James and Jet hovered around him as often as they could; but to their surprise, after the passing weekend, Lee appeared at the office. His gait was usual, but his face was dark, his eyes hollow.
The day after, Lee heard from his superiors that the case for the plane crash was assigned to their law firm. Lee pestered them so much to be included in the legal team responsible for the case.
He succeeded and he became one of the key people responsible to draft and prepare for the court hearing. In fact, the whole case was baffling. A plane crash should have been just that - a plane crash. The responsibility should have fallen to the airline for any engine failure or mechanical difficulties.
But this time, the incident was tied to a person.
An influential person in the business circle.
In fact, Lee soon found out that this person - by the name of Hank Wilson, a man not even reaching his forties yet - was one of the major shareholders in the same corporation Mia worked at. He vaguely recalled that Mia mentioned Hank's name as the main supporter behind her promotion.
The whole case was bizarre. Hank was so powerful that he managed to bribe several airline mechanics to tinker with the plane's engine - now all were also implicated and prosecuted in front of the court.
Hank himself did not put up any resistance. The man stayed silent and expressionless through all hearing.
Lee even found out later that Hank's legal team responsible to defend his case actually came from other shareholders from the same corporation, not on his own request. With Hank's status and connections, he should not have had any problem forming his own legal team if he wished to. But Hank turned out to be indifferent to all this, seemingly very calmly accepted the court's decision.
Lifetime imprisonment, with no chance of parole.
The case closed itself without much fuss, with the main culprit not voicing his objections and not appealing any further. Hank's wealth was seized and with some more formalities involving the whole corporation's board of directors, his monetary possession was distributed to the crashed victims' grieving families.
Including Mia's family.
When Hank was finally admitted to prison, Lee submitted another request to his superiors for a special permit for a visitation. James also helped him to pledge his request, knowing how important this was to him. He got what he wanted.
He actually felt nothing as he stood in front of the prison cell, the tight bars and the dark small room obscuring Hank's face. Hank was calmly sitting on his bed when Lee arrived.
To James and the cell warden's surprise, Hank walked towards the bars that were the only separation between him and the three people in front of him.
The warden was especially confused as Hank was usually emotionless and had hardly moved ever since he arrived at the prison.
Then Hank's eyes glistened as he fixated his eyes on Lee, his lips drawn in a tight calm smile. There was no madness in his eyes - like what the court tacked on his psychological report. This was a calm rational man, as rational as it was to make him orchestrating a plane crash.
"She wouldn't bloom for me," The man spoke in a low voice that only Lee could hear, "Even this time, she wouldn't bloom for me."
Lee blankly stared at the man, faintly thought that the latter must had, in fact, been mad.
Of course, who else apart from a lunatic could have done something like he did.
For an instant, Hank's greenish pupils turned red. The two bright red pupils resembled two planets with the color of blood.
Lee blinked. As quickly as it appeared, the red glint vanished. Hank then walked backwards to reach his bed, not shifting his gaze from Lee,
"There's always next time. There's always next time... ."
They couldn't get anything else out of the man, and Hank stayed silent despite James' constant questions and vocalized expression of disgusts, almost screaming at the man who was now staring at the cell's floor.
The next morning, they found out that Hank Wilson had passed away in his cell overnight. There was no wound, no sign of suicide, nothing.
It was like as if his soul just decided to leave his body, leaving an empty intact shell behind.
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To other people who saw him everyday, Lee was gradually becoming a robot, just going through his days in motion.
To Jet who only got to see him every couple of days, Lee's entire existence seemed to have worn out - shrinking more every time he saw him. Finally, Jet took an urgent leave to care for his brother, insisting that he was to stay at Lee's apartment to look after him. Lee initially rejected his offer; after all, he was still working fine everyday - much to Jet and James' concern. But finally, Lee just ignored Jet and let him do what he wanted.
Jet tactfully did not tell their parents about the whole ordeal to keep them from worrying.
One evening, while both were blankly watching the TV in Lee's apartment, Jet received an urgent call from his ER team. The in-charge doctor who was supposed to be on shift that day had to take absence because of his very feverish daughter, they only had Jet as an option.
The nurse who called him apologized and begged him to come, despite him still being on leave.
Lee urged him to go, giving him a small weak but encouraging smile. Jet finally left after he heated up some dinner for Lee to consume later.
"I'll be back by early morning," Jet said, before hesitatingly walked out the door.
After his brother left, Lee stared at the TV again, then grabbed his phone from the coffee table in front of him. He opened his WhatsApp, and did what he had been doing whenever he was alone for the past few weeks: he texted her;
He missed her. He missed her so bad. No words were enough to comfort his tightly wrung heart. But the girl never replied.
She never replied. She would never reply anymore.
Lee felt very tired. He hadn't had proper sleep for weeks. Rubbing his red eyes, he walked towards his kitchen and opened a cupboard. He took out a bottle of sleeping pills - one that he had acquired recently without Jet's knowledge.
He walked back to his sofa, tiredly slumping his body onto it. He turned off the TV and connected his phone to a bluetooth speaker. Then he opened his music player on his phone, only one song on the list, put on repeated replay.
He tilted his head backwards, resting his heavy head on the sofa. He closed his eyes as the music lulled him towards gradual state of unconsciousness. As his brain grew hazier, he faintly thought that he might have taken a bit more pills than what was recommended.
But as soon as he realized this with his last strain of lucidity, he could only apologize in his heart to his mother, his father, and Jet... and James... . It was too late now, he couldn't, didn't have the strength, didn't have the will, to move anymore.
In the background, a soft singing female voice was heard throughout the living room. And the only thing Lee could see inside the blackness of his mind was Mia's smile.
[to live with my lover,
I'm in love with you, I'm in love with you,
I'll accompany you forever]
" I'll accompany you ... forever... ."
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