SOME THINGS ARE MEANT TO BE

CHAPTER 99

For the first time, she had wanted someone to die. She wanted Julianna and her child to die.

She would not allow anyone to destroy the life she was having now. No one.

Julianna?

She would never have the chance to see Diego. Ever.

She clenched her hands tight, and a slow evil smile began to show on her face.

...

Julianna ran back into the rental apartment. With her back against the door, she slowly slid onto the floor. She was drenched by the rain. Her clothes were wet, and her heart was ice-cold.

She breathed numbly. Then, like a robot, she changed her clothes as she tried to warm her shaking hands.

As her body trembled, she took out her meager savings. It can’t be compared to the astronomical figure.

She held the money tightly in her hands and ran out. There was no warmth in the small apartment like it had in the past. All that was left was silence and despair.

The rain continued to pour outside. It beat on the squeaky clean windows with ripples and splatters.

Julianna returned to the hospital. The smell of disinfectant within caused her to have a splitting headache. She clenched her fists, willing herself to sober up. If she didn’t, she would break down. The money she paid at the counter was not enough. In fact, it was far from what she had to pay.

She walked into her daughter’s ward and wondered when she had awoken. She had sat alone on the huge bed with her head lowered, and the nurse constantly muttering in her eyes. However, the child never replied.

“Raya...” Julianna called in a hoarse voice.

Raya’s head jerked up violently with two streaks of tears on her face. There were beads of tears on her long eyelashes as well.

“Mommy...” She reached out with her two tiny hands, wanting Julianna to hold her. She had woken up without her doll or her mother. As she continued to cry, there was still no sign of her mother.

Julianna ran over to hug her daughter’s small frame. It was all her fault to have left her alone here. She had not taken good care of her and allowed her young daughter to contract such a severe disease.

It was her fault. She couldn’t even pay for her daughter’s hospitalization fees. Please don’t leave me. I don’t want anything; no new clothes, shoes, or dolls. I only want Mommy. Mommy, please don’t leave me...” A young child’s shoulders shook uncontrollably. It was pitiful.

Julianna hugged her daughter tight as waves of pain pierced her heart.

She held her daughter’s small face which had looked so much like hers. As she wiped her daughter’s tears from her face with her fingers, she gently pinched her chubby cheeks.

You are my precious baby. Look, Mommy left to get you this.” From her arms, she withdrew Raya’s favorite doll.

She had gone back to her workplace to retrieve the doll because she knew Raya could not sleep without her doll.

She placed the doll in her daughter’s arms, and immediately, Raya hugged it tightly. Then, she reached out with one small hand and held onto Julianna’s finger.

“Mommy, are you cold? Let me blow your hand,” she said. At the same time, she kept blowing at Julianna. Sometimes, during the winter, she could remember her mother doing the same to her, and her hands would become warmer.

As she watched her daughter trying hard to blow into her hands, the tiny act of warmth caused Julianna’s eyes to redden again. She hugged her daughter’s small frame and choked with a sob. “Mommy is not cold. Not a bit.” She kept repeating that she was not cold, and yet her whole body was shaking.

She closed her eyes and touched her daughter’s face with her slightly cool hands. “Raya, Mommy will be very busy from now on. You must listen to your aunties here and be good. Okay?”

Raya bit her lower lip, puzzled. “Mummy, why must I stay here? I can also wait for you at home.” She lowered her eyes and pouted. Her eyes were redder than earlier. She did not like it there. She liked home; she wanted to go home.

Julianna’s hands had remained on her daughter’s face. She smiled brightly. “Because you are sick. You need to stay here for treatment. Then, you will get better soon.” Actually, she did not know how she should explain it to her daughter. After all, she was still young. What could she possibly know?

Would she know sickness or death?

Raya leaned her head against Julianna’s shoulder and nodded gently.

“Raya knows. Raya will get better and take care of Dolly. Mommy, don’t worry.” Indeed, she was so obedient that it made her ache.

It pained Julianna as she held her daughter. She swore that, no matter the price, she would get her daughter well again.

After her daughter was asleep, she went out of the hospital once more. The sunlight outside was glaring, and she couldn’t open her eyes. She wished she could stand there, but she knew she couldn’t.

She wished time would stop. That this was all a dream.

The glare hurt her eyes.

There was some suffering which she wished she wouldn’t have to go through. However, there was some pain which she had to bear.

Her hand went to her left arm. It was vaguely aching from the cold or the rain.

She bit her lip and thought of her child. Once again, she started walking.

At the glass entrance outside the high-tech building of Chu Enterprise, Julianna seemed so little like a speck of dust as she looked up. Like four years ago, the security guards’ eyes were on her every step. With each step she took, their expression turned more serious.

She got closer, right in front of them. They stretched their hands out at the same time.

“Sorry, miss. This is not the place for anyone who is dressed inappropriately.”

Julianna looked at her own clothes. There was nothing inappropriate with her clothes besides being a bit worn-out. Her clothes may be old, but they were clean. She was not a beggar.

“I’m sorry. I wish... to look for Diego.” There was no color on her cracked lips.