After He Fled the Wedding Ninth Time, I Left

Chapter 6

No, I could never be a winner again.

From now on, all my effort, all my talent, and all my pride were worth nothing.

I looked up at him. His face was unusually soft, but all I felt was a cold, spreading dread in my chest.

"Sebastian, you knew the truth. You knew Genevieve stole my work to enter that competition. All I wanted was to clear my name. Why did you use your own hands to drag me through the mud?"

Sebastian frowned, and a flicker of helplessness passed over his face.

"Genevieve saved my life once. I promised I would protect her forever. Even though she was in the wrong this time, I could not bring myself to watch her reputation be destroyed."

He looked at me, his eyes holding a faint plea, and he reached out as though to touch my cheek. I pulled away sharply.

"You are my fiancée. Can you not understand me, just this once? You are only facing some temporary backlash online, only enduring a little public pressure. Once you marry me and become my wife, who would dare say a word against you?"

He said it so lightly, as if being vilified by the entire internet and having my name destroyed were nothing more than minor inconveniences.

"As my wife, you were always meant to stand above everyone else, under their scrutiny. A small scandal like this is nothing for someone in your position."

He lowered his gaze a little, and his voice dropped to something soft as a feather, but every word cut straight through me. "Think of it as an early adjustment to what lies ahead. All right?"

No. I would not be his wife any longer.

I promised to myself only in my own mind.

Over the days that followed, perhaps driven by guilt, Sebastian's attentiveness toward me reached a level I had never seen before.

Every morning when I opened the door, the freshest roses and a warm, carefully prepared breakfast sat waiting on the step.

I did not even glance at them. I left everything in its wrapping and dropped it straight into the trash.

No matter how bright the roses or how carefully the meal had been made, none of it could cover up the fact that he had used my grandmother's life to force me to destroy myself.

I did not want his compensation, and I certainly did not want his hollow, performative tenderness.

But Sebastian seemed completely blind to my indifference. Day after day, his deliveries continued without fail.

Then one afternoon, he came to me wearing a carefully composed smile and said something that stopped my heart.

"I have contacted leading specialists overseas. They have reviewed your grandmother's medical records and completed a full assessment. A surgical plan has been finalized. If the surgery is successful, she will regain consciousness, and her condition will gradually improve."

I could not stop myself from looking up at him. A wild, desperate joy I could not control surged through my eyes.

"Really? That is truly wonderful."

As long as my grandmother could recover, as long as she could be safe and well again, then all the humiliation and suffering I had endured would finally mean something.

Sebastian watched my tear-streaked, overjoyed face, and the corner of his mouth lifted into a faint smile. He stroked my hair gently.

"Of course it is true. Why would I ever lie to you?"

I stared back at him, my heart aching and tangled, a fragile hope flickering inside the despair.

But this hard-won hope lasted exactly one week.

"Ms. Sterling, I regret to inform you that your grandmother passed away at one o'clock this afternoon after all resuscitation efforts failed. Please come to the hospital as soon as possible to handle the necessary arrangements."

My phone slipped from my hand and struck the floor, the screen shattering on impact.

How could this be?

Sebastian had promised that my grandmother would undergo surgery soon. He had promised she would wake up.

She had been so close to getting better.

I flew out of the house in a frenzy and stumbled the whole way to the hospital.

The corridor outside the ward was crowded with doctors. The air hung thick and silent.

Sebastian stood at the front, guilt written across every inch of his face.

I pushed through the crowd and collapsed beside the bed.

My grandmother lay utterly still, her face ashen, her chest giving no trace of movement. The heart monitor beside her had flatlined into a single cold, unbroken line.

The entire world went silent.

My heart stopped. My vision went black, my legs gave out, and I nearly crumpled to the floor right there.

Sebastian reached out at once to steady me, his eyes full of what looked like pain.

"Aurora, I know you are hurting, but you have to stay strong. You still have me. Let us go and get our marriage license right now. From this day forward, I will be your only family. I will stay by your side for the rest of my life."

Family.

How dare he speak of being my family?

Just then Genevieve spoke up, her eyes red-rimmed, her voice weak and trembling with practiced fragility.

"Aurora, if you need to blame someone, blame me. Do not blame Sebastian. It is my fault. I got a small injury, and Sebastian was so worried about me that he called every available doctor in the hospital to attend to me. And so, when your grandmother suddenly went into crisis, there was no one left to save her."

It struck me all at once.

It was her.

Once again, it was because of her.

I shoved Sebastian away and threw myself at Genevieve, completely unhinged, my voice raw and breaking apart.

"You vicious, heartless woman. Was destroying me not enough for you? My reputation, my dreams, everything I had, you took it all. Why could you not even leave my grandmother alone?"

Seeing me lose all control, Sebastian frowned and pulled me back.

"Aurora, stop this. This has nothing to do with Genevieve. If you need someone to blame, then blame me."

I slapped him hard across the face.

"Sebastian, you told me yourself that my grandmother would wake up soon. How did this happen? Both of you are murderers. Give me back my grandmother."

As the words left my mouth, my legs gave out beneath me, and I collapsed onto the freezing floor. My sobs came out broken and ragged and utterly wrecked.

Every hope and every reason I had left to keep going died at that moment.

The grief crashed over me so completely that darkness swallowed my vision, and I lost consciousness.

When I opened my eyes again, the walls of a hospital room surrounded me. Sebastian sat at my bedside, his face tense with worry and urgency.

The moment he saw me stir, relief flooded his expression.

"Aurora, you are finally awake. You terrified me. This is all my fault, and I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you. You have always wanted a child, have you not? Once you have recovered, we will have one. We will build a proper life together."

My gaze stayed completely hollow, and I gave no response at all.

When I said nothing, he went on in that same nauseatingly gentle tone, as though speaking to himself.