Chapter 7

The scissors in my hand paused for a beat.

"I don't want to see them," I said.

The nurse nodded and went downstairs to turn them away. I thought that would be the end of it. But the moment she stepped out into the courtyard, David suddenly looked up.

Through the third-floor window, his eyes locked on mine. In an instant, he went rigid.

Right after, he charged into the building. He moved so fast that the nurses in the hallway didn't even have time to stop him.

By the time the door to my room burst open, I had just set the vase back on the table.

David stood in the doorway, his chest heaving. Erika trailed behind him, holding onto the wall with a pale face.

After a long silence, David finally found his voice, raspy and choked. "Hazel..."

I looked at him. "It's been a while."

His eyes welled up. But soon, that flicker of joyous relief in his gaze turned into an uncontrollable frustration. "Why did you deceive me?"

As I stayed silent, he took a step forward. "I thought you were dead. I stayed up all night outside the morgue."

His voice grew raspier. "Did you do this on purpose?"

Erika stared at me, her eyes rimmed red. "Hazel, do you hate us that much? Did you just want us to taste what it feels like to lose you?"

An overwhelming wave of exhaustion washed over me. So, even my decision to leave was twisted into a punishment in their minds.

I sat back down on the edge of the bed. "No, I never wanted to get revenge on you, and nor did I want to punish either of you. I just wanted to get as far away from you both as possible."

The room fell into heavy silence.

I continued, "In the past, I always felt like I owed you guys. So, whatever you wanted, I stepped aside and gave it to you. Now I've paid back everything I could give. A part of my liver has been given to you. My baby is gone, and my life, too."

I whispered, "I don't owe you anything anymore. And by that same token, you don't owe me a thing either."

Tears streamed down Erika's face. "How could we not owe you?"

She shuffled a step forward, leaning against the wall for support. "If you want it, I can give you my life."

David's expression shifted, and he instinctively reached out to steady her. But Erika pushed his hands away, looking at me through her tears.

"Do you have any idea how terrified I was when I woke up and heard you were dead? Do you know how much we missed you? You were pregnant, and you lost the baby. Why didn't you tell us any of it?"

I looked at her, forcing a bitter smile. "Well, you two got together, and you didn't tell me either. Every night, when you took off my hearing aid, you didn't tell me.

"When you were worried that I'd hear what was happening in the next room, you didn't tell me. So, is it that surprising that I didn't tell you I was pregnant?"

Erika's face drained of color bit by bit. David opened his mouth, but not a word came out. All the accusations they had wanted to throw at me were choked back.

Clutching my surgical incision, I closed my eyes. "I'm not feeling well right now, and I don't want to keep arguing with you two. Please, just leave."

David stepped forward. "I'm not leaving."

I glanced over at the nurse. Understanding my silent plea, she quickly called security upstairs.

...

Yet after that day, they didn't leave.

Since I refused to see them, they simply stood down in the courtyard.

In the morning, when I practiced walking in the rehab room, David would stand outside the glass doors watching.

In the afternoon, when I sat out in the greenhouse to get some sunlight, Erika would sit on a bench, watching from a distance.

They didn't dare to come close. They just had boxes upon boxes of things delivered to me—new hearing aids, post-op nutritional supplements, books I liked to read, and clothes shipped over from back home.

Even my hospital bills had been settled in full by David.

When I asked the nurse to return everything, she offered an apologetic, awkward look. "Ms. Pratt, they said this is the least they can do."

But the thing I feared most now was owing them anything ever again.

On the third day, I finally asked the nurse to arrange a meeting with them down in the greenhouse.

When David arrived, he had changed into a clean set of clothes. Erika sat in a wheelchair again, a light blanket draped over her knees. The two of them sat far apart from each other, as if trying to prove something to me.

David spoke first. "Erika and I aren't together."

"Nothing is going on between us now," Erika echoed quickly. "If you're willing to go back with him, I can leave. I'll make sure I never appear in front of you ever again."

David looked at me, his voice trembling. "Hazel, can we start over? Please come back, okay?"

Erika's tears fell again. "The dynamic between the three of us was always messy. I admit I was selfish, and I admit I couldn't stand seeing you two happy together.

"But I genuinely want you to be okay now. As long as you're safe and healthy, I'll go wherever you want me to go."

I listened quietly. Only after a long pause did I speak softly. "Living under the weight of a debt used to make me so exhausted. Now I don't want to accumulate a new one."

David's eyes flickered with pain. "This isn't a debt. This is just me wanting to treat you right."

I shook my head. "I don't need it anymore."

"Hazel..." Erika sobbed.

I turned to her. "Whatever exists between you and David—whether it's affection, obligation, or love—you don't have to break it off on my account. I've already walked away."

David's voice was hoarse. "I don't love her anymore."

I looked at him. "That's between you two. It has nothing to do with me."

His body swayed under the weight of my words.

I continued, "If the day ever comes when you two get married, I won't be there in person, but you'll have my blessings."

Erika's tears crashed down, and David snapped upright. "Do you really have to act like this?"

I slowly pushed myself up. They reached out almost simultaneously to support me.

Staring at those two outstretched hands, I gently brushed them aside. "Let's leave it at this."

David's voice cracked with desperation. "Hazel..."

"Just pretend I died," I said quietly. "If you ever miss me, go to that headstone back home and talk to it. As for the Hazel Pratt standing here right now..."

I paused. "She's already died once. She has nothing to do with any of those past affairs."

With that, I turned around and walked back inside.

This time, I didn't look back.