Chapter 2

The last trace of complexity in his eyes turned completely into mockery.

“Lily, you really have not changed at all. For money, you will go with any man.”

“You abandoned me back then, and now you have ended up like this. You deserve it.”

The fiancée beside him gently held his arm and advised him in a low voice.

“Forget it. It is all in the past.”

But he gave a cold laugh.

“The past? I will never forget how she looked down on me for being poor back then and turned around to get into another man’s car.”

I did not explain.

Because the car he was talking about was an ambulance.

That day, I had just gotten my test results, and the doctor told me there was a malignant tumor on my ovary and that I had to be hospitalized immediately.

And he was running everywhere, begging people for help for a multimillion-dollar project.

I did not dare tell him.

Back then, he could not even take three thousand dollars out of his bank account, yet he stayed up until dawn every day, just so he could save enough for a down payment sooner and marry me.

I was afraid he would give up on his startup, afraid he would sell his company, afraid he would ruin his whole life to save me.

So I deliberately held my attending doctor’s arm and said to him,

“I have fallen in love with someone else.”

With red eyes, he slammed his fist into the wall.

“Lily, you are going to regret this.”

Later, he really left.

He went abroad and became the rising business star everyone talked about.

And I stayed alone in the hospital, going through surgery, chemotherapy, relapse, and chemotherapy again.

Until today.

The doctor told me there was no point in continuing treatment anymore.

He told me to go home, eat whatever I wanted, and meet whoever I wanted to see.

But the only person I wanted to see was standing right in front of me.

Yet he would never believe me again.

After returning to the hospital room, I lay down on the bed with the help of my attending doctor.

Ethan’s mother came to find me.

As soon as she entered, she looked at me tentatively, hesitant to speak.

“Lily, I... I have a favor to ask.”

Looking at her flushed face, even though she did not say what came next, I knew her reason for coming was probably the same as it had been six years ago.

“Go ahead.”

Her eyes instantly turned red.

“Ethan has really suffered so much these years.”

“After you left back then, he did not recover for two whole years. Later, he went overseas alone, worked during the day, built his business at night, and collapsed from exhaustion so many times that he ended up in the hospital, but he never said a word to us.”

“Now, it was not easy for him to finally have a stable career, and he has also met someone willing to stay with him. He is about to get married.”

As she spoke, tears fell.

“Lily, just take it as me begging you.”

“Do not go looking for him again, and do not tell him about your illness.”

“Just let him think that you have been living well all these years.”

“That way, it is better for you and for him.”

I listened quietly without speaking.

But the attending doctor could not help frowning.

“Ma’am, this is not fair...”

I gently shook my head, signaling for him not to speak.

But Ethan’s mother seemed to have caught on to something, and her eyes swept back and forth between me and the attending doctor.

She suddenly lowered her voice and muttered softly.

“He protects her so much...”

“Who knows if the two of you have been together for a long time.”

“Now this male doctor stays with her every day. Who knows what kind of relationship they have...”

The hospital room instantly fell silent.

The attending doctor’s face darkened at once.

“Please show some respect when you speak!”

“Ms. Bennett is my patient. Taking care of her is my duty as a doctor!”

“And as for why she became like this today, others may not know, but you—”

“Enough!”

Using all my strength, I reached out with my hand that was so thin only bones were left and gently pulled the attending doctor’s sleeve.

He lowered his head to look at me, his eyes already red with anger.

I gently shook my head at him.

I slowly turned my head and looked at Ethan’s mother.

I could clearly see the guardedness in her eyes, the caution, and that tiny bit of fear that her son might be entangled with me again.

So that was how it was.

Even though I was already about to die.

In her eyes, I was still the person who would ruin her son’s life.

I held back the ache in my eyes and gave a soft smile.

“I will not go looking for him.”

“And I will not tell him about my illness.”

“From now on, I will try my best not to appear in front of him again.”

“Let him get married in peace and live his life in peace.”

“Just pretend...”

My voice was so soft it could barely be heard.

“Just pretend we never knew each other.”

“Anyway, I am dying soon.”