Chapter 2

I nodded calmly.

"Yes. Cancel it."

The wedding planner looked disappointed.

"I remember the last time you came here. Your blood sugar dropped, and your fiancé ran all over town in the 95-degree heat looking for medicine. I've worked here for years, and I've never seen a couple as devoted as you two."

I had always been in poor health, so Jason made a habit of carrying my medicine and candy in his pocket.

It was one of the few things he never let me split the cost of.

That day, he had forgotten to bring them, so he ran from one pharmacy to another until he was soaked with sweat.

After giving me the medicine, he collapsed from heat exhaustion.

I thought he had done it because he was worried about me.

But after reading those chat records, I found out he had hand-fed that candy to Sophia.

That was when I realized it wasn't concern.

It was guilt.

Before I left, the planner smiled sadly.

"No matter what happens, I hope your future is filled with happiness."

I thanked her and went to return my wedding dress.

After I finished everything, I went home.

The moment I walked inside, I saw Sophia sitting on the couch, feeding Jason a cookie.

"Last time you fed me candy. This time, it's my turn to feed you cookies."

She froze when she heard the front door open.

"Ms. Vernon, I..."

Jason acted as if I didn't exist.

He leaned over and took a bite of the cookie she was holding.

"It's good."

Only after he finished eating did he explain, "The rabies vaccine has some side effects. Sophia lives alone, and there's no one to take care of her. So she'll be staying with us for a few days."

He had already brought back the luggage I had thrown outside.

Then he looked at me.

"Stop being stubborn. Send the money, apologize to Sophia, and we'll forget this ever happened."

His words made me laugh.

I was about to argue when I suddenly realized Buddy was gone.

My voice shook as I looked around in panic.

"Where's Buddy?"

Jason answered bluntly, "I gave him away. Sophia is allergic to cat fur. If she's around him for too long, she'll get sick. Buddy has a bad temper too, and I was worried he'd scratch her again. Besides, he's already old. He probably doesn't have much time left anyway. I'll just buy you a new cat in a few days."

Sophia bit her lip and looked at me with a smug smile.

"Ms. Vernon, please don't blame Mr. Chadwick. He only did it for my sake. I saw people feeding stray cats outside our apartment building, so I left Buddy down there. He should be fine. Besides, Mr. Chadwick was always the one taking care of Buddy. You can barely take care of yourself, so maybe you shouldn't have a pet."

I couldn't believe my ears.

Jason knew there had been several cases of people abusing cats around our apartment complex lately.

Yet he still put Buddy in danger for Sophia.

"Jason, take your girlfriend and get out of my house. If anything happens to Buddy, I'll never forgive either of you."

I wiped away my tears and rushed outside.

When Jason saw me crying, his face changed, and he stood up to chase after me.

But just then, Sophia complained that her hand hurt.

He stopped, gently kissed the scratch on her hand, and smiled.

"There. All better!"

Those childish, intimate words made me sick.

I forced myself to swallow the pain and kept searching around the apartment complex.

Boom!

A heavy storm suddenly poured down from the sky.

The rain blurred my vision, but I didn't dare stop looking.

I searched through countless bushes but still couldn't find Buddy.

Then, after I left the complex, I finally saw him near the road.

"Buddy!"

I ran toward him.

At that moment, a car sped out of control straight at me.

I couldn't get out of the way in time. The impact threw me several yards through the air.

The loud crash scared Buddy away again.

I lay on the ground, unable to move from the pain, while the driver sped off.

The pain made my head spin.

Without thinking, I called Jason.

"Jason... I've been hit by a car..."

Before I could finish, he let out a cold laugh.

"You actually made up a story like this just to make me admit I was wrong and comfort you? You're an adult. Even if you got hit by a car, you should know how to handle it yourself. You know the emergency number, don't you? Then call it yourself."