Chapter 3
731 Words
Richard brought a cup of warm water to Nina's lips.
"Drink some first. It'll warm you up."
Nina did not take it.
Instead, she suddenly grabbed his wrist, squeezing so hard that her fingertips turned pale.
"Richard, I regret it. If I hadn't been so vain back then, would the person standing by your side now have been me?"
Richard's fingers stiffened.
The cup stayed suspended in the air.
After a long silence, he slowly covered Nina's hand with his own.
"Don't think about that anymore. You're safe now. That's all that matters."
He spoke softly.
I took two steps forward, wanting to smash the vase of wildflowers by the bedside and make them realize there was someone else in this room.
I reached out for the vase.
My fingers passed straight through it.
Nina suddenly lifted her head from the bed.
With tears in her eyes, she pressed her lips against Richard's.
This time, Richard did not pull away.
He closed his eyes and kissed her back passionately.
Standing less than half a meter away from them, I felt as if my heart had been crushed and then thrown into an icy freezer.
Richard's breathing grew heavier.
He pushed Nina down into the soft blankets.
I could no longer bear to look at what was happening in front of me.
I turned around and stumbled out of the room.
I collapsed against the wall in the hallway.
The sounds from inside the room slipped through the thin door and reached my ears without mercy.
"Richard, we can't do this."
Nina's voice carried a breathless hesitation.
"Giselle has been so good to you. If she finds out, she won't be able to handle it. We should stop. I don't want to be the other woman who ruins someone else's relationship."
Richard's voice was hoarse.
There was a desperate determination in it, like he had already given up fighting himself.
"I'll tell her everything. I'll take responsibility for what I did. At worst, I'll give her the entire down payment we saved for our wedding house, and I'll pay her extra on top of that. Today's accident made me finally realize the truth. I can't keep lying to myself. Nina, I don't want to lose you again."
I leaned against the cold wall.
Listening as he put a price tag on three years of our love.
Hence, all the hardships I went through with him, all the sleepless nights, all the tears I shed, could be settled with one simple number.
He thought that as long as he paid me enough, he could walk away with a clear conscience and chase after his so-called "true love."
"Don't tell her."
Nina sobbed softly.
"I'd rather suffer in silence and stay by your side without a proper title than hurt Giselle. She's a good person. She deserves better."
From inside the room, the sound of fabric tearing and muffled cries soon filled the air.
They said they did not want to hurt me.
Yet inside the room I had carefully decorated, they were doing the most unforgivable thing.
I lowered my head and looked at the wound on my left leg.
The cut from the falling log had torn my flesh open, and the pale white edge of bone was faintly visible.
I remembered how the pain had almost made me pass out back then.
However, I now could not feel a thing.
I stared at the muddy floor of the hallway.
I had no idea how long I had been sitting there.
Yet the ground beneath me showed no trace that I had ever existed.
I raised my hand and touched my face.
Something felt different.
Something had changed.
When the landslide came crashing down, I had pushed Nina onto the rooftop.
However, I had been swept away by the raging flood of rocks and mud and dragged into the valley.
I remembered the back of my head smashing against a rock.
Then, the muddy water flooded into my mouth and nose.
I struggled desperately.
I sat quietly in the hallway, listening as the man I had loved with my entire youth was promising another woman a future together.
Suddenly, a heart-wrenching scream came from the temporary shelter downstairs.
"Where is my daughter? Which room is Giselle Shay registered in? Please, help me check. Where exactly is Giselle?"
It was my mother's voice.
- Writer
