All Chapters of He Betrayed Me, but I'll Bury Him Gently: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

Before I could say a single word, Jose Hanson took Rachel Thorne by the hand and led her downstairs.Hearing the commotion, my mom, Madeleine Pearson, walked over, but she was a second too late and missed their intimate departure. She looked at me with concern and asked, "Did you and Jose fight?"I instinctively denied it, and she let out a relieved sigh."Good. That poor kid has had such a tough life. He worked so hard to get into a great college, only for all of this to happen… Don't throw a childish fit with him."For a time, I didn't know whether to feel devastated or amused.Mom had brought Jose home from the orphanage when he was five and raised him as if he were her own biological son.As the chief of hematology at Aurelian Hospital, she was often so busy that she would stay the night at the hospital and sometimes forget to pick me up from school. But she was never late to pick up Jose. Not even once.Whenever I got upset with her for playing favorites, she would crouch d

Chapter 2

To be honest, in the first few years after Mom brought Jose home, I resented him a lot and felt like he had stolen the love that was rightfully mine. So, I intentionally ignored him on his birthday.When Mom walked through the door and hugged him first, I threw a tantrum and smashed his toys all over the floor. But he would pack everything neatly away in silence, wait for me to calm down, tug the hem of my shirt, and hand me a note that read "I'm sorry, Vicky".He was always so quiet and sweet.Gradually, I began to accept him. We read books, did our homework together, and walked home from school side by side.On my 12th birthday, Mom was caught up with a surgery and couldn't make it home, so Jose brought out a cupcake to wish me a happy birthday. When I demanded to know where he got the money for it, he would cautiously ask if I liked it.I forced myself to swallow the strawberry, the fruit I hated most, nodded eagerly, and told him I loved it—that strawberry cake was my favorite

Chapter 3

Rachel noticed the medical report tightly clenched in my right hand.She lunged forward, snatched it away, and tore it into pieces before triumphantly declaring, "I bet she's just here to play the victim, Jose. Don't let her fool you."Then, she lowered her voice and added, "Besides, I heard Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is incurable, and she'll eventually end up paralyzed. You can't spend the rest of your life shackled to a vegetable, can you?"Jose patted her hand and turned back to look at me. "I'll pay back every penny Madeleine spent to raise me over the years. Just think of it…"He hesitated, then added, "Just think of it as me helping you pay for your medical bills."I looked at the shredded pieces of the medical report scattered among the notes, then up at Jose's understanding yet slightly sympathetic expression, and suddenly found the tears I had just shed for him utterly ridiculous. "Don't bother," I said.That night, Jose posted a photo on his feed of his face presse

Chapter 4

One night, my phone rang while I was happily singing at a bar.Jose's furious voice exploded through the speaker before I could even say hello. "Vicky! What the hell did you do to me that day?"The music was too loud for me to hear him clearly, so it wasn't until I stepped out of the private room that I understood what he was saying.It turned out that, over the past few days, Jose had been suffering from loss of appetite, numbness in his hands and feet, and nerve pain. None of the medication he took worked.Of course it didn't work. Those were early symptoms of ALS, after all."Go to a hospital if you're feeling sick. I'm not a doctor," I said before hanging up the phone. I returned to the bar to continue singing.I never expected Jose to show up at the bar half an hour later. Rachel, with red eyes from crying, was practically forcing him along. They did look like a tragic pair of star-crossed lovers at first glance.When she noticed that many of our classmates were in the room

Chapter 5

For a second, the room fell into a dead silence.Jose shot upright in disbelief and pointed an accusing finger at me."What? ALS? You must've mixed up the reports, doctor. She's the one with ALS. It's her!"The doctor ignored him and said, "Weakness in the limbs, emotional volatility, and muscle spasms are all early symptoms of ALS."Where are your family members? We need someone to fill out the admission paperwork."Jose stayed frozen, and I finally had the chance to speak in a clear, loud voice, "You're the one who got the reports mixed up, Jose. The medical report you saw was yours."Mom and I were just terrified that it would affect your SAT results, so we kept it from you and figured that we'd gradually start your treatment."Jose stared at me blankly, as if his brain had deteriorated alongside his muscles, and muttered "That's impossible" and "It can't be" over and over again. It took him ages to finally process the news, and when he did, he turned his head to look at Rach

Chapter 6

When Joanna had a family emergency and needed to take some time off, I felt terrible for Mom to see her looking for replacements.She was already working overtime with surgeries, and the last thing she needed was to waste her energy on vetting new candidates. So, I volunteered to send Jose his meals for a few days.Mom immediately declined the offer. It was only after I insisted that she reluctantly agreed, on the strict condition that I leave right after dropping off the food. I promised I would.…When I pushed the door and entered the ward, Jose was sitting by the window, soaking in the sun.His eyes went wide the moment he saw me, and it wasn't until I walked up to his bed that he finally believed his eyes."Vicky… Are you here to visit me?""Don't get the wrong idea. Joanna had to go home for a few days, so I'm just filling in."The light in his eyes briefly dimmed before brightening again. "For a few days?""Don't worry. You're not dying in the next few days."He choked

Chapter 7

Before I could even finish my sentence, the door slammed open with a loud bang.A middle-aged couple rushed into the ward. The moment they saw Jose, they threw themselves onto his bed and burst into loud, dramatic wails.Mom and I exchanged confused looks, just as Rachel strolled in and sat beside Jose. She grabbed his hands and excitedly said, "Please don't be mad at me for not staying here to keep you company these past few days, Jose."I ran into this elderly couple looking for their long-lost son the day I left the hospital, and kindly offered to help them. But the more I listened to their story, the more I realized their missing son sounded like you."We did a DNA test, and it turns out, they really are your biological parents."Then, she turned to Mom with a look of forced humility. "Vicky, Madeleine, everything happened so suddenly that we didn't have time to give you a heads-up, so please don't be mad. You surely wouldn't want to keep Jose from reuniting with his family, w

Chapter 8

Jose was right about one thing—Mortuary Science was a perfect fit for me.I used to hate hospitals. Part of it was because Mom was always working and rarely came home, but it was also because every time I went looking for her, I saw wards packed with critically ill patients.They ranged from the elderly to teenagers and toddlers. I used to try to make friends with them, but every single one of those friends eventually passed away.Over time, I grew to resent hospitals and developed a deep fear of facing death.I thought I would live with that fear for the rest of my life, until I began helping plan funerals and realized death wasn't the bleak, black-and-white world I had imagined. It could be colorful and full of warm, cherished memories.The grief of family and friends attending the funeral wasn't from pure despair either. If anything, it gave them renewed hope to move forward and live well.I stopped avoiding hospitals. If anything, I started picking Mom up from work and talkin

Chapter 9

Jose tentatively asked, "Vicky, did you change your major… for someone?"Before I could answer, Pamela returned to the office and froze for a second when she saw us talking. "Vicky, is he your friend?"I smiled and shook my head. "No. We're just making small talk."After a moment's thought, I turned back to Jose and told him, "No. I did it for a lot of people."…The next time I heard about Jose was at Pamela's daughter's wedding.When Pamela came over to the hospital staff's table to make a toast, we pulled up a chair and urged her to grab a bite. Amid the laughter and chatter, the conversation drifted to one of her ALS patients.She said that his condition had been well under control, but when his biological parents vanished into thin air overnight, he was forced to discharge himself since he couldn't afford the medical bills.After that, he only came in to pick up the cheapest medication available. At first, a young woman would come on his behalf, but later he began coming h

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