Chapter 4
Julian didn’t seem surprised to hear from me. He told me to send him my address. After I sent it, he replied with a text.
“Wait for me. Ten minutes.”
For some reason, receiving Julian’s message filled me with a strange sense of calm. I took a closer look at myself; I was a mess, my hand still oozing blood. I decided to head to the doctor’s office first to get some medicine and a simple bandage.
As I passed Chloe’s hospital room, through the half-open door, Liam was spoon-feeding her swallow’s nest porridge, blowing on each spoonful carefully. He gently wiped the porridge from her lips.
“Eat slowly, little glutton, don’t choke.”
Their eyes met in the air, and Chloe couldn’t help but lean in and kiss his lips. Liam didn’t refuse; he even closed his eyes. Watching this scene firsthand, my heart twisted painfully.
As I pulled away, Chloe seemed to notice me. A hint of challenge appeared in the corner of her mouth, and she wrapped her slender arms around Liam’s neck.
“Liam, don’t you think it’s all my fault? It’s because I’m pregnant with your baby that sister-in-law is so unhappy.”
“You don’t know how scared I was when I saw the way sister-in-law looked at me. I know she hates me, but I really don’t want to ruin your relationship, and I don’t want her to hurt our baby. Maybe I should just leave.”
Liam suddenly cupped her face, gently stroking her cheek with the same hand that had once caressed mine.
“Silly girl, how can you say that? It’s Aurora who’s being childish. You’re having such a difficult pregnancy, and she keeps doing things to upset you. When I get back, I’ll teach her a good lesson.”
“You’re carrying a Hayes heir now; I’ll naturally give you a proper status.”
Chloe said, teary-eyed and full of feigned grievance, her tears coming on cue. “But what if Aurora really gets angry and leaves? Then I’ll truly be a sinner.”
Liam placed the swallow’s nest porridge aside and sneered. “She won’t leave me. Everyone knows she’s been with me for 10 years; no one would want a ‘damaged good’ who’s cohabited with another man for a decade.”
“She loves me to death, she’s like a persistent shadow, impossible to get rid of. This wedding, she was the one begging me to marry her.”
So, in his eyes, all my efforts were just one-sided devotion. Hearing this, my stomach churned, and I rushed to the bathroom, dry-heaving. But there was nothing in my stomach, only bitter acid.
Ten years. Memories flooded my mind like a torrent. All those solemn vows played out like a movie in my head. Liam Hayes, you were the one who pursued me back then. To be with you, I even risked cutting ties with my parents. And now, all I got was a dismissive “desperate fool chasing after me.”
I dragged my battered body, slowly walking towards the hospital exit.