Chapter 8%
Back at the hospital, I received a promotion, along with a salary far exceeding my expectations. At this rate, I counted that I could clear all my debts in just two years.%
However, Jill continued to refuse to sign the divorce papers. Left with no other choice, I filed a lawsuit against her with all the evidence I had. It wasn’t long before the court granted the divorce, officially setting me free.”
She attempted to contact me a few times after that, but I left her standing outside my door each time. Without access to the perks she once enjoyed, she could no longer afford the special medications. Eventually, her visits stopped entirely and her social media went silent.
Outside of work, Jeremy and I volunteered at a local orphanage, providing free medical checkups for the children. Before long, our efforts caught public attention and we made it onto the city’s trending news.
After being publicly honored by the dean, I received another message from one of Jill’s burner accounts. “Congratulations, Maxwell. You’re thriving without me. Turned out I’ve been dragging you down all these years.”
I read the message briefly before deleting it and blocking the account.”
Jill had not been heard from for a long time after that and no one knew where she was. Occasionally, Jeremy would joke and ask if I thought she had run off with someone else again. I would just laugh it off, treating it as idle gossip.
I no longer felt anger or pain when her name came up. I wasn’t interested in wasting even a single moment of my new life on her with a lot of responsibility on my hands.
A year later, Jeremy and I performed a miraculous surgery to save a car accident victim against all odds. Our achievement earned us another promotion, this time bypassing usual regulations.”
We celebrated that night, drinking until we could barely walk.
On the way home, I saw Jill. She was sitting in a wheelchair. She was so thin to the point of being skeletal. Her leg, which had already become useless and limp, rested awkwardly on the footrests.
She looked up at me and offered a pale, ghostly smile. “Congratulations, Maxwell.”D
I didn’t reply but looked at her expressionlessly.
She continued slowly as if she hadn’t heard me, “I’m having surgery tomorrow. They’re going to amputate my legs.”
She paused before adding, “Every day, I’ve been coming to this street, watching you go home. I never dared approach you until now.” “Tomorrow’s operation… there’s only a fifty–percent chance I’ll survive. That’s why I’m here today, to say goodbye.“}
Her voice trembled. “I hope you can forgive me, Maxwell. After all it’s likely I’ll die so just forgive me, okay?“}
The word said so lightly as if it was easy to mend a
vt.
I smirked coldly. “Forgive you? Jill, are you dreamin
Already on the last page
an ounce of mercy when you wished for my death? Did
you ever hesitate when you destroyed my life?”
“Now when you’re lonely and are about to die, you could not stand the guilt in your heart, right? You want to hear me forgive you so you can leave without remorse, huh?”
“You must be dreaming, Jill. Let me tell you that in this life, the next, or even the one after that, I will never forgive you,” I stated.}
Her face froze and her tears welled up her eyes before she turned and wheeled herself away.
The next day, news broke about an illegal clinic conducting botched amputations. Jill was one of the victims. Though she survived, the ordeal left her mentally broken.
No one knew where she disappeared after that.”
Years later, whenever colleagues returned from overseas training, they would recount a haunting story.”
At an airport, there was a legless woman, wild–eyed and frail. Whenever she saw a man in his thirties, she would frantically stop him and clutched his arm then ask eagerly, “Are you my Maxwell?”
(The End)%