Belatedly, I realized I had said something foolish. I could only hope that Camelia did not want her child to be alone.
A smile curled on Camelia’s lips, but I did not know whether she was laughing at herself or at someone else. As if she had made up her mind about something, the look in her eyes abruptly turned sharp. “I’ll ask you just one question. Will you marry Marcus and fulfill his wish?”
“So you knew…” My hands slowly went down, and I did not know what else to say.
At the end of the day, that term of his would hurt her most.
“I don’t want to hear that! I just want to know if you’ll do it or not!” Camelia’s voice rose higher with each word, and by the end of her sentence, her voice cracked.
At that, I quietly said, “That’s impossible. I’m already Anthony’s wife. I’d have committed bigamy if I were to marry him.”
After a pause, I added, “Even without the legal repercussions, I don’t love Marcus. I won’t make the wrong decision. You know best what will happen if you force two people who have no love for each other together. Have you not suffered enough all these years?”
The nervousness I felt earlier was slowly forming into a different kind of aggression. The more I spoke, the angrier I got, the less control I had over my emotions. “Could you stop putting yourself down like this, Camelia?” I shrieked.
It seemed like Camelia never expected me to have an outburst, for she froze after hearing my shout.
The negotiator by my side even chided me, “Speaking like this to her will easily agitate her. We should be prioritizing saving her. You’ll be killing her indirectly by doing this!”
I could hear that he was angry but afraid that Camelia would notice our conversation. Hence, he had said that in a hissing whisper, and I could almost hear him gritting his teeth.
“Sorry,” I said when I realized I must have made more trouble for them.
Nevertheless, it was not the right time to dwell on mistakes like those. After a moment of silence, Camelia broke down.
She stood by the ledge, which was only as wide as a palm, with her hands on her shaking head. “I’m sorry, Sienna. I can’t take it anymore. I’m suffocating seeing all these. Do you know that when I got close to him—when I felt his cold body and saw the flatline on the ECG—I felt a pain you could never imagine. The world spun, and it felt like my soul had left with the warmth of his body. At that time, I fell to the ground. I knew I can’t live anymore. If not… If not for the nurse passing by the ward at that time, I might have followed his footsteps there and then.”
Her eyes were red from crying, and she stared at me as tears kept falling. It felt like I was staring at a frightened rabbit. “I’d rather die than to go through that again. Tell me your answer now, Sienna. Do you want us dead or alive?”
Loud white noise exploded in my head. It was as if she had dunked me in an icy lake and froze my brain.
Am I forced to become a killer if I stick to my principles?
The officer behind me urged, “Look at the big picture. Let’s save her first before we talk about anything else.”
The negotiator at the side was even stomping his foot. “Hey, lady. I’m reminding you now that there are legal repercussions if you decide to let her die. You’d better think properly on how you’re going to reply to her!”
“I…”
Before I could say that I agreed to her words, Camelia screamed hysterically again, “I don’t want lies! Sienna Stanhope, I want you to agree to marry Marcus as soon as possible. Otherwise, even if you stop me now, I still have countless ways to die in front of you!”
“Say yes to her! What are you waiting for?”
“You can always get a divorce even if you marry him! What’s the big deal about this? Save her!”
“I…” Anthony’s face emerged in my mind, and I lowered my head. In a voice almost inaudible to everyone but myself, I said, “I don’t want that. I can’t do it.”
Right as those words left my mouth, the screams of others traveled into my ears.
“No!”
I snapped my head upward only to see Camelia’s figure stepping off the ledge and falling off the building.
“Camelia!”
Despite everyone running toward her immediately, no one could make it to her side in time.
I could imagine what I was going to see next—an unmoving husk of a body and the red that would stain the entire ground around it.
Fortunately, that was not what I saw. Instead, what greeted me when I peeked over the edge was a gigantic safety air cushion. Camelia was in the middle of it, wrapped protectively by the cushion like a newborn baby. It was difficult for us to see whether she was hurt or not from our angle. We could only see that she had passed out from the immense impact.
My heart rate slowed down. Finally, I could calm down and take in a deeper breath.
Everywhere in the inpatient department, I could see small groups of two to three people. All of them were talking about Camelia’s incident with varying responses—from indifference to interesting gossip.
No same misery existed in two people, so it was normal for them to think of the incident as an interesting tale to tell.
However, I found them noisy, so I quietly walked past them with my arms folded.
After what happened earlier, I finally understood what Camelia felt. The very moment she stepped off the ledge, I was willing to give up all my principles to keep her in the living world.
I’ve got to look for an appropriate way to deal with this.
“Where have you been?” Came Anthony’s familiar voice that snapped me out of the daze I was in. Slowly blinking, I watched as he draped his jacket on me with empty eyes.
Clothes… Jacket… I got it!
My eyes lighting up, I grabbed his arm and said, “Anthony, I’m going to agree to Marcus’ terms.”
Anthony knitted his brows and lowered his voice, “Say that again.”
Knowing that he had misunderstood what I meant, I gave him a helpless smile before tiptoeing to circle my arms around his neck. “I said, you’re going to be a matchmaker.”
Hearing my tone, the gloominess on Anthony’s face dissipated as a smile grew on his lips instead. “Are you sure that I’m going to be a matchmaker instead of a cuckold?”
As he spoke, he even vengefully pulled me closer toward him until the two of us were squeezed together.
As I had finally come up with a way to deal with the situation, I saw no harm in playing along. Pouting, I then made him guess. “Well, since you’re a smart man, why don’t you take a guess?”
“Fake marriage?” Anthony guessed.
“Hmm… You’re half-right. Try again!” I said with a chuckle.
All of a sudden, Anthony loosened his grip on me and raised his arm to tidy up the stray strands on my forehead instead. In a patient and loving tone, he said, “No matter what it is, you have to remember that you’re my wife. No one can change this.”
In the face of his gentleness, my childishness and amusement escaped me.
“It won’t change. It’ll never change,” I reassured him, a reply to his trust.
At that, Anthony’s brows raised. He then led me back. As we walked, he informed me about what the doctors had said.
Illness caused by radiation was irreversible. Not even the best medical specialists in the world could do anything about it. All they could do was recommend various kinds of very costly medication. Nevertheless, they could at most extend his life for another month. Moreover, during that time, the patient would be in so much pain and would not be able to rest or eat properly.
To summarize, Marcus was going to live in a world of physical pain and mental torment until he met the grim reaper.
Those words, without a doubt, were a blow to both him and us. If I had known that agony was what awaited him, I wondered if I would have seen death as salvation for him instead.
Perhaps Camelia knew that earlier than us, and that was why she was willing to use her life in exchange for the fulfillment of Marcus’ wish, hoping that he would be able to leave this world with a smile.
Although I could understand them now, I could not forgive them. I did not head to Camelia’s ward. Instead, I chose to message her: The wedding will be happening soon. However, you’ll have to stay alive to witness it.
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.
Leave a Reply