THE ICY COLD BROTHER-IN LAW

THREE. THE ICY COLD BROTHER-IN LAW

As soon as Brynlee woke up, she was greeted by a sterile atmosphere, all dominated by white. The window with the white curtains waving in the wind became the first target for Brynlee's eyes to see what was out there. She knew she was in the hospital after the accident that happened to her this morning. But, she didn't know how long she had been lying in that room. If she saw the golden light refracting through the window, she could conclude that morning had turned into evening. But was it still the same day as the accident? She thought she could be unconscious for days because the last thing she remembered was being in the ambulance. Then she didn't remember anything after arguing with the medical team about Lillah's condition.

Lillah...

Brynlee jolted awake. The sudden movement made her whole body hurt. She pushed the blanket open and scanned her entire body. A bad thought had crossed her mind a moment ago about her feet. But a second later, she could breathe a sigh of relief when she found no bandages or casts on her legs.

From where she sat she could see the tips of her bare toes. Her fingers were still intact. She could still feel the smooth surface of the sheet beneath her feet. That means there were no serious injuries to her legs. Her muscles were still functioning well.

Then she touched her head. There was a bandage on her right temple. Maybe one of the broken window glass had cut the skin on her temple. But other than that, she felt her body was fine. The pain she felt must have come from bruises all over her body due to the hard impact when the accident occurred. Not a fatal condition.

She swung her legs down from the gurney. She had to leave the room to check on Lillah's condition. She hoped Lillah's condition wasn't as bad as she thought because the last thing she remembered was Lillah's face covered in blood.

NO! Brynlee couldn't remember any further. The more she remembered Lillah's condition, the more bad thoughts haunted her. The big truck crashed right into the side where Lillah was sitting. Lillah got hit by the truck... then...

Brynlee stopped all the bad thoughts and hobbled towards the door. She took a deep breath before pulling the doorknob open with trembling hands. But, someone outside pushed open the door and almost knocked her over if she didn't immediately hold on to the wall beside her.

“Elyseen,” Brynlee whispered hoarsely.

Tears welled up in her eyes when she saw her sister's husband standing in front of her with a stiff face. He looked disheveled and tired. His hair was so messy like he had tousled it repeatedly with his hands in frustration. His eyes were bloodshot, like he had been crying for a very long time. There were a lot of tired lines in his eyes.

"How is your condition?"

"I’m fine. It just hurts all over from the bruises, but the rest I'm fine. Lillah? Have you seen her?”

"I have."

The second Brynlee asked Elyseen about Lillah's condition, Brynlee already suspected that something bad was happening to Lillah. Elyseen's face said it all. But, she didn't want to think about anything that might not happen. She could be wrong, right?

"Where is she? I want to see her. The accident occurred when the truck driver—”

"I know," Elyseen cut off her words while glaring at her.

“The police have explained everything to me. CCTV cameras have also proven everything.”

“Then let me meet Lillah.”

Brynlee's eyes filled with tears, her lips trembled every time she remembered the terrible events that had happened to her and Lillah. She wished she could turn back time to stop everything. She wanted to fix this situation so that Lillah wouldn't have to be in her current position and have an accident with her. Her heart was blaming her. If only she hadn't asked Lillah to go to Decatur, they wouldn’t have had the accident.

"Lillah—"

"Dead," he replied coldly.

-00-

Her legs were wobbly, and she almost fell when her shoe tripped over the uneven asphalt in front of Lillah's house. Brynlee felt like giving up on her body right now. She wanted to fall on the hot asphalt and cry out loud. All the coldness she showed Elyseen were lies. In fact, she was deeply hurt by Elyseen's blatant expulsion. From the moment she met him in his house, she had known that Elyseen hated her. Elyseen was always cynical and skeptical of her for no apparent reason. She suspected that Elyseen was acting like that because of her absence in Lillah's life. Elyseen made it clear to her that she was a selfish woman who had no right to enter Lillah's life after all these years of silence. She had never contacted Lillah all this time. She thought Lillah would be fine with her family and she would contact her sister when she was mentally and financially stable.

People stared at her with curious eyes mixed with confusion as she walked very slowly along the driveway to the main door of Lillah's house. The mourners, she didn't recognize, gave her a glance. They were probably wondering why a disheveled looking woman with a bandage on her head suddenly appeared at Lillah's funeral.

Brynlee tried to ignore people's stares and just walked straight into the house. Behind her, she didn't feel Elyseen's presence. He should have walked in behind her after leaving his car across from the house. Brynlee couldn't help but look back. Elyseen's white Audi was parked in front of his house, but the man was nowhere near his car.

She didn't try to look for Elyseen again. She walked into the house and cried when she saw her sister's coffin in the living room.

