When Words Fall Short, Love Runs Deep
Ruby blinked innocently but offered no apology. I'm always playing pranks on Julian, like slipping him laxatives. It's just a habit. I didn't mean for this to happen.
She tilted her head. "It was just a joke, Helena. You're not mad, are you?"
I tried to lunge at her, but my body gave out and I collapsed.
Rushed to the hospital, I drifted in and out of consciousness. Through the haze, I saw Ruby fall into Julian's arms, pouting. "It wasn't on purpose! How was I supposed to know the driver grabbed the wrong box? He thought it was for you!"
"What do we do now?" she cried. "Helena lost the baby! When she wakes up, she'll kill me! What if she scars my face? You won't see your beautiful Ruby anymore!"
Julian looked at her adoringly, gently tapping her forehead. "Scared now? Where's the brave girl who locked me in a bathroom without toilet paper?"
He sighed and pulled her close. "You get away with this because you know I love you, you little troublemaker."
"Alright, stop crying. I'll handle it. Just follow my lead."
When I opened my eyes again, Julian was holding a documentthe driver's termination letter. He had pinned all the blame on an innocent man.
In that moment, I knew. This hollow marriage was finally over.
1
Seeing my silence, Julian grew uneasy.
He took my hand and forced it against his own cheek, mimicking a slap.
"Helena, please don't be like this. Say something. You're scaring me."
He showed me the termination letter, flipping to the page where the driver had signed a confession.
"It was the driver's fault. He thought the medicine was for me, one of our stupid pranks. He couldn't find laxatives, so he just grabbed another box. He never imagined you would be the one to take it."
"This is all my fault," he continued, his voice thick with false contrition. "I didn't manage my people properly, and it cost us our child. Take it all out on me. Hit me, scream at me, whatever you need to do to feel better. I won't fight back, I promise."
I wanted to scream at him, to ask him why an innocent driver had to pay for Ruby's crime.
But the moment I opened my mouth, tears began to stream down my face.
Julian's panic intensified. He pulled me into a tight embrace, his voice cracking.
"Don't worry, I've already fired him. With this confession, he'll never work in this city again. Think of it as justice for our baby."
"We can have more children, Helena. We're still young. Please don't punish yourself. This is all my fault..."
We can always have another one. What a cruel, ironic thing to say.
For five years of marriage, I had dreamed of nothing more than having a child with him.
The doctors said my body was weak, that I needed special care.
To get pregnant, I forced down nauseating herbal teas every single day.
My stomach was a roadmap of countless needle marks from hormone injections; I'd thrown out boxes upon boxes of empty syringes.
And then, finally, we had good news.
But after only two short months, before I could even begin to feel the joy of impending motherhood, it was all ripped away.
And my husband, instead of blaming the person responsible, was making excuses for her.
I wrenched my hand from his grasp, my smile more painful than any sob.
"Where is Ruby?"
Julian's posture immediately stiffened.
"Why are you asking about Ruby? She's at the office, overseeing a meeting for me."
He rushed to her defense. "Don't get the wrong idea. This had nothing to do with her. She was just the messenger. The driver bought the pills..."
I hadn't even accused her, yet he had already built a fortress of excuses around her.
A bitter acid rose in my throat, choking me.
"I just want to see her. Why are you so defensive?"
"Did I say she had anything to do with this?"
He let out a breath, realizing he had overplayed his hand. He tried to backtrack.
"I'm just worried about you. You're emotional right now, and I don't want you and Ruby to fight..."
In the past, I might have swallowed my pride and confronted her.
But now, I knew I didn't have the right. I had lost that privilege long ago.
From the moment Ruby entered our lives, Julian had changed in ways that terrified me.
This man, who had always been so aloof with other women, learned to bend for her.
He, who hated having his plans disrupted, would smile and ask about her schedule, then orchestrate "coincidences" so they could meet.
I had seen what it looked like when he loved me. I knew what I was seeing now with Ruby was the same thing.
But whenever I tried to talk about their relationship, his face would flush with anger.
"I've told you a million times, Ruby is just my sister! That's it!"
"I've known Ruby for as long as I've known you! If something was going to happen, don't you think it would have happened before I started chasing you?"
"She's young and naive! As her older brother, it's my job to look out for her! Why do you have to have such a dirty mind?"
For five years, he had fed me lies.
Eventually, I started helping him, lying to myself.
I believed that true love would always win.
