Chapter 4 No Reason to Look Back

I stood outside the glass, staring at Rosalie lying in the hospital bed. Tears immediately welled in my eyes.

Her face was so pale that there was not a trace of color in it. An oxygen tube rested beneath her nose, and the back of her hand was covered with needle marks. At that moment, I barely dared to breathe.

When I entered, she was still awake.

At the sound of my footsteps, she slowly opened her eyes. The moment she saw me, her eyes reddened. She reached for my hand, looking so weak that it seemed as though she might break at any moment. "Ju."

I immediately tightened my grip on her hand. "I'm here. Don't be scared."

She looked at me for a long time before tears suddenly spilled down her cheeks. "Ju, are you a homewrecker?"

My entire body froze.

I did not care if other people called me names. I did not care if they hurt me ruthlessly. But not Rosalie. Not her.

If she had not donated a kidney to save me, I would have died long ago. And because of complications from the surgery, Rosalie had struggled to get out of bed ever since.

I shook my head desperately, my throat raw with pain. "No. I'm not."

She cried even harder. "But that's what everyone online is saying. They said you wouldn't leave a married man alone."

I bent down and pressed my cheek against her hand, repeating over and over that it was not true.

Just then, the hospital room door opened.

I turned around, and my whole body tensed instantly. Diana had arrived with a fruit basket in her hands.

Behind her stood Charles' younger brother, Cedric Grayson.

I immediately got to my feet and stepped in front of the hospital bed. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to explain," Diana said softly. "The things people have been saying online are awful. I was afraid Rosie would misunderstand."

Rosalie's eyes brightened at once. She looked at Diana as though she had finally found the last bit of hope she could cling to. "Diana, my sister isn't like that, right?"

I looked at Diana too.

For just that moment, I actually hoped she would tell the truth, even if it was only one sentence.

Diana nodded. "Right. She's not like that."

Rosalie visibly relaxed.

But in the very next second, Cedric laughed. "Why are you covering up for her, Diana? Isn't her sister a homewrecker?"

The entire room fell silent.

I whipped around.

Rosalie froze as well.

Cedric stood by the door, his tone light and casual, as though he were talking about something completely ordinary. "You're already legally married to my brother, yet she's still clinging to him. Tell me that's not homewrecker behavior!"

Rosalie's face went deathly pale.

She stared desperately at Diana, waiting for her to deny it. However, Diana merely stood there, her lips pale. She did not say a single word.

And in that moment, I watched helplessly as something inside Rosalie shattered.

The monitor began shrieking. Her breathing became erratic, and her chest heaved violently as her face drained of colour.

"Rosalie!" I lunged toward her and pressed the emergency button before turning around and shoving Diana away. "Get out! Who told you to come?"

The fruit basket fell to the floor, sending fruit rolling everywhere. Diana stumbled back two steps, her face turning pale with panic. "Juliet, listen to me. Cedric didn't mean it like that."

I glared at her, trembling from head to toe. "Why didn't you clarify it then? You watched her have an attack and didn't say a single word!"

…

When the nurses and doctors rushed in, the room had descended into chaos. I called for the doctors while pushing those people toward the door. "Get out. All of you, get out!"

Just then, Charles arrived.

The moment the door opened, I thought that at the very least, he would look at Rosalie first. But instead, he went straight to Diana and steadied her. "Are you alright?"

Diana's eyes immediately reddened as she clutched his arm. "Charles, I only came to explain, but Juliet suddenly shoved me."

Charles immediately turned toward me, his expression darkening. "Enough is enough, Juliet! Diana only came to see your sister out of kindness. She's pregnant. Are you going to bear responsibility for frightening her?"

I stood beside Rosalie's hospital bed, feeling something inside me suddenly turning hollow as I listened to his reproach.

…

Meanwhile, Rosalie was being resuscitated. Doctors and nurses crowded around her bed, and the monitor continued to shriek. Yet to Charles, Diana's unborn child was all that mattered right then.

I looked at him and suddenly did not want to argue anymore. I simply raised my hand and pointed toward the door, my voice so hoarse that it barely sounded like my own. "Get out. All of you… Out!"

At that moment, the doctor also sternly ordered everyone else to leave.

The room finally fell silent.

…

It took a long time before Rosalie was finally pulled back from the brink.

I sat beside her bed and stayed there until late into the night, when she slowly regained consciousness. The moment she opened her eyes and saw me, tears began to fall.

I leaned down and wrapped my arms tightly around her. "Let's go."

She trembled softly in my arms.

I stroked her hair, my voice trembling as well. "Let's leave this hellhole. We'll sell the old house and never come back."

Rosalie nodded through her tears. "I'll go with you, Ju."

…

For the next few days, I barely slept.

A week later, we had finished all the necessary paperwork.

Before the plane took off, I checked my phone one last time. There were no new messages. I snapped my old SIM card in half, then turned away without looking back.

The hospital refunded the remaining treatment fees to the original account. The note attached to the transaction was simple: 'Patient transferred.'

When Charles saw the notification, he was at the wedding venue. He frantically called my number again and again, but every call went unanswered.