Chapter 9
After hearing that, I felt a sense of relief.
She killed Ruth, my child, and two innocent patients. Four lives. Even if she died a thousand times, it wouldn’t be enough.
I didn’t let my past affect me for long and quickly redirected my focus back to medical studies. Yet my past was still haunting
- me.
After half a year, Antonio suddenly visited me.
It was near Christmas, and I was at the supermarket, thinking about a small gathering with some classmates. The moment he saw me, standing among the bustling crowd, his eyes lit up.
I watched him walk toward me quickly.
I didn’t run away because I owed him nothing. I wasn’t the one in the wrong.
Antonio stood a few steps away, hesitating to come any closer. The tall, strong figure I once remembered looked much thinner
now.
His face was pale, and he looked far less radiant than before. A grown man with such a pitiful and aggrieved expression looked like an abandoned dog.
Others might feel sorry for him, but I didn’t.
“Grace, Lucia said you’re not well and need rest, so I’m coming
Chapter 9
to find you now. Maybe you’re not that angry with me anymore. Come home with me,” he said cautiously.
He tentatively probed.
I remained calm. “I will go back, but it has nothing to do with you. If you don’t want things to get ugly, sign the divorce agreement.”
Antonio frowned. “Grace, it’s been half a year. You’ve punished me enough.”
He moved toward me and tried to grab me. My classmates immediately rushed forward and pinned him to the ground. Antonio froze for a moment.
He looked at me,in disbelief. “Grace, you let them do this?”
Yes. The moment I saw him, I quietly told my classmates that he was my enemy.
As Antonio struggled desperately, one of my classmates threw a punch.
Before it could land on his belly, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
My classmates froze for a moment, and no one dared act rashly. We all looked at each other in confusion. We were all doctors, and we all smelled blood. It was real blood.
I walked over to him.
Antonio looked up at me, his eyes suddenly brightening. “Grace, it hurts…”
Chapter 9
I smiled coldly, then kicked his belly. “Antonio, you’re probably hiding a blood bag in your mouth. Is this little act fun for you?”
The light in his eyes quickly dimmed. His face was filled with pain and desolation.
Although my classmates hated him, as doctors, they still crouched down to check on him.
They looked up nervously. “Grace, he probably has serious liver problems.”
They pulled out their phones to call an ambulance, but I stopped them.
Looking at Antonio lying on the ground, struggling as if on his deathbed, I spoke coldly.
“Don’t worry about him. This is just a self–inflicted act to make me feel pity. If not, why would he faint in front of me?”
It was something Antonio once said to me.
Like a boomerang, his words came back to pierce him.
Antonio spat another mouthful of blood, forcing a bitter smile. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”
“At that time, you must have felt so much pain and helplessness. I’m sorry, I didn’t believe you then.”
The moment when I thought I was dying flashed back into my mind.
My eyes reddened, but I stood up straighter.
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Chapter 9
Without pausing for even a second, I walked past him.
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That night, Antonio was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment. It was late–stage liver cancer, and there was little they could do. Painkillers were the only option, to keep him alive and less painful.
Derek stood by, furrowing his brows.
Antonio and I were in the same city, but I never went to see him.
Two months later, the hospital called me to inform me his critical condition. His only contact abroad was me, as that was the only number they could reach.
At the time, I was teaching a class. I didn’t let it affect my lessons. I left at 8 p.m. after my class ended and headed to the hospital.
By the time I arrived, Antonio had lost consciousness. He was in his final moments.
He opened his eyes, and upon seeing me sitting by his bed, he struggled to hold my hand.
With longing in his eyes, he said, “Grace, I had a beautiful dream. There was no Kimberly in it. Our child was born healthy, and the three of us lived happily together.”
“Grace, if there’s a next life, I won’t choose Kimberly. I’ll love you properly.”
I removed his withered hand from mine.
I looked at him coldly. “Maybe there is a next life, but you don’t deserve it. I don’t want to see you in this life or the next.”
Chapter 9
“You should go to hell. Go there and atone for your sins for the sake of my baby.”
Antonio froze, and in despair, he finally closed his eyes.
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