Chapter 3

Agnes’ eyes were bloodshot, her expression murderous. “Ian Elsher, Nathan tried to kill himself because of what you said to him.”

I froze for a moment. “What did you just say?”

She exploded, screaming at me, “You knew he had depression! You knew how unstable he was! Why would you provoke him?”

Before I could respond, she instructed her bodyguards to shove me into a car. “You and Nathan have the same rare blood type. You’re the only one who can save him!”

We ran several red lights before I was dragged into the hospital. “Doctor, he has O-negative blood! He can donate!”

Her entire body trembled as she spoke. I had never seen Agnes look so utterly frantic.

I could only stand there in a daze, my mind completely blank.

Like a puppet on strings, I let her people drag me into the blood-draw room. I let her roughly yank up my sleeve.

I barely registered anything happening around me. All I could think about was the way Agnes had panicked over Nathan, how desperate she had looked at the thought of losing him.

Then I heard the doctor say, “I’m sorry, sir, but this patient recently underwent surgery. Donating blood could seriously interfere with his recovery.”

In a daze, I reached down and touched the scar on my right side. I donated a kidney to Nathan just three months ago.

The next second, Agnes’s furious voice rang out. “I said draw his blood! I don’t care if it affects his recovery. All I care about is Nathan being okay!”

It felt as though every drop of blood in my body had turned to ice. I stared at her in disbelief. “Agnes, I’m your husband.”

However, she kept screaming, ordering the staff to force the needle into my vein.

I fought with everything I had. “Agnes! Agnes! You can’t do this to me!”

I yanked the needle out and bolted for the door. I had barely taken a step before her bodyguards seized me, their grip crushingly tight.

Agnes seemed to have completely lost her mind. She cupped my face in her hands.

Her voice was eerily calm, yet so cold it sent a shiver down my spine. “Ian, give Nathan your blood.”

Four bodyguards pinned me down in the blood-draw room.

One bag after another, my blood was taken from me and carried away to save Nathan’s life. The color slowly drained from my face.

I held on until I could not anymore, then crumpled to the floor.

…

When I woke up, three days had passed. The doctor gently explained that I had fallen into a coma due to severe blood loss.

I stared blankly ahead, my gaze eventually meeting Nathan’s. Guilt filled his eyes.

“Ian, you know everything now, don’t you? I’m sorry. I felt so guilty about what I’d done to you that I couldn’t take it anymore. I never imagined Agnes would treat you like that.”

He knelt beside my bed, begging me to forgive him.

Still, I could not help noticing that the cuts on his wrists were covered with nothing more than a few Band-Aids.

He hardly looked like someone who had been in the life-threatening condition Agnes had described.

Suddenly, he straightened, as though he had finally made up his mind. “Ian, from now on, my child will be your child, too.”

A wave of fury rose in my chest. My voice was raw as I rasped out, “Get out.”

Nathan was startled for a moment and looked at me with wounded eyes. Then, without warning, he grabbed my hand and slapped himself across the face with it.

“I know it’s too late to explain myself, but I don’t want to lose you as a friend. Go ahead, hit me. Do whatever you need to let it out. If that’s what it takes for you to forgive me, I’ll take it.”

He grabbed my hand again, trying to make me strike him, when Agnes appeared in the doorway.

She rushed over and pulled Nathan away from me. In the struggle, I was dragged off the bed and crashed hard onto the floor.

My forehead struck the corner of the table, sending the room spinning. I groaned in pain and called for a doctor.

That was when Agnes seemed to realize what had happened. She released Nathan and started moving toward me, as though to help me up.

However, Nathan stopped her. “Agnes, this is all your fault! You went and said all that nonsense to Ian, and now he’s really angry with me! I’m going to lose my best friend!”

She immediately turned to soothe him, saying, “Okay, okay. It’s all my fault. Just calm down. I’ll take you home first. The baby needs you.”

I watched them from behind. My jaw clenched as I said, “Agnes, I’ll never forgive either of you, not for as long as I live.”

She paused for a moment but did not turn around. Ten minutes later, for the first time ever, she texted me out of the blue.