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Chapter 4

Autor: Joe Yo
I woke to the sound of Mindy's voice.

"The 21st time—Julian, it's okay if you won't answer me. I'll wait for you downstairs. The 27th time—as long as you come back, I'll do anything you want."

In an exaggerated tone, she recited the messages I'd once sent Julian while begging him to take me back.

The hospital room door was wide open. Nurses, caregivers, and passing patients could all hear about how he blocked me, how I'd stood in the rain waiting for him, and how I'd pleaded with him not to call off our weddings.

When Mindy noticed my eyes opening, she grinned and blew a dog whistle.

Julian sat on the couch nearby, dark circles under his tired eyes.

"Why did you give that to her?" My voice came out hoarse.

He stood and poured me a glass of water. His voice remained calm as he spoke. "The doctor said familiar sounds and memories could help wake you up. Dogs wake up when they smell their owner. I figured that people aren't that different."

Mindy laughed. "Celine, don't be mad. At least, now everyone knows how much you love Julian."

I ripped the IV needle from the back of my hand and yelled, "Get out!"

Blood immediately trickled down my skin.

Julian's expression darkened. He was about to call a nurse when a woman's sobs suddenly echoed from outside the room. The man who had defended Mom at the cemetery walked in. Behind him, a pregnant woman followed.

The man's face was bruised, and his clothing was wrinkled and disheveled. The moment he entered, he lowered his head toward Mindy.

"Ms. Sutton, I'm sorry."

I froze.

Julian explained calmly, "If he hadn't rushed toward Mindy, you wouldn't have fallen. Mindy was frightened, and her cat's-eye bracelet broke. Obviously, he's responsible for it."

That bracelet was worth 480 thousand dollars.

The man was a delivery driver, and his wife was eight months pregnant. The entire family depended on his income. To scrape together money for compensation, he'd already sold his delivery van.

I stared at Julian. "He didn't do anything wrong! It was all Mindy's fault. I want her to apologize at my mother's grave."

Mindy's eyes instantly reddened.

Julian leaned against the couch, looking at us like a judge observing a courtroom.

"Fine. The moment you forgive Mindy, I'll let him go. Until then, he'll pay for every cent of that bracelet."

The driver's wife broke down crying and grabbed my sleeve. "Ms. Whitmore, our baby is due next month. We really can't afford this."

My whole body trembled with rage. I said, "Julian, if you want to take this out on someone, take it out on me."

"I am." His gaze settled on me. "Celine, if you won't give in, someone else will suffer in your place."

Mindy snorted a laugh. "I guess making an example of one to warn another works on dogs too."

Julian didn't stop her. His attention remained on the man on the verge of breaking down as he said casually, "A man with no money and influence thought he could stand up for someone else. You and Celine are alike. You both think that if you make enough noise, you'll get justice."

The man's wife was crying so hard that she could barely stand still.

I closed my eyes, and at last, I spoke. "I forgive Mindy."

Only then did Julian lift a hand, gesturing for the bodyguards to step aside and release the man and his wife. Then, he reached out and smoothed my hair, as if petting a dog that had finally learned obedience.

"If you'd been this reasonable from the beginning, he wouldn't have had to suffer."

Over the next four days, I took my medication on schedule. I quietly attended wedding fittings. I let Mindy come and go into our home like it was her own.

On the morning of the wedding, Mindy suddenly insisted that Julian take her for a drive in the wedding car before the ceremony.

Julian adjusted my veil and said, "I'll come back for you."

I nodded.

When his car disappeared past the gates, I took off the wedding dress. Then, carrying Puffy in my arms, I grabbed the luggage I had packed days earlier and headed to the airport.

Just as the boarding announcement echoed through the terminal, my phone rang with a call from Julian. For the first time, his voice was shaking.

"Celine Whitmore, where are you?"

I looked through the glass wall at the aircraft slowly taking off. I smiled.

"This dog is lost. And this time, she won't be brought back to you."

