Chapter 6

Selma felt as though someone had brutally torn a piece out of her chest, leaving an ache so deep that she could barely breathe.

Watching Valerio desperately insist on donating more blood, she finally saw the truth with absolute clarity: his love for Maureen had reached the point where he was willing to throw his life away for her.

"How could he love someone so much? How could he be so utterly devoted to her?"

As Selma watched him force the nurse to reinsert the needle, she couldn't help wondering why, out of the billions of people in the world, she had to fall in love with him.

Unable to bear it any longer, she rushed forward and pried his fingers away from the nurse's arm.

"Take the remaining 600 cc from me!"

But Valerio shoved her back without hesitation. "I don't need your help! Don't think for a second that donating blood for Maureen will make me agree to marry you anytime soon!"

Selma had never imagined that even at a moment like this, he would still assume she was trying to use the situation to force him into marriage. Her eyes burned with tears, and when she spoke, her voice carried a sorrow so deep that it was almost haunting.

"I just want to make sure you get back to your parents alive! They're still waiting for you to come home."

Her words gave Valerio pause, and Selma seized the opportunity to sit down in front of the nurse before he could stop her.

The nurse inserted the needle into her vein, sending a faint sting up her arm. Selma closed her eyes instinctively, and as the blood began to flow, she could hear her own heartbeat gradually slowing, each beat becoming more agonizing than the last.

One bag, two bags, three bags, four bags...

With each passing moment, the color drained from Selma's face. Her body began to tremble, and her thoughts grew increasingly hazy until darkness finally swallowed her vision.

Selma remained unconscious for an entire day before the ringing of her phone finally jolted her awake. Barely able to gather her thoughts, she answered the call and immediately heard Florian and Lynn's frantic voices.

"Valerio is already back home. Why aren't you with him? Did something happen?"

Selma's mind went blank.

She had no idea what had happened after she lost consciousness, but she didn't want Florian and Lynn to worry, so she forced herself to sound calm and reassured them that everything was fine.

Once the call ended, she opened her messages and discovered a text Valerio had sent six hours ago.

[Maureen's condition is unstable. I'm taking her back first.]

Selma stared at the screen as reality slowly sank in: he had abandoned her yet again. The pressure in her chest grew so intense that she struggled to breathe.

Without warning, memories from when she was eight years old flooded her mind, taking her back to the time she had played hide-and-seek with the neighborhood children.

She had hidden alone on the rooftop, where neither the other children nor the teachers managed to find her. Eventually, she had fallen asleep, only to wake up later and realize she was locked inside.

Overwhelmed by terror, she had cried hysterically until Valerio, who had doubled back to retrieve something he had forgotten, heard her sobs and came to rescue her.

From that day forward, she had believed that as long as she stayed by Valerio's side, she would always be safe.

She had simply forgotten one crucial thing: the protection he had offered her back then had never been meant for her.

...

After taking a three-hour flight home, Selma found Florian and Lynn waiting for her at the airport.

Throughout the drive back, they kept making excuses for Valerio, desperately trying to convince her that he hadn't deliberately abandoned her in Arirunhill.

However, the moment Selma opened her phone, a new post on her social media feed caught her attention.

Maureen had published a lengthy update detailing how Valerio had donated an enormous amount of blood to save her life, flown in the finest medical team available, chartered an overnight flight to bring her back, and stayed glued to her bedside without leaving even for a moment.

As Selma read through the post, she could feel the depth of Valerio's love for Maureen radiating from every word.

Noticing the change in her expression, Florian and Lynn leaned over to look at her phone. The moment they saw Maureen's post, they exchanged awkward glances, struggling to find a way to smooth things over.

Watching them desperately search for something to say, Selma forced a smile. "I know how badly you want Valerio and me to end up together, but the person he loves has never been me.

"So, I want to call off the engagement."