Chapter 6 Final Farewell
840 Words
The doctor shook her head and said nothing further.
After completing the paperwork, Serena went to pay.
While waiting in line, two middle-aged women nearby kept glancing at her, whispering.
"So young and already terminating a pregnancy. Girls these days really don't care for themselves."
"Exactly. Can't control themselves, creating trouble. I wonder which unlucky man will end up paying for this."
"Look at her… she's probably not even proper. Could be a mistress…"
Serena gripped the payment slip so tightly her nails dug into her palms, leaving small trails of blood.
She said nothing. She didn't argue. She didn't explain. She mechanically paid, took the slip, and headed toward the operating room.
Her phone buzzed at that moment. She glanced at the screen. It was Julian.
She stared at the name for a long time. The call disconnected automatically, and then he called again, repeatedly.
Finally, she answered.
The line was silent. No one spoke. She thought Julian didn't know what to say. She was about to speak when she noticed faint sounds. There was a man's low groan, a woman's soft moans, and the creaking of a bed.
Serena froze. Holding the phone, she froze as the sounds reached her, and a wave of nausea twisted through her stomach.
"Mm… Julian… slow down…" Evelyn's voice came through, soft and seductive, trembling with desire.
Julian didn't speak, but Serena could imagine his expression. In ten years, she had never seen him look so indulgent, so tender, so completely absorbed.
The call ended. Seconds later, a message arrived from Evelyn. It contained just one sentence.
Evelyn: Miss Quinn, Julian is so gentle with me. He said we'll be married next week. The wedding dress is already chosen.
Serena stared at the message and laughed bitterly, the laughter turning into tears that streamed down her face.
People around her looked on, puzzled, as if she were insane. Perhaps she was. Ten years loving Julian had already driven her mad.
She wiped her tears, straightened up, and strode toward the operating room. Opening the door, she glanced once at the sky outside.
The clouds hung heavy, rain threatening.
Good. The decade-long storm finally deserved to end.
The operating room door closed, shutting out the world, the stares, the whispers.
Serena followed the nurse to the changing area and put on the hospital gown.
The coarse blue-and-white fabric reminded her of years ago, the first time Julian had taken her to buy clothes.
She had tried on a silk dress, and he had said the material wasn't good enough for her, tossing it aside casually.
Now she realized it wasn't the dress that wasn't good enough. It was her.
"Lie down." The nurse's voice brought her back.
The operating bed was narrow and cold.
The overhead light burned her eyes. Serena closed them, listening to the doctor's reassuring words.
"Relax. You won't feel pain after the anesthesia."
The needle pierced her skin. Serena suddenly opened her eyes.
"Wait."
The doctor paused. "Changed your mind?"
Serena opened her mouth but no sound came out.
She remembered a long-ago afternoon. Julian had rare free time and watched a movie with her at home.
The heroine miscarried in the rain, and he had laughed, calling it melodramatic.
"If a woman truly loved her child, how could she let it go?" He had said it while holding her close. "If we have children someday, they will look just like you."
She had buried her face in his chest, heart pounding, waiting for their child to be born.
But the world had instead delivered him saying in front of everyone that the thing he regretted most was saving her.
Serena closed her eyes again, swallowing the ache in her throat.
"Go ahead," she whispered.
The anesthesia took effect. Just before losing consciousness completely, she thought she heard a faint cry, a child's cry, from another world.
'"Sorry." She whispered inside her heart. "Sorry, Mom is too tired. I can't go on."
******
Julian, after leaving Evelyn, felt a sudden pang in his chest. His phone slipped from the bedside, still lit.
Earlier, after his shower, he had caught Evelyn fiddling with his phone. He had been about to scold her when she clung to him.
"Julian… I want…" She kissed his throat, hand sliding down.
Julian frowned but didn't push her away.
Yet his mind was elsewhere, replaying Serena's hollow, desperate gaze from earlier in the day, when security had dragged her out.
Her eyes were empty, like a stagnant pool.
He had never seen her like that. After ten years of gentle obedience, soft smiles, and a constant light in her eyes whenever she looked at him, this was completely new.
Even when he hurt her, broke promises, or refused to acknowledge her in public, she had only reddened slightly, never looked at him like a stranger.
"Julian… you're not focused." Evelyn bit his shoulder in complaint.
Julian returned a perfunctory kiss to her forehead. "Tired. Sleep."
Evelyn started to protest, but he had already turned away.
- Writer
