"Come on, hit me! Aren't you a great fighter? Beat me till I bleed, or you can always return the favor and choke me to death!" Ace declared as he shifted her hand to his neck, his expression serious to show her he wasn't joking.
"Are… Are you insane?" Joanna was utterly stunned by the man's actions, and her anger morphed into confusion. She tried to pull her hand away, scowling. "There are cameras here, so don't you dare try to get me in trouble!"
"Then I'll just let them see that I allowed you to hit me! If you kill or cripple me, I'll take full responsibility for it."
"You've definitely gone mad!" Joanna was finally able to escape his grasp, and quickly stepped away from the man like he was a rabid animal.
'Ugh, as expected from the madman Ace Moran – he's actually willing to get beaten up! It's pretty creepy, honestly…"
"I wronged you four years ago, so now I'm giving you the chance to take revenge! You're the one who refused the opportunity, so let's not bring this up anymore. It'll only damage our relationship." Ace looked at Joanna coldly, his demeanor returning to his usual aloof pride.
Only then was Joanna able to understand his motives.
"Moran, who the hell said we still had a future with each other?! We don't have a relationship to begin with, so what is there to damage?" Joanna said incredulously, trying to calm herself down.
'I swore that I'd never let this man affect my mood so easily!"
"We can always build a relationship even if we don't have one. Even if the end result is resentment, it's still worth it!" Ace said with a smirk, his tone teasing but his expression serious.
Joanna gulped nervously, then scoffed, "Looks like you've really lost your mind."
Just then, Alice regained consciousness. As if she had become a completely different person, she rushed towards Joanna and dropped to her knees before her. "I'm so sorry, Miss Pierce! I won't try to take Ace from you ever again, so please let my child and I go! Please have mercy, I beg you…"
"What… What's going on?" Joanna watched in shock as Alice begged and groveled, feeling like her entire worldview had just collapsed. Was this just her bad luck or was something really going on?
Ace seemed cold as he helped Alice to her feet. "Alice, did you not take your meds before heading out today?"
"I… I…"
"Damn it." Ace let out a long sigh, and fished out a jar of pills from his pocket. He took one out and ordered Alice, "Take it."
"Ace, I don't want to… The medicine is so bitter, and I can't take such things when I'm pregnant! It'll be bad for the baby! Please don't make me take the pill… I won't mess around or bother Miss Pierce anymore, just please… no pills!" Alice begged pitifully.
However, Ace was stern. "Eat it!"
"Okay, okay… Please don't get mad and abandon me…" Alice took the pill and swallowed it with a face full of tears.
Joanna, who had been watching everything, was speechless. She couldn't help but feel conflicted, and whispered to Ace, "What happened to Alice? Why is she acting like this?"
After Ace made sure Alice took her medication, he ordered her to stay in the resting area next to them.
Alice didn't object to this, and merely headed back to the resting area with a blank stare. She sat down on one of the benches quietly, as if she was a mindless zombie.
The man then turned back to Joanna with a cold glare. "How can you ask me that? Do you really not know why she's acting like this?"
Joanna instantly became angry. "Can't you just be direct, Ace Moran? If you really think I'm such an evil person, then feel free to take revenge on me! Don't act like you're on some kind of moral high ground to punish me."
Ace continued to look into her eyes, his gaze clouded with sadness as he asked softly, "Do you really feel no pity towards the child whose life you took, or the woman you destroyed? Do you really believe you don't have to be held accountable for all this?"
"I…" Joanna was speechless, and thought miserably, 'How could I possibly not feel any regret or pity? I've been blaming myself for that incident every single day for the past four years. But I can't turn back time, so I shouldn't punish myself for life, right?'
"She was covered in blood when I brought her to the hospital, and the doctor said… They said they could've saved the child if we had just sent her over a little sooner! They wouldn't have had to remove her uterus… A little sooner, he said!" Ace's eyes were slightly red, and it was obvious that his heart was truly aching for Alice and her child.
He questioned Joanna in a lowered voice, "Why did you have to push her? I made sure she was legally dead and put her somewhere you couldn't even have known! Why couldn't you just let her go?"
"I…" Joanna averted her gaze helplessly. She wanted to say that she didn't voluntarily look for Alice, that it was the other way around. Moreover, she didn't intend to push the woman at all. Alice had just provoked her ruthlessly, which had resulted in…
However, she knew that her explanation didn't matter, since she wasn't exactly innocent in this bloody tragedy. Thus, she decided that it was best to save her explanation.
"Just a little sooner! If we were a little sooner, this tragedy wouldn't have happened in the first place! How could you be so cruel as to stand back and watch? What were you so scared of?!" Ace's eyes seemed to be tearing up. He didn't seem angry – it looked more like regret.
"I had already chosen you! If we were a few seconds sooner… everything wouldn't have turned out this way!"
At the time, he had just left the Baldwin family manor with Joanna, and had realized his true feelings for the woman. He had been waiting for her answer as well, hoping that she'd agree to start over with him. Yet, no one expected something like this to happen…
'We wouldn't have ended up like this if we arrived a little sooner!'
"I'm so sorry…" Joanna slowly lowered her head, speaking regretfully.
Ace sighed softly. "After she lost her child, Alice lost her mind as well. The doctors said she had severe manic depression and anxiety, and she has to take medication for life to regulate her condition. However, although the medicine helped calm her down, there were severe side effects too. Her insanity worsened, and now, she needs me around constantly…"
Ace looked at the silent Alice. ' When her head is clear, she remembers that she lost both her child and uterus, and will sob the entire day away. Otherwise, she'd think she was still pregnant, and drag me to check ups and shops for toys and children's clothing."
"She probably didn't take her meds today, which was why she kept insisting that it was her child's death anniversary. She wanted to buy some clothes in memory of him, but was triggered as soon as she saw you. That's why she reacted that way." The man explained the entire situation to Joanna.
"I'm not telling you all this to take revenge or punish you; I just want you to know that you're not the only one hurting in this world. You might be upset, but Alice is in misery too. How could I not feel sad?"