Chapter 3

Lily POV

In the end, I couldn’t make it through the night.

The two bites of moldy cake, combined with my already weakened body and emotional turmoil, triggered severe acute gastroenteritis.

By the time I was carried into the ambulance, my body had curled into a tight ball. My face was pale as paper, and cold sweat soaked through my clothes.

In a daze, I saw Ethan standing beside the stretcher. For the first time, panic flashed across his face.

The emergency ward smelled strongly of disinfectant.

An IV drip flowed silently through the transparent tube into my veins. The cold liquid eased the burning pain churning through my stomach.

I stared at the pale ceiling above me.

The patient in the neighboring bed was being gently coaxed by their family to drink some water.

My brother stood beside my bed.

The regret on Ethan’s face was obvious.

He rubbed his hands together and spoke hoarsely. “Lily…I acted impulsively. I lost my temper when I saw Nora crying like that. Your stomach has always been sensitive. I shouldn’t have forced you to eat it. I’m sorry. You can hit me or yell at me if you want.”

I turned my head and looked at him without saying anything.

Before I could respond, the ward door opened.

Nora walked in behind him.

She hadn’t even changed clothes. She was still wearing the silk pajamas, with Ethan’s coat draped over her shoulders. Her eyes were swollen.

The moment she saw me in bed, she began to cry.

“This is all my fault…” Nora sniffed. Her voice sounded especially pitiful in the quiet ward. “If I hadn’t insisted on saving that cake for Lily, if I hadn’t made something so awful, she wouldn’t have ended up in the hospital. Ethan, hit me if you want. I caused all of this. Someone like me doesn’t deserve to stay with the Bennett family…”

As she spoke, she shrank behind Ethan, looking as if guilt had nearly broken her apart.

Ethan immediately turned around and instinctively shielded her. He patted her back.

“What are you saying? How could this be your fault? You meant well. Who could have known the cake would spoil? Lily’s health is weak. You can’t blame yourself. Stop crying. Your eyes are already swollen.”

I lay in the hospital bed, watching the absurd scene before me.

My brother had nearly let a spoiled cake take my life. Yet here he was, standing beside my bed and comforting the person who had caused it all.

A deep sense of helplessness and absurdity swallowed me whole.

I suddenly felt so tired.

Too tired to say another word to either of them.

Trembling, I reached beneath my pillow with the hand that wasn’t connected to the IV and took out my phone.

Then I called Julian.

He hadn’t come to the hospital that night because of an unexpected international meeting at work. The phone rang for a long time before he answered.

His voice sounded tired but still gentle and polite.

“Hey, Lily. Are you feeling better? Ethan told me you were admitted.”

The moment I heard that familiar voice—the voice that had comforted me countless times when I was vulnerable—the tears I had been holding back finally burst free.

I tried to keep my voice down, sobbing through my tears.

“Julian…I’m in so much pain. Ethan forced me to eat that rotten cake. I threw up, and now I’m in the hospital on an IV. But he’s still comforting Nora…”

I thought my boyfriend—the man who had once looked heartbroken if I got even a tiny paper cut—would soothe me like he always had.

I thought he would rush to the hospital and stay by my side all night.

There was a brief silence on the other end.

Only his faint breathing traveled through the phone.

A few seconds later, Julian spoke again.

But the warmth I had been waiting for was gone. His voice held a lofty judgment and weary impatience.

“Lily, are you done?”

My breath caught.

“Nora meant well.” His pace was calm, but every word cut like a knife. “Her family was poor. She doesn’t understand expiration dates. All she knew was that it was the best thing she could give you. Why are you being so cruel? Why do you have to make everything so ugly?”

“She ate plenty of spoiled food before, didn’t she? She got through it every time. She was just trying to save money. She didn’t know any better. She’s suffered so much. You need to be more understanding.”

“She had a difficult life. Can’t you show her a little compassion?”

There was a hint of sternness in Julian’s voice.

“It’s only gastroenteritis. A few days of IV fluids and you’ll be fine. But you threw up in front of her. Do you have any idea how much that hurt her pride? Lily, when did you become so selfish?”

The tears in my eyes dried instantly.

I gripped my phone so tightly that my knuckles turned white. Listening to the man on the other end, I suddenly felt as if I didn’t know him at all.

“She’s pitiful? She didn’t know any better? What about me? Don’t you know me? You watched me grow up. Don’t you know I can’t eat spoiled food?”

My voice was hoarse from weakness and anger.

“That’s enough.”

Julian finally seemed to lose patience. His voice turned cold, filled with complete disappointment.

“You’ve changed, Lily. You weren’t like this before. You used to be kind and generous. You never attacked people like this. Stay in the hospital and reflect on yourself.”

The call ended.

I sat there in a daze, holding my phone. Its screen flickered on and off in the darkness.

I looked at Ethan, still speaking gently to Nora, and listened to the cold dead tone in my phone.

So in their eyes, my protest—one that had cost me my health, almost even my life—was nothing more than an ugly tantrum.

I didn’t cry again.

When pain reaches its limit, there are no tears left.

I slowly lowered my phone and closed my eyes.

That was when I heard it clearly.

The fortress in my heart called “home” and “love” had collapsed with a deafening roar, crumbling into dust.