“Yes,” Lulu answered without hesitation.
“Fine,” he said, and took out the knife left on a fruit plate, and held the blade against his own chest.
“Would it ease your spite if I stabbed myself?”
Lulu panicked for a split second, but she calmed down soon enough.
Zachary was testing her, was he not? But no.She would not give in.
Even if she had forgotten the past, she knew that she would never forgive a man who hurt her, let alone stay with him when he could not even protect her.
“You can stop pretending.Stab yourself all you want, and it’d be even better you run in through your heart, bleed out, and die.Then no one would bother me or threaten me.”
Lulu was cold and machinelike, her words devoid of sentiment.
Still, Zachary calmly stared at her for seconds and slowly inched the knife toward himself as he watched Lulu.
“I’ll repay what’s owed, if only to make things up to you.”
With that, he stabbed himself!
The sharp edge of the knife cut through cloth and flesh, and blood soon dyed Zachary’s shirt red.
Lulu’s hands twitched for an instant, but she soon clenched her fingers and reared her chin at him.
“Punish yourself however you want—it won’t work with me.I won’t shed a tear even if you die in front of me.”
Zachary thought he could hear his own heart shattering right then, and the physical agony he suffered was less than a fraction of his heartache.
He would not believe that it was over between him and Lulu.
They used to be in love, that was why he would not believe that she felt nothing toward him at all! He took her hand and put it on the hilt.
“If you really feel nothing towards me, pierce my heart with this knife.”
Lulu averted her eyes.
”So that you can make me a murderer? I knew you were always vile.Kill yourself if you want —don’t try to pin the blame on me!”
“Oh, Lulu.You’ve forgotten everything but you’re still stubborn as ever…alright, if that’s what you want.”
Zachary laughed bitterly and closed his eyes.
“I’ll repay what I owe with my life!”
He was resolved to die and prove his love for her.
Lulu could see that the knife was almost two inches into his body now.
Even if she forgot the past, her instincts as a forensic doctor were still ingrained in her subconscious, and she judged with precision that the knife would reach Zachary’s vitals in another inch.
And that it just might kill him.
As a doctor, Zachary knew that too, but he was weary.
He did owe Lulu too much anyway, and repaying her might give him a shot to restore things to how they had been before.
Lulu caught his hand then.
“Kill yourself all you want.Not in front of me.”
Despite his apathy, she had already called an ambulance.
Staring after her, he asked, “You care, don’t you?”
Lulu naturally would not admit it.
“You’re kidding.I just don’t want to get charged.I won’t be able to explain myself if you died near me.”
Zachary simply ignored it and grabbed her hand.
“I’ve made many mistakes, Lulu, but I’ve always been loyal.I know you’re determined to leave me because I wavered and couldn’t protect you.That’s why you lost your memories after my mother tried to kill you.I’m refusing to let you go because I can’t live without you, do you understand?”
Lulu turned away from his gaze.
“No, I don’t.”
That was when Zachary collapsed into the couch, his face turning pale.
“You’re just pretending.You definitely can sense my feelings for you.”
Lulu shot him a look.
“Still trying to be Romeo when you’re bleeding out?”
“It’s worth it if it’s you,”
Zachary rasped.
Lulu simply ignored him and she stepped outside to wait for the ambulance to arrive, which took another twenty minutes.
Lulu hesitated for a while, but got in as Zachary was rushed to the hospital—she had to know how things would turn out.
While Zachary was being examined, she waited outside on a bench.
Mrs.Slate was just leaving after changing her bandages, and she spotted Lulu at the walkway.
“What are you doing here?”
Mrs.Slate came to ask just as the doors opened.
A nurse stepped outside and asked, “Is the patient’s family here?”
“Patient? Who’s the patient?”
Mrs.Slate had a feeling she knew the answer even as she watched Lulu, but she asked anyway, “Is Zachary hurt?”
When Lulu did not answer, she turned toward the nurse, “What happened to my son?”
“Laceration,” the nurse said.
“You’re family, yes? Please sign this surgery consent form—the patient requires a minor surgery.”
Mrs.Slate almost fainted from the nurse’s words and she turned sharply toward Lulu.
“Was that your fault?”
“It was his own fault.”
Lulu did not feel her conscience gnawing at all, because she never lifted a finger.
Naturally, Mrs.Slate was not about to believe her.
“Really? Do you think you’d believe it if you were told that?”
“I would,” Lulu replied.
Mrs.Slate scowled.
“You…”
“Please, I need a signature,” the nurse interjected just then.
Worried about Zachary’s safety, Mrs.Slate quickly signed the consent form and said, “You have to save my son.”
“Don’t worry, the doctors will do their best, and it’s not that serious anyway.”
With that, the nurse returned inside with the surgery consent form, leaving behind a scowling Mrs.Slate.She did not speak to Lulu, but the gears in her mind were working furiously.
It was clear that she could not make things work for Lulu—even if she had a change of heart and accepted Lulu now, Lulu’s behavior only left her repulsed.
Lulu kept demanding that she die for what she did, and had been hurting her and Zachary repeatedly.She probably would never be able to sleep with her eyes closed from now on in fear of her
next attack.
And if Lulu plunged a knife into Zachary this time, what would happen next time? Would she be next? No…
Lulu was no daughter-in-law.She was a walking disaster! Suddenly, Mrs.Slate said, “Taking things that far…it’s clear you don’t love Zachary anymore, do you?”
Lulu spaced out for two seconds, but she soon turned calm and answered, “How could I still love him?”
“Stay away if you don’t.Don’t let him find you, ever.”
“Are you saying that I should go into hiding for the rest of my life because of him?” Lulu asked in return.
“Or you can study abroad, live in another country you like,”
Mrs.Slate suggested then.
“I can give you enough money to sustain you for the rest of your life.How about that?”
“I don’t need your money, and I won’t bother him at all,” Lulu told Mrs.Slate, rising to her feet just then.
“You ought to know that he’s the one constantly bothering, and this suits everyone just fine.Keep him in line and don’t let him bother me ever again.”
With that, she strode off.
Despite everything that has happened, Mrs.Slate certainly knew that Zachary had always loved Lulu and she could not help wondering who her son took after.
His father even openly took a mistress, betraying Mrs.Slate who was supposed to be his legitimate wife.
While Mrs.Slate herself had never had an affair, she had long since lost her passion toward her husband.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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