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墨書 Inktalez
The sky had unknowingly turned overcast, and the once starry night was now devoid of any stars. The wind had grown cooler, and the people who had been playing by the river began to leave one by one.
Anna, who had been staring blankly at the grass for an unknown period, lifted her head only to find that Peter was nowhere in sight. He had previously dashed into the reeds and grass to play, getting himself into a mess, and it seemed he had wandered off again.
Anna stood up and called out for him.
"Peter, come out! It's time to go home... Peter, where are you? Come back home."
Usually, no matter how far he strayed, as long as he heard Anna calling, Peter would appear. But this time, he did not show up after a long wait. Slowly, what initially seemed unimportant began to weigh on her mind with worry.
"Peter, where are you? Come out!" Anna continued to shout loudly.
"What's wrong? Can't you find Peter?" asked an elderly woman who often walked her dog in the area.
"Yes, Grandma. I don't know where he went. Have you seen him?" Anna replied politely, though a frown had already formed on her face.
"No, I was just wondering why you were sitting here alone without your dog," the elderly woman said.
"It's going to rain soon. Let's help you look for him," said a few people who had not yet left the riverside.
"Thank you so much; I appreciate it," Anna said with a deep bow.
Thus, seven or eight people spread out, most of them holding onto their dogs, which should make the search easier. A sense of guilt began to rise within her; if she hadn't been daydreaming, she might have noticed which direction Peter had gone and when he had disappeared.
Anna felt a pang of fear—fear that he might be lost, exposed to the wind and sun without food. She worried that when he thought about coming home, he wouldn't be able to find his way back. He must have gotten lost; otherwise, he would have responded to her calls. What if he encountered someone dangerous? He still couldn't cross the street by himself. She couldn't bear to think about it; she just wanted Peter to stay by her side. If she lost him too... what would happen then...
A faint sound and a somewhat frightened bark alerted the dog owner, who slowly walked toward the dense thicket where the dog was barking. With the light from her phone, she nervously pushed aside the bushes...
"Come here! I found him! He's right here!"
"You found him? That's great!" Everyone happily ran over, including Anna, who finally let out a sigh of relief. She thought to herself that she would definitely scold him a few times when she saw him, making sure he wouldn't dare wander off again. However, she promised herself that she would never get distracted again. Once they got home, Peter would definitely need a good bath; he must be filthy from playing around. He was probably hungry too. Although he had already eaten today, she decided to give him a little late-night snack as a special treat. He would be so happy, but during bath time, he would surely be unhappy, running around and making a mess of the bathroom. When it came time to dry him off, he would howl as if he were dying, causing the neighbors to think Anna was abusing him...
"Here he is."
But why did the man who found Peter have such an expression? Shouldn't this be a happy moment?
Anna was puzzled as she slowly approached the thicket. Peter was covered in blood, lying there barely breathing. Yet when he saw Anna arrive, he weakly wagged his tail a few times, as if even that movement took all his strength...
Anna stood frozen in place; he had been fine just before this!
"Oh no, who did this? How cruel! Miss, we need to get him to the hospital quickly," someone nearby said.
Yes, yes! Anna murmured to herself: "Yes, the hospital... we need to go to the hospital... hurry to the hospital."
In that moment, she didn't know where her strength came from as she picked up Peter. Tears streamed down her face, accompanied by the pouring Heavy Rain. Because when she touched him, she felt many broken bones in Peter's chest... He was so limp and had no strength left...
"Miss, do you want us to accompany you..." The voice behind her faded away.
She held Peter, whose breathing grew weaker and weaker, and ran through that dismal rainy night.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry!
It was all because I was distracted that I caused you this. Please, don't leave me. I beg you.
Look, Peter, look ahead, there's the pet hospital. He'll be alright soon.
"Doctor! Doctor!!"
The three doctors who were gathered around a small table, planning to have dinner, thought that on a rainy night like this, no one would come. But when they saw Anna at the door, drenched and holding a bloodied large dog, they were genuinely startled.
She had been running with the over seventy-pound dog in the heavy rain for who knows how long. No taxi was willing to take them, soaked and dirty as they were. That night, the passing cars ignored their plight.
"Please, help him." The moment Anna stepped into the pet hospital, her legs gave way, and she collapsed to the ground. One doctor quickly caught Peter before he fell, while another rushed to help Anna up.
