"Since the truth is already known, why still choose to leave? The suicide note made it so clear—she is the biological daughter of mother Victoria, and the two of them were deliberately switched at the hospital. Literally speaking, she is the legitimate heir of the Harrington family. So why did she choose to give up the identity of a wealthy heiress and decide to leave instead?"
At six o'clock in the morning, Ned sat in the first-class cabin where snores rose and fell one after another. He held the suicide note he had read countless times and murmured to himself.
But in this world, no one, no thing, no event could give him the answer anymore — except Sophie.
Sophie, I'm coming!
———————————————
"You've never driven to Oklahoma by yourself before! I'm really worried!" From morning till now, Con had been nagging non-stop in Sophie's ear. "Are you really sure it's okay?"
"Con, you've already asked me that for the hundredth time." Sophie put down the heavy box and let out a long breath. "It's fine, I really can do it! This is my last guarantee — don't ask me again."
After carrying the final box of books onto the truck, Sophie was so exhausted she didn't even want to force a smile anymore.
Con hesitated for a moment, then said again, "But what if you take a wrong turn, or the car breaks down halfway—"
"Stop—stop—stop, Con!" Sophie deliberately put her hands on her hips and stood right in front of him.
"OK, OK!" Con raised both hands in surrender but still kept talking. "I'm just really worried about you! Because soon we won't just be friends — we'll be attending the same university. Before long, we'll be classmates."
Con looked very innocent.
"Good friend and soon-to-be good classmate, plus my girlfriend is also going to be your classmate. Our relationship is definitely going to get even better in the future." He raised a finger and made a "victory" sign.
"Thanks! Look at me moving house — I'm about to die of exhaustion, and you're not helping at all. So please, go back to your room, call your other friends, go play ball, go shopping, go eat — anything. Just stop bothering me." She was already insanely busy, and having a guy chattering beside her was driving her crazy.
Con stood motionless in Sophie's house, still pulling funny faces.
"Hurry up! Go make those calls!" Sophie waved her hand, shooing him out.
"You're treating me like a fly you're trying to swat away!" As Con walked out of Sophie's house, he muttered with a pout, feeling completely rejected.
Of course Sophie heard him, and she found it utterly hilarious!
If it weren't for Con's interference, she could have finished packing her luggage by the afternoon. But now it was already seven o'clock in the evening.
"This timing is going to be really tight," she muttered to herself while staring at the time on her phone. "These books still can't all be sorted and packed in one go."
Turning around and seeing the shelves still full of books waiting to be boxed up, Sophie suddenly felt completely drained.
She had originally planned to drive through the night to Oklahoma. If she arrived early enough, she would sleep in the car for a bit and then go check out the house first.
She had arranged to meet the new landlord at noon, but she wasn't necessarily going to live there…
At this point, it looked like the plan might not be feasible anymore.
Finally, after working together with the movers to box up and load all her belongings onto the truck, the time on her phone read nine o'clock at night. The truck driver wouldn't set off until tomorrow to deliver everything to Oklahoma. It seemed now that she herself wouldn't be able to leave until tomorrow morning either.
"I'll just stay one more night here and set off in the morning," she convinced herself.
"Gurgle gurgle—" Her stomach growled. Only then did Sophie realize she had been so busy she hadn't even eaten dinner. While the workers went to eat, she had kept sorting the books on the shelves and the little trinkets in her drawers.
Looks like she really had to stay another night… No choice but to accept it!
The next morning the sky was overcast. It had snowed heavily overnight, leaving about twenty centimeters of snow on the roads.
Sophie set off in her car while the snow was still falling. She had never driven on the highway in snowy weather before and felt a little scared, so she decided to leave early, drive slowly, and aim to arrive safely in Oklahoma before noon.
Ned reached Austin at three o'clock in the local afternoon.
He had no idea whether Sophie had left last night or this morning. All he knew was that the moment he arrived in Austin, he rushed straight to the apartment where she had been living—only to find it completely empty. Nothing was left behind.
He quickly went to a rental car agency, picked out a high-performance sports car, and hit the road immediately despite his travel fatigue.
"Last night's heavy snowfall caused severe accumulation on the roads. This morning's sharp drop in temperature led to serious icing. The highway has been closed for five hours. It has now reopened, but long queues at the highway entrances have caused major traffic jams. Estimated wait time to get through is about two hours," the car radio reported on weather and road conditions.
"Traffic on regular highways is relatively light. Drivers are advised to consider using those routes instead. Highway entrances at the state border have lighter flow; vehicles heading to Oklahoma can enter the interstate there…"
Hearing that, Ned turned off the noisy broadcast and switched to a CD instead.
He took the ordinary highway directly. Sure enough, there were very few cars on the road—perfect for avoiding the congestion.
It wasn't until he reached the desolate border between the two states, where the traffic grew increasingly sparse, that he began driving faster and faster. Even though pushing the car to such speeds on wet, icy roads was extremely dangerous…
He was terrified of missing his chance to see Sophie. He had to reach Oklahoma as quickly as possible—because today was the day Sophie had arranged to meet the landlord. This was his one and only opportunity to find her.
"I think, this time when she moves, she probably plans never to contact any of us again—including your father."
Ned recalled what Archibald had said to him just before he boarded the plane.
If Sophie wasn't staying in the house Archibald had arranged for her, if she had found another place to live instead—or if she ultimately decided to leave Oklahoma altogether—then he might never be able to find her again.
Snapping back to reality, Ned calmly forced the thought out of his mind. Then he slammed the accelerator to the floor.
The sign ahead clearly indicated: 200 meters ahead, turn left to enter the highway interchange at the state border. Ned steered the sports car toward the on-ramp, continuing to accelerate without easing off the gas pedal—
After rounding the sharp curve of the interchange, the sports car crossed over a patch of melting ice on the roadway. The front tires suddenly lost traction—
The car lost control in an instant. Traveling at approximately 120 mph, it veered sideways across the auxiliary lane of the highway, cut directly in front of an old Ford, and then smashed into the median divider—
Bang!
The impact in that moment was earth-shattering.
The speed had been far too high. The airbags inside the sports car deployed instantly in every direction. Although the driver was not in immediate danger of losing his life, he was still subjected to excruciating pain.
After the first violent collision, Ned had not yet lost consciousness in that split second.
Then the car was launched airborne, spinning 360 degrees at high speed across the highway before slamming into another vehicle in the lane…
After the second impact, Ned finally blacked out.
In the hospital, when the sirens of police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks had all faded into silence…
After Ned's surgery was finally over.
From the operating room to the ward, in the chaos of those twenty-four hours, a full day had already passed.
Sophie had arrived in Oklahoma, yet she had missed her appointment time with the landlord—because the highway had been closed, she couldn't make the trip. And now, she was keeping vigil at the hospital, waiting for the crash victim to finish surgery and be transferred to the ICU.
The sunlight outside the ward was blindingly bright. Looking through the window, the outside world was bathed in a gentle, warm breeze—a picture-perfect beautiful day. But after all, it was winter; the moment you stepped outside, the bone-chilling wind would cut right through you.
Sophie pressed a hand to her chest and stood up. Because of the impact from the car crash, a large area of her chest was covered in bruises. Fortunately, her internal organs had not been injured.