Chapter 73. Getting Hypothermia

Chapter 73: Chapter 73. Getting Hypothermia

Chapter 73. Getting Hypothermia

All she could do was glare at him, her teeth grinding together as she tried to deal with two raging emotions fighting for dominance inside her. The first was extreme rage at the arrogant way he was mocking and teasing her in her current state. The second was the sheer physical toll of the cold seeping deep into her skin, making her feel as though her entire body were frozen in ice.

There were no two ways about it: if she didn’t do something immediately to contain this, she was going to fall sick at any moment. Her eyelids fluttered rapidly, her breath hitching in sharp gasps.

He frowned all of a sudden, his playful tone dropping slightly. "Okay, we can’t do this anymore. Why don’t we just find a safe place—a shed or something around this estate?" He turned around, scanning the property. "Oh, there’s a shed over there by the garage. Why don’t you go over there and wait?"

She glared at him, but she didn’t hesitate. Brushing past him before he could even finish his sentence, she rushed toward the garage.

Tim stood with his hands still half-extended, watching her departing figure. He chuckled softly, folded his arms casually behind his back, and slowly began to walk toward the garage, trailing behind her and keeping a wide distance between them. He walked as if the biting cold and pouring rain didn’t matter at all—as if nothing in the world could bother him.

She stepped under the shelter of the garage, breathing hard and shaking uncontrollably. Her breath hitched at unsteady intervals, her body vibrating with spasms from the chill. Through wet strands of hair clinging to her face, she glared at his figure as he casually approached the entrance.

"I swear to God, once I recover from this, I’m going to fucking kill you," she muttered through shivering breath.

Tim chuckled, stopping right at the main entrance of the garage with his arms still folded behind his back, simply staring at her.

Rosa blinked away strands of water stuck to her eyelashes, her eyes darting back toward the looming mansion. The rain didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon.

Oh God, she thought, squeezing her eyes shut in sheer misery. My life is a fucking mess. A real, brutal fucking mess.

"You know we do not have all day," he said.

She darted her eyes back to him, clear annoyance flashing in her expression as she raised an eyebrow.

He chuckled again. "I’m offering you help here. I mean, do you really have anywhere else to go?"

"I’m going to call my friend," she said, her voice tight.

"I don’t think you have your phone with you," he replied coolly.

Rosa blinked. Panic flared as she frantically patted her pockets, slapping every single pocket on her body. Holy fuck. She had left her phone in the bedroom.

She tightened her eyelids together and tilted her head back in sheer frustration. God! she screamed internally, clenching her teeth until her jaw ached.

When she looked back at him, he was smirking at her.

"I don’t think there’s any way you can contact her," he scoffed.

"Yeah, right," she spat back, crossing her arms. "I can find my way."

He raised an eyebrow, his expression dripping with doubt. "Are you sure? The distance from here to your friend’s house is quite a very long journey. What’s the probability that you don’t collapse on the road, fall sick, and get a raging illness that lands you in a hospital bed? You might even need an operation."

She glared at him. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. It was a very long walk to trek back to Maya’s house in this weather, and there were literally no vehicles running at this time of night. It was already past midnight.

Good Lord, she thought, lowering her head to stare at the ground. I need help. She ground her teeth together, trapped by her circumstances.

Was it actually going to be a wise decision to follow this uncalled-for, unexplainable spirit back to God-knows-where?

She squeezed her eyes shut again, her mind racing back from the shadowed mansion to him.

He raised an eyebrow at her hesitation. "Come on, you don’t have to drag this on, okay? There’s no time. We don’t have all day. The rain is getting much more intense and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop soon. Do you really think you have a choice in this?"

She looked back up at him with a glare.

The way he was looking at her made her suspicious. She folded her arms even tighter. "I think I’ll be fine right here in the garage. I can stay here and manage all night."

He raised an eyebrow, his eyes slowly darting around the structure.

She knew what he was going to imply, and deep down, she knew it was a dangerous move to stay locked in the garage. It was completely uninhabitable for a human being in weather like this. It wasn’t sealed or fully covered to block out the freezing air, and she could easily freeze to death. There was literally no safe place for her.

She closed her eyes, tilting her head to the side.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked. There was concern on his face, but Rosa knew it was completely fake. There was no way she was falling for those ridiculous expressions.

Her body continued to shake violently, completely beyond her control.

Tim let out a soft breath. "Rosa," he called softly.

She didn’t bother to look at him, keeping her eyes fixed on the massive mansion standing meters away.

"The clock is ticking," he said.

After a long, tense silence, she shook her head. "Do you know what?" she said, dragging her focus back to him.

He stared at her expectantly.

"I think I will just try my best," she said, her breath hitching rhythmically from the cold. "I will stay in the mansion."

Tim’s eyes widened in disbelief. "I’m sorry, what?"

She scoffed, blowing out a shaky breath and rubbing her arms vigorously to create friction heat. "I said, I will manage to stay in the mansion," she repeated between sharp breaths.

His jaw dropped. He stared at her like he couldn’t believe what she had just said. Then he scoffed, shaking his head. "Goodness me, you’re such a resilient one, aren’t you?" He folded his arms. "You are really determined to avoid me."

