Solflare: The Painter's Secret-Chapter 167: Don’t Go to the Nurses’ Changing Room

"You scared me, Thess," Edith chuckled, pressing her left palm on her chest.

On the other side of the door, the lady stood, unmoving, smiling. "Can I come in?" she asked, her tone eerie.

"Yes, you can. Wait, why ask, Thess?" Edith rolled her eyes and focused on her phone. "Have you had caffeine or what?"

She kept scrolling through her phone, not glancing at the lady again.

The lady’s neck at the gate bent unnaturally, her jaws opening wide as she entered, the smile overtaking her face.

As Edith turned, the eerie look vanished. "Thess, you’re scaring me. What’s come over you?"

The lady shook her head, curling her mouth inward.

Meanwhile, Thess was also on the stairs leading to the third floor. "Why didn’t I even take the elevator?"

A subtle laugh escaped from her. "Why am I even asking this?"

There, the memory of the distorted reflection of herself she had seen in the elevator’s walls crawled into her gut.

"I will never forget that day." She sighed, then wiped the sweat that had suddenly appeared on her forehead, and then doubled her steps.

She continued whistling the moment she reached the top of the stairs, then pulled out the folder containing all the patients on the third floor. "Where or who should I even start with?"

She scanned through the folder, then placed her finger on the name Li Mei. "Is that the mother of Leon Storm?"

Thess gave the name a focused scan, then began to remember all the news she had heard about Leon from the Alchemania news presenters.

"That boy’s becoming someone important." She closed the book, tucked it under her left arm, and walked on.

She passed flower pots, locked doors, and open windows, pausing at one to look at the night sky.

"So is it true each dying person turns into a star and joins the ones that are already up there?" She squinted at the newly forming star, then smiled.

Branches swayed in the chilled air. Squirrels glanced out, then vanished into their nests.

Dried leaves and trash spun on the street like restless spirits.

Vehicles moved from the highway and drove past the hospital’s junction at high speed. Just as one vanished from sight, a shadowy figure stood at the hospital’s entrance, smiling and waving.

On the third floor, Thess knocked twice. Knock. Knock. Then slowly pushed the door open.

Inside, Li Mei lay there, her hands placed on her chest, her blind white eyes open. She tilted her head following the sound, then raised her right arm. "Is that you, Zoe?"

Thess cleared her throat and shut the door. "Hello, Li Mei. It’s me, Thess, your old nurse. I cared for you whenever your daughter brought you here."

Li Mei’s raised brows slowly calmed. "My daughter, how are you?"

A faint smile tugged on Thess’s cheeks. "I’m fine. How about you, Aunty?"

During the 30 minutes Thess spent in Li Mei’s room, Edith kept switching between videos, rock songs, and games on her phone. She then respectfully covered her with the blanket that lay at her feet.

Just as Thess turned, ready to leave, Li Mei grabbed her left arm. "Do you need something, Aunty?"

Silence ruled for a while, then Li Mei broke it a second later. "Don’t go to the nurses’ changing room until the first morning light appears in the sky."

Although the words seemed unnatural to Thess, she never disobeyed adults, even if the outcome turned out badly.

"Okay, Aunty, I will abide by your words." She checked Li Mei’s vitals, then exited the room, the statement living rent-free in her head.

For hours, Thess moved around. Sometimes she stood by the windows in the third-floor hallway. Other times, she felt the urge to check what was there, but stopped in the middle of the second floor. my consciousness."

She ran through her memories of friends, then gathered her courage and returned to the section on the third floor where the two new patients had been admitted.

"What says the time?" she asked, pulling her Smart V5 mobile from her pocket, then glanced at the screen once. "4:30:00. Hhew, few minutes left."

She checked names, finger on the patient she’d missed. But seeing the name felt like facing the elevator reflection from two days ago.

"Zoe Qing?" She shouted, blinking. "Impossible." She glanced at the door, then the folder.

"I just spoke with her earlier this afternoon. What happened to her?" Thess’s voice sounded heavy as she walked.

A gust of wind hit her as she knocked and entered.

Inside, Zoe lay on the bed, tears running down her cheeks.

A sob escaped as Zoe blinked, desperate to banish her father’s angry expression after she refused to marry into the Baek family.

Zoe used the back of her right palm to wipe the tears from her face the moment soft footsteps echoed around her.

"Zoe." Thess’s voice dulled as she looked at her friend. "What happened? We just talked today. You were healthy."

Thess’s eyes shook as she noticed the bandages wrapped around Zoe.

She pulled a chair and sat right next to Zoe’s bed, placing her hand on Zoe’s.

Pain exploded in Zoe as she tried to raise her upper body into a sitting position.

"Don’t strain yourself. Were you in an accident?" Thess pressed, her breathing quickening.

"I... I tried to kill myself." Zoe spoke with tears falling from her eyes.

"You WHAT?!" Thess screamed, uneasiness falling on her like water. "Why? You have everything. Your mother, your father, your sibling. Let alone that, you have your own money and building. So why, Zoe?"

The chair Thess sat on scraped across the polished floor as she dragged herself forward.

Zoe tried to speak, but her throat objected.

"Don’t worry, I’m here for you. Tell me," Thess said, her face pale.

Zoe turned and watched the walls, then back at Thess. "They want me to marry into the Baek family—"

Before she could continue, Thess’s shocked expression turned into a funny one. "So," she countered Zoe mid-speech. "That’s why you tried to kill yourself?"

Without hesitation, Zoe answered. "Yes. The Baek is not the family I want to marry into." Zoe paused, then stared at Thess for a while. "It’s the Storm family I want."

Thess stood up abruptly, folding her arms across her chest.

Her pale face reddened, her jaw tightening while she continued insulting Zoe in her head.

’You’re leaving heaven for the trench of hell. What a Senseless friend I have.’