The doctor knew he'd said something wrong the moment he looked at Alexander's face.
"Old man, are you okay?" Alexander asked, his voice deep and cold.
"Second Bradford, that's the only solution — if you want to find out the truth," the doctor said, without an ounce of fear, since he knew Alexander could never do anything to him, being a close friend of his grandfather's. Seeing that Alex still wasn't sold on the idea, the doctor spoke up again.
"Or you can try touching another person, but your life will be at great risk if you're not cured."
Knowing the doctor was only looking out for him, Alexander eventually agreed. The two of them left the study and headed toward the living room.
In the living room, the atmosphere was tense, silent as a graveyard, with only the clock ticking. Victor was still pacing, glancing toward the second floor every so often.
Olivia still had a headache but had gotten the full picture of what she'd done, thanks to Amalia, who was hurling every kind of threat at her.
Unable to bear the suspense any longer, Victor decided to head upstairs to check on Alexander — until he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Alex! How are you already up? Hope you're fine. Do we need to prep the private jet? Couldn't the old man fix your problem?" Victor bombarded him with questions, without giving him a chance to answer even one.
"You're too noisy. Can you be quiet?" Alexander said to Victor, his voice expressionless. He knew his friend was just worried, but he was too loud about it.
"Ohh… I was just worried. Hope you're fine," Victor said again, looking him up and down to make sure he wasn't hiding any pain — he knew his friend well.
"Yes… hope you're fine too," Amalia interjected.
"Yes, I am. Can both of you relax?" Alex said lightly.
After the brief exchange between the three of them, Alexander looked at Olivia, a frown on his face, and walked toward her.
Olivia felt frightened the moment she felt his gaze land on her. She knew she was wrong — she shouldn't have gotten drunk, shouldn't have let herself get infatuated with a handsome man. She'd realized her mistakes, but the man was still walking toward her.
As soon as Alex reached where she sat, his frown deepened, making him look angry, and this scared her even more. Deep down, she felt certain she was as good as dead, but she still had to try to save herself.
"I'm so, so sorry, second Bradford… I didn't mean to do any of that. I've realized my mistake, and I'll stay as far away from you as possible. I'll move back to the college hostel starting now — please spare me," Olivia said in one breath, hoping her words would soften the angry man standing before her.
Still thinking of more ways to apologize, she felt a sudden touch on her hand. She jolted, shocked at the cold hand now on hers. His palm felt rough, but his fingers looked so refined, as if sculpted by God himself.
"Alex!" The shout from both Amalia and Victor pulled her out of her thoughts. She immediately tried to pull her hand away, but his grip only tightened.
Frowning, the man stared at her hand, equally shocked.
He could actually touch her without any repercussions. Does that mean he's finally cured, and the test was successful? A series of thoughts ran through Alex's mind as he gazed at the old doctor.
"Alex, are you alright? Why are you touching her again? Do you want to die?" Victor shouted, this time genuinely angry at his friend for disregarding his own health. Still wanting to continue, he was cut off by Alex's next words.
"Old man, does this mean I'm cured?" he asked the doctor again, and this time it was Amalia's and Victor's turn to be shocked.
What is Alex talking about? He's cured? We can finally touch him? Is this real? Amalia and Victor had a hundred questions between them.
"I can't be certain — you'll need to touch another person. But I'll give you a vaccine I've just researched, which can reduce the pain by a third," the doctor said.
But here comes the question why didn't he give him earlier and why did he say that in the study?
"Can you explain what's going on right now?" Amalia spoke up, trying to piece together the conversation between Alex and the doctor.
Without answering her, Alex walked over to the doctor and took a shot of the vaccine. A few seconds later, he walked up to Amalia and took her hand.
Amalia felt like her heart might leap out of her chest. This was the first time she'd had close contact with Alex — she'd never touched him before, aside from the occasional pat. But now he was holding her hand. Her hand! She was so happy she wanted to proclaim it to the whole world.
Still lost in her happiness, she heard a pained groan beside her. The man was in pain. His face twisted, and he looked on the verge of collapsing.
Seeing he couldn't hold on any longer, Olivia rushed to hold him by the waist, even though he was heavier than she was. She struggled to get him to the sofa and gave him a glass of water afterward. She'd never seen anyone in so much pain before — she'd forgotten the vaccine had only reduced it by a third.
Amalia could already guess what was happening, and it left her feeling bitter. The man she'd hoped to have close contact with could now touch another person — just not her.
After a few minutes of calming himself down, Alex glanced at the doctor, and as if the doctor already knew what he was asking, he cleared his throat and spoke.
"Congratulations, second Bradford — you now have someone else you can touch, apart from your sister."
Silence filled the room for the nth time that night.