Destined Entwining: Capturing My Devoted Beau-Chapter 533 - 287: From Like to Love (First Update—Seeking Monthly Tickets)
"Stop looking for her, she must have gone out!" Gabrielle Winters angrily took out her phone and used the Find My Friends feature to track the whereabouts of Lawrence Winters.
But the phone showed that Lawrence was at home and hadn’t left.
Gabrielle frowned, "Didn’t go out? Or didn’t take her phone with her?"
Nick Zeller: "..."
He shook his head and said honestly, "Lawrence is a grown girl. If you don’t let her carry her phone, she’ll argue with you. It’s basically her wallet; how could she go out without bringing her wallet?"
Gabrielle irritably put away her phone, "But you said she’s not home."
"I only checked a few rooms. Our house is this big, we’ll eventually find her by slowly searching."
Nick thought for a moment, then decided to call Lawrence’s phone.
Soon, they heard the ringtone, indeed coming from a certain direction.
Gabrielle and Nick exchanged a glance and immediately ran toward the elevator lobby.
Right at the elevator entrance, they saw Lawrence.
She had one hand resting on the door frame, standing with her back to them, seemingly watching the elevator doors.
But the elevator doors were closed, and it was unclear what she was looking at.
The elevator lobby had no natural light, relying entirely on the overhead LED lights, which were silver-white, with walls adorned with Van Gogh’s vividly colorful abstract paintings.
Gabrielle furrowed her brow slightly, unhappily saying, "Lawrence, what are you doing standing here? Planning to sneak out again? Or have you already been out and just came back?"
As she spoke, she glanced down at Lawrence’s feet.
She was still wearing indoor slippers, and her clothing was the same casual wear Gabrielle had seen her in during breakfast.
Probably hadn’t changed clothes to sneak out, right?
Gabrielle waited for a moment, but Lawrence still didn’t answer.
Nick was curious too; he approached Lawrence and looked at her, his expression suddenly changed.
"Lawrence?" He extended his arm, pushing lightly on her shoulder, "Lawrence?"
Lawrence remained fixed on the direction of the elevator doors, her gaze unfocused, with a faint smile on her face.
Under the silver-white LED light, her skin appeared unnaturally smooth and fair, like a life-sized doll, strikingly beautiful yet devoid of life.
Nick’s heart started pounding wildly.
"Lawrence! Lawrence! Lawrence! Look at me! Look at me! I’m your uncle!" Nick frantically waved his hand in front of Lawrence’s face, shouting into her ear.
Despite his loud voice, Lawrence seemed completely oblivious.
Gabrielle widened her eyes and hurried over, standing next to Nick, watching Lawrence together.
"Lawrence? Lawrence? Lawrence? What’s wrong with you? Are you deliberately trying to scare your mom? Are you upset with me for losing my temper with you?" Gabrielle was almost in tears, about to pounce on Lawrence for a hug.
Nick quickly pulled her back, quietly saying, "Her arm is injured, don’t aggravate the wound with an infection!"
Gabrielle halted, "Huh," she muttered, "Where’s her splint? I remember it was hanging on her neck this morning?"
Nick also snapped back, saying, "Yeah, that’s what I remember too."
He examined Lawrence’s left arm, then gently rolled up her left sleeve.
The knife wound was on her lower left arm, and as soon as the sleeve was rolled up, a smoothly crafted and secure-looking metal cylinder tightly encased her wound.
It looked a bit like a large ancient bangle.
"...Is this her splint? It doesn’t look like what I saw this morning." Nick commented.
Gabrielle shot him a look, "There was gauze over it this morning, you didn’t see inside."
They assumed this was Lawrence’s splint from the previous night, unaware that two additional people had visited their home in the morning.
Nick scratched his head, "Okay, even if that’s the case, why is Lawrence standing here? She doesn’t seem to hear us, is she asleep?"
"Who sleeps with their eyes open?" Gabrielle found Nick increasingly unreliable. She held Lawrence’s uninjured hand and said, "Lawrence? What’s wrong? Don’t scare mom?"
Lawrence still showed no reaction, her eyes more somber than most people’s, appearing bewildered, causing great concern.
Nick checked near her nose, nodding, "She’s still breathing, probably fine."
He called out toward the living room, "Master! Master! Please come here! Something’s wrong with Lawrence!"
The old Daoist was tidying up the breakfast dishes in the dining room, muttering, "Young people these days... lazier and lazier... If you can’t cook, what right do you have not to clean up?" He heard Nick’s shouting, put the dishes in the kitchen, and came over, grumbling, "What’s all the shouting about? This is home, not outside. What could possibly happen? Can you calm down a bit?"
He reached the elevator entrance, seeing Lawrence standing with her back to him, and Nick and Gabrielle standing opposite her, facing him.
Both were frantically waving and shouting at Lawrence, nudging her gently.
But Lawrence seemed like a life-sized doll, a particularly heavy one, standing firmly. Without significant force, they couldn’t move her.
The old Daoist’s pupils constricted immediately.
He quickly approached, pushing Nick and Gabrielle aside, standing in front of Lawrence to scrutinize her closely.
Starting from her forehead, he examined down to her slippers.
Finally, he checked her breath with his hand and held her wrist to monitor her pulse, letting out a sigh of relief, "She’s in a trance, it’s okay."
"Disciple, go to my room and fetch the tools. I’ll perform a ritual."
"Gabrielle, find something intimate of Lawrence’s, get her oldest piece, and with that Furnace of Eight Trigrams in my room, take it to the balcony, put the item inside, cover it, and light it until it’s completely burned, then come back."
Nick and Gabrielle immediately left the elevator, following the old Daoist’s instructions.
The elevator lobby was left with just Lawrence and the old Daoist.
The old Daoist, with his hands clasped behind, sentimentally looked at Lawrence, "Child, you’ve grown, really grown. You must rely on yourself to get through this. After this hurdle, no one in the world can control your destiny."
Saying that, he raised his hand, pinching fiercely under her nose, leaving a deep impression.
Gradually, focus returned to Lawrence’s eyes; she moved her injured left arm a bit, and then stopped.
The old Daoist nodded in satisfaction.
When Nick returned with the ritual tools, the old Daoist rang a copper bell, singing and dancing for an hour. It was then that Lawrence, as if waking from a dream, shivered violently.
She felt her legs were impossibly heavy, as if she were an astronaut returning from space, re-acclimating to Earth’s gravity.
As she slightly moved her leg, she collapsed directly onto the ground.
Nick hurriedly helped her up, still shaken, saying, "Lawrence, what happened to you? You scared us!"
Lawrence tried to speak, but her mouth felt as if it were holding a thousand-pound olive, suppressing her voice before she could open it.
She could only weakly nod at Nick and the old Daoist, then drifted off to sleep again.
Noticing something was off, Nick quickly checked her forehead, finding her temperature unusually high.
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This is the first Chapter, the second Chapter is at seven in the evening.
Today is the last day of March. For those with monthly tickets, if you can vote, please go ahead!
For those without, or who have already voted, then vote tomorrow. O(∩_∩)O.
Kisses to everyone!
