CHAPTER 31 I am staying here with him

When Shawn arrived, he saw Stephanie standing weakly by the door of the operating room. Her face was as pale as paper, as if she would fell to the ground in any time. Beside her were several bodyguards, whose strength further reflected her weakness.

"Stephanie?" He called her name subconsciously, but it took her quite a while to turn around. Seeing him, she winked hard and gave a smile slowly.

"You here too?" Stephanie said in a slow pace.

"Yeah." Shawn nodded, looking worried. "How long has he been in there?" He asked.

"Eight hours five minutes and thirty-four seconds."

Her painful smile made Shawn feel hurt too. "And you've stayed here for that long?"

Stephanie shook her head. "It's okay."

As she was speaking with Shawn, Stephanie kept glimpsing the sign at the top of the emergency room door.

"Shawn, my thoughts are really ridiculous now." Stephanie seemed to be talking to herself, but was like speaking to Shawn too. "I believe that Jack will come back alive, but I am so scared, scared of something unknown. I couldn't move my eyes from that sign. On one hand, I am afraid that it keeps on like now; on the other hand, I am afraid that it's going off suddenly…"

"Stephanie, you need rest." Shawn said after a while of silence. He looked at Stephanie's eyes, which were red and swollen because of exhaustion and tears. Her eyes broke the balance of her beautiful face, making Shawn feel distressed.

"No. I am staying here with him." Stephanie shook her head. Her eyes were wet again. "You don't understand. I feel so sorry to him."

Shawn didn't say a word. He walked two steps closer and pressed her head against his shoulders. "Take a rest, Steph. I can borrow my shoulders to you anytime. Just put away your stress away for a while, okay?"

But Stephanie had turned very sensitive. She quickly raised her head and looked at Shawn, perplexed, as if asking why did he do that.

Shawn gave a dry cough, didn't know how to answer. He wanted to tell Stephanie his feelings. He wanted to tell her that since the day she gave birth to the baby he had fallen in love with her, not as the woman who loved Jack deeply, but as a real mother who took her life back from Hades. Obviously, it wasn't the right time now. He wanted to tell her his love in a more former case, but not such a casual one. That's simply not his way of doing things.

Seeing him silent, Stephanie thought for a while with a frown and broke the ice, "Shawn, do you know what caused the accident?"

Shawn shook his heads. He came here because he received a message telling him that Jack was hit by a car, but he knew nothing about the details. He did know something about Jack's relationships, so he guessed that it was someone who was seeking revenge on him, but even that sounds very weird since Jack had always been very cautious…

"It's Liz." Stephanie smiled, as if that twisted and mad face came to mind again. "She was trying to hit me with the car, but Jack saved my life."

"How could that be?" Shawn was stunned by her words. In his memories, Liz was a gracious woman. Her love for Jack was indeed a bit mad, but it's hard to imagine that she would kill someone.

Stephanie paused for a while to consider. She finally decided to tell him more. "That's not all."

"What?" Shawn was confused.

"Steve…She killed Steve too."

"What?" Shawn's eyes widened, terrified by the madness of that woman.

After all, it was Liz who put one of his two friends six feet under and the other in that emergency room. How could Shawn forgive her easily?

"You know that now, Shawn." Stephanie said in a weak voice. "It's love. It's love that makes her so mad, so…" She lifted her eyes for a bit to look at Shawn's. "I don't want anyone to be like this because of me."

Shawn fell silent. Quite a while later, he said seriously, "Do you really think that's love?"

Stephanie was amazed.

Shawn continued, 'real love is supposed to be selfless."

"But we are all in some way selfish." Stephanie responded.

Shawn put his hands on Stephanie's shoulders. "It's love that gives us value and meaning, Steph. Don't you worry, I got what you meant. I won't do that again.

Shawn didn't ask what he meant by "That." She looked at the sign above the emergency room door. "It's still going to take a while. You still have work to do. Just leave me here."

"No, thanks. I'm staying here." Shawn shook his head. 'though there were some unpleasant memories between me and Jack, we are still good friends."

Stephanie wanted to thank her, but her swallowed her words back. She picked a place a bit farther from Shawn, and continued her long wait.