When I Gave Him My Heart, He Regretted It

Chapter 6

A gush of nosebleed burst out without warning, splattering right onto the back of Luna's hand.

It gushed like a busted faucet, and no matter what we did, it wouldn't let up...

The world in front of my eyes started to swim, and every last bit of strength drained out of my body.

Luna's desperate, hoarse scream echoed down the empty hospital hallway.

"Doctor! Doctor, please save my daughter!"

Fading in and out, I heard the doctor let out a heavy sigh.

"Family members should prepare themselves for the worst..."

When I woke up again, a pre-recorded video of Luna was playing on the TV.

She publicly admitted that she'd taken money from Yvonne three years prior to frame Ethan, finally clearing his name.

With that, Yvonne's latest allegations crumbled to dust on their own.

A live reporter asked her why she was coming clean now, and why she'd set out to ruin Ethan back then.

Luna answered completely calmly, "Does doing evil ever need a reason?"

Once the video ended, Luna turned off the TV.

She was holding a bowl of lotus seed porridge, and asked if I was hungry.

Her eyes were puffy from crying, but she was doing her best to act like everything was normal.

Like this was just any other unremarkable morning.

I nodded and said, "Sure."

I probably wouldn't get another chance to drink it, so of course I had to cherish the chance I still had.

She cranked the hospital bed up to a sitting position, sat down on the edge of my bed, blew each spoonful of porridge cool, and fed it to me one bite at a time.

She asked me, "Zoe, is there anything else you want to do?"

Fighting through the sharp, cramping pain in my gut, I smiled and asked back, "Am I allowed to give up on treatment, just like Robert did?"

Her hand jerked, and tears spilled down her cheeks before she could say a word.

I reached up to wipe her tears away, but she suddenly grabbed my hand tight.

"Zoe, do you still want to see him? I'll explain everything that happened to him, I..."

She just didn't want me to leave this world with any regrets.

I shook my head. "No, I don't."

I'm dying—no need to add to his problems. A good ex is supposed to disappear like they never existed, right?

I only had one tiny little wish left now.

Luna asked, "What is it?"

To wear a wedding dress once, to be a bride even just for a little while.

At the bridal shop, I picked out a sleeved satin wedding dress. Even the smallest size hung loose and baggy on my gaunt frame.

I picked out a dress for Luna too, a bright red formal gown.

This way, it would feel like she's properly sending me off to get married.

But no sooner had I zipped the dress up than I was so worn out I almost blacked out on the spot.

Luna sat with me on the couch to rest. I leaned against her shoulder, and she lifted her phone to snap a photo of the two of us.

"Zoe, I've pictured your wedding day a thousand times. I thought over every word Robert and I would say when you walked down the aisle, we even wrote out whole speeches..." she said.

Her voice cracked halfway through, her throat closed up completely, and she couldn't get another word out.

Right then, a platinum strapless mermaid wedding dress glided into my line of sight.

I lifted my eyes, and there was Ethan, dressed in a crisp white groom's suit.

A beautiful girl had her arm looped through his.

She had a fresh, makeup-free face and faint dimples in her cheeks as she tilted her head up to ask Ethan, "Does it look good?"

Ethan looked down at her, his eyes filled to the brim with nothing but her. "Looks amazing. You'd look good in anything."

The staff member standing nearby sighed in admiration. "You two are such a perfect match! You look even better together than the celebrity couples on TV! Do you mind if I ask how you two met?"

Mia Carter's face lit up with pure joy. "At a drinking party with mutual friends. My fiancé was such a gentleman. He kept covering my drinks all night, then drove me home when I was wasted. I was so drunk I hiccuped, thought he was my mom and refused to let him leave, no matter what."

Everyone burst out laughing.

Mia grinned and kept talking. "But he didn't do anything out of line. He just let me use his arm as a pillow the whole night. Come on, how could anyone not fall for a guy that sweet and respectful?"

She clung to his arm, her smile so bright it looked like it was dripping with happiness.

"I'm so lucky, right? This amazing guy is marrying me in two days. He's actually going to be mine, for real."

The shop assistant smiled and said, "Congratulations, you two. You're so happy together—you must be each other's first loves, right?"

Ethan squeezed Mia's hand and nodded with a soft smile. "Yeah, we are."

I forced a pale, wobbly smile.

I'd hurt him worse than anyone. It made total sense that he'd pretend our past never happened.

Luna couldn't stand to see me listen to any more of this and started to usher me out.

But the shop assistant stopped me and asked, "Miss, don't you like this wedding dress? Do you want to wait for your husband to get here and let him see it before you decide?"

That one question snagged Ethan's gaze, and he looked right over at me.

I pretended not to notice, keeping my face as calm as I could. "No need. I sent photos to my husband already. He said it's not a good fit."

My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might jump out of my chest from the lie, but Ethan had already looked away quickly.

After I changed out of the wedding dress, we headed for the bridal shop exit.

Of course, we just had to run into Ethan at the entrance, as if the day hadn't been bad enough already.

He had just finished seeing Mia off into a taxi.

The second he felt my gaze on his back, he walked off in the opposite direction without a second glance.

Luna leaned in and whispered softly, "Zoe, if you want to say goodbye to him, go ahead."

I didn't say a word, stayed quiet until he was far enough away that he couldn't possibly hear me. Then I breathed his name, so quiet it was barely more than a sigh.

"Ethan..."

Every time we fought back in the day, I'd call his name just like that, and he'd act like he didn't hear a thing, same as he was doing now.

But he always, always showed up at the next intersection, holding a still-steaming roasted sweet potato or a crisp, sugar-glazed candied hawthorn stick — my absolute favorites, every single time.

He'd grin and say, "Zoe, like I could ever stay mad at you for real."

And he'd add, "Zoe, we might take different roads for a little while, but you gotta remember—no matter how slow you walk, no matter how many wrong turns you take, I'll be waiting for you up ahead. I'll keep waiting until you get there."

Not this time, though.

Ethan kept walking further and further away, and he never once looked back.

I bit back the raw, searing pain tearing through my chest, and whispered so softly the sound barely even made it past my lips.

"You i***t, Ethan. Let's not run into each other in the next life, okay?"