Chapter 7
She ran away.
“Wait!” Matt ran after her and grabbed her wrist in the corridor. “Let me explain-”
“Explain what?” She yanked her arm free, voice shaking. “About how you celebrated my birthday and the mother of your child at the same time?”
She turned and ran down the stairs. Matt chased after her.
In the dark, they ran out into the street, one after the other.
“Marissa!” Matt caught her again. “It’s not what you think!”
Suddenly, blinding headlights flared. A speeding car came from around the corner, heading straight for them. In a split second, Matt shoved Marissa out of the way.
BANG!
The screech of brakes and the crash hit at the same time.
Marissa hit the ground hard, watching in horror as Matt was thrown several meters by the car and slammed onto the pavement. Blood quickly soaked through his white shirt.
He was rushed to the hospital. Marissa stood in the corridor, covered in blood.
“You jinx!” Ava’s sharp voice cut through the air as she slapped Marissa across the face. “You can’t have kids, and now you’re trying to kill my son
too?!”
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Cayden was furious. “Get out! Don’t show your face around my son again!”
Marissa closed her eyes for a moment, then turned to leave.
Just then, a nurse burst through the door. “The patient keeps calling for Marissa. He refuses surgery unless he sees her. Who is she? Please, we need her inside now!”
Ava’s face went pale with rage. “This is a disaster!”
In the end, they had no choice but to let Marissa into the ward.
Matt lay on the hospital bed, pale–faced, with gauze wrapped around his forehead. His breathing was faint under the oxygen mask. He slowly opened his eyes, and the moment he saw Marissa, his fingers twitched, as if reaching for her.
Marissa stepped closer, and he grabbed her with his cold hand.
“Marissa…” His voice was weak, but he still insisted on explaining. “I threw that party for Leah… only because the baby’s in a bad position. The doctor said… If she’s in a better mood, the delivery might go smoother…”
He coughed, blood staining the corner of his mouth, but he still held her hand tightly.
“Please don’t leave me…” His eyes reddened, like a scared child afraid of being abandoned. “I really… can’t live without you…”
After saying that, he passed out. The heart monitor blared in alarm.
Doctors and nurses rushed in at once.
“He’s going into shock. Get the defibrillator!”
Marissa stood in the corner, watching as Matt’s body jolted with each
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Chapter 7
shock, rising and falling on the bed.
11
Suddenly, a memory hit her. Years ago, when she was hospitalized with acute appendicitis, Matt had waited outside her room all night without sleep. Back then, his eyes were red as he said, “Marissa, if something happens to you, I can’t live anymore.”
And now, he said it again–that he couldn’t live without her. But why… did it feel like he no longer needed her?
After a full day and night of emergency care, Matt finally pulled through.
In the days that followed, he clung to her like a stubborn child, refusing to let her leave his side. Weakly pulling her sleeve, his eyes pleaded. “Marissa, don’t go.”
Marissa sat silently by the hospital bed, staring at his pale face, feeling empty inside.
She once believed Matt was her whole world. But now, his world clearly didn’t revolve around her anymore.
The day Matt was discharged happened to be the Holloway family’s monthly family dinner.
The Holloway’s estate was lit up brightly, with housekeepers bustling about. Marissa sat quietly at the dining table, eating in silence, like an
outsider.
Then Ava suddenly set down her utensils and made an announcement
with a smile.
“Next month, we’re holding a wedding for Matt and Leah.”
Marissa’s utensils froze in mid–air.
Ava went on, smiling brightly. “Leah’s had feelings for Matt all these
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years. She used extreme methods to get pregnant, but she’s carrying our first grandchild. She wished to wear a wedding dress for her birthday, so naturally, we have to grant that wish.”
Marissa slowly looked up at Matt.
He was sitting right beside her, holding her hand tightly, but said nothing.
No denial.
No objection.
Her heart went completely cold.
So he had known all along.
And he had agreed to all of it.
She calmly looked away, a faint smile rising at the corner of her lips.
