After patting her son on the back, Camelia gestured at the door beside her. “He’s inside. You can go in; I’ll stay here.”
I could understand Camelia would want to stay outside of the room. After all, no woman could bear seeing their beloved men reunited with the love of the men’s life.
After taking a deep breath, I readied myself to push the door open and entered the room.
The smell of disinfectant was even more pungent inside the room than in the hallway. Once inside, I could see a pair of bony legs peeking out of the blanket. They were so skinny that one could almost see the bone underneath the skin.
I could not even recognize the man lying on the bed since Marcus looked like a completely different person then. Had it not been for the name on the door, I could never have figured out who the sickly man was.
Since Marcus had his eyes shut and was completely motionless, I could have easily mistaken him for a corpse if it were not for the ventilators and heartbeat monitor just beside him.
Suddenly, the man unconsciously turned to his side and opened his mouth to gasp for air.
The sight almost made me cry out loud, so I immediately covered my mouth to stop myself from making a sound. I did not want to wake the man up from his rest. Is this really Marcus? The man who girls all over K City swooning over him and who single-handedly protected me? How did he end up like this? The man looks as if he’s about to pass away any second now.
When I thought of what Camelia said about my wedding and the days Marcus had left, I hurriedly rushed out of the room. After closing the door behind me, I held on to a chair to support myself as I finally broke down.
So much had happened between Marcus and me. I even cursed the man and wished that he would vanish from the face of the earth because of my children, but when I saw just how vulnerable he was back in the room, I changed my mind.
At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to withdraw my curses from the man.
“Here, use this,” offered a voice from behind me as a slender hand handed me a napkin.
It was Camelia, the one who loved Marcus the most. I could not believe how she managed to remain calm like that. She must’ve cried so many times when nobody was looking.
“Thank you.” I knew I had no right to break down like that in front of the woman, and I also did not want my crying to wake up Marcus, so I quickly dried my tears and recollected myself. “How did it happen? Is there really no way to save him? Maybe you should try sending him to the hospitals overseas.”
“That’s not going to help him. The attending doctor told us not to waste any more time on treatments and that he should live out his remaining days in peace.”
Camelia then walked over to the door and placed her hand on the small glass window as if she could touch Marcus that way. “You know, I only get to take care of him because he no longer has the strength to push me away. He has no choice but to let me tend to his everyday needs, even if that’s not what he wants. But that’s okay; at least I get to be by his side until the very end. I know he’s only hanging on just so he can see you one last time.”
I only realized how similar the two were when I saw Camelia’s exhausted but happy expression.
Even though she never got Marcus to love her, she was willing to care for the dying man and enjoyed every second of it. I guess that must be how Marcus felt when he took care of me while I was unconscious. Like Camelia, it did not matter to him if I could ever love him back or even talk to him. All he wanted was to be with me, and that was enough to make him feel like the luckiest man alive.
Still, I could not help but pity the two when I realized how their love would never be requited. No matter how hard they tried, they just could not get the other party to reciprocate.
Having experienced firsthand the dread of unrequited love in the years before I married Anthony, I knew exactly how horrible it could be and how it could utterly destroy its harbored. Since I had no right to tell Marcus who to fall in love with, all I could was let the man make his own choice.
When Tobias noticed that his mother seemed off, he approached her to tug on her shirt. “Mommy, are you crying again?”
So that she would not worry her child, Camelia quickly wiped her tears away and took a deep breath before turning around to smile at Tobias. “No, I’m fine.”
After embracing her child to assure him that she was okay, Camelia shifted her attention to me. “Sienna.”
The woman’s tone was so stern that it stunned me for two seconds. “Yes?” I nodded at her to show her that she had gotten my full attention.
“You saw how Marcus is. Even though he never mentioned it, you and I both know that you’re the one he wants to see. It has always been you, so I hope you can come to visit him for the next few days. He may have the necessary medications to keep him alive, but that’s not all he needs. Marcus needs a reason to continue living, and you’re the only one who can give it to him. Will you help?” requested Camelia somewhat helplessly.
In response to that, I nodded hesitantly. “I should…”
“No,” interrupted Anthony suddenly before I could finish my sentence. Right there at the entrance stood the man with a cold visage.
Since he knew that Marcus had feelings for me, there was no way he would ever agree to let me see the man every day, even though the man only had very little time left.
Worried that Anthony would make a scene, I hurriedly darted over to calm him down. This is not the right place to have a heated discussion. Whatever it is that Anthony wants to say, it’ll have to wait until we get home.
