Chapter 9
843words
That evening, I received a text from Lynn Miller.
"What the hell did you say to Evan Growth?! He blocked me the moment he got back!"
"You fucking bitch."
"I should have hired ten men for that alley. If I hadn't aborted Evan Growth's baby back then, you wouldn't even be in the picture.
Evan Growth
"And Leo Growthn? You think he married you for love? He's just using you to get back at his brother."
Lynn Miller's texts grew increasingly unhinged.
I smiled and blocked her number.
After that day, Evan Growth never sought me out again.
I began studying under the medical professor, rekindling my passion for medicine.
Through it all, Leo Growthn supported me quietly—not using me for revenge as Lynn Miller had claimed.
Apart from his inability to walk, he surpassed Evan Growth in every way—though he didn't even consider his brother worth acknowledging.
One day, I returned from the lab to find Leo Growthn hunched over something.
His eyelashes cast shadows in the lamplight, and I found myself staring.
"What are you working on?" I asked after a moment.
Leo Growthn looked up with a smile.
"I noticed you often look at this photo. It's damaged, so I'm restoring it."
I froze.
That eight-year-old photo was my only remaining picture with my mother.
Leo Growthn had painstakingly repaired it.
My eyes burned with sudden tears.
"Leo Growthn, why did you marry me?"
Leo Growthn paused briefly.
He wheeled himself to the window.
"Do you remember your freshman year, when your professor took you to the hospital for an internship?"
"Yes."
"I was there too. Fresh from the car accident that paralyzed me, living each day wishing for death."
"Your professor brought you through my ward. As you were leaving, I overheard him ask what you wanted to do with your life."
"You said you wanted to help paralyzed patients walk again."
I was speechless.
I'd forgotten those words myself, yet he remembered them perfectly.
"So for five years," I choked out, "the anonymous letters encouraging my research—that was you."
"Yes."
"You pulled me out of my darkest days."
"You called Evan Growth your star, but to me, you've always been my sun."
...
After that day, I threw myself into my research.
Determined to reclaim the five years I'd lost.
I spent every waking moment in the lab.
The day my experiment succeeded was the same day I discovered I was pregnant.
Leo Growthn was so excited he almost stood from his wheelchair.
My colleagues teased us mercilessly.
"This is a medical miracle!"
"What miracle? This is love."
"Did you hear? Evan Growth's company went bankrupt last week."
"No surprise there. He was never cut out for business, always trying to measure up to his brother."
"And that Lynn Miller woman—the one who tried to seduce a married man—got her ass handed to her by his wife."
"Damn, she had it coming."
I listened without feeling anything at all.
Life has strange timing.
That evening, I found Evan Growth waiting outside our home.
He'd clearly been waiting for me. After a year, he'd lost considerable weight.
For someone once obsessed with cleanliness, his shirt was visibly stained.
His unshaven face made him look disheveled.
His lips trembled when he saw me.
"Cecilia."
I nodded politely. "Would you like some tea?"
Evan Growth's eyes filled with tears. "Cecilia, I know I wronged you. The two of us—"
"There's no chance for us anymore, is there?"
I offered a courteous smile.
"It's all in the past. No need to dwell on it."
His eyes dimmed with despair.
Neither love nor hate is truly frightening.
What's terrifying is indifference.
From that moment, we would truly be strangers.
I turned toward the door.
Evan Growth called after me: "Cecilia Jones, seven years ago—"
Before he could finish, the door opened.
Leo Growthn wheeled himself out.
I smiled at my husband. "The doctor says our baby is perfectly healthy."
Evan Growth's words died in his throat.
"Good," Leo Growthn said, barely acknowledging his brother. "Let's go inside. Aunt Li made your favorite fish soup."
The door closed firmly behind us.
Evan Growth remained outside, alone.
He had wanted to tell her: "I never hired that man to attack you—I just mentioned it as a joke to Lynn Miller. I never thought it would actually happen."
"I didn't pursue you because of a bet. I genuinely fell for you the moment I saw you."
Cecilia would never know that whenever Lynn Miller touched him, he'd wash himself eight times afterward.
She would never know his parents had promised him to Lynn Miller's family—that his first child was supposed to be with Lynn Miller.
But what good were these truths now?
None at all.
Cecilia Jones no longer loved him.
Evan Growth collapsed to his knees, tears streaming down his face as he sobbed uncontrollably.
He had pushed away the only woman he'd ever truly loved.
He had pushed away the only woman he'd ever truly loved.
