When Sebastian arrived, Jonathan had already been rushed to a local hospital.
Devin’s body had been escorted to the funeral parlor by Jonathan’s troops as they waited for Sebastian to get here.
“Mr. Sebastian, Mr. Devin is…”
Mark, who had been waiting there all along, got to his feet when he saw Sebastian. His eyes were bloodshot and brimming with tears.
Sebastian stood as still as a log at the funeral parlor.
He wanted to say something, but when he saw the corpse that was pulled out of the mortuary freezer, his fingers quivered uncontrollably at the frost-engulfed face.
He never once thought that this man would leave him.
Devin has always stood by me, and this is how we part?
Sebastian forced his stiff limbs into motion with his eyes still affixed to the cadaver. The excruciating pain he was going through felt as if his ribs had caved in. His sorrow was so immense that he needed to gasp for air.
“Mr. Devin was trying to kill those arms dealers, and… and that cost him his life. I forewarned him about the risks.” Mark tried to explain.
“If those people could somehow know about me coming here and got their hands on me the moment I arrived, they would’ve already known about his intention of taking their lives. In other words,” Mark stalled for a brief second, “he didn’t stand a chance. Yet, he insisted that the safety of the Jadesons weighed far more than his life.”
While swallowing his tears and repeatedly recollecting himself, Mark explained what led to the demise of Devin.
Sebastian’s lips remained tightly pressed against each other.
He hadn’t moved a muscle since he saw the corpse lying in the drawer.
It’s not like I didn’t see this coming. After all, I was the one who asked Jonathan to come here to back Devin up. I knew what danger Devin was in!
Unfortunately, it was a little too late. If Jonathan and Devin hadn’t kept all this from him, and he had realized what was going on a little bit earlier, this tragedy wouldn’t have occurred.
For a long while, Sebastian remained in the mortuary.
…
Meanwhile, in Jetroina, Solomon was finishing up his soup in his ward.
With a loud clink, he dropped his spoon in the bowl as his head jerked up upon hearing the news.
There was a long pause before the words that were stuck in his throat finally made their way out.
“You must be joking,” he rasped.
One of his men, who had rushed back to break the news, shook his head before hanging it low. Solomon was devastated.
“It’s true, Mr. George. Mr. Hayes is already in Zarain, and Jonathan was sent to the hospital because of this. He was still hospitalized when I left.”
Silence ensued as Solomon struggled to let this news sink in.
It was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. The solemnity in the ward was unbearable.
Devin’s dead!
Suddenly, a nurse walked into his room and stood by the door. “Mr. Akiyama, your sister was looking for a nurse just now and wanted to be moved to a regular ward. Shall I move her there?” she asked.
Solomon jolted and yelled at the lady the second she finished her sentence, “Don’t you dare! I’m going to kill anyone who dares touch her! Leave her alone!”
Disquietude took over, and he lost his last bit of composure. Within seconds, the delicate facial features under those gold-rimmed glasses lost every tinge of rosiness.
The nurse almost jumped out of her skin.
A few minutes later, at the obstetrics ward, Sabrina wanted to move to another ward but to no avail.
Instead, Haruto and his fellow doctors attended to her. They pushed her into a fully isolated room without saying a word.
“You… Dr. Shoki, what’s going on? Why am I put here all of a sudden?”
Still lying on her bed, she pressed her hand firmly onto her balloon-like tummy, and her face was as pale as a ghost.
Haruto scanned through a pile of data in front of her. “The data shows that your baby’s antibody level is lower than the standard. It’d be better for you to stay in this isolation room before your delivery.”
It was absolute nonsense, but for someone like Sabrina, who knew nothing about medical practices, she took his word for it and stopped squirming.
When Solomon was pushed into Sabrina’s ward, he saw her pulling a long face and appearing irascible.
“He said that there’s something wrong with my child’s immune system!”
“It’s only the antibody level that’s not up to standard,” Solomon patiently corrected her.
“Hmph!” Sabrina turned away in a huff. She then took the apple in front of her and scathingly gnawed on it.
“Hey, I believe that you wanted to talk to Devin, right? I don’t mind passing you your phone, but Haruto did mention that it has bacteria all over it. Also, let’s not forget its radiative properties. Do you still wanna call him?” Solomon added.
Crunch!
Sabrina took another bite.