I just didn't realize how quickly a heart could change.
Just then, the door creaked open, pulling me back to the present.
2
Ruby stood by my bed, beaming.
"Helena, you're awake! I'm so glad you're okay. Brother Julian was so worried he couldn't even eat!"
Julian chuckled, playing along as if I wasn't there.
"You have the nerve to say that? I couldn't eat because of the laxatives you gave me! I lost ten pounds in two days. I almost ended up in the ER!"
Ruby stuck her tongue out playfully.
"That's what you get for making me run two miles to deliver a file. Now you know not to mess with me!"
She playfully threw a punch in the air toward him.
He got the cue, clutching his chest dramatically and collapsing back onto the chair.
"Augh! I'm slain! Princess Ruby is too powerful!"
Beneath the sheets, my hand clenched into a tight fist.
The IV needle was forced from my skin, but I was so numb I couldn't even feel the sting.
After a moment, Ruby seemed to remember I was in the room.
"Oh, Julian, you're terrible!" she whined. "I came here to see Helena, and you didn't even remind me. You just wanted to see me make a fool of myself, didn't you?"
"You're the one who wanted to pick a fight. Don't you dare play the victim. Your sister is watching, you know."
Ruby sat down on the edge of my bed, her face a mask of faux sympathy.
"Helena, please don't be sad. I bought you all these supplements to help you recover. You just need to build your strength back up, and you can always have another baby."
I slowly closed my eyes, not responding to her words. My voice, when I spoke, was ice.
"You were hoping I'd never get pregnant, weren't you?"
"Well, you got your wish."
The single sentence plunged the room into a heavy silence.
When I opened my eyes again, Ruby's were filled with tears, as if she were the most wronged person in the world.
"How can you say that to me?"
"I think of you as my real sister! Why would I be happy that my sister had a miscarriage?"
"You can hate me if you want, but you can't accuse me of something so horrible!"
I couldn't take it anymore. I raised my hand to slap her.
The next second, a sharp crack echoed through the room as my palm connected with Julian's face.
"Helena! That's enough!"
He pulled Ruby behind him, shielding her completely.
"I told you what happened with the pills! It was the driver's fault, it had nothing to do with Ruby! You can be upset, but you don't have the right to blame innocent people!"
"Ruby came here out of the goodness of her heart to see you! Look at yourself! You're acting like a monster!"
My nails dug into my palms as I screamed back at him.
"Goodness of her heart? If she was so good, why didn't she take me to the hospital the second I took that pill?"
"I almost died! The doctors said I might never be able to get pregnant again! It's easy for you to talk, you're not the one who lost the chance to be a mother!"
"Julian, you must be exhausted from keeping up this act for so long."
"Now that I can't have children, you have the perfect excuse to divorce me! You can propose to Ruby right now! She's been dreaming of crawling into your bed and having your bastard children!"
A stinging slap across my face.
Blood trickled from the corner of my lip.
"Helena, I'll say this one last time. There is nothing going on between me and Ruby."
"You couldn't keep our child safe, that's your failure! What's even more pathetic is that you can't admit your own weakness, so you blame everyone else!"
"I am so disappointed in you right now. Stay here and think about what you've done."
With that, he turned and walked out.
Ruby shot me a triumphant, mocking glance before hurrying after him.
Outside the room, she grabbed his arm, her voice dripping with false concern.
"Helena's just upset, that's why she said those things. I don't mind, so why are you so angry?"
"I can't stand it when she gets like this. Paranoid. She can say whatever she wants about me, but not about you."
"But she just had a miscarriage. Are you really going to leave her here all alone? What if she gets angry and ignores you?"
"That's what I have you for, isn't it?"
"So, how are you going to thank me for covering for you this time?"
My body shaking, I threw back the covers and dragged myself to the door.
Through the crack, their hushed, intimate whispers stabbed at my ears.
"I brought that miniskirt you bought me. If you want to see it, we could find a hotel nearby..."
"You're such a little temptress. A hotel is half an hour away. I can't wait a single minute."
"What about your car? But what if Helena finds out? She'll skin me alive."
"She won't dare. Not while I'm here."
Their footsteps faded down the hall.
The phone on my nightstand lit up.
First, search for and download the MotoNovel app from Google. Then, open the app and use the code "328323" to read the entire book.
MotoNovel
Novellia
Bookworm« Previous Post
The Fracture in the Will
Next Post »
This is the last post.！