Chapter 4

Keith's POV

From the day I was hospitalized, Hannah never contacted me again. But through Cory's profile, I still knew where she had been and what she had been doing.

It wasn't until a week later that she finally returned. That was also the same day I was discharged from the hospital.

The moment she came home, she explained, "I've been so busy with work this whole week, so I didn't really have the time to talk to you. But things will be easier over the next few days. Then, I can be with you every day."

Hannah smiled and gave the bag in her hand a little shake.

"I bought some fresh ingredients on my way home. I put aside some money from my paycheck for them. You're the one who's had to take on the most between the two of us."

Hannah rambled on, but I simply looked at her in silence.

She didn't have any work that week in the first place. It was only because of the rear-end collision that she spent a week with Cory and Joel in Lamix.

"Keith, what happened to your hand?"

It was only then that she noticed the bandage around my wrist.

"I got into a car accident," I said calmly. Hannah's expression immediately turned serious when she heard about the accident, and she was even a little angry too.

"Why didn't you tell me you were in a car accident? How bad was it…"

"Aren't you tired?"

Wasn't Hannah tired of pretending to be poor for the past five years? She even had to pretend to be in love with me every single day.

She froze for a moment before shaking her head. "You must be more tired than I am."

She hugged me, her face full of worry. "From now on, you have to tell me if anything happens. If something happened to you, what would I do?"

I closed my eyes and quietly moved away from her. She had said the same thing to Cory too.

"Why don't I take some time off and stay home with you? I can't stop worrying about you when you're like this."

As Hannah carried the ingredients into the kitchen, I suddenly said, "We've been together for almost ten years. Isn't it time we got married?"

She froze in her tracks. She then turned back to look at me, her expression blank for a moment.

Finally, she forced a smile. "Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden? You know we don't have the money now, and I still have so much debt.

"I don't want to hold you back. Didn't we agree back then that we'd get married once we paid off the debt?"

"When will we be able to pay it off?" The moment I asked, Hannah was clearly starting to lose patience and turned away dismissively.

"Soon. We've been together for so long. We're no different from a married couple now. All we're missing is a piece of paper."

The truth was, I had brought this up before, and Hannah had always brushed me off with the same excuse.

Back then, I truly believed she was doing this for my sake. But now I knew better. She had already married someone else.

I didn't say anything else. And just as I expected, everything fell silent afterward.

The dinner Hannah promised to make never happened either because Cory called her. Her phone rang a few times, but she didn't answer.

After some time, she hesitated before answering the call. I didn't know what Cory said, but she immediately went pale. She rushed to leave without even taking off her apron.

As she hurriedly put on her shoes, she finally turned to look at me, guilt flickering in her eyes.

"I… I'll definitely be back tonight."

I didn't try to stop Hannah and let her close the door behind her.

Once the room fell silent again, I got up and packed my things.

Not long after, I saw Cory's new post on Instagram. It was a picture of him, Hannah, and Joel having dinner together.

"As expected. She'll always choose me."

I looked at the photo and liked it before leaving a comment. "What a happy family."

Cory didn't respond.

Even by the next morning, Hannah still hadn't returned.

My friend called me too. "Your ride's outside. I'll be honest. If you hadn't given up this job five years ago, you would've made it big by now."

Once I got into the car, I said goodbye to this city and left Hannah behind too.