It had already been five days since Cassidy went missing.

By this point, Adrian is starting to lose his mind.

​​

He would not eat properly, and he would barely get some sleep. Though his physical body is at rest, his mind is far from that. He could not calm down at all. There was not a time that he did not think about his wife. It was her he could ever think about - her well-being, safety, whereabouts, and everything.

Every second, minute and hour of the day she was not there was like hell to him. He would dream about her at night - her smile, laughter, and even her touches. Only then does he feel at ease. He feels perfectly fine when he can see her right beside him. But then, that only tortures him as well. That is because he will only get to wake up from such a beautiful dream to face the nightmarish reality in the end.

Up until the last day of his stay at the hospital, that nightmare continues - his beloved is still nowhere to be found.

"Adrian, we're going back home. Not to our vacation houses. We'll leave this place," Gertrude ordered the day before he would be dismissed.

"I'm not leaving until Cassidy comes back," Adrian firmly protested.

"How many times do I have to tell you that the others will just take care of that-"

"And how many times do I have to say that I'm not going anywhere without her? You can just leave on your own. Leave already. In fact, you're better off not showing your face to me anymore-"

"Adrian!"

Appalled by what his son said, she bolted out of her seat and stomped her way in his direction. He only returns her fuming reaction with an icy-cold expression. His siblings can only watch from the side as both of them begin yet another heated exchange. It has been like this ever since he has woken up. Their family dispute is getting bigger and bigger that it is starting to spiral out of control.

And it all began after Adrian learned that Gertrude told Cassidy to leave on the very night he was sent to the hospital.

Ever since then, he thought that she was the reason why she was able to leave that easily - without any of them noticing right away, that is.

"You do know that I'm still your mother, so you better listen and do what I say-"

"I've had enough of all of this! You kept telling me what to do! I'm not a child anymore...!" Adrian cut Gertrude off and retaliated without hesitation, making her flare up even more.

"If I get to learn that you really are the reason why she left, I'm no longer sure how I will ever treat you, Mother."

"Ha...! That's only your obsession talking, child. You are misled, and that is because you are still too young. What if she left on her own? She could leave, you know. Our family doesn't need her, anyway-"

"Mother, stop that! You're already going far too far..." Olivia cut in all of the sudden, finally stepping in between the two.

"I may have gone along with whatever we are putting both Adrian and Cassidy through, but enough is enough...! I'm also tired of all of this! Everything needs to stop! Let's stop already!"

"Olivia," Irish breathed out in a bit of awe, not expecting that her twin had this brave side of her.

"Mother... Olivia and I will be the ones to look after Adrian in the meantime. You can go back with Irish for now," Edward chimed in, also seconding what his sibling said.

"Hey, wait! I wanna stay here too! I won't leave without Olivia!"

"Irish, you're still recovering as well. Someone from our family needs to look after you-"

"I'll stay with Olivia!"

Already getting a headache from how much of a mess her children became, Gertrude only heaved a long sigh in exhaustion and backed away to take a seat again.

She still had not moved on from the revelation that it was Sophie who had crashed over Adrian, but she was already dealing with another headache. Perhaps, she has indeed gone too far by clashing against his son like this. As the victim here, he should be the one to decide what will be good for him. Besides, going by how he is acting now, she will not be able to change his mind.

"You should just take care of that case with Sophie, Mother. Just don't play biases anymore. Otherwise, I'll definitely do the unthinkable. She is still alive, isn't she...?" Adrian brought up all of the sudden, catching them off guard.

"I'll wait for her to wake up, and I'll deal with her myself. She won't get away just like that - she deserves a much harsher punishment than death."

Time and again, Adrian is resembling Grisham so perfectly that it is kind of eerie.

His once cold gaze distorted into a fiery one. Hooded with malevolence, he appears like he is all ready for a bloodbath. It appalls them. This may either be another one of his rarest sides or an all-new look they are seeing on him - intimidating is no longer the word, it is beyond frightening.

Among all of them, Olivia feels scared the most.

Then again, she has already steeled her resolve to confess every misdeed that they have done to his wife before - she will finally come clean.

Ever since she and her sister have been saved that night, starting out a new beginning is all that is in her mind. She knew that she should not have thought about changing only when it got to that point, but then, that was just what happened. She was willing to pay for that as well, and she was more determined to change knowing that she thought she never wanted to do so back then.

However, now that Olivia sees just how terrifying Adrian can be when it comes to Cassidy, she is beginning to falter.

More than being put behind the bars or getting her hands cut off, she is afraid of losing her younger brother. Her family is already as messed up as it is, after all. She doesn't want to lose any of them for real.

'Even though I know I deserve to be hated..." Olivia thought begrudgingly as she looked at Adrian with a petrified expression.

'I don't want Adrian to hate me.'

And that is because 'hate' for Adrian is a lot more than treating them apathetically or making them pay two-fold.

---

"You should go inside now. It's already starting to get cold."

Edward tried to make Adrian follow for the hundredth time ever since he was dismissed from the hospital. He was out at the beachside again, though he knew that he was not just standing around there and doing nothing. Even though he should rest more, he is still working so hard to look for his wife.

It has been more than a week since Cassidy left. Even then, she hasn't returned.

Adrian already sent out a number of search teams, private investigators, and police officers. At this rate, he might make his wife appear like a wanted criminal or a part of a syndicate. He even thought about joining the investigation himself and giving out a huge reward money for anyone who would get to find her, but he talked him out of it.

There was no need to go that far, especially when there was already a few found traces of her. It's only a matter of time before they find her.

"I know that you did me the favor of staying put in this place and all, but you still need to obey more if you want a complete recovery," Edward continued to talk sense into him but only to be answered by silence.

Adrian is staring out at the ocean, lost in his deep sea of thoughts - time and again.

The curtains of the evening are about to fall while a blanket of stars is beginning to layer over the sky. Waves keep ebbing and flowing around his ankles, adding to the refreshing coldness of the billowing wind. From a distance, the sun is starting to set and hide away, but even then, he only continues staring at it while entirely in daze.

That is all until he notices a certain figure through the corners of his eyes.

Someone is approaching them from the other side of the beach.

Right then, Adrian goes still. Whatever he is seeing now is like something straight out of a dream. With the whole setting bathing in the warm, resplendent light and the atmosphere having a dreamy feel to it, that whole sight is such a heaven to behold. It leaves a lasting impression despite how fleeting it seems.

She is right there - walking down the beach in a plain, white dress that looks nostalgic for some reason.

'Oh, right. She is also wearing something like that when we met again five years ago,' Adrian then came to realize as he continued staring at her with so much love and admiration.

With an inscrutable and unsmiling expression, Cassidy is now calmly making her way towards the place she will soon depart from as well.