Chapter 31: Discount (3/4)

Chapter 31: Discount (3/4)

He just stood there, and kept standing.

The scheduled operation had taken a catastrophic turn, devolving into an emergency resuscitation;

As time ticked away, he watched the light slowly drain from the little girl's mother's face, her eyes turning hollow and numb; the little girl's father, oblivious to his surroundings, pulled out a cigarette, trying repeatedly to light it but failing each time, until the lighter slipped from his fingers and fell to the floor.

Karen stepped forward, fished out his own lighter, and sparked it for the little girl's father.

"Thank you, thank you," the father muttered in gratitude, before asking numbly out of sheer, mechanical politeness, "What line of work are you in?"

"Medical representative."

"Oh, oh, right."

The father took deep, desperate drags of his cigarette, his eyes never wavering from the operating room doors.

At last, the power surged back, whether because the power plant had resumed operations or the hospital's own generator had finally kicked in.

Yet at that exact moment,

The doctor emerged, facing the little girl's father:

"I'm so sorry."

"No..." The little girl's mother collapsed directly into a dead faint.

The father dropped heavily to his knees on the freezing corridor tiles.

Karen walked silently to a nearby bench and sat down.

He had thought himself well-accustomed to corpses from living at home, even capable of trading casual jests with Aunt Mary while helping her out; he truly believed he had grown numb to it all.

But in truth, he hadn't;

The true essence of life and death lay neither in living nor in dying, nor in the state of being itself, but rather... in the agonizing process of its transition.

Dusk began to bleed across the sky.

Due to the power outage, all of the afternoon's scheduled surgeries had been canceled, and because the doctor seemed to recognize "Karen’s" profession, the body had not been rolled away to the morgue.

The little girl's mother lay cradled in the father's arms, the two of them a portrait of absolute grief.

Karen remained seated, just sitting there.

The head nurse approached, kneeling down first to comfort the grieving parents, before pointing toward Karen—she meant well, at least as far as the Inmeles family was concerned.

But she assumed this "new face," this "young man," was too thin-skinned to solicit business on his own, and so she took the initiative to introduce him.

Just then,

The little girl's father stood up and walked over to Karen;

Karen raised his eyes, looking into his face.

"What is it you do?"

Karen hesitated for a brief moment, then replied, "The Inmeles Funeral Parlor..."

Thud!

A fist slammed into Karen's face, sending him tumbling sideways onto the bench.

"It's because of you! Because of you, cursing my daughter to death, cursing my daughter! You demons, you absolute scum who coin it off of filth!"

Karen slowly sat back up, wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, and straightened his spine once more, as though he hadn't been the one who was just struck.

Seeing him like this, the father's clenched fist, poised for a second blow, gradually loosened; he turned away to comfort his wife again.

Night,

Began to fall.

Karen still sat there;

When he arrived, it had been for an order, for business, for money;

Now, it was no longer about that; it was just a single contract, and given that he had been assaulted, his family wouldn't blame him at all if he simply walked away.

Yet, at this moment, the business had transformed into a kind of duty.

Finally,

The little girl's father, supporting his weeping wife against his chest, approached Karen once more;

Karen looked up again, staring into his face;

"Hey, what did you say you did again?"

Karen moved his left cheek, which still throbbed with pain, and offered a faint, professional smile, pulling a brochure from his briefcase as he spoke:

"Inmeles Funeral Parlor. We offer the final companionship for your loved ones."

...

"Young Master, your face?"

Paul noticed the bruise on Karen's face.

"It's nothing."

Karen shook his head.

Once the hospital paperwork was settled, Paul and Ron loaded the little girl's body into the hearse, while behind them, the parents would drive their own car to follow the hearse back to Mink Street.

They needed to prepare and arrange their daughter's funeral through the night, because only by doing so could they feel as though she were still with them, like taking her to a mall to pick out new clothes.

Ron glanced at the vehicle the parents were driving, licked his lips, and muttered:

"Look at that, they're driving a Sunderland."

His intention was to remind the young master that this was a major client, but seeing how quietly the young master sat there, he fell silent as well.

The hearse pulled back into the Inmeles residence on Mink Street, and the Sunderland behind them came to a halt right alongside.

"Lift her carefully," Karen reminded them.

The parents stood beside the hearse, waiting to "receive" their daughter.

"Understood, Young Master."

Paul and Ron gently and quietly lowered the gurney from the vehicle;

As the group entered, Aunt Mary and Aunt Winny stepped forward on their own initiative, offering condolences while gently introducing their services.

Karen covered the side of his face with the hem of his coat and headed straight upstairs.

He was exhausted; he wanted to lie down and rest, and he secretly hoped the parents wouldn't request any psychological counseling services.

"Brother, you're back. Thank you for your hard work."

Mina brought over a glass of ice water for Karen; her brother disliked black tea and hated coffee, preferring nothing but water with ice cubes.

Karen did not go into his room right away, but paused to take the water first.

"Brother, your face?" The perceptive Mina noticed the injury on his cheek.

"It's nothing."

Cullen had no intention of explaining.

At that moment, the bedroom door opened, and his cousin Rent, who shared the room with him, stepped out holding an environmental propaganda sign, showing it off to Cullen:

"Cullen, I went to the environmental rally organized by Delice today. She is just too cool, look, she even signed this for me, hehe."

Cullen froze.

"Cullen?"

Rent leaned in curiously, wondering why his older cousin had suddenly lost all reaction.

Then,

Cullen splashed the water from his cup directly into Rent's face.

"Splash!"

Drenched in ice-cold water, Rent looked at Cullen in utter bewilderment:

"Cullen... what's wrong..."

"Slap!"

This time it wasn't water,

but Cullen's palm.

Rent was knocked to the ground, clutching his face, looking up in disbelief and sheer terror at his brother, whose own face bore scars.

Just then,

the door to Grandfather's study opened, and Diss stood at the threshold.

Mina immediately helped the softly sobbing Rent to his feet.

"Grandfather, it's nothing, it's nothing, we're just fooling around," Mina explained hastily.

Diss looked at Cullen and spoke:

"What is it?"

Cullen looked back at Diss and answered:

"He deserved a beating."

"Oh."

Diss nodded, turned back into the study, and the door closed behind him.

"Cullen?"

Mina tried calling his name twice, but seeing no response, she led Rent up to the second floor.

"You are grieving."

Purr's voice drifted from the windowsill behind Cullen,

"Get used to it, because you will soon realize there is nothing else you can do."