Chapter 176 - Dion's Unspoken Pain

"Why? Is it because she's dead?!" 

Lewis froze, balling his hand into a fist. His eyes glinted as he looked back at Quentin angrily. But as soon as he met the latter's eyes, Quentin spoke.

"No way..." Quentin scoffed in disbelief, seeing the defensive expression that broke Lewis's cold countenance. He knew Lewis wouldn't be this triggered if what he said wasn't the truth or part of the truth. 

"No... she can't..."

"Stop saying she's dead, she's not," Lewis remarked with a dead tone. "I hope you recover well, Mister De Luca. If you need anything, the Qin's will assist you." 

He didn't wait for Quentin to react as he left the hospital room. As soon as he storm out, Dion and Derek perked their head, but Lewis didn't stop. He ignored everything as if he was running away from something. Or rather, he was just tired of people telling him she was dead.

How was it so easy for them to say that? How could they say to let her go? And it baffled him how they expect him to do the same. Devon... she was his heart. Accepting that she was dead was like killing himself. How could he give up? 

'She will be fine...' Lewis's steps grew larger as he felt suffocated. He couldn't breathe the more time he spent in this place. He needed to work. He convinced himself that there were other things to worry about to forget the pain. A defense mechanism to deny a part of his reality. 

*******

Meanwhile, Dion just stared at Lewis's back before Derek jogged to catch up. He didn't know what Lewis and Quentin talked about, but this was the first time his brother showed emotions for the past three days.

"Won't you follow your brother?" he snapped when Gabriella suddenly spoke. He shifted his eyes to her. She was about to go inside, eyes on him. 

"Can I talk to your brother?" Dion inquired under his breath, watching her raise her brows. "I... I know I was a jerk, but I just need to talk to your brother."

Gabriella pressed her lips together. She didn't like the Qin's, especially Dion. However, it seemed Quentin didn't dislike them more than she thought. Gabriella somehow understood Dion as they were both emotional about the war between the Qin Empire and the De Luca. The more she thought about it, Dion disliked the De Luca because he was taking business affairs personally -- just like her.

"Sure. Come in. Although I don't know if he can accommodate you since he also needs to rest." She nodded, making him subtly smile. 

Dion followed her inside with careful footsteps. As soon as Quentin came to sight, he furrowed his brows. Quentin was sitting with his head hung low.

"Brother? The third young master is here to..." Gabriella trailed off when her brother raised his head, revealing the tears rolling down his cheek. She panicked and immediately glided to the side of the bed, scanning him everywhere.

"Are you hurt anywhere? Let me call...." Just before she could ring the nurse for help, she froze when Quentin spoke.

"She's dead...?" 

"huh?"

Quentin ignored Gabriella as he slowly turned his head to Dion. "She's dead?" he repeated. 

Dion knew who was the person he was talking about. This man just said he was Devon's previous lover, so it was obvious. Now, it made sense why Lewis stormed out of this room with that kind of expression. This man, Quentin De Luca, had loved Devon as well. He loved her that he wasn't embarrassed to show his tears to other people -- even to his enemies. 

"It was a car accident. The investigators said my sis fought back, but they ended up crashing." Dion hung his head low as his hand slowly ball into a fist. "Julian survived but with major injuries, but my sister... she ended up brain dead."

Gabriella's jaw fell open as she gazed at her brother. Her heart instantly broke as soon as she caught Quentin's expression. She didn't know a lot of details, but she was aware that the woman involved was his ex-lover. But now, Dion was saying she was dead? 

"Brain dead?" Quentin didn't know whether to laugh at this ridiculous news or cry that they couldn't do anything about it. No wonder Lewis said 'she would be fine.' Lewis was in denial, waiting for a miracle to happen. Now it made more sense why Lewis was so angry at Julian he wanted to kill him. 

"My brother doesn't want to accept it and he didn't want to take off her life support." Dion's eyes flickered with bitterness, swallowing down the tension in his throat. "But we all know her organs will soon fail one after another."

There was dead silence in the room as neither of the three talked for a long time. Quentin shook his head in disbelief, breathing heavily. When his heart rate started to race, Gabriella snapped.

"Brother, calm down. You shouldn't -- " She couldn't finish her sentence when Quentin raised a hand. "Brother..."

"Why do you want to see me?" asked Quentin under his breath, wincing at the pain in his back. 

Dion took a deep breath as he mustered his courage to speak. "For the past three days, my brother had buried himself with work despite being a patient himself. He never listen to anyone nor did he react to anything. But earlier... it was the first time his cold front broke."

Dion paused purposely as he took a deep bow. His hands that were on his rear that he was clenching trembled while he suppressed the tears that were attempting to fall from his eyes. 

"Please convince my brother to let my sister go. My sister deserves a proper funeral." This pained Dion more than anything. 

Lewis was wrong. It wasn't just him who was hurting. Everyone who was concerned for him and those who were close with Devon. Her death hurt them all, but they had to do the right thing. Would they wait until Devon started to rot? Surely, they didn't want that. She had been through a lot already. 

Quentin clenched his teeth while shaking his head lightly. "I don't think he will listen to me. No, I'm sure he won't. Raise your head, third young master Qin."

"I know I am asking for too much, but please reconsider." Dion raised his head and let out a deep sigh. "If my sister is as important as what you claimed, I hope you understand my intention. Have a good day, Mister De Luca. Thank you for sparing me your time."

Dion stayed for a little longer, but he heard nothing from Quentin anymore. Hence, he bowed his head lightly once again before he left the room. As soon as he closed the door, the tears that he held in finally rolled down his cheek. 

"Sister..." came out a muffled call, wiping his eyes with his arm. ".... why did you have to die?"