Edmund and Florence ran out of the back gate ignoring the strong rain quickly drenching their clothes. Florence hugged the towels tight against her chest, trying her best to keep them dry for Mai.
Mai wasn't pale when Florence saw her.
Mai was purple.
Edmund held Florence's waist. She had been crying since she saw Mai in Oliver's arms. He had to admit that he wanted to do the same thing – cry.
Moreover, he wanted to beat the life out of Elbert Norringbent.
When Oliver took Mai out of the room, she was barely covered by anything. Her clothes were torn to shreds. Blood was all over her body.
And her skin was nearly purple.
He was worried that it was too late to save her. But Oliver seemed calm.
Mai must still be alive. They could still save her.
Lin was running behind them.
Based on how Oliver's eyes gazed at Mai's body when he carried her away from the room, Lin figured that something was terribly wrong.
If it was true, Lin was sure that he would feel guilty.
If he didn't let Martin schedule the banquet that night, or perhaps if he didn't let Martin and Luella keep Oliver within their sight throughout the preparations for the banquet, Taniyama would still be alive.
Lin bit his lips.
Taniyama should be alive. She should be.
He had no idea how Oliver would take it. After all, it took Oliver two years to somewhat recover from the first time that he lost her.
Losing her again...and losing her to the same thing that took his brother...
Oliver was strong but when it came to the people he loved, he snapped.
Lin quickly got into the driver seat while Edmund jumped into the passenger seat and Florence in the back seat with Oliver.
"Here's the towel," Florence said handing the towel to Oliver.
To Florence's surprise, Oliver was at that moment cradling Mai in his arms.
The white shirt below his tux was almost red.
Oliver quietly received the towel and pressed it against Mai's chest.
The towel immediately turned red.
Lin on the other hand was drifting the car once more. This time, he was aiming for the nearest hospital.
He took quick glances of Oliver using the rear view mirror.
Oliver had Mai on his lap – his arm protectively cradling her. His left cheek kept her limp head from sliding off of his shoulder. His free hand pressed a supposedly white towel on her chest.
The towel however was bright red at that moment.
Lin drove through various alleys again to avoid the traffic in the streets.
There wasn't much time.
If the towel was absorbing that much blood, it meant that Mai was having a terrible case of haemorrhage.
And of course, that time was running out.
Edmund watched Oliver hold Mai in such an intimate manner. Well, knowing how Oliver might have felt about her would warrant for the intimacy but he didn't think he would be that intimate.
Edmund could barely see Oliver's face. And when he looked closely at Oliver's face through the his reflection on the rear view mirror – he seemed to be mumbling something against Mai's forehead.
Has the great Oliver Davis gone insane? And if he did...is Mai..?
Edmund looked at the road ahead. He didn't want to think about that.
Mai was alive. He had to be. Oliver's assistant was breaking traffic rules at that moment to get her to the hospital and have doctors mend her wounds.
Mai was alive. She had to be.
Lin drove the car to another alley, hoping to reach the road that would take them straight to the nearest hospital.
He took another quick glance of Oliver and Mai using the rear view mirror.
Oliver looked unsettlingly dead.
Lin noticed that Oliver hadn't spoken a word since they got in the car. He just sat there like a lifeless mannequin holding Taniyama's body tight against his own.
Lin watched Oliver hand the scarlet towel to Florence in exchange for another white one.
It was mechanical.
Lin couldn't see anything on Oliver's face.
And the new white towel that Oliver used to put pressure on Taniyama's chest wound was slowly turning red.
That was a good sign, right? That meant that Mai's heart was still pumping blood throughout her body.
...It was also a bad sign.
Lin bit his lips from cursing.
How he wished the hospital was nearer. Hell, he wished there was a highway that literally went straight to the hospital...at least. But it just had to be a road with several twists and turns.
Taniyama had to survive...or Oliver himself won't be able to survive that rainy evening.