Chapter 2

Those two dumped me at the hospital and left.

Their excuse was that they wanted to go check whether Cora needed a hand with anything.

After they patched up the wound, I waited alone, from daylight into the dark.

Cora never showed.

Close to eleven, she finally called.

"Emmet, there's a client staying over in the next city. He came all this way for nothing, and I feel terrible about it."

"I'm going to drive him back myself. Just tough it out at the hospital tonight, and I'll come get you first thing in the morning."

And with that, she hung up.

She didn't ask about my wound. She didn't ask whether I'd eaten.

There was only the veiled reproach in her voice, as if I were the one who'd become a nuisance.

On her feed, the two who had just left posted one video after another.

【Time to crash the wedding suite for our Cora and the groom~】

【A husband's tears, a wife's weak spot. One cry from the groom, and Cora drops everything, including going to the hospital to pick up a certain deadweight. Hahaha.】

So that was the real reason Cora wouldn't come.

The earlier clips were all of her and Allan playing their little intimacy games.

I watched them sitting on our marriage bed, leaning in mouth to mouth to bite the apple hanging between them.

They couldn't reach it, and their mouths met in a kiss instead.

Allan flushed red, but Cora only curled her lips, pressed a hand to the back of his head, and deepened the kiss while everyone egged them on.

He pulled her tight against him, then flinched as if something had dug into him.

"What's this?"

Cora fished out a protective charm, snapped the cord, and tossed it carelessly into the trash.

"Nothing. Cheap junk off some street stall."

"Did it hurt you? Here, let me rub it."

My heart felt clenched in a fist, until even breathing hurt.

That charm was from a time Cora had been sick, and hadn't gotten better for a long while.

I'd secretly asked the driver to take me to a hilltop chapel on the outskirts, and I'd knelt up all 999 steps to pray for it.

Because I couldn't see, I lost my footing halfway and tumbled down, nearly killed.

When Cora found out, she was furious and heartbroken all at once, holding me tight in the aftershock of fear.

"Emmet, you don't have to do anything for me. As long as you're by my side, I'd run back from the gates of hell itself to take care of you."

"Don't worry. I'll cherish it with my life."

And now she'd thrown it out like garbage.

I opened the last video. Someone, uneasy, was asking:

"But Emmet can't see. Leaving him alone at the hospital, won't something happen to him?"

"Tch, it'd be better if something did. Then Cora would finally be free. What can Emmet do besides drag other people down? Not like the groom, who's Cora's right hand at the company and gave her a big, healthy son on top of it. Now that's a good spouse."

"Cora, be honest. These five years with Emmet, do you regret them?"

Cora paused.

"Emmet was my boyfriend back then. Taking care of him, I've never regretted that."

Hearing that, something in me stirred.

Then Allan's expression shifted, and he smiled with a pointed edge.

"Right. He did save Cora's life, after all. She should be responsible for him her whole life."

But Cora's face went cold in an instant, and she let out a scornful laugh.

"I've fought tooth and nail to build a life in Pearlport, all so he could live well. And that's still not enough?"

"I really should take care of him. But now and then I do wish he hadn't saved me that day, or just... maybe then I wouldn't be this exhausted, watching his feelings at every turn."

Allan wrapped his arms around her, playing wounded.

"Cora, you don't have to think about me. I don't mind taking a little unfairness."

"Just having a wedding is enough for me. At least in other people's eyes, no one can call our child a bastard. As for registering the marriage, I won't dare hope for that."

Cora kissed him, aching for him, as though she'd made up her mind.

"It's only a marriage certificate. I'll give it to you."

"But what about Emmet..."

"Some other day I'll fake one to fool him. He can't see. He won't find out."

I couldn't make out anything after that.

I curled up on the hospital bed with a hand over my chest, where it felt like a hole had been torn open, cold wind whistling through.

What Cora meant was that she wished I'd just been crushed dead by that billboard, and then none of this would be such a hassle.

My phone rang, and from the other end came my sister's voice, one I hadn't heard in so long.

"Emmet, your eyes are finally better? I was so happy to see your message. I thought you were still angry, so I didn't dare come to the wedding."

"Are you happy being a groom? Is Cora good to you?"

Hearing her care, I couldn't hold it back any longer and broke into sobs.

"Sis, she married someone else. She has a child with him. She's been hoping I'd died sooner."

"I don't want to be with her anymore. I want to come home."