However, the moment the doctor lifted Peter, his expression froze.
"This..."
"Please, please save him. I can pay any amount! I'm begging you." Anna refused to get up, kneeling on the floor and gripping the doctor's pant leg tightly, her cries heart-wrenching.
"Well..." The three doctors exchanged glances and then said, "You need to get up first; we will start the rescue right away."
"Okay, thank you so much." Anna finally managed a twisted smile as the doctor helped her up and seated her in a chair. Suddenly remembering something, she grasped the doctor's wrist tightly and said, "Please remember to administer anesthesia during the surgery; he’s especially afraid of pain. I'm worried he won't be able to handle it."
The doctor looked at Anna in surprise, patted her hand, and said, "Don't worry."
With that, two doctors carried Peter into the operating room while one remained outside.
Anna stretched her neck, watching the operating room door close before she felt relieved enough to sit down. She smiled slightly, waiting for the surgery to end, imagining taking Peter out to play when he recovered, giving him a bath, waiting for him to lean against her arm while sleeping, and buying him delicious food. If he still liked to chew on tissue paper after this, she would be angry again, but she promised not to scold him since he had just gotten better.
A doctor outside brought a blanket and draped it over Anna's shoulders, handing her a cup of hot water.
Anna looked up and smiled, saying, "Thank you. By the way, doctor, can he eat beef after the surgery? He loves beef. I used to think it was too expensive and didn't buy him much. If he can eat beef after the surgery, I'll buy him more." Anna asked cautiously.
The doctor showed a difficult expression, remained silent for a moment, then nodded slightly and said, "Yes."
"That's good. He will be very happy."
The doctor turned away with a slight sigh. Having seen so many pets and their owners parting ways, their hearts had long become numb. However, seeing Anna like this made it hard for him to tell her that Peter had already passed away before entering the hospital...
The surgery proceeded quickly; in less than half an hour, two doctors came out.
Anna almost jumped from her chair and quickly walked up to the doctors.
"How is he? Is everything okay?" She strained to look at the doctors' faces, hoping to see reassurance in their eyes.
"The dog has four broken ribs, and one of them punctured the lung. There are obvious strangulation marks on his neck, his stomach is ruptured, his spine is fractured, and he has multiple fractures all over... His head also suffered severe trauma..." the doctor replied.
"So? After the surgery, everything will be fine, right? He will be okay? When can he walk again? When can we go to the park? Can he not take a bath for a while? Is there anything special he needs to eat?" Anna continued to pursue the doctor's somewhat evasive gaze. She didn't want to hear anything else; she just wanted confirmation that "the surgery was successful."
The doctor sighed and said, "I'm sorry, miss. We really did our best. The dog had already passed away before you arrived at the hospital. We were unable to save him."
Anna froze for a moment but quickly shook her head and said, "That's impossible! On the way here, he was still looking at me with his eyes; he even licked my hand with his tongue and could still make sounds."
"Miss, these actions are merely the last words of an animal before it dies. Animals also experience a moment of clarity before passing."
"Nonsense! What last words! What moment of clarity! Where have you hidden him? I want to see him!" After saying this, Anna pushed the doctor aside and rushed into the operating room.
He lay there, and even when he was deeply asleep, he would slightly open his eyes to look when he heard Anna's footsteps.
At this moment, his eyes were still slightly open, but there was no spark in them, as if wrapped in a thin layer of white mist...
His body was cold, showing signs of lifelessness.
Anna sat helplessly on the floor, her mind blank.
The heavy rain finally stopped in the late night, and the sky began to lighten. Anna opened her eyes and stood up from the ground, lifting Peter's body, which had started to stiffen.
"You don't like hospitals. It's dawn; I'll take you home."
At that moment, Anna's mind was empty; it didn't matter whether it was a shooting day or how many times her phone rang—nothing was important anymore.
The life she held in her arms had come with such difficulty, yet leaving brought deep pain.
Having accompanied each other without regrets during that time, why did it have to end like this?
Peter, your final gaze and groan—Anna understood them clearly.
She knew you were saying: you wanted to spend more time with her, how much you wished to always be by her side.
