Chapter 216: Promise

Neil angrily grabbed his bloody collar and pulled him along with the electric chair up. With a vein throbbing on his forehead, he gritted, "Don’t bullshit me into feeling sorry for you! You’re an asshole and a heartless bastard! I want to rip off your head so badly my head hurts from listening to the shit you did to my woman. If you know what’s fucking best for you, you better tell me every single thing you did to her, or may God help you!"

Hearing that the little girl they’d once performed all those procedures on was Neil Wayner’s woman now, Mr. Howell trembled even more. His eyes turned red from lack of air as Neil’s hands tightened on his collar before pushing him back down when he almost choked to death. He coughed and tried to catch his breath as he said,

"I didn’t mean to do everything back then...I was scared for my own life. I’m sorry."

"What surgery did you perform on her the last time?" Neil asked, trying to hold back himself from killing the man right there and then.

"It wasn’t on Kelvin’s request that I performed that last surgery." He said, "After all the things I’ve done to the girl, I was consumed by guilt, so when Mrs Rodrigo approached me one night at my house and requested for me to do something for the girl, I couldn’t deny it because I also thought it would be for the best."

"You mean Ella Rodrigo asked you to perform some surgery on Mia as well?" He asked, unable to believe that the woman he’d hated for his parents death and was willing to forget because of her love and care for the little Mia in the past was also responsible for causing pain to her daughter. What sort of parents were those God damned people?!

Mr. Howell shook his head as if reading Neil’s thoughts, "She wasn’t like her husband. She was different and wanted to make things right for her daughter. After everything that was done on the girl, she wasn’t normal. She acted more like an emotionless robot than a human, the only person that was able to bring out the emotions and human feelings in her was a boy in their neighborhood, or so I was told by Ella."

Neil’s angry expression loosened a bit upon hearing that as he realized who that boy was. Him.

"For a girl her age, she was a danger to children her age. Though she was never allowed outside unless Kelvin was taking her on his trips to deliver his drugs, but the first time she was taken out by her mother, she almost killed a girl in a park. I wasn’t given the full details though, all I know was that she didn’t know between right and wrong and would use violence to get what she wanted. She’d used a nail to stab the girl’s hand to the ground. Not only that, she was caught on some occasions harming animals who’d done nothing but looked at her, she was a danger to her own self and Ella was worried she’d lose her if things continued that way..."

Neil slowly sat down on the chair opposite the man as he felt himself feeling more sick with all the information he was learning. His stomach twisted and his throat constricted, causing him to swallow convulsively to hold himself from throwing up. The little girl he knew back then was so charming and harmless she’d never hurt an insect not to mention a human. She’d gone through a lot to the point he couldn’t find it in his heart to remain angry at her about their marriage now.

"What did Ella request you to do to her?" He asked, holding his breath to hear of another cruel thing done on her.

"Ella wanted me to make the girl forget everything. She wanted her to have no memories of all those cruel things done on her, she wanted her daughter to be a kid again, to play and laugh like the girls her age...so I made her forget." He said, lowering his gaze to the floor. "It was the only way I could repent for everything I’d done to her."

"On what date was that?" Neil asked calmly, but deep down there was nothing calm about him.

"You mean the day I did the last surgery on her?" He asked, and when Neil stared at him blankly, he told him the date. Neil flung out of his chair so fast it flew back. The date Mia’s surgery was performed was the day he’d lost his family...

Neil’s face turned so pale he could barely continue to stand in the room. He didn’t know what to think of everything he’d just learned. Mia’s memory wipe had been to protect her from herself, to protect her from the horrors of her past. No child deserved to be treated like she was. He’d thought she’d forgotten about him because their childhood meant nothing to her but it seemed there was more to it.

"Now that you know everything, Mr. Wayner, will you tell these animals to release me? I really have a flight to catch tomorrow morning. I don’t want to_"

"Kill him!" Neil barked the order to Zephyr, and without waiting to hear the man’s screams, he turned on his heels and left the cell room. People like Mr. Howell would never repent nor quit, and if he had indeed quit like he claimed, Kelvin wouldn’t have let him live until now. If Neil were to release him now, everything that happened here would be reported back to Kelvin.

As Neil walked out of the cell room, Zephyr pulled the trigger, silencing the doctor’s pleas forever. Neil made his way to his car, his anger simmering just below the surface. He kicked the side of the car with his leg, frustration boiling over. He wanted to beat someone, vent his anger on them, especially on Kelvin Rodrigo for everything he had done to Mia. He also wanted to go home, comfort Mia, and kiss her pain away. But then, remembering that she didn’t want him, he ran his fingers through his hair and cursed repeatedly.

