Chapter 3
After that day, Jasper didn’t return home for several days.
One night, after being called in for extra surgeries, I was heading home late when I felt someone following me. I ran in panic, ending up in a dead-end alley.
When I tried to return the way I came, the group following me surrounded me. A man with a scarred face spoke up first.
“Miss, don’t blame us for being rough. Someone paid a lot to teach you a lesson.”
I tried to escape but was pushed to the ground. That’s when I saw a familiar figure at the alley’s entrance.
“Jasper! Help me!”
I saw him walking toward me, but the thugs parted to let him through.
Jasper stopped in front of me and spoke softly.
“Adeline, I know I’ve wronged you and Phoebe, but after the miscarriage, Phoebe’s been unwell. She’s been saying she wants to join the child.”
“I’ve arranged for them to just break your right hand, to give Phoebe some peace.”
“I promise I won’t divorce you. You’ll still be my Mrs. Jasper.”
Stunned, I looked at the man before me, disbelief in my voice.
“Jasper! Help me!”
I saw him walking toward me, and to my surprise, the thugs parted to let him through.
Jasper stood before me and spoke in a low voice. “Adeline, I’ve wronged both you and Phoebe. But since Phoebe’s miscarriage, she’s been unwell. She’s been insisting on leaving with the child.”
“I’ve talked to them. They’ll only break your right hand to give Phoebe some closure.”
“I promise I won’t divorce you. You’ll remain my wife.”
I stared at him in disbelief and said, “Jasper, you know if my right hand is injured, I won’t be able to perform surgery again.”
“Don’t worry, Adeline. Even if you can’t be a doctor anymore, I’ll always take care of you.”
With that, as if he couldn’t bear to witness what would happen next, he turned and walked away without looking back.
I screamed loudly in the alley, hoping for help, but they quickly covered my mouth.
They held me down and broke my right hand.
But they didn’t stop there. After breaking my hand, they continued to beat me until I felt a wetness below.
Seeing the blood pooling around me, they panicked and fled.
I lay in the dark, damp alley, using the last of my strength to call Finn.
When I awoke, Finn was by my bedside, his eyes red. He spoke, his voice catching.
“Adeline, don’t be too upset. There will be other chances for children…”
“And your right hand… the tendon and nerve damage is irreversible. It will be difficult for you to hold a scalpel again.”
“But it’s okay. You’re still young. You can explore other fields in medicine…”
Finn’s comforting words were interrupted by Phoebe’s sudden arrival.
“Adeline! How did you get hurt like this?”
I made up an excuse to send Finn away. Before leaving, he turned and gave Phoebe a lingering look.
With my hand hidden under the blanket, I discreetly activated the recording on my phone.
Once Finn was gone, she dropped the pretense.
“Adeline, you’re prettier and more educated than me, but what does that matter?”
“Jasper still broke your right hand for me. To tell you the truth, that child wasn’t even Jasper’s.”
“See how much I love him? I won’t have a child that’s not his~”
Hearing footsteps approaching, she quickly changed her tone and put on an innocent face.
“Adeline, even though you caused my child’s death, I don’t blame you…”
Jasper came over and put an arm around her shoulder, speaking softly.
“You’re always so kind, willing to give others a chance…”
Then he coaxed her to leave first.
After Phoebe left, he gently touched my casted right arm.
“Adeline, Phoebe just lost the baby. She needs my comfort.”
“Once this is over, I’ll break it off with her. We can live well together.”
Looking at his shameless face, I suddenly burst into laughter, tears streaming down.
“Jasper, I don’t want to be with you anymore.”
Seeing me like this, he suddenly panicked. Just as he was about to explain, Phoebe’s voice echoed from the hallway.
“Jasper! My stomach hurts!”
That day, Jasper hurriedly carried Phoebe away, leaving only a brief remark.
“Adeline, don’t overthink. I’ll explain everything when I get back.”
But just like countless times waiting for him to return from socializing, I sat on the hospital bed until late at night, and he never came back.
He didn’t even know that on that very night, I lost not only my right hand but also the last bond between us.
As the first rays of morning light touched my face, I took out my phone and made plans with Finn to leave in a week.
When Finn came to change my dressing, he accidentally left his phone in my room.
I was about to return it to him when I saw his phone wallpaper: a photo of him with Phoebe.
“Do they know each other?”
On an impulse, I used Phoebe’s birthday as a password and unlocked Finn’s phone.
At the top of Snapchat was his chat with Phoebe.
[Are you really going to the USA with that woman for me and Jasper?]
[What if she finds out you hired the guys who broke her right hand, making her unable to hold a scalpel?]
[I’m sorry to Adeline. I’ll accompany her to the USA for rehab. I’ll spend my life making it up to her!]
[The life-saving debt you owed me as a child, I’ve repaid you now.]
[You and Jasper can be together. Adeline and I will never return.]
[Finn, but I’m still scared. After all, I lost her mother’s liver donor years ago.]
[Don’t worry. I covered it up well back then. Adeline won’t find out.]
…
Standing there with the phone, I felt cold all over, a chill spreading in my heart.
In my junior year, my mother died of liver failure. Before she died, the hospital said a liver donor had been found.
But just before my mom entered the operating room, Finn told me there was a system error, and there was no matching liver donor.
I didn’t doubt him then. I collapsed in his arms, crying.
Now, looking at the chat, I wiped my tears, prepared two gift boxes, and changed my flight.
A week later, at the time Finn and I had planned to meet, I didn’t show up at the airport. He called several times, but I didn’t answer.
In the end, Finn only found a similarly anxious Jasper. Having finally calmed Phoebe, he was both physically and mentally exhausted, hoping to find comfort in me, only to discover I was long gone.
Jasper rushed over, grabbing Finn by the collar.
“Where’s Adeline! Where did you take her?”
Finn just laughed coldly, his attitude enraging Jasper, who then punched him repeatedly until Phoebe arrived and pulled them apart.
They didn’t know that three days ago, I had already landed in the UK.