He Thought I Was Dying, Now He’s Insane

Chapter 2

Ralph visibly relaxed.

His expression softened as though a tremendous burden had finally been lifted from his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Alice. After we get married, I wouldn't be able to step away from work to take care of you. And once your condition gets worse..." He hesitated. "I still have my own life to live. The company means more to me than anything else—”

He seemed to realize how cruel that sounded and quickly changed his tone.

"Most importantly, watching you go through the progression of this disease would be torture for me, too. We've been together for five years. How could I bear to watch you slowly become completely dependent on someone else?”

I pulled my hand away from his and stood. "Okay. I understand."

I looked him straight in the eye. "We'll call off the engagement, then."

A bitter smile touched my lips. "You said it yourself. If you were the one with this disease, you'd let me call off the engagement, too. So there's no reason for me to stop you."

"It's good that you've come to terms with it. Even though we've called off the engagement, we can still be friends. I'll stay by your side through this final stretch. In a couple of days, we can take a trip out of town. Think of it as a little breakup vacation."

Looking at his gentle expression, I felt a sudden pang of guilt.

Ralph and I had grown up together in the poorest part of town. When things were at their worst, we had barely enough money to share a single loaf of bread between us each day. The company meant everything to Ralph now. In a way, it seemed only natural that he would choose it over me.

"You can make the arrangements, then," I said with a sigh. "Let's make sure we have a good time this time around."

That evening, he was glued to his phone the entire night, and I assumed he was making arrangements for our trip.

But two days passed, and I still hadn't heard a word about it.

"Ralph, did you book the tickets? Where are we going tomorrow?"

Ralph instinctively touched his nose before answering.

"Oh... I already booked everything, but Mom suddenly got sick. I can't just leave her when she’s unwell. Let's go another time. Once Mom gets better, I promise I'll take you on a proper vacation."

I knew Ralph always touched his nose when he was lying.

"Then I should go visit her, too—"

"No, no need," he quickly cut me off. "You're sick yourself. You should get some rest."

I didn't call him out on the lie.

Instead, I opened the location-tracking app I had installed on his phone.

At 6:30 that evening, Ralph's location showed that he was at a hotel.

I hailed a cab immediately.

When I arrived, I asked the front desk for his room number and went straight upstairs.

As I approached the door, I heard a woman's voice from inside.

"The doctor said that, given her condition, she has at most two years before she loses the ability to speak."

I froze.

I knew that voice.

It was my sister, Bella.

I quickly turned on the audio and video recording on my phone.

A moment later, Ralph scoffed. "Two years? I don't even want to wait another day. Thank God we called off the engagement. I'm not about to spend the rest of my life taking care of someone who's going to become completely helpless.

"These past five years with her have made me sick. The only reason I managed to stay with her was because of you. You're both daughters of the same family. How is it that she can't compare to you in anything?" He gave a contemptuous laugh. "That i***t really thinks she can compete with you? So what if the family took her back? You're the one I love."

"Mom and Dad have always favored me anyway," Bella said.

"There, there, sweetheart." Ralph's voice dropped to a husky murmur. "Once she's completely helpless, I'll make her watch us get married with her own eyes."

My nails dug into my palms.

My fiancé and my own sister had been betraying me all along, speaking about me as though I were nothing more than an inconvenience.

A wave of anger and disgust surged through me.

I took a deep breath, then found a hotel employee and asked them to unlock the door.