After giving me a reassuring look and placing his hand firmly on my shoulder, Anthony turned to look at Camelia. “You’re almost as crafty as Marcus himself, so I would say that you two are a match made in heaven. If he fails to see that, it’s his loss.”
Somehow, what Anthony said to the woman sounded oddly puzzling, but before long, I realized that he was belittling Camelia.
The man had always been a gentleman, but when facing someone as unreasonable as Camelia, he would not hesitate to speak his mind.
“Mind your words,” I reminded Anthony because I did not want him to take his anger out on Camelia when Marcus was the one that he had a beef with.
“Tell me. Was I wrong?” Anthony continued to glare at the woman without even blinking. “You’re smart; I’ll give you that. You knew that Letty would never come here with you, so you deliberately requested that she meet you at the gate alone. You also knew that she was a softy. That’s why you fed her the sad stories.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Refusing to meet Anthony’s glare, Camelia quickly turned aside to avoid the man’s hostility.
To that, Anthony scoffed condescendingly before continuing, “Okay, let’s assume that you have no idea what the man’s been up to all these years just so I can tell you how unoriginal I find his schemes to be. That man is either pretending to be sick or purposely going MIA. So, I’m going to be as straightforward as I can with you. The answer is no.”
Without giving me a chance to say anything, Anthony then grabbed me by the shoulders and forced me to enter the elevator.
“Wait! I’m not done here yet!” I writhed and struggled to go back to Camelia, unwilling to end our conversation like that. Anthony has a point because Marcus did try many tricks on me, but I saw the corpse-like man lying almost lifelessly on the bed myself. There’s no way anyone could’ve faked that. I took a total stranger under my wings just so the child could have a bright future. What makes Anthony think I can just turn off my compassion for a dying man?
Still upset, Anthony refused to listen to anything I had to say and continued to hold me so that I could not leave his side, but while waiting for the elevator, the man gave Camelia and her child another cold glance.
“Remember this. Even though Marcus had done a lot for Letty, the man also tried to hurt our family, so I would say that we’re even now. We don’t owe him anything. Come anywhere near us again, and I’ll make sure you pay for it.”
Ding!
When the elevator door opened, Anthony almost lifted me off my feet to carry me inside.
Only after the elevator started going down did the man loosen his grip. Angry at Anthony for what he did to me, I distanced myself as far away as the space allowed me to.
Anthony had his reasons for being so jealous, and I could understand what he was going through. After all, Marcus had made a move on me on more than one occasion.
However, I knew I could not live with myself if I pretended like I had no idea that Marcus was dying.
With both my hands on the elevator handrail, I suddenly thought of an idea to get the best of both worlds. With it, not only would I be able to sneak behind Anthony’s back, but I could also reignite Marcus’ will to live.
“Don’t even think about it.” Suddenly, Anthony’s harsh words severed my train of thoughts.
Embarrassed by how easily the man managed to see through me, I bit my lower lips defiantly before defending myself. “I don’t know what you’re referring to because I wasn’t thinking about anything.”
The man then narrowed his eyes at me and made a strange suggestion. “Why don’t you turn around?”
Baffled, I hesitantly did as Anthony said, only to find absolutely nothing behind me. All I could see was my own reflection on the metallic elevator wall.
“I don’t get it.”
“Take a good look at yourself,” demanded Anthony as he walked over to stand beside me. “You think that I’m incapable of being rational when it comes to anything related to Marcus, but what about you? Think about it. When have you ever not given in to your sympathy for the man?”
Every single word from Anthony was delivered so objectively that it immediately cleared things up for me. He’s right. I’ve been so wrong all this time, and I never realized it. Marcus and Rylee are practically the same kinds of people. If I could treat Marcus the way Anthony treated Rylee, Anthony wouldn’t even have to worry about me that much. I just couldn’t help myself. I kept thinking about how Marcus saved me when I lost my first child. Even though I always complained how Anthony was partial to Rylee, I somehow failed to remain objective whenever it came to Marcus. How could I have been so blind?
“Have you calmed down yet?” asked Anthony with a much softer tone. “I understand that you can’t act like nothing had happened, and I’m not trying to force you to, but I won’t allow anything bad to happen to you.”
Seeing how serious the man was, I was well aware that there was nothing I could do to change his mind.
Even though my subconscious wanted me to fight back, I was restrained from doing so by reason. Ever since I married Anthony, I seemed to have become softer toward the man.
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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