But now, that same hand had shoved me to the edge.
Someone brought me upstairs to the second floor and patched up my wounds.
Derek appeared again. When he saw the blood-soaked bandages on my body, he stopped in his tracks.
“Caroline, why can you never learn to behave?”
He sighed and pulled up the hospital surveillance footage on his phone.
“You've seen your mother's condition. If she doesn't get her medication soon, she might not make it.”
“Stop making a scene. Once you clear this up, I'll give you a second ceremony. Okay?”
On the screen, my mother was writhing and seizing in her hospital bed. A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it.
A long silence passed.
I gave in. I snatched the speech from Derek's hand like it was a lifeline.
Under the spotlight, I read each word off the script without inflection, a puppet with its strings cut.
The press cameras crowded so close they nearly touched my face. A microphone struck my nose hard enough to sting.
Pain shot through the bridge of my nose, and tears spilled out before I could control them.
A reporter's voice cut through, sharp and needling. “Ms. Simmons, you admit to inserting yourself into your own best friend's marriage, and you still had the nerve to attend the wedding? Does your mother know she raised her daughter to turn out like this?”
“Or is it true what they say? Like mother, like daughter?”
I froze. The color drained from my face. I looked into the camera, helpless.
Derek was the one who finally stepped in.
“My wife and I have already forgiven Ms. Simmons for everything she's done. We'd ask the public to stop speculating about the nature of our relationship going forward.”
“That's all for this interview. Please just report what you've heard.”
I hid beneath Derek's suit jacket as he led me out of the venue.
Report what you've heard. The words echoed in my skull, and all I tasted was irony.
Once we were outside, I shoved him away.
Agnes came after us, lifting the hem of her wedding gown. “Derek, our ceremony isn't finished yet.”
That one sentence was all it took. His hand slid off my shoulder.
“Don't worry. I've already transferred the medical bills to your account. Once I've handled everything here, I'll give you the wedding you've always wanted by the end of the year.”
He slipped a ring onto my left hand before he walked away.
I watched him leave.
I got into a cab, pulled the ring off my finger, and tossed it into the bushes along the curb.
But the moment I reached the hospital, doctors and nurses were rushing down the corridor toward my mother's room, panic written across every face.
My heart dropped. My fists clenched so tight the nails bit into my palms.
Dread flooded through me, and I half-stumbled, half-ran toward her room.
By the time I got there, she had only one breath left.
The television mounted on the wall was livestreaming Derek's wedding.
A single tear rolled from my mother's clouded eyes. Her hand trembled as she reached for me.
I threw myself to her bedside. Her voice came in broken fragments：
“Sweetheart……Mama's going now. I won't be a burden anymore. You……just live well.”
Her thin arm went limp. Something inside me shattered, and I screamed until my throat tore raw.
“Mom——”
A nurse nearby looked away, unable to bear it. “She'd just come out of surgery. Her vitals had stabilized.”
“But after seeing that wedding livestream, something happened. Her emotions spiked and her heart just stopped.”
I lunged for the nearest piece of equipment and hurled it at the television still playing the broadcast.
The screen cracked. Static hissed through the room, and I collapsed, sobbing so hard I couldn't breathe.
I don't know how long I cried. By the time I had nothing left, Derek had arrived with Agnes.
Tears streamed prettily down Agnes's face. “I never imagined your mother couldn't handle even this much. I just wanted to share a little wedding joy with her. I thought maybe it would cheer her up and help her recover……”
Staring at Agnes and that sickening fake sympathy on her face, I lunged forward and slapped her twice.
The next second, Derek seized my wrist, his grip crushing bone, his expression turning dark.
“Enough. Your mother ran out of luck on her own. From now on, I'll take care of you in her place.”
“Caroline, knock it off.”
I clenched my fists. I had no tears left to cry.
I looked at Derek's twisted face, then at the taunting smile curling Agnes's lips.
I turned, ran to the window of the seventeenth-floor ward, and threw myself out.
If all of this was just a nightmare, then I'd use death to end it.
Wind screamed past my ears as I closed my eyes.
The last thing I saw was Derek leaning over the windowsill, his face white with terror.
