Chapter 3

“Kids, your mother is in much worse shape. She might have a brain bleed and requires emergency care immediately!”

“I don’t care! Save Sofia first!” Maya screamed as well. “Save Sofia first!”

The paramedic was put in a difficult position. That was when Connor’s deep, hoarse voice broke in, carrying unquestionable authority.

“Take Miss Reyes first.”

“But Mr. Hall, your wife–”

“Do as I say! The next ambulance will be here any second.” Connor raised his voice, his tone impatient and commanding.

Hurried footsteps echoed as the gurney was rushed away.

It took everything in Eliza to force her blood-stained eyes open. Through her blurred vision, she saw Connor holding the unconscious Sofia in his arms, flanked by their two children as they all boarded that ambulance right behind the gurney and left her alone at the crash site.

Before her consciousness faded away, her mind suddenly drifted back to a long-ago time.

There was an occasion when she had accidentally cut her finger while peeling an apple. It was just a tiny nick, yet Connor had been so worried that he dropped a tens-of-millions-dollar deal right then and there to drive her to the hospital.

The entire drive over, his brows furrowed, and he repeatedly asked her, “Does it hurt?”

Then, there was a time when the kids were still tiny. Connor held them close and pointed toward her, saying, “Leo, Maya, this is your mother. When you grow up, you have to take care of her, okay?”

The two children had nodded innocently back then, throwing themselves into her arms and piping up in their sweet little voices, “Take care of Mommy!”

Yet, what about now? They had stopped the paramedics to save Sofia first, and their father, the very man who had once sworn to protect her with his life, had chosen to save another woman first, leaving her right there to bleed out.

As it turned out, people really do change, and love really does fade away.

When she woke up again, she was in a hospital room. Eliza opened her eyes to see Connor and the two children by her bedside.

Seeing her wake up, Connor seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “Eliza, you’re awake? How are you feeling?”

To Eliza, his concern sounded ironic and sickening.

“You… didn’t choose to save me back then. Why bother pretending to care about me now?”

The expression on Connor’s face froze. “Sofia’s weaker, and she had fainted. It was an emergency. I just… After weighing everything, I made the safest choice. Eliza, I hope you’ll understand.”

Understand? What was she supposed to understand? Understand that he abandoned her at the crash site to die, all to save a woman who merely had “minor injuries” and had “fainted”?

Just then, a nurse knocked on the door and walked in. “Mr. Hall, Miss Reyes has woken up. She’s emotionally unstable and has been asking for you…”

Connor stood up immediately. “Eliza, get some rest. I’ll… check on her first. Leo, Maya, you both stay here and keep your mother company.”

With that, he hurried out of the hospital room.

Although the two children stayed behind, they were obviously checked out. Leo kept staring at the door while Maya fiddled with her smartwatch, whispering under her breath, “I wonder how Sofia is doing…”

Seeing them like this hurt Eliza, and she could no longer hold back from saying, “If… If your father and I get a divorce, who would you choose to go with?”

Both children raised their heads at the same time, momentarily stunned.

Leo’s eyes lit up first. “Divorce? Does that mean you and Daddy will split up and live separately?”

Maya also chimed in excitedly, “Then does that mean Daddy can be with Sofia?”

Before Eliza could answer, Leo quickly cut in, “Then of course we’re going with Daddy! Because if we’re with Daddy, we get to see Sofia every day!”

Maya nodded eagerly. “Yeah! I want to be with Daddy and Sofia!”

Every word stabbed Eliza’s already shattered heart.

She stared in disbelief at these two tiny lives she had brought into this world, her voice trembling as she asked, “So… compared to me, you like Sofia better, is that it?”

“Of course!” Leo blurted out. “Sofia plays with us and takes us to amusement parks! What about you? You’re always telling us to wait until you’re done with work, but you’re never finished!”

Maya added softly as well, “Sofia also dresses me up in pretty dresses, gives me snacks, and lets me watch TV. But you always tell me to bundle up, and you never allow me any junk food…”

They listed off every good thing about Sofia, alongside every bad thing about her, their biological mother.

As Eliza listened, her heart sank. It turned out that while she was exhausting herself running around for the sake of her family and her so-called work-life balance, her children had long since been won over by another woman’s calculated kindness.

Right at that moment, Maya tugged on her brother’s sleeve and whispered, “Leo, Daddy’s over there by himself, and I don’t know if he can take proper care of Sofia… I’m a little worried. Should we check on Sofia? Anyway… Mommy is fine now.”

Leo nodded right away. “I’m worried about Sofia too! Come on, let’s go!”

The two children made to run outside as they spoke.

On the way out, Leo accidentally bumped into the hot water kettle on the bedside table. The kettle tipped over, and the scalding hot water inside spilled, drenching Eliza’s legs beneath the thin blanket.

“Ah!” The searing, excruciating pain made Eliza scream out, and her face instantly drained of color.

Startled by the sudden accident, the children looked back at Eliza’s agonized state.

Maya asked in a quiet voice, “Leo… what do we do? Mommy got burned…”

Leo glanced back, took his sister’s hand, and said, “It’s just a little burn. She’ll be fine. Let’s go. Sofia needs us more!”

With that, he dragged Maya, who looked back every three steps, out of the hospital room without turning back again.

Eliza shook from the pain, and cold sweat instantly broke out across her forehead. All she could do was reach out with great effort to press the call button beside the bed.

Soon, a nurse rushed in. Seeing the state she was in, the nurse gasped and quickly called the doctor over to treat it.

Throughout the process of cleaning and bandaging the wound, Eliza gritted her teeth without making a single sound as tears streamed down her face.

As the nurse treated her, she could not help but sigh. “Ms. Lowry, why is no one taking care of you? These burns are no joke. If it gets infected, things can get serious.”

Eliza kept her eyes closed, saying nothing.

The nurse chattered on again, “Miss Reyes in the VIP room next door was brought in from a car accident too, with only minor injuries. Yet, her husband and kids have been by her side the entire time, so worried about her. It really goes to show how different people’s lives can be…”

Eliza didn’t reply. She simply let out a low, raspy laugh, yet her tears flowed intensely.

After the nurse left, silence filled the room again. Lying on the hospital bed, Eliza stared up at the white ceiling, her gaze turning cold as she made her decision.

She pulled out her phone and dialed her boss’s number.

“Mr. Fox, it’s Eliza.”

“Eliza? Are you feeling any better? I heard you were in a car crash. Get some good rest and set work aside for now–”

“Mr. Fox,” Eliza interrupted him, her voice flat. “I’d like to request a transfer to be a war correspondent.”