Just before I lost consciousness, the last thing I heard was Kaden’s hurried footsteps as he walked away.
When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in a hospital bed. Night had already fallen outside the window.
A nurse walked in and handed me a cup of brown sugar water.
“Your fiancé said something came up and he had to leave.”
I gave a bitter smile as I took the cup.
The warm liquid slid down my throat, but it couldn’t reach a heart that had already gone cold.
“He’s not my fiancé.”
The nurse looked like she understood everything and let out a soft sigh.
“It’s good you’ve realized it. If someone really cared about you, how could he let you donate blood right after a miscarriage? And so much of it, too…”
She paused, like she had more to say, but instead helped me into my shoes.
“Go home and get some rest. Your body…”
I knew what she meant.
My body was already falling apart. The cancer cells were spreading silently. And after years of blood loss, today’s miscarriage had pushed me to the edge.
I was like a candle flickering in the wind, about to go out.
I closed my eyes as quiet tears fell.
Then my phone buzzed. A message from Kaden popped up.
[Reese, something came up at the office. I left after the transfusion. Rest at home tonight. Don’t wait up.]
From the nurse’s pitying look, I already knew that at that moment, Kaden was with Sabrina.
And I had been so foolish. Just one sentence, “You give blood for me and I’ll build an empire for you,” was enough to make me believe every lie he told.
I never once thought to check in on him at work.
Before leaving, on some strange impulse, I went to the hematology department.
Through the glass window of the door, I saw his tall figure.
He was feeding Sabrina at her bedside, carefully and gently, looking at her like she was the most precious thing in the world.
That same tenderness he used to fake with me, he was now showing her. But this time, it was real.
“Kaden, she has liver cancer. Maybe it’s best she stops donating blood. What if something happens to her?”
“Don’t worry. She’s strong.”
“Even with liver cancer, she can last another year or so.”
His voice was cold, like he wasn’t talking about a person at all.
“But her blood might not be enough anymore. No problem, she has a ten-year-old brother. Same rare blood type.”
He laughed, then kissed Sabrina on the lips.
My knees gave out and I nearly collapsed.
So, he had known all along I had liver cancer.
And now, he was planning to use my little brother too.
My nails dug into my palm, but I felt nothing.
“But that’s her real brother. Will she agree?”
Kaden let out a cold laugh, his cruel voice was heard, saying, “Reese loves me to death. As long as we don’t tell her the blood is for you, she won’t hesitate to offer her brother’s blood. She’d even give up her life for me.”
That sentence felt like a knife straight to the heart, twisting deeper with every word.
And in my past life, that was exactly what I did. I gave up everything for him, only to have my ashes dumped down a drain.
I covered my mouth and staggered out of the hospital.
On the way home, images of my brother’s death from my past life flooded my mind, his pale face, dry lips and the pool of blood on the cold operating table.
When I opened the door, my little brother ran up to me with a bright smile and threw his arms around me.
“Sis! What took you so long to come back?”
Hearing his sweet voice, my tears spilled out uncontrollably.
In my past life, when he died, those were the same words he cried out. “Sister, save me…”
I tried to hold back my sobs, but my throat tightened. I couldn’t speak.
We had depended on each other since we were little. He was sensitive and could instantly tell something was wrong.
