He Ignored My Cancer, I Called Off Our Wedding

Chapter 4

Once I stepped out of the apartment, I hailed a cab and headed straight to my mom's place.

But the whole ride over, sharp, twisting cramps wracked my stomach one after another, stealing my breath.

The second Mom saw it was me, her face split into a big grin, and her eyes immediately darted past me to scan the space behind my back.

"Queenie, you're home! Where's Wilson? Why didn't he come with you? Oh, I get it, he must've been exhausted, right? You let him go home to rest? Hurry, hurry! Pull out the marriage certificate and let me see it! I'm gonna post it on my i********: to brag about it to all my friends!" She rambled as she tugged me inside, completely missing how pale my face was or how hard my whole body was shaking.

I stopped in the entryway, never bending down to change my shoes. "Mom, we didn't get the marriage license."

The air in the room froze solid instantly.

The smile on Mom's face locked up mid-grin, and the hand clamped around my arm tightened abruptly, nails digging into my skin.

"What did you just say? Didn't get the license? Why didn't you get the license? Did you throw one of your silly little fits again? Huh? Answer me!" Her voice shot up out of nowhere, shrill enough to make my ears ring.

I dragged my exhausted body up against the wall, and forced the words out, voice thin and hollow, "It wasn't my fault. It's Wilson…"

"What about Wilson? That boy, Wilson, is perfect in every way!" Mom cut me off mid-sentence, and flecks of spit splattered straight across my face. "He's a doctor at a top-tier general hospital, he had a brilliant future ahead of him, he was devastatingly handsome, and his family background is totally clean. Do you have any idea how sought after a man like that is these days? I poured every ounce of effort into raising and grooming you, all so you could marry into a good family and pull this whole household up with you!"

I stared at the hysterical woman screaming in front of me, and an icy, empty desolation spread through every inch of my chest.

My whole life, she’d only ever drilled one lesson into me.

"Be brilliant, be beautiful, that's the only way you'll marry a rich man one day."

I’d studied until my eyes burned. I’d worked myself ragged to become the perfect, pretty daughter she wanted. All just to earn one single word of praise from her.

But now? I was dying.

And the only thing she still cared about was that so-called 'golden son-in-law'.

"Mom… I don't feel good…" I clutched my stomach, cold sweat beading on my forehead and dripping down my cheeks in hot, sticky trails. "I'm sick."

I wanted to tell her it was stomach cancer.

I just wanted one hug, just one time, a hug from my mom.

But she didn't listen to a word I said.

Instead, she shoved me hard in the chest.

"Stop faking sick with me! You wore this trick out when you were a kid! Let me tell you something, Queenie. You’re going back to Wilson today to apologize, got it? Whatever it takes! You get down on your knees and beg if you have to, you bring him back!"

The force of the shove sent me stumbling back, and I slammed hard into the sharp corner of the shoe cabinet. Agony exploded through my whole body, white-hot and blinding.

I couldn't hold it back. A mouthful of blood came gushing straight out of my mouth. The bright red blood splattered across the clean white tile floor, stark and horrifying to look at.

My mom jumped back, startled, stumbling three steps away from me.

"What… what do you think you're doing? You're coughing up blood on purpose just to scare me, aren't you? Queenie, I am so disappointed in you!" She jabbed her finger right in my face, her eyes blazed with nothing but revulsion and disgust. "You’d actually pull this kind of ugly trick just to get out of marrying him? How did I end up giving birth to such a useless dead weight like you?!"

I collapsed on the floor, staring at the pool of my own blood as my vision started to swim and blur.

"Mom..." I lifted a trembling, weak hand, desperate to catch the hem of her pants. "I really... it hurts so bad..."

She jerked back, her face twisted with disgust, and dodged out of my reach. "Cut the crap! Stop putting on a show! If you don't want to marry him, get out of this house and don't ever come back! I raised you all these years not to drive me to an early grave!"

She snatched my bag, hurled it with full force straight into my back. Next, she wrenched the front door open, grabbed me by the arm, and dragged me right out across the threshold.

"Get out! Go find Wilson! If you don't go get your marriage license, don't you dare come back here!"

The security door slammed shut right in my face, hard enough to make the frame rattle. I was dumped, crumpled on the stairwell landing.

Behind the door, I could hear her furious, spitting curses, mixing with the blaring, chaotic noise of a variety show playing on TV.

Tears streamed down my face, mixing with the blood trickling from the corner of my mouth.

The world was so huge, wasn't it? A million glowing lights shone in windows across the city, yet not a single one was lit waiting for me.

I pulled out my phone. When I turned it on, the first thing that popped up was a new Moments post Wilson had just shared.

It was a photo of his back, standing on the kitchen stove boiling pasta. Luisa had taken it.

The caption read:

Dr. Wilson cooked this himself just to make me happy. I'm so lucky!

The comments section was flooded with well-wishes. Even one of our mutual friends was joking in the thread.

A: [What a lucky girl!]

Turns out everyone knew about Luisa. Only I was the fool, kept completely in the dark this whole time.

A searing wave of agony ripped through my body, and everything went black before my eyes.

In that split second, right before my eyelids drifted shut, I thought I spotted a tall figure sprinting toward me like a man possessed.

"Queenie!"

But I couldn’t make him out clearly anymore, not really.