Chapter 9
After hearing everything, I felt a sense of satisfaction.
She’d killed Lydia, my child, and two innocent patients. Even if she died ten thousand times, it still wouldn’t be enough to account for the four lives she had taken.
I didn’t let it distract me for long. I shifted my focus back to my medical studies.
However, peace was hard to come by when trouble kept knocking.
Maxwell suddenly paid a visit to me. I hadn’t seen him for six months.
It was just before Christmas. I was shopping at the supermarket with a few classmates, talking about throwing a small party.
He stood there in the middle of the crowd. The moment he saw me, his eyes lit up as he rushed toward me.
I didn’t run. I had never owed him anything or done anything wrong. I wasn’t the one at fault.
Maxwell stopped about three feet away, hesitant to get any closer.
The man I remembered as tall and composed now looked thin, haggard, and lifeless. His eyes were pitiful, like a stray dog that had been abandoned.
Anyone else might’ve felt sorry for him, but I wouldn’t.
“Nat, Molly told me you needed time to recover, so I waited until now to come see you. You must have calmed down. Just come home with me.”
He probed cautiously.
I stayed calm. “I’m going back eventually, but it has nothing to do with you. If you don’t want things to get ugly, sign the divorce papers.”
Maxwell frowned. “Natalie, it’s been six months. Your punishment for me has been long enough.”
He reached out, trying to grab me. Before he could, a few of my classmates instantly stepped in. In a flash, they had him pinned to the ground, raining down punches and kicks.
Maxwell froze in shock.
He looked up at me in disbelief. “Natalie, did you tell them to do this?”
That was right. The moment I saw him, I quietly told my classmates he was my enemy.
Maxwell struggled violently. One of my classmates swung a punch. Before it even reached his abdomen, he suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.
My classmates froze, and no one dared to act rashly again. They looked at me with uncertainty.
We were all doctors. The metallic smell in the air was unmistakable.
I walked over and looked down at him.
His eyes brightened again when he saw me. “Nat, it hurts…”
I curled my lips and nudged his stomach with my foot. “Maxwell, did you have some fake blood in your mouth? Do you think this little stunt is funny?”
The light in his eyes died instantly. His face twisted with pain and disappointment.
1/2
Chapter 9
+15 Bonus
Although my classmates disliked him, their professional duty as doctors compelled them to squat down and examine him.
Moments later, they looked up, visibly concerned. They told me that Maxwell likely had a serious liver condition.
They took out their phones to call for an ambulance. I immediately stopped them.
Looking at Maxwell writhing weakly on the ground, I said indifferently, “Don’t bother. This is just another stunt to make me feel sorry for him. Otherwise, why would he always collapse in front of me and no one else?”
He had once said those exact words to me. Now, they came back to hit him like a boomerang.
Maxwell coughed up another mouthful of blood and forced a bitter smile. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry… Back then, you were in so much pain. You must have been helpless. I’m sorry, I didn’t believe you then.”
I remembered how I’d nearly bled out on the floor outside the consultation room.
My eyes reddened, but I straightened my back.
Without pausing, I walked right past him.
That night, Maxwell was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment. It was late-stage liver cancer, and treatment would be largely meaningless. He could only rely on painkillers to survive day by day.
We were in the same city, but I never went to see him.
Two months later, his critical condition notice came. The hospital called me as I was the only reachable contact on his phone who lived in the same city.
I was in class at the time. I didn’t let it interrupt my lesson.
Only after class ended at 8:00 pm did I head to the hospital.
By then, Maxwell was barely conscious. His body was giving out.
He opened his eyes when I sat beside his bed and gripped my hand weakly.
He spoke with longing. “Nat, I had a beautiful dream. In the dream, there was no Karina. Our child was born healthy, and our family of three was happy. Nat, if there’s a next life, I definitely won’t choose Karina. I’ll definitely love you well.”
I removed his withered hand from mine.
I told him, “Maybe there is a next life. But you don’t deserve one. In this life or the next, I never want to see you again. Go to hell, Maxwell. That’s where you can atone for what you did to my child.”
Maxwell’s eyes froze, then closed completely in despair.
