บททั้งหมดของ Three Hundred Miles Too Late: บทที่ 1 - บทที่ 8

I stared at Vanessa Tomlinson's message, "Is the interstate jammed? Drive safe," and my fingers went so cold I could barely hold my phone.My mother's critical condition notice was still lying on the passenger seat.In that moment, I suddenly understood.Vanessa was not busy. She had simply placed my emergency behind Caleb Pierce.I did not question her right away.I only replied with one word."Fine."Vanessa replied almost instantly, as if she had finally completed some routine obligation."Have you eaten? Food at rest stops gets cold. Don't eat anything random."I was about to type when Caleb updated his video again.He posted a photo of coffee from a rest stop.The caption read: "Warm. It feels good when you're here."Beside the rim of the cup, I could see the Patek Philippe watch Vanessa always wore.Something clogged my chest, nausea churning hard.I shut off my phone and kept driving.Halfway there, my mother's attending doctor called.He said her condition was u

Aaron drove overnight from the next city. When he saw how pale and exhausted I looked, he asked me directly, "Evan Tully, are you really going to marry someone like this?"My first instinct was to defend her.Then I realized I could not come up with even one decent reason.That night, Vanessa finally arrived at the county hospital.She did not go upstairs to see my mother first.Instead, she called me from downstairs, sounding tired."Come down. I don't want to be surrounded by your relatives and interrogated."When I went down, she handed me a bank card."The PIN is your birthday. Stop making a scene. I'll explain things with Caleb."Before I could say anything, my phone automatically pushed Caleb's latest post onto the screen.He had posted a photo of himself sitting in the ER infusion room.A needle was taped to the back of his hand, and he looked fragile and pitiful.The caption read: "Why do some people blame everything on me the moment they get angry?"I looked at th

His entire body stiffened.His voice trembled as he asked, "That... where did you get that photo?"Vanessa froze too.Then Warren pointed at the young woman in the photo and burst into tears."The person who saved me on the interstate back then... I think it was your mother..."Vanessa's face turned white as paper in an instant.She finally understood.Before my mother died, the person she kept looking toward the door for was not only her future daughter-in-law.It was also the family that owed her ten years of gratitude.Vanessa reached out, as if she wanted to touch me.I stepped aside.Looking at her, I said word by word, "You owe her something you no longer have the chance to repay."Warren slapped Vanessa hard across the face on the spot.He cried as he cursed her. "You foolish girl! How could you treat Evan like this?"Vanessa still tried to explain. "Dad, I didn't know. I really didn't know..."I looked at the remorse written all over her face and calmly tore apar

She replayed the past countless times before realizing that every faint cry for help I had made had been pushed away by her own hand.Caleb refused to lose Vanessa as his backer so easily.He went to Warren and cried, saying I had deliberately driven a wedge between them, saying he only acted that way because he loved Vanessa too much.But Warren simply took out the old newspaper clipping about my mother saving him and asked coldly, "Would a truly kind person take away the only person a dying woman's son could rely on?"Caleb was speechless on the spot. His face turned ashen.At the same time, I received a follow-up notice from the hospital.The doctor called to remind me to come in as soon as possible to treat the health issues caused by my recent exhaustion and emotional stress.That notice was accidentally seen by Vanessa when she came to find me again.Vanessa came to me holding the form that read "acute gastric ulcer, prompt follow-up and treatment recommended."Her voice