Chapter 5
868 Words
Click.
The emergency room door was pushed open by a nurse, and the attending doctor stepped out.
Taking off her mask, she looked at the two people standing at the door with a serious expression. "Are you here with the patient?"
"We are."
Sarah and Raymond answered in unison and then quickly moved apart.
"Doctor, is my friend okay?"
As soon as Sarah finished asking, the doctor's grave voice followed. "She's had a miscarriage and she's incredibly weak. The shock caused some serious bleeding. From now on, you have to keep her calm. Whatever you do, don't upset her."
"We understand. Thank you, Doctor."
Raymond responded in a low voice and watched the attending doctor leave.
He and Sarah exchanged a glance, both seeing the gravity of the situation reflected in each other's eyes.
Half an hour later, as soon as Charlotte opened her eyes, she saw Raymond and Sarah looking at her with faces full of concern.
"Charlotte, you're up."
Sarah looked at her best friend anxiously, her voice trembling as she spoke.
Raymond looked at her with deep concern and asked in a hoarse voice, "Honey, do you want some water?"
"Get out!"
Charlotte let out a strained roar, her gaze fixed on them, filled with icy coldness.
Raymond froze instantly, his face turning deathly pale.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but when his eyes met Charlotte's cold stare, he couldn't utter a single word.
Sarah was also startled.
Her lips trembled slightly, and tears began to fall again. "Charlotte, do you..."
She didn't finish her sentence, but everyone understood what she meant.
"Yeah, I know! I know you two have been seeing each other behind my back."
Charlotte looked at them indifferently. Her voice was very soft, yet it was like a sharp knife, precisely piercing through their disguise.
Raymond's pupils contracted sharply, and his hands at his sides clenched into tight fists.
Sarah's tears fell even more heavily as she looked at Charlotte with deep self-reproach.
"Charlotte, I'm so sorry. I... I messed up. I never should've let things get this far with Raymond. I—"
"You both make me sick!"
Charlotte looked at them with loathing and said, word for word, "I thought you were my family. But you two were in love this whole time and didn't say a word. You just treated me like some joke in your little love story, playing me for a fool."
"It wasn't like that," Raymond stammered. "Sarah was just scared that if I rejected you, it would crush you, so I—"
Before he could finish his explanation, Charlotte cut him off sharply.
"And you think I'm not crushed now? You didn't love me, so what gave you the right to trample my feelings like this? Raymond, if you had just said no at the start, I would've been sad for a bit and then moved on. But you? You 'pitied' me so much that you almost trapped me in this lie forever! Neither of you deserves to be in my life!"
After saying this, Charlotte's breathing involuntarily grew heavy. She felt a dull, suffocating pain in her chest again, and her vision began to darken in waves.
Standing by the hospital bed, Sarah instantly realized something was wrong and hurriedly tried to calm her down, her face filled with worry.
"Charlotte, please, don't do this to yourself. The doctor said you need to stay calm."
"Just take it easy, honey."
Raymond looked at Charlotte with a complex gaze, consumed by regret. "Once you get better, we'll do whatever you want."
"I want a divorce, Raymond. We're signing the papers right now."
Charlotte took a deep breath, struggling to suppress the agitation in her chest as her hands tightly gripped the quilt at her sides.
Raymond was stunned for a moment, then nodded with a complicated expression.
"Fine. I'll leave with nothing."
After saying this, he added in a hoarse voice, "I'll have someone draft the agreement immediately."
Charlotte did not offer a reply.
Raymond turned to Sarah. "Let's go. She needs to rest."
Sarah looked at Charlotte through tear-filled eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but fearing she might provoke her further, she said nothing in the end.
"Bang!"
The moment the hospital room door closed, Charlotte lost all her strength and leaned tiredly against the headboard.
She remained silent for a long while before picking up her phone and dialing a familiar number.
Once the call connected, Billy Curtis' teasing voice came through the phone. "My baby Charlotte, are you regretting your choice not to join the team yet?"
"Actually, yeah."
Charlotte's hand tightened around the phone unconsciously as she lowered her eyelids. "My divorce will be final in a week. After that, I'm moving abroad to join your institute."
"Great! We'll definitely line up to welcome you when the time comes."
As Billy spoke warmly, the smile on his lips widened.
Charlotte responded softly, "Alright."
After hanging up, she turned to look out the window.
The sun was just starting to come up, and as the world woke up to a new day, she felt like she was finally waking up to a new life, too.
- Writer
