Chapter 5
I lay in bed in the hospital ward, and my face was weak and pale. But my gaze was so cold it was as if I was looking at a stranger.
Joseph dropped the large bouquet of pink roses he was holding. It crashed to the floor as he trembled and moved toward me. “Lena, you’re pulling a prank on me, right?”
He grabbed my hand very tightly.
The anesthesia hadn’t worn off yet, so I couldn’t really feel anything. There was no pain, only irritation.” Stop lying to yourself, Joseph.”
Joseph’s voice grew hoarse, and he seemed to choke up. “How could you let this happen to our child?”
I looked at his reddened eyes. At that moment, it almost seemed like he actually cared about me and the
baby. “Give me one good reason why I should have kept it.”
He responded without thinking, “We’ve been in love for seven years, and we’re about to get married. That
child was the product of our love…”
“Yes, we were about to get married. Then, at the wedding I waited seven years for, you abandoned me to
run after another woman,” I said.
Joseph looked helpless. “Lena, she was coughing up blood. Didn’t you see it?”
“Human lives matter, but you can’t use that to justify what you did,” I retorted.
My hands gripped the bedsheet tightly as I forced myself to say, “She was coughing blood, but you could
have called an ambulance or gotten someone else to help. You could even have contacted the hotel manager. Why did you have to go yourself?”
Why?
Even Joseph the lawyer, who was usually so articulate, had no answer for that question.
In actuality, both of us knew the truth. We were just pretending to ask questions when we already had the
answers.
Seven years was a long time, and his heart had started to drift.
I let out a soft sigh. “Joseph, you know this. I’ve always been a sensitive person, and my intuition is usually right. Two months ago, I already had a bad feeling when I brought you lunch at the firm and saw that woman for the first time. But I chose to trust you.”
I continued, “It’s not like other women haven’t tried to throw themselves at you in our years together or that guys haven’t tried to pursue me. We both managed to resist the temptation and got to where we are because of it. I thought this time would be no different.”
I paused. I meant to smile, but a tear still rolled out from the corner of my eye. “It was foolish of me to
assume that you still loved me the way you used to.”
That tear seemed to cut deep into Joseph’s heart.
A powerful sense of loss swept over him as he frantically tried to wipe away my tears. He said with a trembling voice, “Lena, I’ve always loved you. I need you.”
I turned my head away.
His hand froze midair for a moment before he pulled back.
Joseph said he loved me, and that part might not be true. But the fact that he didn’t want to lose me was
real, at least for now.
After all, seven years together had tied our lives tightly together in every possible way. My presence was embedded in every corner of his life. Love could fade, but habits were hard to break.
Ripping apart a long-term relationship like this was like ripping off a part of your own flesh.
I smiled at him faintly. “Joseph, I told you. It’s over. From now on, we’ll have to get used to life without
each other.”
The only thing I could be glad about was that Joseph and I had agreed to hold the wedding first and register the marriage later. Otherwise, I wouldn’t stand a chance if I tried to go to court and get a divorce from Joseph.
Joseph knelt beside my hospital bed. “Lena, we can have another child together in the future. Please don’t leave me. Don’t say things out of anger, alright?”
I shook my head. “This isn’t out of anger. It’s a decision I’ve thought through carefully.”
Joseph’s eyes were bloodshot, and he looked utterly confused as he said anxiously, “Lena, I didn’t cheat. I
never actually did anything to betray you. Other than this incident, haven’t I been a decent boyfriend all these years? Why won’t you forgive me and give me another chance?”
I looked him straight in the eyes and said, “Because I already gave you that chance.”