She didn’t reply.

"You do know I’m the only one holding the answers you deserve."

"Answers that you are not willing to give!!!" she snapped.

Then she breathed.

"Please just go. I don’t want to see you anymore," she snapped in annoyance, her voice shaking as she stared back at the building.

He chuckled softly. "Okay, I hear you. I hear you," he said. He glanced behind him at the mansion, then turned back to her. "But are you sure you really want to go in there?"

Just as he said that, a loud, unnatural roar echoed through the torrents of rain from deep inside the mansion.

Rosa flinched. She watched through the gloom as the lights behind the curtained windows flickered wildly. Something deeply wrong was happening inside that building.

What the hell is going on with my life right now? she thought, staring at the building in a daze.

There was no way she was going to sleep in peace in there. Every single window revealed lights sputtering uncontrollably, as if the power supply were being toyed with by something unseen. Nothing was normal.

She parted her lips, her face faltering for a brief second. Squeezing her eyes shut, she bit her lip and ground her teeth together. She wanted to be proud and show him that she could manage, but could she really?

He scoffed softly in front of her. "Stop trying to be defiant, Rosa."

"Shut up!" she snapped at him.

He raised both eyebrows and gave her a slow, mock nod. "Okay," he said softly. "My bad." He took a step back, as if giving her space to think.

"I’m going to be fine by myself," she said all of a sudden.

He turned back to look at her. "Rosa, I’m offering you help here. Are you quite sure? You don’t look like you can stand on your own two feet."

"Can you please just shut the fuck up and leave me alone to think?" she snapped back at him.

Tim clamped his mouth shut. Then he chuckled and tilted his head to the side, studying her.

"You are just exactly as you have always been," he murmured suddenly.

She snapped her eyes open to look at him.

He was looking off to the side now, his expression distant, as if lost in thought. "Always so resilient, so strong-headed and strong-willed. Never willing to give up. Never willing to accept the toughest situations... plunging straight into danger, even if it costs your life, as long as it gets you the results you want."

Rosa frowned in confusion. "You talk like you know me from somewhere before."

He looked back at her with a smirk. Chuckling, he shook his head. "Of course I know you, Rosa. I know every single damn thing about you."

He began to step closer toward her.

Rosa took a step backward, then another, until her spine pressed against a cold iron pillar behind her.

He came to a stop a few feet away with a raised eyebrow, lifted his hand, and gently traced his knuckles against her damp cheek.

Rosa tilted her head away, flinching from his touch.

He chuckled, a faint smile on his lips as he lowered his hand. "Are you sure you don’t have questions to ask me?" he blurted out.

She glared at him, then scoffed, her eyelids fluttering as she looked to the side.

He’s truly playing with me, she thought. Truly, really playing with me.

She could still feel the bitter cold racking through her nervous system, making it nearly impossible to stay still. She had questions—so many questions—but he clearly wasn’t willing to give straight answers. What pierced through her consciousness most was his relentless need to keep tormenting her.

She ground her teeth together, completely speechlessness.

After a long silence, she breathed out, "Isn’t there any better place for us to discuss this than your apartment?"

He frowned at her.

She scoffed, closing her eyes for a brief minute. "In fact, before we even address that... do you even have an apartment?"

Tim’s jaw dropped in exaggerated shock. "I’m sorry, what? What is that supposed to mean? Are you trying to condescend to me?" He raised an eyebrow, though a spark of wicked amusement still danced in his eyes, his lips twitching at the corners.

She folded her arms defiantly, despite the shivers wracking her frame.

"I don’t know," she replied with a shrug. "I’ve always had the assumption that spirits hover around. Spirits don’t usually have places to rest. They seem comfortable lurking around in the shadows, in the day, in the night. Anyway, they don’t look like regular people, and they don’t sound like beings that need a place to lay their heads to rest. They don’t sleep. They just go around tormenting people’s lives, or probably doing good. And you, in every scenario I’ve observed so far, have done nothing but fucking torment me. So yeah, I don’t think you have a place to stay."

Tim’s smile expanded into a broad grin. He chuckled and raked his fingers through his wet hair, pushing the damp strands back from his forehead.

"And if I may ask," he said, stepping even closer.

Rosa pressed her back firmly against the iron pillar, having nowhere else to go.

"What makes you think I’m a spirit?" he asked, his eyes narrowing as he stared at her suspiciously, waiting for her reaction.

Rosa blinked once, then twice, her breath catching in her throat. "What can I say?" she snapped defensively. "Everything you have been doing right from the beginning up to this point proves it."

His grin expanded, looking even more wicked than before. "And what exactly have I been doing?" he pressed softly.

She scoffed. "Can you please just stop playing dumb with me?"

Before he could answer, another loud roar echoed from the mansion, interrupting them.

Rosa flinched, turning to stare back at the building. Overwhelming confusion raged through Rosa, driving her crazy, and the agonizing cold showed no signs of stopping.

Tim chuckled softly, slowly tilting his head to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, I don’t think I need to say much anymore. The clock is ticking, Rosa..." He paused, his eyes slowly sweeping over her shivering body. "...and from what I can see, you are just an inch away from getting hypothermia."