Brynlee ran to the coffin and clenched her fists in front of her mouth to suppress the sound of her sobs that were very loud. She wanted all of that to be just a dream. She wanted Lillah to just trick her and suddenly startle her with a very loud laugh. But sadly, all of that was real. Lillah's body in the coffin was clear proof that it was all real. She was gone forever.

Brynlee's legs were shaking even more. She fell down beside Lillah's coffin and wept bitterly there. The mourners in the room just stared at her with pitying eyes. They didn't know her and they didn't come to comfort her. Brynlee was relieved by that because right now she didn't want to be bothered by anyone. She wanted to be left crying alone until she was satisfied and could accept Lillah's death without blaming herself because she was the cause of Lillah's death in the accident.

"Aunt Brynlee."

The voice startled Brynlee. She immediately looked up with her eyes slightly blurred by tears. Her hands reflexively reached out to hug Levi's small body.

"Why are you crying? Mommy is sleeping. You shouldn't be making noise near her."

"I'm going to cry softly," Brynlee said hoarsely. Tears fell from her eyes when she saw Levi in ​​her arms. She felt sorry for the boy for causing his mother to die when he was very young.

"Are you Lillah's sister?"

“Grandma!”

Levi looked up and smiled brightly at his grandmother. He showed signs that Brynlee was crying, and now he couldn't move because his body was hugged by Brynlee so tightly.

"I'm Brynlee, nice to meet you."

Brynlee looked up and quickly stood up to greet Levi’s grandmother, who had just reached out to shake her hand.

"I'm Cassandra Flynn, Elyseen's mother."

“Sorry for causing all this mess. Lillah and I just wanted to spend some time together in Decatur. I… I never expected this to happen,” Brynlee sobbed. Tears flowed freely from her eyes. She tried to wipe it and make her cheeks dry, but it seemed to fall out of control.

"I know. The police have explained it to me and Elyseen. Even though this incident shocked us all, we tried to accept Lillah's death with sincerity. You had better get changed and clean your face. Lillah will definitely be sad to see you like this.”

“Sorry, I didn't come in proper condition. I just got out of the hospital. My car was badly damaged, and I couldn't go back to my apartment to change my clothes."

Cassandra looked at Brynlee's appearance from head to toe. The jeans that had been torn in several places on her knees and thighs were clear evidence that the woman had been pinned in her car when the accident occurred. And her white shirt was dirty with blood and dust marks. Even though her face had been cleaned by the nurse who took care of her and the wounds on her head had been covered with bandages, Cassandra thought it was still not appropriate to attend Lillah's funeral. Brynlee still had to change clothes and clean her face, so she wouldn't look pathetic.

"You don't have to go back to your apartment. You can wear Lillah's clothes. I don't think she would mind." Cassandra gave a quick glance at Lillah's coffin.

“But I don't think Elyseen will allow me to touch Lillah's stuff. I'd better stick with my clothes. I will immediately go to a quiet place and get away from these people.”

“Elyseen won't stop you from wearing Lillah's clothes. Come on, I’ll take you upstairs."

Somewhat hesitantly, Brynlee followed Cassandra to Lillah's room on the second floor. Levi also followed her. She held Levi's hand as the boy walked beside her.

"Why do you keep crying?"

"I'm just sad. Do you cry a lot too?”

Levi shook his head. The look in his innocent eyes pierced Brynlee's heart. She couldn't bear to see Levi's steadfastness in the face of his mother's death.

“Dad forbade me to cry. He said crying was only for sissies."

Brynlee widened her eyes, surprised at the boy's answer.

“Your daddy said that? How rude."

"Elyeen applies a strict parenting style to Levi."

Cassandra paused halfway up the stairs to turn to Brynlee. The middle-aged woman smiled wryly at Levi.

“I don't know what's wrong with him, but ever since Elyseen married Lillah, I think he's slowly grown colder and more introverted. Work has turned him into a true workaholic.”

"Yes I know. But it's a bit surprising that he said that to a four-year-old boy."

Cassandra said nothing more. She sighed loudly and climbed the stairs in silence until they reached the top of the stairs.

That wasn't the first time Brynlee had been at Lillah's house. She was familiar with the interior of the house, so she knew which side Lilah and Elysean's room was.

The brown mahogany door was closed tightly. Cassandra knocked softly and heard Elyseen's muttering voice from behind the door.

"It's me, open the door Elyseen."

There was an answer from inside telling Cassandra to wait a moment and the sound of footsteps.

Elyseen opened his bedroom door wide and was somewhat surprised to see Brynlee standing behind his mother, holding Levi's hand.

"What is it?"