Chapter 1

My mother was diagnosed with coronary heart disease and needed stent surgery. I prepaid eighty thousand dollars.

My fiancé, Joel James, scoffed, "Your mother's already so old. Saving her would just mean more suffering for her."

I tried to lay it all out, to make him see it from my side, but he gave a small sneer and took none of it in. That same day, he withdrew the eighty thousand dollars.

The next day, I got a payment reminder from the hospital: "Ms. Fox, the surgery is about to begin. Please settle the payment as soon as possible."

I stared at the message and listened to Joel explain, completely unbothered:

"Saving the elderly is pointless, a waste of society's resources."

Two weeks later, his childhood sweetheart Gillian Simmons's mother came down with high blood pressure.

He hired the most professional medical team and used the most advanced equipment to run a full set of tests on her mother.

Joel held the hand of Gillian's mother and said gently:

"Mrs. Simmons, just relax and let them run the tests."

"Your health is what matters most. Money is no object."

There in the noisy hospital corridor, he and Gillian gazed at each other tenderly.

It suddenly struck me that letting go might be the best thing I could do for myself.

...

As I listened to the most authoritative team lay out treatment options for Mrs. Simmons one by one, a bitter ache filled my chest.

A nurse standing nearby spoke up enviously:

"That's Dr. William's team. He's the gold standard in cardiology."

"Mr. James really cares about Ms. Simmons! Her mother just has high blood pressure, and he goes all out to bring in a top team like that."

Listening to them talk, my eyes reddened, tears swimming in them.

What kept echoing in my mind was my mother's rough hands comforting me, and the indifference in Joel's voice.

High blood pressure versus coronary heart disease—which one was more serious was plain to see.

Back then he'd held his phone, not even lifting his head as he said:

"Aging, sickness, and death are part of life. You have to accept that fact."

Now he was sparing no cost to bring in an authoritative team to treat a case of high blood pressure. That alone proved where Gillian stood in his heart.

"Catherine."

A gentle voice came from behind me.

I turned to look. Gillian had come up behind me at some point, holding the medication she'd just picked up.

Emotions churned inside me.

"You just got the medicine?"

There was a smugness in her tone.

"Joel had someone air-freight it in from overseas especially. He said my mother deserves the best."

I knew that medication.

It was made for treatment-resistant hypertension, a new-generation potent ARB blood pressure medication too. The daily cost was steep.

And my mother had coronary heart disease.

He'd only stopped by to look, without even a word of concern or comfort, let alone a medical team.

I couldn't help a self-mocking little laugh. "Then he really did put his heart into it."

One of the guys who'd come to the hospital to visit a patient chuckled and remarked:

"Joel, you really went all out for Gillian's mother! It's just a case of high blood pressure, and yet the whole production is jaw-dropping."

He didn't pick up on the hostility between us, and turned to me:

"You're Joel's real, official girlfriend, so he'll surely be even more generous with you."

In an instant every gaze fell on me.

Joel said nothing. He kept peeling an apple, not even lifting his head.

There was something studying in the way he held himself.

He was waiting for me to show a pleading, wounded look, to prove how much he meant to me.

It was a long moment before I answered, "There's no rush on that."

The truth was, I had always been waiting for Joel.

Three years ago, when we watched the aurora in Murmansk, he promised me, beneath all those countless stars, that he would propose to me at the airport the day we came home.

That I'd feel the blessings of travelers from every corner of the world.

But all I got in return was his broken promise.

Joel looked up at me, his palm clenching without his meaning it to, then his gaze landed on Gillian's face.

"Of course I wouldn't be stingy with Catherine. It's that boyfriend of yours—"

"He didn't even show up when your mother got sick. What kind of man did you pick?"

Gillian looked at him, tenderness flowing in her eyes:

"Joel, how is it that my man is more capable than you? You're the president of the James Group, and one phone call got William's team and the potent ARB blood pressure medication for my mother."

"Anyone who knows would say she's my mother, but anyone who doesn't would think she's your future mother-in-law, Joel."

"If you want to claim my mom as your mother-in-law—"

"maybe I could give you a chance to try?"

The guys teased with a laugh, "Careful what you say, Gillian. What if it actually comes true?"

"Right, right, Joel's a married man."

Every gaze drifted back and forth between the two of them, as if it were a foregone conclusion that, without me, they'd end up together.

They knew Joel was married, and yet they went on joking without the slightest hesitation.

I glanced at Joel.

Then I turned and fled the hospital corridor, full of disinfectant and cheerful laughter.

Since I couldn't fit into their world, I wouldn't force it.