In the circle of the crowd, the second the tall and straight figure she missed so much was going to fall, she heard herself call his name with all her strength without thinking. And he seemed to hear her calling and tried to turn back.

Kate was anxious and called again, "Tristan-"

And then she witnessed him fall on his back with a thud.

The van behind her was surrounded by armed police. The other two men got out of the van with her, and the others inside the van all raised their guns and shot.

But all these had nothing to do with Kate.

In her eyes, she only saw the slow-motion of Tristan's falling down. The thud crashed her eardrums and her heart. She could hear nothing else.

She used the strength she had to push away the human wall. Somebody tried to grab her, and somebody's gun barrel touched her face, but she didn't care, and she just ran.

Finally, she got to his side. Somebody caught her up, and she didn't bother to look but just pushed him away.

She saw Tristan's body was still twitching, and she knelt down on the ground.

His eyes stared blankly at the sky, and he seemed to know she was there, but he couldn't turn his eyes to her.

At the back of his neck, the collar was soaked in blood.

Kate stretched her hand and carefully held up his head to her arms. She whispered, "Tristan, I am here." She grabbed his hands in seizure and held it tightly, "I am here with you, Tristan."

His eyes finally met hers, and there seemed to be a smile in his eyes, but it was probably her illusion.

Her eyes were blurred by tears.

She wiped her tears away, and when she looked at him again, he had already closed his eyes.

And the hands stopped twitching.

She opened her mouth but could only inhale and exhale air. After a few seconds, she managed to utter a sound as low as a mosquito humming, "Don't go. Please, don't go…" And she finally found her voice and cried out louder, "Please don't go, Tristan. Please…" And she burst into a loud cry.

His face was still warm, and his hand intertwined with hers. How could he just leave?

The things he promised her to do had not yet been done.

He had not yet met his child…

How could he just leave her alone…?

The time stopped at that moment.

In the dead silence, the woman's crying was more piercing than the siren. It has torn the dark night and crashed the eardrums of everybody. Claire, who just arrived and stayed in the crowd, wiped her tears too.

The day broke in her crying.

Just a moment, the dark night faded away and was replaced by a new dawn.

Kate was too sad to notice somebody approached until that man reached his hand to Tristan's nose and trembled with surprise. He said in a low voice, "He is still breathing."

She seemed not understanding what he said and just stared at him blankly.

Her face was drowned in tears.

Jimmy's heart was aching. He repeated again word by word, "He is still alive." And then he didn't wait for her response and stood straight and waved to his man, "Call the ambulance."

Kate had many dreams. In her dream, various lights intertwined and were confusing; a lot of faces were staring at her…the scenes of the dream were so real, and they made her extremely tired, and every piece of bone of her body was aching.

When she finally opened her eyes, what she saw was only white and blue colors. Her nose detected some strange smell. The strange environment made her bewildered.

"You finally woke up." Somebody said.

She turned her head to the source of the voice, and it was a familiar face. It was Betty.

She was startled and asked in a husky voice, "Why did you came here? You didn't leave?"

Betty showed some apology. She didn't know how to explain, so she prevaricated, "Couldn't make it."

Kate drew back her eyes. And after a few seconds, she remembered what happened earlier, and her heart was seized by worry again. She asked, "Where is he? How is Tristan?"

"He is still in the operation room."

Kate took a long breath, inhaling deeply. It was good news to her.

It was the first time she felt that the operation room was such a good place.

However, as she looked down, her heart stopped beating. She was covered with a white quilt, and her belly was flat. She cried out in shock and clenched Betty's hand, "Where is my baby?"

Betty's hand hurt with Kate's fingernails set into her skin. She could not react until a few seconds later, "You don't remember?"

"Remember what?" Kate's face was in horror. Now she felt that her body was hurting below and fluid was flowing out…

Betty padded her hand and said, "The baby is OK. You just delivered it. Don't you remember?"

Kate was bewildered. Betty reached her hand to wipe tears off her face and said softly, "You were too nervous, and you forgot. You delivered it. The doctor said you did a good job and was very cooperative."

"You are not lying to me?"

"No. How can I lie about this?"

"Then where is the baby?"

"It is premature delivery. Six months only. Now in ICU, in the incubator."

Kate relaxed a little and then asked, "Is it a girl or a boy?"

"Girl."

"Is she healthy?" She got nervous again.

Betty smile gently, "Except that she came out too early and is weak, the doctor said she is OK. She is very small, but her crying is loud."

Kate smiled weakly, and tears also came out of her eyes, she started to cry.

Betty tried to soothe her, "Don't cry. It is not good for your recovery."

Kate suppressed her tears and turned crying to sobbing. After a while, she quieted down. She said, "I will not cry."

Betty pressed her lips and looked at her with sympathy. She squeezed Kate's hand in her palm as encouraging.

In the OR room and the light on the door was off. A craniotomy that lasted 8 hours was just finished.

The bullet had been taken out. The nurses collected the surgical instruments and left. Only the chief surgeon, dean of the hospital, and a few guards were there.

The person on the surgery table was still, only the pieces of equipment beeped from time to time. The EEG was showing complicated diagrams…

"The bullet was in the calvarium and had not entered the cranial cavity, so, fortunately, he can survive. However, the nervous system is still injured. The patient currently has cerebral cortex failure…"

Jimmy frowned, "Cerebral cortex failure?"

"That is what we called as a vegetable."

Jimmy had a second silence and asked, "What are the odds of waking up?"

"The odds are very small. Some specific cases of waking up can almost be regarded as a miracle. And the time is hard to tell. It could be a few months or one or two decades."

Jimmy looked at the patient on the bed again. His eyes were closed tightly, and his head was shaved. Many tubes connected to him and his face was covered with an oxygen mask. However, even in this state, he still showed his majesty.

Perhaps it was because he always gave people that kind of feeling in the past.

And now he looked like he was lurking there and waiting for a chance to attack.

Jimmy muttered, "He committed a felony. He needs to be tried."

The dean replied, "We will try our best in treating the patient and cooperate with the police."

Jimmy thanked him.

On the roof of the hospital building, the wind was whistling.

A young man was making a call, "…He was too lucky. Got shot in the head and still survived. He is a vegetable now. It cannot be a threat for the time being… OK. I got it. Don't worry."

After he hung up the phone, Bill took a long breath and looked at his hands. It was hard to believe that the notable guy yesterday, who might be in the headline of the newspaper today, was almost killed by himself. Recalling that moment, his heart still went wild.

When he soothed his emotion and turned back, he was dumbfounded.

A person was standing at the exit.

It was Jimmy, and he looked expressionless. However, he still could detect some disappointment in his eyes. He said to Bill, "So that is why."

Bill panicked and explained hastily, "That man deserved to die. He almost killed you…"

"Whatever he did, he should be punished by laws, not by us."

Jimmy turned and wanted to walk away. Bill saw things had exposed, and he was scared, "Jimmy, I was forced to."

Jimmy waved his hand without turning back, "You can keep those words for testimony."