"Do we really have to make this so ugly?"
I stared at their shameless faces, disgust churning in my gut.
I was about to leave when the phone in my bag started buzzing nonstop.
It was the hospital.
I hit answer.
The nurse's panicked voice came through immediately.
"Are you Violet Abbott's family?"
"Violet just suffered a massive stroke. She's in emergency surgery right now!"
"Her condition is extremely critical. Please come to City Central Hospital immediately to handle payment and sign the consent forms!"
My brain went blank. Every drop of blood in my body seemed to rush backward at once.
Grandma had always been healthy. How could she have a stroke out of nowhere?
My voice shook as I asked the nurse what happened.
She sighed, her tone helpless.
"The elderly woman collapsed while looking at her phone."
"The screen was still on when we found her. She seemed to have been looking at a social media post."
"We didn't get a close look at the content. It appeared to be some kind of vacation photos..."
Social media?
While I stood there trembling, Ronnie let out a gasp from behind Pearl.
"Grandma's hurt? How could this happen..."
"Pearl, this is all my fault... While I was waiting for you two earlier, I posted a set of our photos from the Maldives with a caption..."
"I could've sworn I blocked everyone in Marcus's family. I must have... I must have accidentally missed Grandma."
The second I heard Ronnie's words, every piece fell into place.
He'd posted those photos and deliberately blocked me, but somehow left out the one person I loved most in this world.
Grandma adored Pearl. She'd been counting the days until we registered our marriage today. Seeing that post would have been a knife through her heart.
I locked my eyes on Pearl and Ronnie, and every word that left my mouth was carved from stone.
"If anything happens to my grandmother, I will make you both pay with your lives."
Then I turned and stormed out of the marriage bureau without looking back.
The moment I dropped into the taxi, the wall I'd been holding up shattered.
I buried my face in my hands. The muffled sobs I tried to swallow filled the backseat no matter how hard I fought them.
Grandma was the only family I had left in this world.
My parents died when I was young. She raised me alone, scraping by on whatever she could earn collecting recyclables.
Later, when Pearl's startup was hemorrhaging cash and on the verge of collapse, it was Grandma who handed over her entire life savings to pull her through.
And now the woman Grandma had loved like her own granddaughter had pushed her to the brink of death.
The taxi pulled up to City Central Hospital.
I sprinted toward the emergency building.
The red light above the operating room was still on. I pressed my back against the wall, silently begging for her to be okay.
More than ten minutes passed before hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor.
I lifted my head slowly.
Pearl and Ronnie were rushing toward me.
Pearl's chest heaved with each breath, her face flushed from running. She looked like she'd come in a hurry.
She stopped in front of me and pulled a bank card from her pocket, holding it out.
"Ronnie told me everything. He didn't do it on purpose. He just forgot to set the privacy filter when he posted."
"Grandma's always been in great health. She just got a little worked up, that's all. Stop blowing this out of proportion."
"There's three hundred thousand dollars on this card. Consider it Ronnie's compensation, plus full repayment with interest for the five years you sponsored him."
"And stop holding that favor over his head. He's sensitive. His pride can't take it."
I stared at the bank card in disbelief.
My grandmother was behind those doors fighting for her life, and Pearl had come here to buy off my kindness? To protect her lover's fragile ego?
