Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
Owen’s mind went blank. Elsie’s eyes filled with tears. “If Yunice had stopped you earlier, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt at all. Now that you’ve injured your hand… does this mean your surgical career ends here?”
Owen could not utter a single word. After a long while, he leaned back against the bed like a man resigned to fate, his eyes hollow. “Forget it… I’ll consider this hand my repayment for those three years I owed Yunice.”
Elsie was practically fuming. She truly did not understand what Owen was moved about. People like him were the worst! Not truly good, not thoroughly bad. They were caught somewhere in between, making everyone around them miserable.
Owen sat there in silence for a long time. His mind replayed Yunice’s angry words and how she accused him of taking back all his kindness. But even if one could take back a gift, could I take back my heart so easily! If why couldn’t Yunice understand me? Why did she never see my sincerity?
Suppressing the bitterness in his throat, Owen thought to himself: As an older brother, I will not hold a grudge against my little sister. Even if Yunice’s heart was as cold as iron, I’ll find a way to warm it.
“Elsie, do me a favor.” Yunice was upset because he had given her gift to Elsie. That was easy enough. He would just make her another one.
Consider it a wedding gift for her. Owen had Elsie prepare some walnut wood and the tools for carpentry. Before long, the hospital room was cluttered with wood and equipment: saws, planes, and piles of materials everywhere. Owen gripped the saw, bracing one foot against the plank, cutting through the wood stroke by stroke.
Initially, there was nothing notable, except his hand was injured. And every time he exerted force, the fresh wound would seep through the gauze, staining it a deep crimson.
“Owen, your hand… It’s bleeding!” Elsie’s eyes widened in shock, tears welling up immediately. She rushed forward, snatching the saw from his hands and clutching it to her chest. “If you’re doing this because you’re worried Yunice is mad at you… then I’ll give the jewelry box back to her! There’s no need for you to hurt yourself like this!”
Tears streamed down her face. Even Owen’s eyes reddened at her words. But he simply took the saw back from her trembling hands.
“I know Yunny,” he said quietly. “She has her pride. Once she gives something away, even if it ends up discarded, she’ll never take it back. I’ll just make her a new one.”
Elsie tried to grab the saw again. “Then let me help! I’ll do it. You can just tell me what to do, okay?”
Owen gave her a grateful smile, but his grip didn’t loosen. “Elsie… if only Yunny were as understanding as you.” Then, he went back to sawing the wood.
Elsie was frantic, unable to talk him out of it. Thankfully, Paul arrived just then. Seeing him was like seeing her savior. “Paul! Please, say something to my Owen. He insists on making a jewelry box for Yunice, even with his hand like this!”
Owen’s voice was calm but resolute. “No need to persuade me. Yunice resents me now… but as long as I finish this jewelry box, she won’t stay angry.”
Paul knew Owen well. He was stubborn to the bone. Talking him down would be useless. So, he turned to Elsie. “Stay here and keep an eye on him. I’ll go bring Yunice over.”
“What?” Elsie’s face fell. She was not keen on letting Paul and Yunice have a moment alone together, but there was little she could do.
Paul did not find Yunice in her hospital room. Instead, he spotted her in a corner of the hallway, whispering on the phone. She was calling her school, making arrangements to sit for the upcoming entrance exams.
By the time she hung up, she hadn’t realized that Paul had silently rolled his wheelchair right up behind her. When she turned to leave, she stumbled over it and fell helplessly into his arms. Even before her body touched him, her light fragrance wafted up, making Paul’s tightly furrowed brow ease ever so slightly.
Yunice frowned, immediately trying to push herself up, but Paul held her shoulders down, his voice cold. “Am I that unbearable to you?”
She shoved him away hard. “Show some respect. By seniority, you should be calling me ‘Aunt.'”
The word ‘Aunt’ stung like a slap, leaving Paul with an expression that defied description. He sneered faintly. “Sounds like you’re quite satisfied with this marriage. But do you really know Wyatt? Do you know what’s…”
Paul stared at her in disbelief. She knew, yet she still agreed to marry him? Yunice hadn’t expected his guess to hit so close to home. So it was true. If you really loved another woman. And I’m nothing more than a convenient front.
“Paul Paul? Where are you?” Elsie finally caught up, her voice sharp with impatience. She nearly missed seeing them. Paul and Yunice were standing far too close together.
Vince shot Paul a glance. She did not want trouble. So, before Elsie could see more, she turned and left. Paul’s voice called out from behind her. “Go see Owen. He’s not in a good place right now.”
Not in a good place…
Hallway to her room, Yunice changed direction. She went to Owen’s room anyway. Elsie was gone. Only Owen remained, sweating as he struggled with the saw, staining the pale walnut wood with droplets of blood. She stood at the doorway, watching the blood gather in his palm and fall, drip by drip, onto the wood.
Perhaps sensing someone at the door, Owen paused. He looked up at her. For a long moment, neither of them moved. They were separated by distance, but even more so by the cold wedge driven between them. His eyes flickered with uncertainty. After a pause, he tried to explain. “I was going to make you a new jewelry box. From rosewood…”
He was about to explain that the rosewood tree could not be transported back yet, since Elsie’s asthma had not fully recovered… But Yunice cut him off. “I don’t need it.”
