Chapter 1

After being diagnosed with late-stage cancer, I stayed in a hospital room.

One day, the weather was especially nice. I rarely put on makeup, but that day I did and took a close-up selfie. [Do I look pretty today?]

Many strangers liked my post.

However, Mia, Ethan's sister, left a sharp comment. [You look so ugly. Did you really think my brother would change his mind? You don't deserve him.]

After some thought, I replied to her. [I don't need his change of heart.]

*****

Harold Bennett, my attending doctor, let out a heavy sigh. "Where's your family?"

I shook my head. "I don't have any family."

"No family? How can that be?" Harold asked.

"They're too busy to care about me. Dr. Bennett, I'm heading back to my room," I said.

With Harold's heavy sigh echoing behind me, I made my way back to my ward.

Linda, the kind care of the patient in the next bed, asked with concern, "How did it go, honey? Any improvement?"

I shook my head. "Well, it's getting worse."

Honestly, I didn't feel that sad about it.

Linda and another carer of the patient by the window both looked at me, a bit stunned.

I could see pity in their eyes.

Soon, it was almost lunchtime.

I suddenly didn't feel like eating in the cafeteria today.

David, the man Linda was taking care of, also thought the cafeteria food tasted awful.

I pulled out 65 dollars from my wallet. "Linda, when you go home to cook later, could you buy some extra beef? I'd love to have some, too."

Linda paused for a moment and then said, "Sure, I'll make a big pot of beef soup. I'll bring it over so all of us here can eat together."

With that, Linda headed home to cook.

*****

At noon, our room was filled with the mouthwatering aroma of beef barley soup. The beef was so tender that it practically melted in my mouth.

As I ate, tears streamed down my face.

I lifted my bowl higher to hide my face.

Linda said, "Slow down a bit. There's plenty more. I even brought the pot over."

I didn't put my bowl down until my tears finally dried up.

In the end, I couldn't bring myself to go for a second bowl.

I remembered when I was a kid, my mother, Sarah, would always make me beef soup if I refused to eat.

The barley she picked always tasted so sweet and fresh.

After she passed away, I never tasted that flavor again.

But today, thanks to Linda's cooking, I finally got to savor that long-missed comforting flavor.

Linda wouldn't take the 65 dollars, no matter how much I insisted.

So I just ordered a bunch of fruit online and put it out in the room for everyone to enjoy together.

Our room was known as the Last Stop Ward.

All three patients had been officially diagnosed with late-stage bone cancer.

Linda, who was giving her husband, David, a massage, suddenly let out a sigh.

"Honey, you should request a transfer to another room," she advised.

I didn't understand why she said so.

She continued, "That bed of yours... People say it's unlucky. The last person who slept there..."

Now, I pretty much got what she was hinting at.

The last person in this bed never made it out of the hospital.

Word was that she was some tough career woman in her early thirties.

I shook my head. "I don't believe that kind of thing."

Actually, there were also VIP Suites here, and Harold even recommended one to me.

I went to check it out before.

Everything in there was top-notch, but being alone in a single suite just felt way too lonely.

I preferred this room for three.

Staying here, I could hear everyone shooting the breeze all day. It just felt more lively and down-to-earth.

After three years of rattling around that empty villa by myself, I was honestly just tired of the loneliness.

I longed for the warmth and bustle of real life.

*****

When Ethan called, I was sleeping.

"You're not home," he said.

I opened my eyes. "Yeah," I answered flatly, my voice still thick and nasal from sleep.

"I've brought Vivian back. Just leave her alone," he said.

I didn't get mad, and I just said, "Alright."

"You're pretty quick to agree this time," he remarked.

"Anything else? If not, I'm hanging up," I said.

"Hang up? " he said. "Claire, if you keep acting all innocent to my face and scheming behind my back, I swear I won't let you get away with it this time."

I didn't bother listening anymore. I hung up the phone and just stared at the silent TV screen.

Vivian Nunez was the mistress Ethan kept outside.

She was the woman they arranged for him at that party. Honestly, parties like that had happened before.

But Ethan had never taken the bait until Vivian, with her unmistakable charm, managed to win him over.

Rumor had it she performed a dance at the party, completely captivating everyone there.

In the end, she managed to make it into Ethan's bed.

I just couldn't figure it out. Ethan wasn't even drinking that night, so how did he and Vivian end up together?

People always said I was a little slow to catch on, ever since I was a kid.

Before that, I never once doubted how Ethan felt about me.

We grew up together as childhood sweethearts.

Back then, when we were just kids, he already said he'd marry me someday.

By the time I realized he'd been keeping Vivian for quite a while, my hands were trembling. I just couldn't believe it. It felt like my whole world was collapsing around me.

I argued and made a scene, but the more I did, the more impatient he became.

In the end, every bit of tenderness he had was given to Vivian instead.

I kept thinking I was already old and washed up, but the truth was that I was only twenty-six.

Ethan wouldn't let me see Vivian.

He wouldn't even let anyone around him bring her up.

But in the end, I still ended up meeting her.

And after that meeting, Vivian had a miscarriage. People said it was a boy.

Ethan slapped me first, and then his mother, Evelyn, gave me ten more in a row, each one loud and sharp.

Even when I said it wasn't me, not a single person believed me.

In ancient times, I would have been thrown into a dungeon, forgotten, and left to rot in a situation like this.

After that, the Ashton family never invited me to another dinner.

I was left all alone in that empty villa.

What was worse, Ethan never came back.

During those cold, lonely days, I sometimes had dreams.

I dreamed about my late parents. Sometimes, I dreamed about the first time Ethan and I met as kids on a sunny afternoon.

Ethan once said, "Claire, your name sounds so nice."

When I woke up, my face was always covered in tears.

I slowly pulled back the curtains and kept muddling through each day.

In the beginning, I just couldn't take it.

All I wanted was a divorce, so I could leave everything behind, go abroad, and carve out a new life for myself.

However, afraid that I would take a large amount of the Sterling family's enormous wealth, they wouldn't let me divorce Ethan.

They completely ignored my divorce settlement, deliberately keeping me in limbo.

Anyway, they only needed to offer a villa and pay some living expenses to keep me stuck there.