Chapter 4
When Sophia got home, she buried herself under the covers.
The rain had caught her on the way back, and now her entire body felt heavy and sluggish.
Her sleep was anything but peaceful. Scenes of her time with Arnold kept flashing through her mind.
He had once searched through an entire city on a snowy winter night just to buy her favorite shepherd’s pie. He had made her a cake from scratch on her birthday and even won a diamond at auction and personally crafted it into a ring–just to surprise her.
But now, everything had changed.
A chill seeped deep into her bones, and Sophia trembled from the cold.
She opened her eyes weakly. Using the last of her strength, she dressed and called a cab to the hospital.
“Do you know you have a 40°C fever? If you had come any later, you might’ve ended up in the emergency room! You need to call a family member–hospitalization requires someone to stay with you.
“I… I don have any family here,” she pressed her dry lips together and answered softly.
“What about a boyfriend?” the nurse asked with a frown.
Sophia froze for a moment, then shook her head. “No. But I can take
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care of myself. I don’t need anyone to stay.”
The emergency room was busy, so after a few instructions, the nurse left.
Silence returned to the hospital room. Sophia leaned back against the bed, quietly watching the IV drip as the medicine slowly flowed down.
***
Sophia was woken by the sound of urgent shouting.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Arnold standing by her hospital bed, looking panicked. “Sophia, how are you feeling? Are you still unwell? Why didn’t you call me when you got sick last night? I almost lost my mind when I got the nurse’s call!”
Hearing the concern and anxiety in his voice, Sophia responded hoarsely, “If I had called you yesterday, would you have come?”
“Of course. You’re more important than anything.”
At his words, her gaze dropped to the lipstick stain on his collar, and a faint, mocking smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “Is this what he called ‘important“?” she asked herself.
She spent three days in the hospital, and during that time, Arnold stayed by her side, attentive and considerate, never leaving for a
moment.
When the discharge procedures were done, Arnold helped her out of the inpatient wing–only for them to run into Cassandra vomiting by a trash can.
Arnold quickly released her hand and rushed toward Cassandra, filled
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with concern. “Cassandra, are you okay?”
Cassandra was dressed in a white dress, her makeup–free face pale from nausea–fragile and pitiful at a glance.
“Arnold, I feel awful. I…‘
Before she could finish, she doubled over with another dry heave.
Without hesitation, Arnold scooped her into his arms and rushed toward the outpatient building–completely forgetting about Sophia.
Watching their figures disappear, Sophia bent down to pick up the discharge papers that had fallen to the ground and hailed a cab home by herself.
On the way, she received two messages.
She ignored the one from Arnold and opened the company’s message
instead.
Upon seeing that her resignation had been approved, a rare smile appeared on her face. Then she opened the ticketing app and booked a flight for ten days later.
Ten days from now, she would leave this city for good.
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