as if they were treasured jewels, felt an urge to strangle her.
How could she like someone else? Especially his brother-in-law.
He’d rather Maya be heartless, love no one, than love someone else.
Watching her tightly holding the bookmarks, involuntarily, his mind flashed the illustrations on those bookmarks—all sketches bearing Lillian’s likeness, all drawn by Maya herself.
The sharp phrases behind those illustrations stabbed straight into his heart. She had written, [Every time I see you, you’re always shining bright.]
Watching the girl’s composed action, her candid behavior, Liam finally understood what heart-wrenching meant.