Shattered Illusions: Love, Lies, and Redemption

Remington's jaw clenched tight as he gazed deeply into the foggy depths of Lizetta's eyes.

He gritted his teeth, "You're never an outsider to me, not before, and definitely not in the future!"

Lizetta's breath hitched, and she quickly looked away, flustered.

After applying some ointment, Remington sat down beside her, wiping his fingers with a tissue, and said, "Mind helping me with this?"

Lizetta turned to him, puzzled, "Help with what?"

He tilted his chin, revealing a slender scratch on his neck, barely breaking the skin.

"It's just a small scratch; it doesn't need any ointment," Lizetta tried to brush it off.

But Remington gave her a wounded, reproachful look, "How can you be so heartless? I got this because of you. It's only fair you help me since I've helped you."

The scratch had come about during a scuffle between Ethan and Wendy, who had started clawing wildly. Amidst the chaos, Remington had pulled Lizetta to safety, likely getting scratched in the process. Lizetta felt a twinge of guilt.

Standing up, she fetched a cotton swab and some iodine, leaning in to carefully treat his wound.

She was quick, finishing in seconds and about to stand up when Remington frowned.

"Did you do it properly? Wendy's got those fancy manicures and lovers all over town; I don't want to catch anything."

Considering his germophobia and Wendy's notorious lifestyle, Lizetta felt a bit disgusted herself.

She took another cotton swab and started cleaning the wound more thoroughly.

Remington watched her closely, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Liz, you do care about me after all."

His voice, filled with satisfaction, suddenly echoed near her ear, making Lizetta pause and then, irritated, she tried to pull away.

Unexpectedly, her hair got tangled in Remington's watch, eliciting a soft whimper from her.

In the next moment, his arms encircled her waist, gently pulling her onto his lap. Lizetta flushed with annoyance.

"Remington!"

"Stay still, it'll be over soon," he assured her, carefully untangling her hair from his watch.

He seemed unflustered, in contrast to Lizetta's panicky demeanor, making her seem overly dramatic.

Lizetta urged, "Hurry up."

"I can't, you've wrapped it too tightly."Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

"Then let me do it!"

As she turned her head, her eyes suddenly met with a pair of familiar ones staring straight at her. It took Lizetta a moment to realize that Thaddeus, who had been lying in the hospital bed, had woken up.

And for how long he had been watching, she couldn't tell.

The realization that she was still sitting on Remington's lap, thinking about their recent interactions,

made her cheeks burn. She pushed Remington away almost bouncing up

"Ah!"

Caught off guard, Remington grunted as she accidentally hit his chin.

Standing there, face red, Lizetta stammered, "B-brother, you're awake! I'm sorry, we were just applying some ointment, nothing else!"

Her instinctive explanation only made the situation more awkward.

But Remington was unfazed.

Rubbing his sore chin, he stood, wrapped an arm around Lizetta's shoulder, and walked her to the hospital bed.

"He won't mind. He's just woken up and seeing us together, he'll only be happy for us."