Chapter 2

I don’t remember how I managed to drive out of the Johnson estate.

The rain was pouring down, and even with the windshield wipers frantically swaying back and forth, they couldn’t clear the blur in front of my eyes. Kalen’s vicious laughter and Gavin’s cold verdict echoed in my ears like a curse, repeating over and over again.

Elena… that name was like a curse.

Just because she had been injured saving someone in that fire, everything she did was forgiven by Gavin as "trauma response."

But I couldn't forget.

In our years at St. Andrews Private High School, she was the queen reigning from above, while I was the mud beneath her feet.

Just because I refused to help her cheat, she led the cheerleaders to corner me in the locker room, cut up my uniform, and dunked my head into the toilet while flushing it.

She spread rumors that I was the kind of girl who would sleep with anyone for money. She had those rich playboys hide needles in my dance shoes, watching me dance on stage with bloodied feet just for their amusement.

I even thought about ending my life at one point.

Until Gavin appeared.

He wasn’t like those lecherous rich kids. He wore a well-fitted suit, like a true gentleman, and shielded me from all the malice.

When he found out my only family—my grandmother—had severe heart disease and needed expensive medical treatment, he immediately arranged for her to stay in the best private nursing home without saying a word.

Late at night after my part-time job, he would pick me up in his understated black Maybach, hand me a warm cup of Earl Grey tea, gently stroke my head, and say, "Ivy, you are strong. You deserve the best in this world."

Once, when my grandmother had a sudden heart attack, he used his family’s helicopter to snatch her back from the hands of death.

That day, looking at his tired yet gentle profile, I swore in my heart: whether rich or poor, I would love him for the rest of my life.

Thinking back now, those tender moments late at night, those sweet words that made me blush…

They were all Kalen acting.

After enjoying my body, that devil must have been laughing at my stupidity with Gavin, right?

"So stupid, sleeping with her boyfriend's brother for three years without knowing."

"So stupid, actually thinking the heir of the Johnson family would fall in love with a girl from the slums."

I slammed on the brakes, slumped over the steering wheel, and let out a heart-wrenching wail.

So stupid.

Ivy, you really are so stupid.

Just then, my phone rang abruptly. It was the head nurse from the nursing home.

"Mrs. Smith! It's bad! Your grandmother is suddenly having trouble breathing. Her condition is critical! We need to transfer her immediately!"

My mind went blank with a loud buzz.

Like a madwoman, I turned the car around, floored the gas pedal, and rushed toward the nursing home.

However, on the only road leading to the nursing home, a red Ferrari was parked horizontally in the middle of the road, blocking the way.

It was Gavin’s car.

The ambulance carrying my grandmother had been forced onto the shoulder, its sirens wailing piercingly in the void.

I scrambled out of my vehicle and pounded frantically on the Ferrari’s window through the pouring rain.

“Move! Please, move! The ambulance needs to get through!”

But the person in the driver's seat ignored my desperate screams.

“Oops. Bad timing. The car broke down,” the driver drawled through the glass. It was Kalen’s voice.

“Elena sends her regards. Consider this a little lesson for upsetting her.”

“A life is at stake! My grandmother is in there!”

I collapsed onto my knees in the muddy water, screaming until my throat was raw.

“I beg you, move the car! I’ll do anything! Just move it!”

“Anything?”

Kalen’s voice was cold and detached from behind the glass.

“Too bad I’ve lost interest in you. You can wait for the tow truck.”

Then he cranked up the rock music, completely drowning out my pleas.

The ambulance was blocked for a full forty minutes.

By the time I finally arrived at the hospital, the lights in the emergency room had gone out.

The doctor took off his mask and shook his head regretfully, "She arrived too late. If she had been here forty minutes earlier, maybe there would have been hope."

My legs gave way, and I fell to my knees with a thud.

Those aged hands were now cold.

Grandma struggled to open her eyes, her clouded gaze searching the empty hospital room.

"Gavin... Is Gavin here..."

"Grandma wants... wants to thank him in person..."

I took out my phone with trembling hands and dialed Gavin's number over and over again.

No answer.

I sent text messages like crazy.

[Gavin, please answer the phone. Grandma is dying. She wants to see you one last time.]

[As long as you come, I won't hold anything against you. Gavin, please...]

[Gavin...]

Tears blurred my vision, mixing with the rain on the screen, distorting the words.

Even if he just treated me as a plaything, even if this was a scam.

As long as he could appear now, as long as he could let Grandma go peacefully, I could pretend I knew nothing. I could continue to be that fool.

But there was dead silence on the other end of the phone.

The light in Grandma's eyes gradually faded.

She held my hand tightly, using her last bit of strength to say intermittently:

"Ivy... be happy... don't... hate..."

The electrocardiogram turned into a piercing straight line.

"Grandma!!!"

I slumped by the bed, crying my heart out.

The only person in this world who loved me was gone.

That night, I sat alone on the cold bench outside the morgue, handling Grandma's funeral arrangements.

Until 3 AM, my phone screen lit up.

It was a notification for a special follow.

Elena had updated her Instagram.

The picture was a group photo taken in the VIP channel of JFK Airport.

In the photo, Gavin, who was always calm, noble, and unsmiling, was now holding a huge bouquet of champagne roses.

He looked at Elena, his eyes full of the joy of regaining something lost and doting affection.

The caption read: [Welcome Home, My Hero. Turns out no matter how far I go, as long as I look back, you are always there.]

I looked at the timestamp in the lower-left corner of the photo.

It was exactly the moment I was kneeling in the rain begging Kalen to move his car, and the ambulance was blocked.

So that was it.

He was affectionately picking up his "white moonlight" at the airport.

And his good brother, to "vent anger" for this "white moonlight," intercepted the ambulance on the road and killed my grandmother.

Gavin, you don't even know how much blood is on your brother's hands.

You think you are repaying a debt.

Actually, you are committing a sin.

I didn't cry.

I just calmly turned off my phone and completely deleted the photo set as my wallpaper.

The next morning, the rain stopped.

I went to an old church on Fifth Avenue first.

I took off the priceless pink diamond ring Gavin gave me when he proposed, along with all the jewelry he had given me over the past three years, and put them all in the donation box.

The priest looked at me in surprise, "Child, these things are too valuable. Are you sure?"

"These are dirty things."

I looked at Jesus on the cross, my voice calm without a single ripple.

"Exchange them for money and donate it to those in need. Consider it... accumulating some good karma for Gavin."

Walking out of the church, I dialed an international call.

It was the Human Resources Department of the International Red Cross.

"Hello, this is Ivy. Is the application I submitted before still valid?"

The person on the other end seemed surprised, "Dr. Ivy? Of course, it's valid. But didn't you say you were getting married and withdrew the application?"

"I'm not getting married anymore."

I looked at the hypocritical blue sky in the direction of Long Island, my voice cold as ice.

"Please send me to Damascus, or any place on the front line of war."

"The more dangerous, the better. The sooner, the better."

"No problem. There happens to be a medical team leaving next week."

"Good."

Hanging up the phone, I glanced at the calendar.

Next week.

It happened to be the day of my wedding with Gavin.

That’s fine.

I’ll leave on that day.