You have done very well. You must have gone through a terrible experience, enduring in the dark grass, just waiting for Anna to come find you, because you still have words in your heart that you want to express to her... How could you bear to leave without seeing this beloved person even once? I'm sorry I didn't see you then; you must have wanted to ask for my help, but I didn't see or hear you. It was so late when I finally found you.
In your lifetime, a significant portion was spent waiting. I never expected that just before your death, you would still choose to wait for me to find you...
Now I realize that in your life, I was everything, yet the time I shared with you was far too little.
If back then, little you had run to someone else's home, perhaps you wouldn't have experienced such a tragic fate. You would surely still be lying on the sofa, sitting by your owner's feet, waiting for delicious food.
At the pet funeral home, there weren't many people, but everyone had tears on their faces that hadn't dried. Life knows no worth; "pet" is just a label. Those who accompany us and love us are family.
Anna chose not to place Peter's ashes there but instead went to the Han River and scattered them into the water.
Though his life was short, he always waited for himself. Even when locked alone in the house all day, he never complained; just hearing Anna's footsteps returning home made him happier than anything else. Anna didn't want to put him in that cold box; she didn't want his soul to be left alone there, spending the remaining time hoping for Anna to visit him.
"Peter, from now on, go wherever you want to play; don't wait for me so lonely anymore..."
Anna murmured as she scattered the ashes onto the river surface, tears streaming down her face...
"Where is Anna?" Miao PD asked with some concern and a bit of anger. The filming was about to start, and no matter how many calls were made to her, they couldn't get through or see her. "Forget it; we can't wait any longer. Yufei, you'll take over Anna's work today. Dong Wan, please help out."
"Okay," Dong Wan and Yufei replied.
"What’s going on with Anna?" Lee Kwang-soo wondered aloud since he had also made many calls without success.
"Let's finish the shoot first," Yoo Jae-suk said as he patted Kwang-soo's shoulder quietly.
Kwang-soo nodded, waiting for the camera to start rolling.
Why are there so many areas in the human brain that can feel loneliness?
Who can say for sure? Perhaps just like the Earth, a lonely individual in this universe, a person is also an individual, which makes it so easy to fall into loneliness.
However, Anna rarely felt this way before. For the first time, she felt that this small house was so empty and quiet. Lying on her side with unfocused eyes, she wondered if Peter would sneak out again after secretly drinking toilet water from the bathroom. Would he take the opportunity while Anna was asleep to quietly pick up a piece of dog food scattered in the corner?
Closing her eyes, it was a dream. Opening them again, hoping to wake from the dream, but all she saw was an even more desolate reality.
Her phone rang again. Anna didn’t check who was calling; she simply turned it off.
There were a few strands of Peter's fur stuck to the blanket. Anna stared at them in a daze. She used to quickly clean them off, but now, she thought it was fine to just leave them there…
The sound of a key being inserted into the lock came next. A moment later, the door was gently pushed open. Anna didn’t get up; she knew who had arrived.
“Andy, did you do this?” Anna asked expressionlessly.
Andy sat on the edge of the bed and calmly replied, “No.”
“Can I still trust you?”
“We are each other's only family in this world; you have to believe me.”
Anna blinked and paused in silence for a moment before saying, “Can I ask you something? Why do you know everything about my situation?”
"Because you are my sister."
This was the first time Andy admitted to Anna that she was her sister.
Once again, there was silence. Anna looked at Andy and then slightly raised the corners of her mouth, as if smiling, but it felt a bit cold.
"Alright, I believe you," Anna said.
"Then, let's go home," Andy said.
Anna still expressionlessly nodded and said, "Okay, let's go home."
Summer had returned, and Anna stepped into the empty villa once more. Everything in the house had not changed at all, including Anna's bedroom.
If it weren't for the events that had happened during this time being so deeply etched in her heart and painfully overwhelming, Anna might have really thought it was all just a dream. Now that she was awake from the dream, everything had returned to its original state.
There were no schemes or plots, no good or evil, no joy or sorrow. Everyone and everything was as calm as it had been at the beginning.
But alas, everything was not a dream. No matter how cruel reality was, it was time to face it; there was no escaping.
She opened her phone to find numerous missed calls, different names appearing on the screen.
Which one should she start replying to?
Just as she was thinking about it, her phone rang again.
"I've arrived at your doorstep, but it seems no one is home. Where have you gone? Why are you only answering the phone now?" Park Chan-yeol's voice came through.
