Chapter 302
Moving with lightning speed, he fired several shots in rapid succession. The bullets slammed into Janine’s chest. She hurled backward as blood spurted from the wounds, cutting off whatever she had been about to say.
Her eyes remained wide open, though her pupils had already dilated. Her delicate face still bore the remnants of her earlier smirk, the curve of her lips frozen in place—as if she were mocking something, or perhaps as if she hadn’t had time to process anything at all.
Silence fell over the room.
Suzy and Aaron’s ragged breathing intertwined in the quiet.
Aaron still held the gun up, his arm frozen in mid-air, refusing to drop. His eyes were locked onto Janine’s corpse. His lips trembled slightly, yet the depths of his eyes were utterly cold.
With the crisis abruptly over, both of them were momentarily stunned, unable to immediately process the shift. Suzy and Aaron remained frozen in their original positions. She was still completely draped over him, pressed against his chest.
"...It should be safe now," Suzy murmured softly.
She pulled her gaze back from the body, suddenly realizing just how close she was to Aaron. Extremely close. If she weren’t currently injured and bleeding out, their current position would look incredibly provocative.
Suzy struggled to get up, but as her eyes inadvertently swept across Aaron’s face, her movements faltered slightly.
His glasses had flown off to god-knows-where. Without them blocking his face, his clean features looked even more delicate. His eyes seemed shrouded in a thin mist, giving him a slightly dazed, dreamy look. The corners of his eyes tilted upward slightly, and his irises were so pale they seemed bottomless.
It was only then that Suzy realized Aaron was staring at her.
He seemed to be looking at her, yet at the same time, looking through her. But that didn’t matter right now—she needed to get off him immediately. Otherwise, things were going to get weird.
Suzy lowered her eyes, breaking their gaze. She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but she thought she could hear a frantic, racing heartbeat.
"You’re hurt. How do you feel right now?"
The moment Suzy pulled back just an inch, Aaron spoke. His warm breath brushed softly against her face, catching her off guard.
"I’m fine... it’s just a minor scratch."
As soon as Suzy finished speaking, she pulled away completely, restoring a normal distance between them and breaking the suffocating closeness.
Aaron watched her go, a strange heaviness sinking into his chest, accompanied by an inexplicable, undefinable trace of disappointment. He couldn’t even understand what he was feeling disappointed about. Was he disappointed that she had put distance between them? Aaron found the thought absurd and quickly suppressed it.
He shifted his gaze, focusing on Suzy’s injured shoulder.
Blood was pouring relentlessly from the wound like an open faucet, pooling on the floor. It was a gruesome, shocking sight that made his heart sink. Yet despite this, Suzy acted as if nothing had happened. Her face was already so deathly pale that she looked ready to faint at any second; Aaron genuinely worried she might collapse right then and there.
When he remembered how she had thrown herself in front of him to shield him without a single shred of hesitation, a wave of intense emotion surged within him. The sheer impact of it left him completely at a loss. He wanted to reach out and touch her, but he was terrified that a careless move might shatter her completely.
The Suzy in front of him looked like a beautiful, fragile doll on the verge of breaking apart. Her body seemed riddled with invisible fractures, as if a single, gentle touch from him would cause her to crumble entirely.
"You..." Aaron started, but the words caught in his throat.
He didn’t know what to say. There was simply too much he wanted to express.
He wanted to ask how she was doing, to thank her for risking her life to save him, and to demand why she would ever do something so reckless for his sake. All of these thoughts tangled together, paralyzing his tongue. Every word jammed into a tight knot, clogging his throat. He stood there with his mouth slightly open, a rare expression of utter bewilderment on his face.
Suzy noticed his worried look and was about to offer some words of comfort. She wanted to tell him she was fine, that it was just a scratch.
Sure, she was bleeding heavily, which looked terrifying, but she could tell the injury hadn’t damaged any bone or muscle.
The system must have stepped in at the crucial moment; her luck had been incredibly good. The bullet had merely grazed her shoulder, and because the area was already wrapped in a thick layer of gauze from before, most of the impact had been absorbed.
She had only ended up with a superficial laceration. Compared to the time she was actually shot clean through, this was practically nothing.
The only real problem was the sheer amount of blood she was losing. That was definitely not good.
Suzy began to feel the chill of blood loss setting in. Before she could even reassure Aaron, her vision went black. Her body swayed uncontrollably, and she nearly pitched forward onto the ground. Fortunately, she snapped out of it just in time to steady herself.
Aaron caught her stumble, his voice tight. "Are you alright?"
Even as he said it, he realized how hollow and useless his words sounded.
Suzy forced a weak shake of her head. Seeing her like this left a bitter taste in Aaron’s mouth. If it weren’t for him, Suzy wouldn’t have been injured again, nor would she be bleeding this much. A crushing wave of guilt washed over him, making it hard to breathe.
"I’m fine, really. It’s no big deal," Suzy managed a faint smile. "It’s just a lot of blood, so it looks worse than it is." As she spoke, her voice was incredibly weak, fading into a whisper that was barely audible.
Aaron’s brow furrowed even deeper.
Suzy wasn’t looking at him anymore. Feeling that sitting on the floor wasn’t doing her any favors, she prepared to get up. However, she severely overestimated her strength. She managed to stand, but before she could even find her footing, the world spun, and darkness rushed over her eyes.
Unexpectedly, Suzy didn’t hit the floor. Instead, a steady hand caught her, holding her up firmly.
Suzy froze, unable to move. The darkness before her eyes hadn’t fully dissipated yet. It felt as though a thick black mist was draped over her vision, obscuring everything. It took several seconds for her sight to snap back to normal.
She realized she was being held by Aaron. Though the boy was quite a bit younger than her, he was significantly taller. He had his arm around her shoulder in a way that wasn’t overly intimate, but his pale eyes were filled to the brim with raw, undeniable worry.
Taking a deep breath, Suzy pointed toward the sofa ahead and murmured, "Could you help me over there?"
She didn’t try to play the hero this time. Suzy knew full well that her body was reaching its limit. Between the fresh injury and the excessive blood loss, she felt hollowed out inside. On her own, she would probably collapse halfway before ever reaching the couch.
"Okay," Aaron replied.
He meticulously guided Suzy over to the sofa and helped her sit down.
Neither of them said much during the short walk. Suzy leaned back against the cushions, her eyes closed, her breathing shallow. Blood was still seeping from her left shoulder; the gauze was completely saturated in a dark, sticky crimson that clung tightly to her skin.
After a brief silence, Suzy opened her eyes and scanned the utterly wrecked room. She let out a helpless laugh. "I wonder what Liam is going to think when he gets back."