Chapter 264: Arrive in Haste

Chapter 264: Arrive in Haste

Lily stood in the doorway of the hospital room, watching Mia get dragged into the elevator by two security guards, one on each side.

Mia's screaming echoed through the hallway, sharp and piercing. A few room doors cracked open then shut again. The nurses at the station glanced up briefly, then looked back down at their charts.

Lily didn't follow. She just leaned against the doorframe and watched the elevator doors slowly close, Mia's twisted face disappearing behind the silver-gray metal.

The hallway went quiet. She turned back into the room. Her phone screen was blindingly bright.

Twenty-nine missed calls.

Lily scrolled through the call log. Olivia, Anais — the names of her close friends filled the screen in a long list, calls coming in from ten minutes ago all the way up to just now.

Joshua had called six times, Anais four, and there were three unknown numbers — probably reporters or someone like that.

Before she could call anyone back, the phone buzzed again. Olivia's name lit up the screen.

Lily answered.

"You're amazing, babe!" Olivia's voice burst through the phone, breathless, like she was running. "I'm watching the livestream! They took that bitch away, right? Right?"

"Yes." Lily sat down on the edge of the bed, her voice so calm it surprised even her.

Olivia swore on the other end, then laughed — a laugh that carried years of pent-up relief finally breaking loose. "Lily, do you know how long I've waited for this? How many years? That woman finally—"

"Okay, Olivia." Lily cut her off.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop." Olivia took a deep breath, her voice still shaking — from running or from excitement, hard to tell. "I'm telling you, when I stumbled onto that livestream I just froze. I thought it was fake. Then I clicked in and it was really you and Mia. I'd recognize that face anywhere, even if she turned to ash."

Lily leaned back against the headboard, her fingers absently tracing circles on the blanket.

She should feel happy, she thought.

Mia had exposed herself in front of millions of people, admitted to everything she'd done, and the whole internet watched her rip off that mask she'd been wearing. But the only thing Lily felt was one simple thought — it's finally over.

Not satisfaction. Just exhaustion.

"Are you still at the hospital?" Olivia's voice pulled her back.

"Yes."

"Are there reporters outside? Or Mia's fans? Those crazy fans are capable of anything." Olivia's voice grew more urgent. "Don't stay there alone. I'm coming right now, I'm already in a cab. The driver says about twenty more minutes—"

"It's the middle of the night, where are you rushing off to?" Lily frowned. "Nothing's going to happen at a hospital. Security's downstairs."

"No, no, no," Olivia said three times. "Hospitals are dangerous. Anyone can walk in at night. Don't argue with me. Don't leave your room until I get there. You hear me?"

Lily opened her mouth, then finally let out a sigh. "Be careful on the way."

She hung up. The missed call notification popped up again — Joshua this time.

She hesitated, then answered.

"Lily." Joshua's voice was low, nothing like Olivia's excitement. It carried something complicated she couldn't quite name. "I watched the livestream."

A few seconds of silence. She could hear Joshua breathing, slow and steady, like he was choosing his words carefully.

"I didn't think you'd actually go this far." He finally spoke, and there was something close to admiration in his voice. "You never like being in the spotlight. I figured you'd handle it quietly."

Lily said nothing.

"Though with her connections — your dad — but this was a livestream. Hundreds of thousands of people watching, screenshots and recordings everywhere. Fang Yuan's money can't bury this." Joshua paused. "You're tougher than she is."

"I just didn't stop it," Lily said flatly.

"Right. That's exactly what makes it so scary." Joshua let out a short laugh. "You didn't do a thing. Mia came after you, and Mia destroyed herself. You didn't even have to get your hands dirty."

Lily lowered her eyes. Her lashes cast a small shadow beneath them.

Joshua saw it clearly, and he was right. She had done it on purpose.

From the day she found out she was going to the hospital, she knew Mia wouldn't sit still.

Someone like Mia — the more people watching, the bigger the performance.

All Lily had to do was not stop it. Not interrupt. Let the camera faithfully record everything.

Then let the whole world see exactly what Mia was.

After she hung up with Joshua, she opened Anais's messages. They were short, just two lines, but they looked like they'd taken a while to write — the typing indicator had appeared and disappeared several times.

Lily, I just saw the livestream. Did that crazy woman leave? Are you okay? Do you need me to come?

Lily typed back a quick reply: "I'm fine, don't worry."

The message had barely sent before it showed as read. Anais replied with a string of memes.

Lily smiled at them, then closed the chat.

Even on her way over, Olivia kept sending voice messages, one after another.

Her voice came through the speaker over the hum of the taxi engine: "I'm in the cab, almost there. Lily, I was just scrolling through Instagram on the way and people are already digging up Mia's past. They even found that thing about her stealing someone's boyfriend. Hahaha, I can't — I really can't — do you know how good this feels? After all these years, everyone finally knows what Mia really is. All that 'pure and innocent' stuff, all that 'gentle and refined' stuff — total act. Her face, her smile, every single word she ever said — all performed. Now the whole country sees it. Just wait, I'm coming to be with you right now."

Lily listened to the whole thing, then typed back instead of replying with a voice message: "Okay."

She set her phone face-down on the nightstand and looked up at the ceiling.

The fluorescent light was harsh, bright enough to make her eyes ache. The smell of disinfectant mixed with a faint trace of medication hung in the air. The curtains swayed gently in the breeze from the air conditioning.

She didn't know when she fell asleep. She was probably just too tired — tired enough to lie down without even changing her clothes.

In a half-conscious haze, she heard footsteps in the hallway, nurses talking during a shift change, the chime of elevator doors opening and closing, and then everything faded into silence.

A hospital at night is the quietest place in the world. Also the loneliest.

She didn't know how much time had passed when the door was pushed open. Lily quickly sat up, smiling. "Olivia, you're here—"