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  • The Priceless Cat and the Obedient Dog   Chapter 9

    Three days later, I returned to the cemetery. It was quiet.The dog tags and stickers had been cleared away, and the trampled flower bed had been restored. All the expensive flowers and wreaths from the Paynes were gone, leaving only the two white hydrangeas I'd once planted beside the grave.The man who had spoken up for me was there as well. His wife, eight months pregnant, held a bouquet of fresh lilies."Things got so out of hand that day, and we still haven't had the chance to properly apologize to Mrs. Whitmore," she said.She began to bow, but I hurried forward to steady her. "You aren't the ones who should be apologizing."The man had recovered the delivery van he'd been forced to sell. Julian had publicly set the record straight about what happened and dropped all efforts to hold him responsible. Still, the couple had refused the house offered to them as compensation.The reburial crew began clearing out the grave. When they moved the stone slab aside, I knelt on the gro

  • The Priceless Cat and the Obedient Dog   Chapter 8

    The day after Puffy was discharged from the animal hospital, I got a call from the cemetery.The staff member on the line told me that people had recently been gathering at Mom's grave to take photos, disturbing other families paying their respects.I thought they had the wrong person—until they sent me a video.In the clip, silver dog tags hung all over Mom's headstone. Dog food, chew sticks, and a plastic bowl of water were set out on the ground below.A few young people stood in front of the grave, whistling and laughing as they shouted at the camera, "Celine Whitmore, your owner's here to pick you up! If you can hear us, hurry up and go home!"The first person to post a video was someone who'd played that personality game at the drinking party. Once it went viral, more and more people came to the cemetery to copy it.Someone had stuck dog ears onto Mom's photo, and someone else had put a sticker right in the center of the headstone that read, "A dog will always recognize its

  • The Priceless Cat and the Obedient Dog   Chapter 7

    Even though the missing-person notice had been taken down, the secretly recorded videos hadn't completely disappeared.In one of them, Puffy was lying on my lap. Apparently, it was only when Mindy saw it that she remembered she still had a cat.The next day, I got a call from the local police. Mindy had reported me, claiming that I'd taken a pet registered in her name without permission.The police didn't treat the dispute over a pet as a criminal case, so they didn't show up at my door. They simply suggested Mindy and I work it out between ourselves.Mindy, however, refused to negotiate and insisted I send Puffy back. She even had her lawyer send over the adoption certificate and microchip registration, and her name really was on both.Back when I saved Puffy, I'd already made arrangements with the animal rescue shelter to adopt him.Then Mindy suddenly said she liked him, so Julian talked me into letting her have him, even accompanying her to get all the paperwork done.But no

  • The Priceless Cat and the Obedient Dog   Chapter 6

    On my third day in the new city, I received a call from the police.Julian had filed a missing-person report, claiming I was still recovering from serious injuries and might have gone missing.The officer confirmed my name and date of birth, then asked if I was under any duress.I replied, "No. I left of my own free will.""Would you like us to pass your address along to the person who filed the report?""That won't be necessary."The officer didn't press further, only telling me that they would let Julian know I was safe.After hanging up, I resumed my leg rehab exercises.The fall at the cemetery had left me with a hairline fracture in my right leg, and the doctor said I'd need at least three months of rest.I'd only been doing physical therapy for ten minutes when the therapist held out a phone. "Ms. Whitmore, is this you?"On the screen was a missing-person notice. Julian had hired an agency specializing in finding missing people to issue it, offering a ten-million-dollar

  • The Priceless Cat and the Obedient Dog   Chapter 5

    As the plane soared into the clouds, I took one last look at the city below.Julian and I had been together for seven years. More times than I could count, I'd pictured myself leaving this city in a wedding dress.But I never imagined that on the day I actually left, I'd be wearing only a baggy coat, with gauze covering my temple and my leg so badly injured that I could barely walk.My cat, Puffy, was curled up in the carrier, gently rubbing against my fingers through the mesh.I stroked him. "From now on, it's just the two of us."Three hours later, the plane landed in a small, unfamiliar city in the south.None of Julian's friends were here, and no one knew who I was supposed to belong to.As an airport attendant wheeled me to the exit, I connected my spare phone to the internet and found over a dozen emails from the wedding planner.Julian was refusing to announce that the wedding had been canceled. Hundreds of guests had already arrived, and he was still standing in the ban

  • The Priceless Cat and the Obedient Dog   Chapter 4

    I woke to the sound of Mindy's voice."The 21st time—Julian, it's okay if you won't answer me. I'll wait for you downstairs. The 27th time—as long as you come back, I'll do anything you want."In an exaggerated tone, she recited the messages I'd once sent Julian while begging him to take me back.The hospital room door was wide open. Nurses, caregivers, and passing patients could all hear about how he blocked me, how I'd stood in the rain waiting for him, and how I'd pleaded with him not to call off our weddings.When Mindy noticed my eyes opening, she grinned and blew a dog whistle.Julian sat on the couch nearby, dark circles under his tired eyes."Why did you give that to her?" My voice came out hoarse.He stood and poured me a glass of water. His voice remained calm as he spoke. "The doctor said familiar sounds and memories could help wake you up. Dogs wake up when they smell their owner. I figured that people aren't that different."Mindy laughed. "Celine, don't be mad. At

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