Since they got back from the hospital, Mark took off the handcuffs from Tina. However, if Tina refused treatment, Mark wouldn't hesitate to lock her up again, even if it would make Tina hate him more.
Tina did not utter a word, but the resentment was clear as crystal in her eyes.
Tina hated feeling like a prisoner! She never imagined her life would come to this!
Before long, Mark brought another bowl of ointment and applied it on Tina's wounds gently.
"When do you intend on setting me free?" Tina asked, coldly.
"Doesn't it feel good to be home? No one can hurt you here and you won't have to see the faces that you don't like either," Mark answered, with tongue-in-cheek.
In the past few days, Mark's parents made several attempts to visit Tina, but every time Mark would send them back with some kind of excuse. Mark's parents felt guilty assuming that Tina did not want to see them because they wanted to welcome Emily back into the Tao family. Therefore, they decided to give Tina some time on her own, instead of constantly pestering her.
Besides, they trusted their son to take good care of Tina, so they did not have to worry about anything at all.
Frustrated and annoyed, Tina screamed at Mark, "You've kept me locked up here, against my will, Mark!"
"No, I'm protecting you," he said.
"Hypocrite," she replied.
"I don't care what you think of me," he retorted.
Mark didn't hold any grudges against Tina. He just smiled and said, "But my love for you is unconditional."
Tina warned, with contempt, "You cannot keep me locked up in here forever."
Mark did not take Tina's threat seriously until night time, when he really understood what she had meant by that.
When Mark left her alone for a little while, Tina used a piece of broken glass to cut open her wrist. The blood gushed out from the wound and dripped all over the ground.
When Mark walked into the room, a spasm of panic contorted his face, as he panicked and rushed to cover her wrist with tissue, before he calling the doctor.
"If you really feel so resentful, you can take it out on me. Why do you hurt yourself? "
Benumbed, Tina stared at the blood blankly, as if she could not feel the pain. "Because it works, doesn't it?" she answered cheekily.
Tina's lack of concern for her own safety hurt Mark's feelings.
"Do you have to do this?" he asked. Unlike his usual self, Mark was a little angry, as his eyes failed to hide his real emotions. Needless to say, he was angry at what Tina had done to herself.
Tina turned around to face him and gave a grim smile. "Yep, you can keep me locked up in here as long as you want, and I will keep on doing this to keep myself entertained," she said.
"Tina..." Before Mark could finish, the doctor came into the room.
"Miss Tina, please do not be so impulsive in the future," the doctor urged. The doctor frowned when she saw the wound on Tina's wrist, as she hurried to dress it up quickly. "Be sure to not let it touch water," the doctor warned.
Mark's face was still and motionless. He didn't utter a word, until the the doctor had left.
The both of them were fighting a silent war against each other, as if the one to speak up first would be the loser.
However, in the battle of love, the one to take things seriously would tend to lose, while the one who loved no one would always emerge victorious.
Needless to say, Mark was the former.
"I understand that you feel bored living in here. I don't mind if you want to go out, but you don't need to hurt yourself just to get to me. Do you understand?" he said. Mark signed and gently continued, "Tina, why on earth do you refuse to understand?"
"I don't want to understand," she answered. Tina's eyes did not carry an ounce of emotion in them.
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