Shoving his hand into his pocket, he retrieved a pack of cigarettes and lit one. Dragging in the scented smoke, he released a ring of swirling smoke into the night air. Leaning his back against the car, he looked up at the crescent moon. He recalled a time in the past when he saw the scar on Mia’s thigh, and she had said it was from a fire. Now he realized it wasn’t.

She had suffered alone as a child, and now that he thought of everything, he was starting to blame Ella less for his misfortune. Everything had happened because she wanted to save Mia from her demon of a father, but shit happened and his family got caught in the web.

Neil heard the sound of approaching footsteps and knew who it was even before he spoke. "Are you all right?" Liam asked, coming to stand beside him with both hands shoved inside his trouser pockets.

Neil could only nod his head, fearing that if he spoke, the burning sensation in his chest would make his emotions burst out. He was far from being all right. It was the first time he didn’t know what to do. He wanted to go and comfort Mia, shower her with the love she’d never had from her parents, but he didn’t understand her enough to know what she wanted since she was now refusing to marry him and stay in the same room with him.

’I don’t want to get married without getting want I wanted!’ she had told him that. Then what did she want from him?

Neil turned his head away from the sky and looked at Liam. His friend was an expert on women; perhaps he could help with Mia. "Can you tell me what a woman wants when she loves you but is refusing to marry you and stay with you?" he asked, taking Liam by surprise.

Neil had never asked him about women ever since they’d been friends.

"Oh, I see, you’re having a problem with your woman," Liam said with an understanding shake of his head. "Well, as much as I’d like to help you with that, I don’t know much about love. I do know women like expensive stuff; you can try to coax her with gifts."

Neil glared at him. "Mia isn’t the kind to like expensive stuff. She’s different."

Liam shrugged. "Then maybe you need to understand her better. Perhaps there’s something she wants that you’re not doing yet."

Neil took a long drag from his cigarette, considering Liam’s words. He knew Mia was different. She wasn’t swayed by material things. But what did she want? As the smoke curled around him, he felt the weight of uncertainty settle in his chest. For the first time, he felt lost, unsure of how to bridge the gap between them. He only knew one thing for certain: he couldn’t lose her. And he would do whatever it took to win her back.

****

Neil drove back home in the middle of the night, his mind already made up on figuring out what Mia wanted, and he knew just how to find that out. As he entered the foyer, he noticed the living room lights still on along with the television. Puzzled, he walked towards it and found Mia curled up on the couch without a blanket, sleeping peacefully while the television played in the background.

Tenderness and love swelled in his heart at the sight. Her brown, thick hair was spread out across the pillow, with a few stray strands falling over her face. Her lips were slightly parted, a soft, serene expression gracing her sharp features. Long, dark lashes rested gently against her cheeks, casting delicate shadows that added to her angelic appearance.

Her beauty was ethereal in sleep, and her breathing a gentle rhythm that spoke of dreams too delicate to disturb.

He walked towards her and crouched down before the couch, using his fingertips to move a few strands of hair from her face. "Silly woman," he muttered softly, stroking her cheek with his fingers. She looked so small and fragile lying on the couch. Was she waiting for his return? The notion of that made a surge of warmth spread through his body.

As Neil was admiring her sleeping form, the housekeeper, who hadn’t retired to her room yet, walked up to him and bowed slightly. "Ma’am has not eaten dinner yet. She was waiting for you to return. Should I set the table again?"

Hearing that Mia hadn’t eaten when it was already midnight, Neil cursed under his breath. What was she thinking? She needed more food than he did in her condition. Without hesitation, he reached out to wake her. Slowly shaking her shoulders, he called, "Querida, wake up..."

Mia shook off his hands and turned her back to him, thrusting her ass back. Smiling to himself as he recalled a similar scene in the past when he’d returned to his condo and found her sleeping on his couch, he wrapped his arm around her waist from behind, intending to pick her up. But she elbowed him in the jaw. "Let me sleep, you idiot." She then pulled a pillow over her head as if she was being disturbed.

Rubbing his burning jaw, Neil said to the housekeeper, "Don’t bother setting the table, we’ll eat in the morning." He then leaned down and picked Mia up into his arms. She stirred slightly but didn’t wake, snuggling closer to his chest as he carried her up the stairs.

He didn’t take her to their room since she didn’t want to stay there with him, thus he took her to the guests room where she’d put her things. He gently laid her on the bed, covering her with a blanket. He watched her for a moment, his heart swelling with love and protectiveness. "I promise I’ll figure out what you want, Mia," he whispered, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. "I won’t let you down."

Even though he wanted nothing but to nestle next to her on the bed and sleep, he wanted to respect her decision of being in seperate rooms until he’d figured out what exactly she wanted. He wished as hell he could throw caution to the wind and just hold her to sleep, because he could only find a good night sleep in her arms, but he couldn’t. He watched her for some moments more before he reluctantly turned on his heels and left the room, turning off the lights on his way.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read