After being assassination thirteen times by my fiance, I finally Chapter 08
Upon entering the intensive care unit, the pun- gent smell of disinfectant almost suffocated me.
He was in a sterile ward at the end of the corridor.
I saw Ivan on the hospital bed through the bulletproof glass.
In that instant, my legs went weak and I knelt down in front of the glass.
Is this still the same Ivan who is always gentle, smiling, and has a tall and straight figure?
He had lost all his hair due to chemotherapy, and hi s entire body was so thin that he looked like a skele- ton wrapped in human skin. Various tubes of differ- ent thicknesses were inserted into his carotid artery a nd chest cavity, and the ventilator mask almost covred his palm–sized face.
how so?
This is the man I hate the most, the parasite I try to avoid at all costs. So why does seeing him like this make my very soul trem- ble with pain?
I don’t know where I got the strength, but I burst open the ward door.
“Ivan!” I stumbled and fell to the ground beside his bed, grabbing his bloodless right hand, two of which I had broken by stepping on it.
The life monitor emitted a faint ticking sound.
He slowly opened his eyes.
Those eyes, once as clear as a lake in early spring, were now lifeless. There was neither love nor hate; they were staring at a wisp of air.
“What are you doing here?” His voice came from un- der the oxygen mask, as weak as a passing breeze.
“I was wrong… Ivan, I know the truth now… That bas- tard Simon, I’ll make him wish he were dead! I’ll con- tact the best team of doctors and experts in the worl right away! We’ll go to Switzerland, to Germany, anywhere!” I cried incoherently, my hot tears falling onto his cold hand.
Diana,” he said very softly.
held my breath: “I’m here! I’ll give you any- thing you want!”
He didn’t look at me, but used his last bit of s trength to tear open the collar of his hospital gown.
His thin, bony chest and abdomen were criss- crossed with more than a dozen ugly scars.
“This one, you bribed the truck driver to crash into it …this one, you broke the chandelier and smashed it…
and here,” he pointed to the three extremely grue- some new knife wounds on his abdomen, “the three nives in the rain two weeks ago.”
Every word felt like a slow, agonizing cut scraping across my heart.
“I’m sorry! Please stop! Please stop!” I cov- ered my ears, sobbing uncontrollably. “I wa s just out of my mind… I didn’t want to be bound by that marriage… but I didn’t really mean it…”
“You didn’t really want me to die?” He gave a mock- ing sneer. “So all the excruciating pain and despair I enqured were just a ‘bewitching illusion‘ in your eyes.”
“I’ll marry you right now! We’ll have our wedding here tomorrow… no, today!” I frantidally rummaged through my pockets, only to realize that I hadn’t even brought a ring.
“It’s too late, Diana.” He pulled his hand away from mine as if he had touched something ex- tremely filthy.
“I used to think that as long as I was well–behaved eno ugh, one day you would turn around and look at me.”
“But later I found out that the person my dad risked his life to save was just a coldblooded and selfish monster.”
“No! I love you! I just realized I’ve gotten so used to you being around!” I broke down and kowtowed, “Please give me another chance, just one more time…”
I will not forgive you.
Ivan closed his eyes, and a single tear slid down his cheek.
I never want to see you again, in any lifetime. Take your guilt with you and get out of my sight.”
He pressed the emergency red button next to the hos- pital bed.
A piercing alarm blared down the corridor. Sedurity guards rushed in immediately and grabbed my arms.
“No! Let me go! I’m his fiancée!” I struggled like a madwoman, my nails scratching desper- ate bloodstains on the floor. “Ivan! Look at me! Please dok at me!”
But he kept his head turned to the side, look- ing out the window, and never spared me another glance.