Clara's heart plummeted as her mother Pauline's words struck her, tears springing to her eyes instantly.
"Mom, what's this about...?" she whispered, moving closer to the hospital bed.
The nurses and caregivers, seeing family had arrived, gave Clara a brief update before quietly exiting the room.
Pauline fixed her daughter with a piercing glare. "You promised me—swore you'd cut that man out of your life! And what do you do? Turn around and march straight back to him! That fiancée of his came to confront me again—how am I supposed to show my face now?"
Her voice came out weak and rasping, still ravaged by illness. By the end, she was seized by violent coughing fits, her face turning a frightening shade of purple.
Clara rushed to rub her mother's back. "Mom... please, don't upset yoursel
