Chapter 6
288 iVouchers
Each word struck like a knife, leaving me gasping for air.
Benjamin withdrew his cold gaze from me and turned away.
Robert glanced back, catching my desolation. “You heard everything just now?”
I gave no answer. He approached to comfort me.
“Elizabeth, I just think you deserve better—”
I cut Robert off. “Robert, I’m tired. Let me be alone, please?”
He hesitated before replying, “Alright. But call me immediately if you feel unwell. I’ll be here.”
I smiled gratefully. “Thank you. For all the trouble I’ve caused you before… and now.”
Robert was Benjamin’s and my senior at university.
When we first met, he didn’t know I was already dating Benjamin and confessed to me.
Benjamin once saw him as a love rival.
To avoid suspicion, I intentionally distanced myself from him. Three years ago, on the day of my diagnosis, I discovered he was the attending physician, and our paths crossed again…
0.00%
222
27
N
109
01 37
Chapter 6
1 288 Vouchers
Life has always been this unpredictable.
Probably because I was too heartbroken and jobless with nothing to do.
This time, my illness struck fiercely. Pain attacked frequently–forget being discharged, I couldn’t even leave my bed. Painkillers stopped working on me.
Night after night, I vomited blood and was admitted to the ICU.
After five days of emergency care, I finally improved and transferred to a regular ward.
When I could use my phone again, I habitually checked my beauty influencer account data.
The account had been renamed to “Benjamin’s ‘Victoria““–now transformed into a couples‘ vlog channel for Benjamin and Victoria.
Cruelly ironic, their first video was posted on October 22nd.
The title read: [Wedding Prep Diary: Gown Fitting].
That date happened to be my anniversary with Benjamin.
Bitterness welled up inside me, stealing the courage to click play. I switched to my cancer journey alt account and posted:
“Day 1,042 battling my tumor. The channel I’d built for three years got wiped by my first love. Makes me wonder–after I die, will I vanish from his memory too?”
My hands started trembling so badly while writing that I couldn’t continue.
16.58%
.
27
22
109
01:37
Chapter 6
288 (Vouchers
W
Benjamin is so cruel. He turned our anniversary into Victoria’s anniversary. He’s still the leading man, but I’m no longer his leading lady.
I’m just a passerby he scorns, not even worth a second glance.
The twentieth day in the hospital.
Hooked up to an IV, I suddenly felt a bit of appetite.
Robert told me: “Having an appetite is good news. It means your body is recovering. Eat whatever you crave. Only when you’re full can you keep fighting the illness.”
I thought of my favorite, Ho’s Wonton Soup.
Robert gave me a booster shot before letting me leave the hospital alone.
Truthfully, I knew it was morphine.
When I dragged myself to Ho’s entrance, workers were tearing down the store sign. The bold characters “Ho’s Wonton Soup” lay shattered on the ground.
I asked the owner: “Sir, are you closing the shop?”
He replied: “Yes. Someone offered three million to buy it, saying this place holds nothing but disgusting memories. They insisted on tearing it down to build a dessert shop.”
Immediately, I thought of Benjamin.
Dessert shops were Victoria’s favorite.
37.86%
0
27
27
2
109
01 37
Chapter 6
284 Vouchers
My heart ached as if pricked by a needle.
Noticing my thin frame and swollen belly, the owner kindly offered: “Craving something while pregnant, miss? The kitchen’s still intact. Let me cook you one last bowl.”
Cradling my prominent bump, I declined.
“Thank you for your kindness. May peace follow your life.”
I used to find blessings like “lifetime peace” terribly trite. Only when approaching the end did I realize “peace” holds value beyond measure.
I said goodbye to the shop owner and turned away, not telling him I wasn’t pregnant but suffering from ascites.
Finally, I took a photo of the message board in the shop and updated my cancer journey alt account.
“On the 1,057th day of fighting cancer, I came to Ho’s Wonton Soup that Benjamin and I used to frequent. The message I once wrote about wishing to ride the last bus of happiness together to the end was gone…”
“He’s now dazzlingly happy. As for the last bus, I got on alone first.”
Back at the hospital, the ascites tortured me so painfully I couldn’t bear it anymore.
1/4
Robert quickly ordered an ultrasound and accompanied me to get it done.
In the waiting area, I unexpectedly ran into Benjamin and Victoria.
Benjamin was holding an ultrasound report while Victoria held his
57.33%
27
D
2
109
01.37
Chapter 6
2A# Mouchers
arm, resting her head on his shoulder.
“Benjamin, do you think our future child will be a boy or a girl? What name should we choose?”
Benjamin blurted out: “As long as it’s not called Elizabeth, it sounds disgusting.”
My heart felt like it was being stabbed by a knife, overwhelming my abdominal pain.
Elizabeth was the name I once chose for our future child.
I tightly gripped Robert’s hand and told him: “I don’t want to do the checkup anymore, I want to go back to the ward.”
But before I could turn around, Victoria suddenly spotted me: “Elizabeth?”
AA
She pulled Benjamin, quickly walked up to me, looked at my bulging belly, and then exclaimed in surprise: “It really is you, what a coincidence.”
“Elizabeth senior, are you pregnant too? How many months along are you?”
Robert wanted to refute for me, but I stopped him.
My burning gaze fell on her belly as I countered: “And you?”
“Just three weeks.” She beamed, linking arms with Benjamin. “No wonder Elizabeth left so readily! She hid it so well!”
I was about to explain when Benjamin coldly sneered: “Disgraceful
79.90%
O
227
01 37
109
Chapter 6
things deserve to be hidden.”
