He Mourned My Death, I Loved Another Man

Chapter 4

When Matthew woke up, there was already a message waiting for him from Serena: a photo of his visa approval along with a short text.

Serena: Your new documents should be ready in a few more days.

He was about to reply when the door to his hospital room suddenly burst open, and Dakota stood at the door with her phone clutched in her hand, her cold eyes holding a hint of something he couldn't quite figure out. "Why are you trying to disappear?" she asked.

He froze.

Back in the old days, Dakota always used to complain that he was too careless, so she had changed the contact number for all his important information to her own number, and he never imagined that even a message like this would still end up on her phone.

He sneered and said, his voice dripping with self-mockery, "So you can actually still get messages after all?"

During all those days when she was supposedly killed in the line of duty, he had sent countless messages and made countless calls, praying for a miracle, but all he got back was nothing but silence. Even now, thinking about it still made his heart ache.

Dakota's expression stiffened for just a second, then quickly went back to calm, and she dodged the question entirely. "Maybe disappearing isn't such a bad thing. You could leave all of this behind and start over somewhere else."

With that, she turned to leave, but when she got to the door, she looked back and said in a warning tone, "Justin has already died once, in a way. So from now on, stay away from him, and don't do anything to upset him."

Matthew watched her walk away, and then he suddenly let out a laugh, laughing so hard that tears kept streaming down his face.

He had no idea how much time had passed before he threw off the covers and got out of bed, only to run straight into Justin as soon as he reached the doorway.

Justin looked completely unharmed. Even his hair was perfectly styled, not a strand out of place, nothing like a patient, and his eyes were dripping with venom as he stared at Matthew for a long moment before letting out a cold laugh. "Matthew, I didn't think you'd have the guts to actually jump."

"A life for a life, that's how it should be," Matthew said with a cold smile. "It's just a shame there was a rescue air cushion down there, so you didn't get to die. What a pity."

Justin let out a low, derisive snort, his voice dripping with spite. "So what? Even if I die, the woman you love most will die right along with me, and in the end, you'll just be a wandering ghost with no one to care for you."

"A wandering ghost is still better than a murderer like you!" Matthew's fingers suddenly curled tight, and he almost roared the words.

Suddenly, Justin threw a punch right into Matthew's face, then leaned in close, his voice laced with poison. "So what if I'm a murderer? I still get to live just fine. I've got money, I've got a house, and I've got the woman you can't stop thinking about, who would grovel and beg to please me."

Matthew took the punch before he could even react, and a warm trickle of blood began to seep from his nose as humiliation and hatred washed over him all at once. He was about to hit back when someone grabbed his wrist and held it tight.

"Haven't you had enough, Matthew?" Dakota gave him a hard shove, and he stumbled back several steps until his spine slammed against the cold wall.

Putting on a pitiful act, Justin took her hand and said, "Kota, I was only trying to see how Mr. Walsh was doing."

Dakota's gaze swept over Matthew like ice. "Didn't I warn you to leave him alone? He already tried to pay you back with his life. What more do you want from him?"

"I wasn't bullying him. He was the one who..." Matthew said.

"Stop lying!" Dakota cut him off, her voice dripping with impatience. "Justin has been by my side for nearly five years, so I think I know exactly what kind of person he is. But you, you've always been spoiled and willful, you never learn to forgive, and you are always acting emotionally unstable like some depressed patient."

With that, she took Justin by the hand and walked away without so much as a backward glance.

Matthew stood frozen in place, the word "depressed" echoing in his ears over and over again. Then he suddenly let out a laugh, tears streaming down his face, while his chest ached like it was being torn apart.

How could Dakota say something like that to him? What gave her the right to talk to him that way?