Owen froze. She wouldn’t even accept my apology? Yunice’s voice was laced with sarcasm. “You think doing this… is going to make me happy?”
Owen’s brow furrowed, clearly unhappy with her pointed, rhetorical tone.
But just as Owen thought she was about to relent, Yunice’s tone suddenly shifted, calm yet distant. “If you really want to cheer me up, it’s very simple. Want to know how?”
Owen’s eyes lit up instantly, like a fool who would agree to anything the moment she opened her mouth. Staring into those bright, eager eyes, Yunice only felt a bitter coldness sinking deeper into her heart. He played the role of a good brother so perfectly, yet in his world, even blood ties could be weighed and measured.
She sneered, her voice sharp. “Return my identity to me. Get Elsie to give it back, then I’ll forgive you.”
Owen did not move. But those shining eyes dimmed, in a subtle, almost imperceptible shift, into something cold and indifferent.
A few seconds later, his face darkened with anger. “Why are you still hung up on Elsie? You’re marrying into the Powell family now, and Wyatt is backing you. What more do you want? Why must you keep fighting her?”
His words made it sound like marrying Wyatt was the greatest blessing in the world, as if he had already forgotten how, just days ago, no one believed this marriage would ever happen.
Yunice said quietly, “That ID was mine to begin with. It wasn’t gifted by any of you.”
“So what if it was yours?” Owen snapped. “You almost killed Elsie. This is your compensation to her!”
Yunice laughed coldly. “And what about the three years I spent rotting away in a mental asylum? Was that not enough punishment? Even prisoners get to keep their identities. Was I so vile that mine had to be stripped away?”
Owen was momentarily silenced, words stuck in his throat. Looking at his embarrassed, furious expression, Yunice found herself pathetic too. Knowing full well what kind of person he was, yet still foolish enough to ask, hoping for a different answer.
“Forget it if you won’t,” she said, turning to leave.
But Owen, caught up in rage, grabbed her wrist with his bloodied hand. His voice trembled with resentment. “I’ve taken your revenge, and I’ve accepted it! My hand is ruined because of you; I’ll never be able to operate again! And the jewelry box you’ve been dreaming of, I was willing to build a new one for you! Are you heartless? Why do you never see my sacrifices?”
Yunice flung his hand away. “Was that hand injured for me? You took that knife for Elsie, not me!”
Her fury ignited. She stepped closer, forcing him to meet her eyes. “And your so-called sacrifices, what are they? One injury, and you think that erases a thousand days and nights of my suffering in the asylum?”
She snatched the saw from his hand and smashed it hard against the walnut wood beside them. “These worthless scraps of wood…”
Yunice scoffed. “Who cares about things that can be easily replaced? The only reason you won’t return my identity is because you know it can’t be replaced.”
She laughed, cold and sharp. “Between me and Elsie, you’d choose her every single time. But it doesn’t matter anymore. I no longer recognize you as my brother, and you don’t need to waste your time pretending, only to turn around and accuse me of being heartless.”
Pain and rage twisted Owen’s face. “So what you said the other day wasn’t just angry words. You really want to cut ties with the Saunders family!”
“That’s right,” Yunice replied without hesitation. “I’m already a person without a name, without a home. Even if I don’t officially sever ties, I have nothing to do with the Saunders family anymore. Isn’t this exactly the result you wanted, Owen?”
Owen clenched his fists, blood dripping silently from between his fingers as if he could not even feel the pain. He held…
Yunice did not look back. Behind her, Owen kicked over the pile of precious walnut wood in a fit of rage.
Forget the jewelry box! I won’t finish it!
Outside the room, Cill hurried to catch up as soon as she saw Yunice exit. She had waited nervously by the door the whole time, afraid Yunice might suffer.
Back in Yunice’s hospital room, Gill poured a cup of water for Yunice, stealing glances at her with a conflicted expression. Yunice noticed.
“You think I’m too cold-blooded too?” she asked quietly.
“Of course not,” Gill whispered. She only felt a bit sorry for Owen. After all, he had genuinely loved Yunice once. But now…
Yunice’s voice drifted in the quiet room. “He suffers once, and everyone pities him. But in those three years, I don’t even know how many times I went through the same thing, and no one ever thought that was strange. No one ever thought I had the right to be angry.”
Gill’s eyes reddened instantly. Thinking of Yunice’s ordeal, she felt deeply ashamed for having pitied Owen earlier. Her voice trembled, “Ms. Saunders, you were just a girl. How did you survive in that asylum?”
Yunice’s gaze grew distant, as if lost in those dark memories. She had been only eighteen when they threw her into that hellhole. Too frail to fight, too weak to run. If Kingsley had not protected her, she might not have lived to see another day.
Yunice lifted her head and smiled faintly. “Maybe I’m just good at taking a beating…”
Yunice was clearly joking, but Gill’s nose still stung, and her tears threatened to spill before she could stop them. Turning away to wipe her eyes, she cursed under her breath, “Owen really is scum. In all these three years, if he had even bothered to visit you once, you wouldn’t have suffered this much. What happened to him today? He deserved every bit of it!”