''You laughed at me for being too foolish, I laugh at you for being so naive.''Janice mumbled as she took off the hospital gown and cleaned her tears, her lips curling up into a wicked smirk while she stood beside Nelson, murmuring her final words of goodbye.
"Mrs. Capuno, are you ready now? We're already running out of time." The surgeon remarked when he returned.
"Sure, doctor. But.." the doctor quickly cut in before she finished her statement when his attention was drawn to her dress.
"What about the medical gown?" He furrowed his brows.
"Emm... That's what I was about to explain before you interrupted." Janice sneered, running her hands over her hair before she continued.
"I'm sorry to say, but the gown is all soaked with tears. It feels..."
"It's okay. I understand." The surgeon cut in.
"Just follow me. The nurse will get you another gown." He instructed.
"Okay." Janice nodded and followed after him.
As they proceeded, the surgeon stopped midway, pointing through a brown wooden door by the left. "There's the pre-operating Bay. The nurses there will give you a change before Porter helps you to the theatre." He explained and proceeded to his office to get a few things before going to the operating room.
As soon as Janice watched his retreating back, she quickly took a different turn through the back door.
"Dian, hope the driver is ready? I'm almost out." She quickly texted her friend.
As soon as she reached the hospital back gate, she hopped into a silk black Jeep that zoomed off immediately.
At the theatre, the surgeons waited endlessly for Janice to be wheeled in. When they saw no sign, they quickly checked what could have gone wrong at the changing room, but the nurses reported not to have set an eye on Janice.
"Mrs. Smith. Did you see Mrs. Capuno? We can't find her and delay is dangerous at this moment." Nelson's doctor asked Virginia, Nelson's mother as he approached the Smith's family and friends who were all seated in the waiting room.
"Wait, You.... you must be joking with this question right?" Virginia sneered, her lips curling up into a wicked smirk.
"Why would I joke with something like this?" The doctor retorted and one of the nurses quickly dashed out to the Ward and checked the rest room, but Janice was still nowhere to be found.
"Ma'am, the surveillance cameras just showed that the woman you're looking for had left the hospital about thirty minutes ago. She left through the backdoor." One of the securities reported.
"What? How could you people be so careless to have allowed her to walk out at this critical hour leaving my son's life at risk?" Mrs. Smith bursted out.
"You know what, I'll burn down this facility if anything dare happen to my son's life. Take this as a warning and better know what to do!" Nelson's mother jerked the nurse by her collar and threatened.
"There's nothing the hospital can do about that, Mrs Smith. We're sorry, but It's either you look for another donor or we keep him on the waiting list. We can only try our best to manage his condition." The surgeon dismissed her threats.
Virginia became restless. Pacing back and forth to the waiting room.
"This lady must be a bastard! I can't believe that she tricked us all!" She cursed.
"I've always warned Nelson! She's nothing but a gold digger! Isn't it obvious that she's only after money that's why she ran off because this one is a sacrifice that demands her free services?" Melissa, Nelson's sister flared up.
"Janice, nobody tries the Smith's family and just go freely as they wish." Virginia cursed under her breath, furrowing her brows with deadly eyes.
****
"Janice!" Dian exclaimed, engulfing her in a tight hug as soon as the car shuts close.
"I'm sorry for everything. But sometimes, that's the sacrifice we do for love. In fact, you should be very proud of yourself instead. Not every woman can donate her kidney to her husband even if they're a match." Dian continued.
"I didn't." Janice cut in, sighing heavily.
"How? What happened?" Dian asked, furrowing her brows.
Janice's lips parted open, as if she wanted to say something, but as she took a deep breath, she began to sob uncontrollably, causing the tears she had been trying to withhold from the hospital to fall freely.
For almost fifteen minutes, she remained in Dian's embrace, soaking her shirt with tears before the car pulled off at a large house with a shiny gold coated gate.
"So, do you mind telling me what happened? Did the doctors later say that you two are not a match? How would Nelson survive at this critical hour?***" Dian asked after she made a cup of coffee for Janice as soon as they entered the house.
Sighing heavily once again, Janice finally opened up.
"The doctors didn't say anything, Dian. But I choose to run away."
"Huh? Why? But you willingly agreed to do this for your husband, Janice. Why back out now?"
"Because he doesn't deserve it, Dian. The only thing that Nelson deserves now is nothing more than endless pains before death." Janice sneered.
Sighing heavily, Dian didn't press further to pressure her for answers because she can feel the pains and anguish laced in her voice, a type that she has never witnessed all through their two decades of friendship, not even when her step mother fabricated destructive lies about her that made her father end up getting her detained in the psychiatric ward for three months.
"You can read this. It'll answer all the questions in your mind, Dian." Janice finally broke the silence while handing out her phone to Dian, showing her the screenshots of Nelson's chats with Tricia.
Before she could even finish reading through the screenshots, her breath began to change, her chest beating faster than usual.
"What the fuck! Janice, you mean that bastard was planning all of this even with the deadly sacrifice you were about to make for him with your life?" Dian flared up.
"Wait, is your father aware of this? Does he even know whose daughter you are before planning to mess around with your life?" Dian snapped.
"I haven't informed my father yet. Besides , even if I do, I'll only get scolded, and my step-mother, she'll only make the situation worse by turning my father against helping me." Janice sneered.
"After all, I brought this upon myself because I was for-warned by my family but I foolishly insisted on the marriage. So, this is my battle to fight." Janice scoffed.
Dian breathed deeply. "So, what do you do from here? Are you divorcing him?" She asked.
"Not so fast. He wanted to get a huge part of me before divorcing me, so since the ball is in my court now, I also must get a huge part of him before filing for a divorce." Janice sighed heavily and continued
"I'm going to the Smiths Enterprise right now. Since Nelson is running away from spending his money on getting a kidney, I'll help him acquire that in a better way."
"What do you mean?" Dian raised her brows.
"He wouldn't have climbed the ladder to wealth so easily if not for my connections. So, I'm taking an emergency loan that is worth 90% of his shares at the company, then I'll give out the Smiths estates in Albany as a collateral." Janice explained, her voice indifferent.
Dian's blood turned cold. She became speechless. Even though she considers the reaction too deadly and extreme, she didn't want to criticize her, because only a victim of betrayal knows how it truly hurts.
