Chapter 5

Micah's fingers tightened, and his knuckles turned pale. However, he regained his composure and gave her a gentle smile at the next moment. "I've moved on. We cut all contact after the breakup, and we'll never see each other again." Lena felt a sense of bitterness rise in her mouth. He lied so smoothly. There wasn't even the slightest twitch of his brows. Micah extended his hands to touch her face again, but Lena instinctively turned away. Her reaction made him frown slightly. He had lost count of how many times she had avoided his touch now. "Who told you that?" His tone turned serious. "Is this why you've been upset lately?" Lena was about to speak when a shrill ringtone cut through the silence. Micah glanced at the incoming call on the screen. He hesitated for a few seconds before he eventually picked it up. Laris' voice came through the moment the line connected. She said, "Micah! There are some thugs following me. I'm scared…" His expression shifted instantly. "Send me your location." He grabbed his coat without even glancing at Lena and was about to leave. "Baby, something urgent came up at work. You take a cab home later, okay?" But Lena didn't go home. Instead, she flagged down a cab as if possessed and followed him. She saw him shielding Laris with his body as he faced off against four or five thugs armed with clubs in a dim alley. He was like a different person. His strikes were ruthless. It was nothing like the calm and restrained man he usually was. One of the thugs, who had gotten beaten to the point where blood was streaming from his head, suddenly pulled out a blade and lunged at Laris. "Lissy!" Micah threw himself in front of her without hesitation and shielded her with his. The blade plunged into his chest, and blood soaked through his shirt in an instant. "Micah!" Laris held him as he collapsed, sobbing uncontrollably. "Don't be afraid…" He collapsed in her arms. His voice was weak but tender. "I promised… I'd protect you forever… I intend to keep the promise…" Lena stood at the mouth of the alley, feeling as if someone had ripped a piece straight out of her heart. … Outside the operating room, Laris wept like a flower being battered by rain. "He's always been like this… He nearly died racing someone for me once… He gave me so much blood that he passed out when I was in a car accident…" Lena leaned against the wall and listened quietly. It turned out that someone as calm and composed as Micah could love so recklessly and desperately. However, that love had never been for her. "The blade missed his heart by just 0.039 inches." A nurse pushed the door and walked out. "Is Ms. Laris here? We need a family member's signature for the surgery." Laris cried as she shook her head. "I'm not his family… His wife is over there." The nurse looked at Lena in surprise. "But the patient kept calling for Lissy. He said he wanted to leave everything to Ms. Laris when he made his will just now…" She realized that she had said too much and awkwardly fell silent. Lena laughed. Then, she signed the consent under the nurse's sympathetic gaze before turning around to leave. "Wait!" Laris called out. "Didn't you say you loved him the most? He's still in a risky situation. Aren't you going to stay and take care of him?" Lena stopped in her tracks without turning around. "I had indeed loved him the most." Her voice was eerily calm. "But not anymore. Since he clearly never got over you, I'll step aside and let you have him."