Samantha couldn"t dare to face him and Daniel also had a hard time getting close to her, afraid that she would push him away again so all he could do was sit on the floor beside her. She was so conflicted it caused her so much torment that she wanted him to hold her tight and yet she felt like his touch was very painful. Why was it hurting so bad?
Was it really her feelings about Daniel"s dark past?
Or was it the poison doing its thing?
She remembered the time when they were in the yacht – Daniel had asked her "What would you do if you found out that I was not who you think I was?"
She also recalled that he did try to tell her that he did some horrible things in the past but she didn"t want to hear it then and even told him that she"s okay with it since it was all in the past anyway. And now that she learned about it, she couldn"t believe that it was beyond what she imagined.
Her mind was clouded and all she knew was that she was feeling very miserable. She didn"t hate him but she was hurting for and because of him.
An hour had pa.s.sed and they remained the same on the floor. It was only then that Daniel carried her to bed when her hand slipped — she had already fallen asleep while crying.
He laid down next to her and watched her sleep peacefully.
His heart ached for her because he loved her.
And he hoped that she still loved him back.
He thought it was quite selfish of him to think like so when he knew that he could never force her.
But still, it was what he wished for.
While he recalled his dark past, his thoughts had wandered and he was brought back to the incident earlier that day in the hospital.
***
"So it"s confirmed. Right from the culprit himself, it is indeed poison. F*ckin-" Nathan Yun ran his hands on his hair. They already knew before then but hearing the news again and knowing that Samantha was intentionally hurt, he was p.i.s.sed.
Nathan was mad at Daniel for he did not protect Samantha enough but he knew very well that Daniel was also hurting so blaming him was not going to help them solve the matter at hand. Their discussion was interrupted when Daniel received a text message.
Unknown number: [ If you want to save your wife, I have the antidote with me. I"ll wait for you in my office. Fourth floor, Rm xx]
Not knowing who it was, Daniel Cho dialed the number right away and as soon as the call was answered, his expression turned dark.
"h.e.l.lo, Daniel," Devyn said lazily.
Daniel clenched his jaw and ran outside of Nathan Yun"s office. He headed straight towards where Devyn told him to go. "She was in on this?" He sneered in his thoughts.
As soon as he got inside Devyn Nam"s office, he dashed towards her and grabbed her by the collar, "Why?!"
"h.e.l.lo to you too, Daniel Cho." Devyn smiled at him like she was casually meeting him.
"You… and Yanovich?! The two of you are working together?! Why am I not surprised?"
"You shouldn"t be. I was one of the leading researchers when we made this drug. Isn"t this exciting? This drug is a breakthrough! Your wife was poisoned two months ago and you guys didn"t even know about it… no traces… nada!" She rolled her eyes at him, "I don"t know where you got the notes that you gave Dr. Yun but… even with that, you still won"t be able to cure-"
"Where is Yanovich?!" Daniel pushed her to the wall, she winced in pain but she still held her smile.
"Is that what you really want to ask? Aren"t you more interested in the antidote that could save your wife? I suggest that you act fast because… If she doesn"t take this, she"ll probably die in…. I don"t know… less than five days?"
Daniel"s range shot up a whole new level when he heard her. His right hand reached her neck and squeezed it, she was raised from the ground by an inch.
"What did you say?!"
She choked and she struggled but she was not afraid of Daniel"s deathly glare. She even liked how she was being treated like so.
Hurriedly retrieving a vial from her pocket, she showed it to Daniel and he immediately loosened his grip as he s.n.a.t.c.hed it from her hand.
Devyn coughed a few times, holding her neck where Daniel had squeezed her before she let out a sinister laugh.
"What is this?" Daniel looked at it but it was just a plain vial of yellowish liquid with some medical writing that he didn"t understand.
"That"s an antidote," she answered nonchalantly as she sat on her chair, ma.s.saging her neck to relieve the pain.
Looking at her, Daniel did not believe that she was going to just hand him the answer to his problems as simple as that. There has to be a catch! "Why would you suddenly just give this to me? What do you want?"
"Right now, nothing. Consider this as an a.s.surance that I am telling the truth. You have nothing to lose, Swift… right?" Her smile was truly wicked that even Daniel felt it was quite creepy.
Realizing that Devyn was right, he turned around and left her office as he did not have any other choice. So he rushed back to Nathan Yun to get him to check the vial but who he found in his office surprised him a lot.
***
Just then, Samantha stirred in bed, catching Daniel"s attention. He looked at her and saw her eyes flutter open very slowly.
Samantha was feeling quite groggy and weak yet the very first one that she looked for when she gained consciousness was her husband.
Noticing that he laid down in bed with her, she stared back at him and they looked at each other for quite some time without talking.
She did not realize that water had already formed in her eyes when she remembered what just happened. Her lips slightly quivered at the same time that her tear fell and Daniel could no longer hold himself back when he reached and pulled her tightly into an embrace.
"I"m sorry, Samantha. I did this to you… I caused this. I"m sorry. I"m so sorry." He continued to mumble.
Samantha could also not help herself because the moment that she felt his warmth, everything else crumbled – her wall, her pride, her worries, the pain… everything. She clutched onto him like he was the only one who mattered. All of her doubts were slowly fading away into the background.
And after all that revelation, Samantha said one thing that Daniel did not expect to hear from her at that moment.
"I"m sorry you had to go through all of that. You must have been very scared and hurt." She murmured on his chest.
He was surprised to hear what she said so he pulled back a little, "What?"
"You… watched your friend die. No one should go through a traumatic experience like that." Samantha knew how it felt.
He only stared at her as he was unsure of what he should respond to what she just said.
"I don"t approve of what you did to that guy who killed your friend. It was very wrong, Daniel. And I"m so disappointed that you allowed yourself to go through the darkness. You could"ve…" Samantha sighed and shook her head, there was no point in saying anything else about it. She knew that Daniel already regretted his actions back then like he told her that afternoon.
"Those things that you did… I am honestly afraid of it. But I… I can"t hate you. I can"t bring myself to hate you. I know it was wrong but I can understand why you did what you did…"
"What are you saying?" He asked, his own tear had already fallen.
"I love you, Daniel… the good and the bad… they"re part of who you are and what you"ve become now was because of what you did in the past... whatever they were. Those were horrible things… but I... I still love you."