Chapter 3

But even after darkness fell, with my legs numb from kneeling and my stomach growling with hunger, they still hadn't come back.

I don't know how much time passed before I finally blacked out.

In my daze, it felt as if a pair of warm arms lifted me up.

Was it Nathan? Would he come? Had he forgiven me?

But I truly couldn't open my eyes, and I sank back into a heavy sleep.

When I opened my eyes again, the sharp smell of disinfectant told me I was in a hospital. I looked around, and there was only Geraldine, the housekeeper from before I was sent to the Blackpine Wilderness, watching me with a worried face.

I looked at the wrinkles in her clothes and gave a self-mocking laugh. So I had been thinking too much.

The doctor stared at me the way someone stares at a hopeless case they wish were better.

"Hey."

"Young lady, you have to take care of your body."

"An unhealthy relationship and repeated miscarriages have already done severe damage to your body."

Take care of my body? Did I even deserve to? In the Blackpine Wilderness I was the lowest of the low; even the dogs could bully me as they pleased. Miscarriages?

Seeing that I stayed silent, the doctor sighed.

"Call your husband here. I'll have a talk with him."

I lowered my head and shook it gently.

"Doctor, just tell me instead. I don't have a husband."

"I'm the only one left in my family."

"I know I don't have long to live. I only want to know—how much time do I have left?"

The doctor paused, then looked at me with a face full of pity.

"Your internal organs are already rotting. Medically speaking, three months at most."

"At the very least, only a week."

I looked up at the doctor, then quickly looked down again.

Only a week left? That was fine too. There was nothing in this world worth clinging to anyway.

But why did my heart feel like there was a hollow spot in it?

When I got home, Nathan was sitting on the sofa with a grim look on his face.

"So you still know how to come back?"

I lowered my head and whispered that I was sorry.

Nathan stood up and furiously flung the newspaper in his hand at my face.

"You were out only a few hours, and you already spent ten thousand dollars!"

"Is this the attitude you're giving me?"

Geraldine quickly explained.

"No, Madam had passed out. I just took her to the hospital for emergency care."

Nathan frowned at that.

"Back then you always took Arlene's side, and now you even dare to help her lie to me?"

"You're fired!"

I couldn't drag anyone else down with me, so I dropped to my knees.

"Nathan, haven't you always wanted to divorce me?"

"I agree. I'll go tell Old Mrs. Gilbert myself. Just don't fire Geraldine, and don't make things hard for her later either."

For once Nathan looked satisfied, and he gave a low laugh.

"You finally agree?"

"What's the point of being a housekeeper? Here's a check for a million. Go cash it."

Geraldine waved her hands again and again, but I forced them back down.

Geraldine couldn't help raising her voice.

"Madam has three months to live at most. Don't you even care about her?"

Nathan shot to his feet, his face full of impatience.

"If she wants to die, let her die. Stop playing dead here every single day!"

Hearing that, Geraldine gave me one pained look and walked away helplessly.

But I really am going to die. Nathan, will it hurt you at all?

I opened my mouth, but I couldn't get out a single word. He would never believe me.

Just then, Brad came bouncing and skipping over, hugging Nathan excitedly.

"Dad, I've got my eye on the newest robot. It's only a million. Will you buy it for me?"

Nathan ruffled Brad's hair.

"Sure."