Anna looked around in confusion at the scene before her. She had returned to the villa from which she had once fled in a panic, but this time, her state of mind was entirely different. In just one day and night, she had come to understand many things that had previously eluded her. It felt as if she had finally found the root of all her troubles. Yes, just as she had initially thought, everything that seemed bizarre had an unknown origin. Once this origin was discovered and explored, even if the outcome was absurd, it was a reality that must be faced. Some decisions should have been made long ago; now that she understood, she hoped it wasn't too late.
"I'm home."
Anna's calm tone puzzled Park Chan-yeol.
"Home?"
"Yes, at Andy's villa."
"Why? Suddenly..."
"Naturally, it's more comfortable where I live. Andy came to pick me up himself; why would I want to suffer in that small house?" Anna replied.
"What?" Park Chan-yeol found Anna's words unbelievable. "Did something happen?"
"No." Anna scoffed and said, "But is it because you've been having trouble lately and Jang Bo-Yeon is ignoring you that you're suddenly starting to care about me?"
"Anna Zheng, what nonsense are you talking about? I clearly explained everything to you!"
"Ha ha, forget it. I don't want to argue with you or care about those things. Because the current you doesn't interest me anymore."
"Anna Zheng...!"
"Hang up, I've received your concern. Take care of yourself."
Anna finished speaking and directly hung up the phone, not listening to Park Chan-yeol's words afterward.
"Why are you so decisive all of a sudden?" Andy's voice came from behind her. Anna didn't know when he had appeared behind her, but she wasn't surprised at all.
"Times change. He neglected me for another woman, and now that he's fallen, he wants to come back? Hmph, how is that possible?" Anna sneered.
"I've said long ago that he's unreliable. It's a good thing you can finally see it clearly now," Anna said with a slight smile.
Anna lowered her head and quietly said, "Yes, being able to see clearly is indeed a good thing." She stood up and said, "I'm tired; I'm going back to my room to sleep."
"Okay."
Anna didn't look at Andy as she silently walked up to the second floor to the room that once was hers. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the mysterious attic door lock had been replaced with a heavy metal door and a keypad lock. Anna had no particular reaction as she returned to her bedroom and closed the door.
After replying to the messages from everyone she had called today, she put down her phone and walked to the bathroom, where the bathtub was filled with warm water. She lay down in it.
With her emotions swinging wildly, Anna felt utterly exhausted. The warm air made her drowsy, and she unconsciously closed her eyes.
However, not long after, a strange sound startled her awake. It felt like a dark figure was slowly crawling towards her, grabbing her ankle and jolting Anna awake. She sat up in the bathtub, terrified, looking around the bathroom. The warm, soft light filled the space; there was nothing...
It seemed she was too tense and had a nightmare. Anna sighed in relief, got out of the bathtub, dried herself off, put on her pajamas, and returned to bed.
That night, she found it hard to fall asleep. For some reason, every time she closed her eyes, she could vaguely hear strange sounds... And so, she spent the entire night wide awake.
The next morning, seeing Anna driving to work again and the large bags under her eyes, Dong Wan teased, "Wow, you went missing for a day and now you have a car? You have no idea, Miao PD is about to lose it."
"I'll explain to Miao PD and accept the punishment," Anna replied.
"Your recent penalties are almost enough to get you fired. Be careful," Dong Wan advised.
"I understand. Thank you, Dong Wan," Anna said.
After all, this was considered serious absenteeism, and Miao PD had to set an example. As a result, half a month's salary was completely gone, and she also had to write a reflection report.
Seeing Anna's unusually haggard face, Miao PD expressed some concern and sighed, "Anna, if something is really wrong, you can apply for leave. You don't have to push yourself so hard."
"It's okay, Miao PD. I'm the one who has let everyone down. During such a difficult time, I keep causing problems and adding trouble for everyone. I'm really sorry," Anna said.
"The difficulties of Running Man cannot be solved by just one person; we all need to work together," Miao PD said.
"Yes, I understand," Anna replied.
"Get to work. We need to plan well for next Monday's Liu M's Bond special. Go discuss it with Dong Wan and Yufei; we don't have much time left," Miao PD instructed.
"Okay, I got it. I'll head over now," Anna said.
Miao PD nodded, and Anna stood up to find Dong Wan and the others.
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