Chapter 4

I was burning up with fever, weak all over, drifting in and out, with no idea how much time had passed.

Suddenly the door was kicked open, and Michelle stormed in, furious.

She slammed her phone down in front of me.

#Disabled Mistress Moves Right In#

#Andrew Fox Deserved to Lose His Leg#

The photos were close-ups of Andrew's stump, along with several pictures of the two of them embracing.

The comment section was full of cursing, ugly and vicious.

She opened another video. In it, Andrew's face was deathly pale.

"It's all my fault. I let Saul down."

"I'll atone with my life, so please stop attacking me..."

The video cut off abruptly, and Michelle jabbed a finger in my face.

"Saul, are you satisfied now?"

"Andrew slit his wrists. He's still in the emergency room."

"If anything happens to him, I won't live either. Three lives—can you carry that?"

My head felt heavy and my legs light. I braced myself and tried to sit up.

"It wasn't me."

"If not you, then who?"

Michelle's eyes looked like they could tear a person apart.

"You're the only one who's seen his stump, and the only one who hates him."

"If you didn't leak it, was it him himself?"

I wanted to explain, but I didn't have an ounce of strength.

Michelle grabbed my arm and dragged me outside.

"Come to the hospital with me!"

"Once he wakes up, you apologize in public and set the record straight!"

When we got to the hospital, Andrew was lying quietly in the bed.

Michelle was called away to pay the bill, and Andrew slowly opened his eyes.

"You posted those photos yourself, didn't you?"

Andrew let out a soft laugh.

"I had no choice. Michelle keeps clinging to old feelings and won't bring up divorce with you."

"So I had to give her a little push."

"Aren't you afraid getting canceled will ruin you?"

He smiled, his eyes full of scheming.

"Afraid of what? Michelle will protect me."

As he spoke, he suddenly curled up, clutched his head, and began wailing.

"Saul, I'm begging you!"

"Spare my child, he's innocent!"

"I already promised you I'd leave once Michelle gives birth, so why are you still hitting me?"

Michelle strode over and shoved me hard to the side.

My back slammed into the sharp corner of the bedside table.

Agonizing pain shot through me, and in my daze I remembered that when Michelle's kidney failure hit, I was the one who gave her a kidney.

The spot I'd just struck was exactly where the wound was.

I clutched my side, in too much pain to stand, and reached out to grab the leg of her pants.

"Michelle, help me."

Before I could finish, Andrew let out a muffled groan.

"Michelle, my head hurts so much. Am I not going to make it?"

Michelle kicked me aside. "Saul, you're truly despicable."

With that, she helped Andrew up and ran out.

I couldn't hold on any longer through the pain and passed out.

When I woke again, I was in the hospital, the nurse looking at me with contempt.

"Your wound got infected. You nearly died."

The phone by my pillow kept buzzing.

A flood of calls and abusive messages from unknown numbers.

It turned out Michelle had posted a long statement online, saying our relationship had broken down long ago and that we were in the middle of divorce proceedings.

She said my love had turned to hatred, that I'd maliciously exposed a disabled person's privacy and driven him to slit his wrists, that I was vicious to the core.

She said she and Andrew were truly in love.

To back it up, she'd posted two videos as well.

In the videos, my mother sat in front of the camera.

"This son of mine has been no good since he was little. Chasing around with all sorts at such a young age."

"I warned him long ago, but he wouldn't listen..."

And then my stepbrother, all slouch and swagger.

"I'm not ashamed to say it and let everyone laugh—he went out and worked as a gigolo in his teens."

"A man like that, nothing he does would surprise anyone."

I felt like my whole self was breaking apart.

One by one, the people closest to me had all betrayed me.

They even peeled back the scars I'd hidden away, one by one, and laid them bare for everyone to see.

The whole internet boiled over, calling me a scumbag, calling me utterly heartless.

The young nurse giving me my shot deliberately jabbed the needle off the mark, over and over.

The back of my hand went dark with bruises, and she never offered a single word of apology.

At the top of my messages, Michelle had sent one half an hour earlier.

"If you're awake, stop playing dead and publicly apologize to Andrew."

"Also, find the time to finalize the divorce. I don't want my child born carrying the label of a bastard."

I stared at the screen, and the pain spreading through my chest slowly settled.

I'd meant to leave quietly, so that from then on neither of us owed the other anything.

But they insisted on finishing me off, on grinding me into the mud.

Then I'm sorry.

This account, we're going to have to settle properly.

"Fine. I'll apologize."

Three days later, Andrew was discharged.

The hospital entrance was packed with online media and reporters.

The moment I appeared, curses rose from every direction.

I let it wash over me, my face calm.

"Today, I've come to apologize to Andrew Fox."

"On the screen is the apology letter I prepared with great care. Please, take a look."

The screen lit up.

The smile on Michelle's face froze.

Andrew's face went, in an instant, white as paper.