With effort, I pulled my phone from my pocket.
The screen lit up, and there it was, the wallpaper, a photo of the two of us from years ago.
It had been taken the day my confession worked, when I'd grabbed a passing stranger and asked them to snap the picture.
I was radiant. He was aloof.
The memory surged back —— and yet, right after that confession,
Felicity Fox called to say someone was following her on the street, and Nathan Delgado dropped everything on the spot, abandoning me to rush to her side.
Right.
From the very beginning, I had never been his first choice.
My fingertips trembled faintly as I calmly swapped out the couple's photo,
replacing it with a picture of myself standing alone by the sea,
clean, cool, with no one else intruding.
Not long after I was loaded into the ambulance and rushed into the emergency room, Nathan hurried in.
He held the paper bag out in front of me, his tone coaxing：
「I went all the way to the south side to get you those durian cream puffs you love.」
Lying there in the hospital bed, I looked at the dessert and suddenly laughed.
「I've never eaten durian. The smell is too foul. I can't stand it.」
The hand Nathan was holding out froze mid-air.
「The one who loves durian cream puffs is Felicity.」
I turned my head to look at him, my gaze still and flat. 「Take them to her. Don't let them go to waste.」
His lips parted, as if he wanted to explain something, but not a single word came out.
Just then the nurse beside us spoke up softly：「Sir, the surgery is ready. We need to begin.」
I slowly pressed the phone screen dark, refusing to look at him again.
Nathan's gaze happened to fall on my phone screen, and when he saw that unfamiliar solo wallpaper,
his eyes narrowed slightly, and he froze for two seconds：
「You, you changed your wallpaper?」
I felt nothing, and answered flatly：「Yes.」
There was no point holding onto a longing that had never belonged to me. It only made me more of a joke.
I watched him turn and walk away.
After hours of surgery, I was wheeled out of the operating room,
left lying in an ordinary hospital ward, so drained I didn't even have the strength to lift a hand.
The lead surgeon came to my bedside, his face tense and uneasy. He hesitated a long time before he finally spoke：
「Dr. Pruitt, the surgery has stabilized things for now, but the damage to your internal organs is even more severe than we estimated. We'll need to arrange a second major operation immediately. You should prepare yourself.」
A few of the on-duty nurses nearby murmured among themselves, their voices full of disbelief：
「This kind of sudden post-op organ complication is incredibly rare, and extremely dangerous. There's no telling whether she'll even survive the next surgery……」
I listened quietly, not a trace of surprise on my face, and only gave a small nod, as if I were hearing someone else's story.
I'd known for a long time, I didn't have much time left.
A nurse brought over a cup of warm water and helped me sit up to drink. We'd just reached the corner of the corridor when
I ran straight into Nathan, John Delgado, and Felicity Fox coming the other way, her color noticeably better now.
Felicity's eyes were smiling as she reached out and gently stroked John's cheek, her voice tender and intimate：
「John has been such a good boy, staying with me the whole time, never fussing at all.」
Nathan stood beside them, his gaze resting softly on Felicity and his son, a faint smile curving his lips,
that tenderness, something I had never once seen in his eyes in all these years.
A nurse passing by couldn't help but murmur with envy：
「What a happy family. They look so perfect together.」
Leaning against the wall, I lowered my head and took a small sip of the warm water, then gave a soft little laugh and quietly agreed：
「They really are happy.」
Only I knew just how cruel that happiness was.
Nathan had a severe germ phobia. From the time my son was little, every time I so much as touched him, Nathan would go into the bathroom and shower three times over.
