After the horrific explosion that shook the foundations of the mine, they both left the battlefield and headed toward the hideout. A heavy, funereal silence hung over the road, a silence broken only by the rumble of the armored car's engine and its massive tires grinding the gravel. Neither of them uttered a single word; the space separating Chris's seat from Edward's was charged with the smell of gunpowder, suppressed rage, and sorrow over losing the girls once again to the darkness of the tunnels. Their eyes were fixed on the dark road ahead, each drowned in a sea of his own complex calculations.
Upon reaching the threshold of the hideout, they moved like biological machines; they stripped off the clothes stained with gold dust, blood, and gunpowder, and changed into simple cotton garments to rid themselves of the battle's residue. Edward, with heavy steps as if carrying mountains upon his shoulders, walked to his room and threw his exhausted body onto the bed, surrendering to a sleep that was closer to a coma from sheer physical and psychological exhaustion. As for Christopher, he got into his other car and drove back to his house, fatigue gnawing at his joints.
Chris opened the door of the house with cautious steps, as a faint light radiated from a side lamp in the living room, revealing a scene that froze the blood in his veins. Rose was sitting on the edge of the sofa, frozen in place, dressed in her finest outdoor attire; an elegant dress she had chosen with care, and shoes indicating she had been ready to leave for hours.
At that moment, Chris felt an electric shock strike his mind; he remembered! He remembered that he had promised her yesterday that this evening would belong to them alone, that they would go out together to break the routine of isolation. Chris stood at the threshold, unable to take a step forward, and said in a low voice full of shame and genuine regret: "Rose... I am so sorry, I completely forgot about our appointment."
Rose turned to him slowly, her red, swollen eyes speaking every language of reproach before her tongue could even utter a word. In a trembling voice, choked with tears, she initiated the conversation: "Why do you do this to me, Chris? Why do you always push me to the very edge of the margins? We barely communicate anymore, and it is very rare that we sit together at one table to share a simple meal. Twenty years... twenty full years and I have been living in this cold shadow!"
The tears began to stream heavily down her cheeks, revealing the magnitude of the suppressed oppression in her chest, and she continued passionately: "I appreciate, and even sanctify, that you took on the responsibility of my care all these long years after the departure of our family, but this never means you should see me as just a closed 'box of responsibilities' that you place in a corner of your house! I am your sister... your sister of your own flesh and blood, and no matter what you are going through in your life, whether it is a pain that tears you apart or a joy that revives you, share it with me! Do not leave me behind your locked doors."
Chris took a step forward, trying to justify his position weakly while rubbing his worry-laden forehead: "Rose... believe me, I was busy with work, the pressures of the absence were..."
She interrupted him with a sharp voice that blended weeping with a muffled scream: "Is this cursed work more important than me to this extent? Even for one single day... can you not leave it for just one day and turn your attention to me?"
Chris sighed deeply, feeling the weight of his unintended stabs to his sister's heart, and said faintly and brokenly: "I am sorry... I am truly sorry."
Rose looked at him with bitterness and a deep wound, and said in a painfully sarcastic tone: "If you see me as just a heavy burden that you take care of out of duty and the stern voice of your conscience... then why didn't you just marry me off to any man and rid yourself of my worry?"
Chris flinched upon hearing these words; his steps drew closer to her, his eyes gleaming with overwhelming sincerity: "Don't you ever say that again! You are my little sister, and I don't care about anything in this wretched world except your happiness and comfort."
Christopher stepped forward slowly, attempting to open his arms to embrace her and soothe her terror, but Rose took a step back, stopping him with her hands gently but firmly, looking directly into his eyes. She extended her small hand, raised her pinky finger in the air before his face, and said in a grave tone that carried the weight of sacred vows: "If you truly care about my happiness and fear for me... then lock your pinky with mine right now, and promise me... promise me that you will share everything with me from now on, whether it is a pitch-black sorrow or a fleeting joy."
Chris looked at her small finger, then into her tearful eyes. He extended his long hand, which still bore the roughness of the mine battle, and locked his pinky tightly with her small one, saying in a confident, calm voice as if signing an eternal contract: "I... promise you, Rose. I will hide nothing from you from now on."
At that exact moment, the clouds lifted from Rose's face; she wiped her tears away quickly, and her features transformed in the blink of an eye into an expression of excessive, childlike joy. She jumped to embrace him warmly, saying in a cheerful and playful tone: "Alright! Since you promised, you must compensate me immediately... I want us to go together on a long sea voyage on a ship, to see the horizon far away from this house."
Chris breathed a sigh of relief, a rare smile appearing on his lips as he caught his breath: "I will certainly arrange that for you, my dear sister... I will take you wherever you want. Now... is there any dinner in this house?"
Rose looked at him out of the corner of her eye, placing her hands on her hips and saying: "We were supposed to eat at the finest restaurant outside, but that didn't happen because of a 'certain someone' who forgot his appointments!"
Signs of embarrassment and confusion were clear on Christopher's face, as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and said: "Alright, alright... the punishment is fair. I will enter the kitchen right now and prepare dinner myself as compensation for every hour of waiting." Rose cried out with absolute joy, accepting the offer gleefully as she followed him with her eyes while he headed toward the kitchen to strip away the mask of the avenging detective and don the mask of the affectionate brother.
[The scene gradually transitions... to the darkness of Edward's room]
Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the hideout was drowned in another ritual of grief. Edward was not asleep; rather, he was wide awake in the darkness of his room, sitting on the edge of the bed, surrounded by a heavy, absolute silence. Held between his rough, trembling fingers was the wedding ring of his late wife, "Julia." He was turning the cold metal under the pale moonlight outside the abandoned factory in the open wilderness, his mind traveling back through time... to the features and slender body of his wife as she lay on the white deathbed in the hospital.
The reel of memories spun in his mind with a voice as clear as if it were happening right now. He remembered her pale face, and her warm gaze that was fighting death, as she held his hand and whispered in a frail voice: "You must bring our daughter Yara back to us, Edward... do not leave her to the wolves... and also... I want you to marry again, my dear..."
At that moment in the past, Edward had been overcome by shock; his entire being shook, and he said in a tone mixed with refusal and bewilderment: "What are you saying, Julia? You will always and forever be my wife, and no other woman will ever enter my life!"
But Julia had smiled with an angelic gentleness, squeezing his hand weakly as she said: "I am not replacing you, but I want your happiness, yours and my daughter's... I do not want you to remain alone in this harsh world. I want to be reassured before my departure that there will be an affectionate wife to care for your weary heart, and a kind mother to tend to my daughter Yara and compensate her for my absence... so promise me, Edward... for the last time, promise me."
Edward returned to his present, and a hot tear made its way down his weathered cheek to fall upon the wedding ring. He closed his eyes tightly, squeezing the ring in his fist until it almost dug into his flesh, and whispered into the darkness in a cracking voice that carried all the promises of the universe: "I promise you, Julia... I promise you that. I will bring Yara back... and I will fulfill your wish no matter what it costs me."