I saw Sean pulling Christy into his arms.
His hoarse voice trembled with the bitterness of unrequited love.
“No… Christy, you don’t owe me anything. I did all this willingly. Now that you’re carrying my child… that’s the greatest blessing I could ever ask for. Besides, Sheri’s always been kind to me… you don’t need to feel guilty.”
Outside the ward, the man and woman embraced, kissing with abandon.
His voice, thick with sobs, revealed everything—he truly loved her.
They were going to have a child. The pain tore through me like an old wound ripping open all over again.
Tears spilled silently down my cheeks.
So, I was nothing more than the extra… the unnecessary one… from beginning to end.
I tried to shut out their voices, to silence the intimate sounds coming through the door.
But they wrapped around me like a curse, refusing to let go. I buried my face in the quilt, biting it until my gums bled. I didn’t know how long I lay there like that—
Until the door creaked open, and the soft scent of powder drifted in.
Before I could react, a pair of slender hands gripped my chin.
“Don’t be scared, Sheri,” came the voice. “It’s me. Christy…”
Hearing her name made me flinch and thrash wildly in the dark.
She let out a soft laugh and calmly began untying my restraints.
“Sheri, the proud girl everyone admired, reduced to this—what a joke. The men of the Noble Family… either of them would choose me over you in a heartbeat. Especially Sean. He gave up everything for me…”
Her voice turned cold, laced with pride.
“He’s such a noble man, isn’t he? But for my sake, he forced his own mentor to death, just to get me a job at a girls’ school and fulfill my marriage. What kind of love do you think that is?”
I stared at her, stunned.
“After your father died, you begged Sean to look after you. Your pathetic mother probably thought he was your family’s savior. So pitiful. But it was Sean who scattered your father’s ashes with his own hands!”
Her words struck me like lightning.
I had always believed my father died by suicide from depression.
But no—Sean, the man my father mentored, the one he treated like a son, had driven him to death.
Fury exploded in me. I shot up and wrapped my hands around Christy’s throat.
But before I could squeeze, the door slammed open.
Seeing Sean, Christy immediately threw herself into his arms, sobbing.
“Sean! I only wanted to help Sheri. I felt sorry for her, so I untied her restraints… but she said I stole everything from her and tried to strangle me!”
I opened my mouth to explain—
But the slap came before I could utter a word.
“Sheri!” Sean’s eyes blazed. “People are trying to help you and this is how you repay them?! Why blame Christy for everything? You’ve completely lost your mind!”
He didn’t give me a chance to speak.
He just left me there, trembling on the cold floor, while he wrapped his arms protectively around her.
As the door shut, Christy looked back at me with a slow, mocking smile.
She had every reason to laugh.
I was a failure. A discarded thing.
But what they didn’t know—Even a cornered rabbit bites.
After they left, I forced myself to stand.
I discharged myself from the hospital.
And once I got home, I followed the instructions from my aunt’s letter.
With everything in place, I left... Without looking back.
