"hiss……"
Sharp shards of glass once again pierced deep into the skin of her exposed palms and forearms, bringing waves of excruciating pain. Clara, who had just tried to prop herself up, couldn't help but gasp, and a fine layer of cold sweat instantly beaded on her forehead. This physical pain seemed so insignificant compared to the desolate wasteland in her heart that had already been crushed.
The surrounding crowd, still reeling from the shock of the collapsed champagne tower, was stunned once more by Liam's resolute figure as he walked away without a backward glance towards another woman. After a brief silence, whispers rose like a tide.
"Vanessa? Who is Vanessa?" A young guest who was not very familiar with the situation finally couldn't contain his curiosity and whispered the question to the person next to him.
"Eh? You didn't know?" A stylishly dressed lady next to him immediately lowered her voice, her tone filled with the excitement of sharing a secret, "That Vanessa, I heard, is the one Liam has held dear for many years, his white moonlight. If it weren't for that crisis with the Foster family..."
"Ah? Then...then Mrs. Foster, she..." The person who asked the question covered his mouth in surprise, looking at Clara, who was still sitting in the mess, with complicated eyes.
"Who in this circle doesn't know about this?" Another voice interjected with a hint of disdain. "Back then, it was said that Clara took advantage of the Foster family's downfall, and her father forced Liam to marry her with shares, causing that Miss Vanessa to leave home heartbroken. Now look at her, the Foster family has made a comeback, even more powerful than before, and Vanessa has just returned. I think this Mrs. Foster... humph, looking at her current pathetic state, how can she possibly manage?"
"Ah~ So that's how it is!" Several exclamations of sudden realization rang out around them, and the gazes directed at Clara instantly changed from initial sympathy to disdain, scrutiny, and even a hint of schadenfreude.
"I always thought Mrs. Foster was a very nice person, gentle and generous. I never imagined... she would use such methods to get ahead... tsk tsk tsk..."
"Shh! Keep your voice down, after all, she's still officially Mrs. Foster."
"So what? Didn't you see how fast Liam ran for Vanessa? She, the legitimate wife, fell like that, and he was no match for her with just a phone call..."
...
These comments, some high, some low, were like countless fine needles, relentlessly piercing Clara's eardrums and stripping away her last shred of ridiculous dignity. As she listened to the distorted facts and watched the direction where Liam's figure disappeared, a huge, absurd sense of ridiculousness welled up from the bottom of her heart, almost overwhelming her.
It turns out that the so-called love she had carefully cherished and devoted herself to for the past three years was nothing but a complete joke, a one-woman show in which she was immersed.
It turns out that in the eyes of everyone in the circle, she was the despicable one who destroyed other people's relationship and took advantage of their misfortune. Only she herself was using "love" as a fig leaf to deceive herself and maintain the precarious illusion of her marriage.
The surrounding guests whispered among themselves, looking at her with indifference or mockery, but not a single person stepped forward to help her up. She clearly realized that this was a banquet hosted by the Foster family, and most of those present were friends and business partners of the Foster family, not her Bennett family. The coldness of human nature was on full display at this moment.
Clara gritted her teeth, ignoring the stinging pain in her palms and knees. Using her uninjured arm to support herself on the cold, damp ground, she struggled to her feet, relying solely on her own strength, amidst the shards of glass and spilled liquor. The hem of her starry blue dress was stained and clung tightly to her body, highlighting her disheveled state and loneliness.
Ultimately, the grand banquet that was originally intended to celebrate her birth was abruptly ended due to her injury as the leading lady and this sudden farce.
It was late at night when Clara, enduring the pain all over her body, drove alone to the nearest central hospital. The emergency room was brightly lit but deserted, with only a few patients in the corridor, making it seem exceptionally empty and quiet.
She registered and had the deeper glass cuts on her hands and arms treated: cleaning, disinfection, medication, and bandaging. Throughout the process, she bit her lower lip tightly, not uttering a single cry of pain, as if the injuries weren't her own. When the nurse wrapped her right hand and forearm in thick gauze like a rice dumpling, she just watched expressionlessly, her eyes vacant.
However, fate always seems to play cruel jokes. Of all the hospitals in Beijing, she happened to be here, at this most vulnerable moment, when she encountered Liam, who had rushed over, and Vanessa, whom he was carefully protecting by his side.
As Vanessa helped Liam, whose lip was bruised, shirt collar was disheveled, and who had clearly been in a fight, into the emergency room, Clara, having just finished bandaging her wound, came out of the examination room. The three of them met unexpectedly in the corridor filled with the smell of disinfectant.
"Clara? What are you doing here?"
