Chapter 6

Yara spent the next few days in a haze.

To her surprise, Simon stayed by her bedside, gave her water and medicine, and attended to her every need.

The sunlight was blinding on the day she left the hospital.

Once they were in the car, Simon didn't start the engine.

He took out a document in a folder and handed it to Yara.

"Let's put this behind us. I told you I'd treat you well for the rest of my life. Whatever other people have, I'll make sure you have it too."

Yara lowered her gaze. Her eyes reddened, and tears spilled out without warning.

Simon thought she was crying with happiness.

His voice grew lighter.

"You're so happy you can't speak, huh? We're legally married again."

Yara looked up at him and managed a weak smile.

She had held their old marriage certificate countless times and knew every detail on it.

That was how she knew this one was fake.

He had gone so far as to forge a marriage certificate just to reassure her.

Her tears came from the cruelty of that deception, not gratitude.

She accepted the "gift," but that didn't mean she forgave him.

She only wanted to get through the time she had left without trouble and complete her plan to erase her memories.

Not long after she returned home, she took up cooking again, a skill she had let slip since getting married.

She prepared meals for the orphans in the slums who had no one to care for them.

One day, she carried about a dozen containers of food toward her car, but Simon stopped her.

He eyed what she held, impatience in his voice.

"I told you to stop doing this! Those people don't deserve your sympathy. That place is full of trouble, and it's too dangerous!"

Yara stopped and looked back at him calmly.

"I found you there too," she asked softly. "Were you not worth helping?"

Simon stiffened, then flew into a rage.

"Am I the same as those people to you? How can you compare them to me?"

Yara pulled her hand away when he tried to grab it.

Her voice was flat.

"You're right. I can't."

At least those children gave her smiles of sincere gratitude.

They didn't leave her covered in wounds and call it repayment.

Simon went rigid. Yara turned and left.

She didn't expect to run into Cindy in the slums.

Cindy's belly was beginning to show, and she looked at Yara with undisguised satisfaction.

"What, have you given up because you know you can't compete with me?"

Yara didn't want a pointless argument. She walked around Cindy and kept going.

Cindy sneered and shouted after her, "You keep wasting your time on this low-class nonsense. No wonder Simon can't bring himself to love you!"

Yara dismissed it as another unpleasant chance encounter.

But that night, Simon roughly hauled her out of bed.

"Yara! Have you lost your mind? What have you done?"

His face was livid.

He practically dragged her out of the house, shoved her into the car, and sped toward the hospital.

The hospital was in chaos. Cries and hurried footsteps filled the halls.

Children in obvious pain were rushed into the emergency room one after another.

Yara stared at them in alarm. "What... what happened?"

A nurse hurried past and explained,

"Food poisoning! The children brought in from the slums and a woman, all have severe symptoms!"

"That's impossible!" Yara protested instinctively. "The food I made was safe!"

Simon wouldn't listen.

He dragged her to the emergency room and slammed her against the wall.

His words came through clenched teeth.

"Cindy went to apologize to you yesterday. Why did you hurt her?"

He took out his phone and played a video.