?Chapter 788:


    “Freya…” Kristian murmured weakly, his voice touched with vulnerability. He pointed toward the IV drip with a pitiful look. “Can you make it stop? It’s ufortable.”


    “Do as the doctor says, if you want to get better quickly,” Freya replied, her voice noticeably cooler than before.


    Kristian immediately sensed the difference in her tone. He also noticed the shift in her demeanor.


    Thinking back to the moment Ellis had pulled Freya out of the room, suspicion stirred in his mind. Had Ellis said something to her about his mental condition?


    It didn’t matter to Kristian. Ellis had no solid proof, and he could keep pretending in front of Freya.


    “Kristian Shaw,” Freya called his full name.


    She didn’t speak with warmth, only a quiet detachment, as if she were addressing a stranger.


    Kristian’s hand clenched under the nket, though his expression remained carefullyposed. “What is it, Freya?”


    “Why did you lie?”


    “Lie?”


    Kristian looked as if she’d struck him—his face the perfect picture of innocence, as though he hadn’t the faintest clue what she meant. He was ying the role wlessly, every inch the misunderstood child.


    “Yesterday, you clearly had lunch and dinner. Why did you say you hadn’t eaten?” Freya asked, her voice lined with quiet reproach. “Andst night, why did you falsely use Ellis of hitting you?”


    A twinge of frustration twisted inside Kristian. Was Freya ming him now?


    “Answer me,” she demanded, her tone not unlike that of a parent scolding an unruly child.


    Kristian looked at her, then yanked out the IV, grabbed the nket, and turned his back, cocooning himself inside.


    M??r? ??ont?nt ??????: g??l??ov?ls.??○??


    He had wanted to blurt out that it wasn’t his idea—that Gerard had told him to do it. But then he remembered that Freya knew Gerard too well. If he said the wrong thing now, Freya might actually send him away. He needed to keep calm and think of something foolproof.


    Seeing his reaction, Freya didn’t yank the nket off or try to soothe him. Instead, her voice was firm. “If you don’t give me a real exnation for both things, I’ll call your dad and have him take you home.”


    Kristian didn’t move.


    “Kristian Shaw,” Freya called him again.


    “If you want to send me away, just do it,” came Kristian’s muffled voice from beneath the nket, steeped in sorrow. “You don’t like me anyway. You don’t want me around.”


    Freya stared at the curled-up figure beneath the nket. “It’s not like that. I just need you to understand that lying is wrong. I don’t know why you would lie like that.”


    Kristian remained silent.


    Freya circled to the other side of the bed and pulled the nket off his head.


    She had intended to say more—but froze when she saw his face. His eyes were brimming with tears, his lip caught between his teeth. He was curled into himself like a child who had been cast aside—fragile, frightened, but stubbornly trying not to show it.


    Her cold facade softened ever so slightly. She couldn’t stand seeing tears like that.


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