Chapter 2 A Broken Promise
570 Words
"Juliet! Have you gone mad? Claire poured her heart into treating your mother, and this is how you repay her generosity?"
Tears streaked down my face relentlessly, blending with the blood and marring the pristine fabric of my white shirt. My mother had spent a whole week crafting it meticulously for me, merely so I could don it on this day. When Hunter and I were to capture our wedding certificate photo. But the very first time I wore it, I lost my mother forever.
"Hunter, you assured me you would personally handle my mom's surgery! Why am I now finding out that Claire was the one who did it? How can this not feel deliberate? My mother's passing was no accident! You've conspired to take her heart for Nate Stone!"
Perhaps the vehemence in my eyes was too much for him. Hunter recoiled slightly.
"Are you hearing yourself? Your mother had a splenectomy. What on earth does that have to do with her heart or Nate?"
Claire leaned softly against Hunter, shedding her earlier defiance and scorn when she confronted me. Now, she appeared imploringly fragile.
"Prof. Miller, Mrs. Foster was losing blood excessively and was in grave danger when she arrived at the OR! I fought with everything I had, but she was beyond saving. It's my failing! If Juliet refuses to heed my words, then perhaps it is just for me to trade my life for Mrs. Foster's!"
At that, Hunter drew Claire closer, shielding her fiercely.
He glared at me as though I were hysterical, his eyes sharp with blame.
"Juliet, every surgery carries inherent risk. The outcome might have been no different if it had been me!
"Your mom's life was precious, but so is Nate's!
"I'm only human, capable of only so much at once. Nate needed a heart transplant. Your mom's simpler procedure naturally had to yield to Nate's critical condition."
I couldn't help but let out a sarcastic laugh.
So, to such esteemed doctors, the worth of life varied significantly! In Hunter's clinical reasoning, my mother's existence was forfeited!
I should have caught on ages ago.
Nate's blatant favoritism blinded him to Claire's feelings for Hunter. Even if Nate wasn't Hunter's son, the bias was glaringly obvious.
"Hunter, how can you talk like that? Even if she's not my mother, she's still the one who supported you! Now her love has been stolen, and yet you pretend not to notice and act so heartlessly. Or is there something secret going on between you and Claire?"
Hunter's face went pale in a heartbeat.
Raised as an orphan, my mother was his benefactor, funding his education all the way to a Ph.D.
He has always been self-conscious and sensitive, especially about the fact that he needed help to finish school. Yet, he showed extraordinary favoritism towards Claire, who had faced struggles similar to his.
"Juliet, you must be insane to utter such absurdities!
"There's nothing between Claire and me beyond a pure mentor-student bond! You have no right to accuse us falsely! If you continue with these delusions, I'll have no choice but to seek psychiatric intervention for you!
"Claire's an outstanding student whom I've personally guided! I believe in her abilities! This was merely an unfortunate incident! You have to face the facts!"
Claire stood partly hidden behind Hunter, watching me with a self-satisfied grin and a gleam of challenge in her eyes.
- Writer
