I don't know how much time passed before Ethan began to pant like someone who had been drowning in the sea and could finally breathe again.

He picked up the cup and set it down gently, feeling cold all over.

It took almost all of his strength to control his speech: "Okay."

The heavy footsteps gradually faded away, and the entire room fell quiet.

Clutching the edge of the blanket, I silently let go of everything in my mind regarding the past.

I kept telling myself that saying goodbye to Ethan was for the sake of a better tomorrow.

I still have time, before I am completely unable to move, to love myself well and live well, just like my mother did.

I turned back and looked at the cracked cup on the table, whispering to myself.

"Never forgive..."

Chapter 25

I had assumed that Ethan would continue to pester me, but for three full days, I did not see him once.

While I felt a sense of relief, a trace of disappointment was still unavoidable in my heart.

But upon reflection, wasn't this exactly what I had wanted...

As I drifted in thought, Dr. Chen arrived with the nurse, Xu Li, to perform my check-up.

I attempted to get out of bed, but I could not move my legs.

"Dr. Chen, am I still unable to get out of bed? My other injuries have mostly healed..."

At this, Dr. Chen’s hand, holding his pen, paused. After exchanging a look with Xu Li, he coughed awkwardly: "Your leg bones sustained damage; you certainly cannot walk in the short term. Don't worry too much; as long as you cooperate with the treatment, you will be well soon."

Hearing him say this, the anxiety in my heart subsided slightly.

Seeing my look of relief, Dr. Chen and Xu Li felt a pang of pity.

Because of the instructions from Ethan and Julian, they could not bring themselves to tell me the truth about my condition, fearing I would be shattered by the news...

With Xu Li's assistance, I was seated in a wheelchair and pushed off for my examination.

The rare, warm sun shone down on the quiet streets.

A Lincoln sedan pulled up slowly in front of the villa. After Harvey stepped out and opened the rear door, Ethan’s father stepped out with an iron-grey expression.

"Chairman, Mr. Ethan, he..."

Before Harvey could finish, the elder Ethan raised a hand to cut him off.

He was filled with rage upon learning that Ethan had not only failed to go to the hospital to accompany me these past few days but had also completely abandoned his responsibilities at the company.

Ignoring Harvey’s hesitation, he strode into the villa.

Pushing open the unlocked door, a thick, stifling scent of alcohol hit him in the face.

The elder Ethan froze, looking along the floor toward the wine bottles rolling near the staircase.

Ethan was sitting on the floor in nothing but his dress shirt and trousers, barefoot, surrounded by both empty and unopened bottles.

He was leaning against the sofa, his dark hair disheveled, his bloodshot eyes staring vacantly at a photo of me on the table.

His lower eyelids were dark, his once-smooth chin was covered in stubble, and he looked entirely as despondent as a homeless man on the street.

The elder Ethan’s face darkened. "Look at the disgraceful state you’re in!"

The furious reprimand did not sober Ethan.

He slowly lifted his head to look at his father, then picked up the unfinished brandy and took a long, deep gulp.

His father frowned, stepping forward to vent his anger, but he stopped when Ethan spoke: "Dad..."

The long-unheard address made his father freeze.

Looking at the drunken, red-eyed Ethan before him, he felt a flicker of deja vu, as if he were seeing himself at the time he lost his wife.

"Clara drove me away. She... she... she will never forgive me in this life... never forgive me..."

Ethan's eyes were filled with helplessness, like a child who had done something wrong and didn't know how to make amends.

For three full days, he hadn't closed his eyes.

Whenever he did, my desperate, cold gaze would cross his mind, and those unanswerable accusations would ring in his ears like a curse.

Panic, regret, heartache, and helplessness all acted like knives, stabbing directly into his heart.

"Dad..." Ethan grabbed his father's trouser leg. "Help me, help me... go find Clara... I love her, I was wrong, I was wrong..."

His father crouched down, the anger in his eyes turning into sorrow: "She shouldn't forgive you, and you aren't worth forgiving."

Upon hearing this, the light in Ethan's eyes dimmed, and his hand slowly dropped.

That’s right, not worth forgiving.

How could one forgive a person who had tormented the woman who loved him most, caused the death of his own unborn child, and indirectly led to the death of his wife’s only living relative...

In the next second, Ethan downed the remaining alcohol in his hand.

A burning sensation like liquid fire spread from his throat, and a sharp, violent pain exploded within his internal organs.

Before his father could stop him, he suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood.

"Bang!"

As the bottle hit the ground, a striking red stain bloomed on his white shirt.

"Ethan!"

Chapter 26

When Ethan woke up again, he found himself lying in a hospital room.

His brain felt heavy, an IV was inserted into the back of his hand, and a burning sensation lingered in his throat, making it extremely painful to swallow.

Looking around the room, his thoughts were chaotic.

His memory stopped almost entirely at the night he returned home after our unpleasant parting.

Facing a house filled with traces of me and haunted by my resolute words, he had tried to numb his nerves with alcohol.

But he discovered that even when drunk, he could not escape that clear, agonizing pain.

Ethan rubbed his temples, trying to soothe the remaining drunkenness.

Glancing over, he saw a bowl of steaming porridge on the table with a note pressed beneath it.

—I will handle the company affairs. You stay and accompany Clara. You don't have to disturb her, but don't leave her.

It was his father's handwriting.

Looking at the porridge and the words in the note, his heart was a mess of complex emotions.

Don't disturb, don't leave...

After a long while, the look in Ethan’s eyes gradually cleared.

A nurse entered to change his IV drip, only to be startled when he pulled out the needle. "What are you doing?"

Ethan got out of bed and charged straight out.

The nurse, holding the medicine, couldn't help but mutter: "To actually drink until you're throwing your life away..."

The inpatient building.

In the room, I had just finished my check-up and was being pushed back by Xu Li.

As Xu Li moved to help me onto the bed, she heard a colleague outside say: "Xiao Xu, take the medicine for bed 43 over quickly; he has surgery in a little while."

Xu Li replied: "Got it."

I said understandingly: "You go ahead first. I've been lying down for so long; it's nice to sit for a while."

Hearing this, Xu Li felt a bit embarrassed: "All right, I'll be right back."

I nodded, and after she left, I realized my phone was at the nurse's station, so I turned my wheelchair toward it.

It was lunch break, and the nurses were having a rare moment of leisure.

"Sigh... I feel so bad whenever I see Clara passing by."

Hearing this, I stopped the wheelchair, leaning against the corner, watching the three nurses with suspicion.

"Me too. Even though she has ALS, it could have been delayed with treatment, but now because of the car crash, she has not only lost her fertility but is also paralyzed. It’s like misfortunes never come singly."

"I don't even dare to talk to her much, for fear of letting something slip..."

"Boom!"

I felt a thunderclap explode in my brain, turning my face deathly pale.

Lost my fertility... paralyzed...

A massive sensation of weightlessness hit me like rain, making me nearly fall from the wheelchair.

I knew fate wouldn't let me go, but I never imagined I would enter this despair so quickly, becoming a burden who couldn't even take care of myself!

A sharp-eyed nurse caught a glimpse of me at the corner, and her expression instantly stiffened: "Clara? Why did you come out alone?"

The other two turned around in shock, feeling incredibly awkward.

I forced out a nonchalant smile: "I forgot my phone here earlier."

Hearing this, they immediately retrieved the phone and handed it to me.

I politely declined their offer to push me back and turned the wheelchair toward my room myself.

It was only a minute’s distance from the station to the room, but it felt like an entire lifetime.

By the time I came to my senses, I was already inside, and tears had already covered my face.