Chapter 4

I fully understood that I was in a dream because I've returned to the early days of my relationship with Fintan, which were incredibly sweet.

Sweet enough that I could cling to those memories for a year after Fintan's heart strayed.

Back then, he would pick me up from work every day, worried I'd be scared going home alone at night.

He'd come to the funeral home every day, nervously on edge, but pretending to be fearless when he saw me.

When I was angry, he'd hug me and playfully call me "big sis" to appease me. He'd go out to buy barbecue in the middle of the night just because I mentioned it.

Our growing love made me believe his promises without a doubt.

Until Callie came back to the country, this "pure love" I'd never heard of before.

At first, he started coming home later and later, with increasingly half-hearted excuses.

I went from complete trust to constant suspicion.

His explanations became louder, his guilty expression more obvious.

Until one day at a coworker's gathering, I saw Fintan.

I followed him to outside a private room, where inside I could hear others teasing.

Fintan laughed and cursed at his joking friends, but his eyes shone brightly when looking at Callie.

In six years of knowing him, I'd barely met any of his friends, yet they all knew that Callie, who'd been gone for six years, was truly the one in his heart.

That night, he spent a long time chatting on his phone. Since coming home, he hadn't spoken to me at all.

I sat on the edge of the bed and abruptly said, "Let's get married."

The smile on Fintan's face froze for a moment. He looked up at me with confusion:

"What are you talking about?"

"I said let's get married. We've been together for so long, and your mom really likes me. Now is the perfect time to tie the knot."

He looked flustered, his fingers turning white as he gripped his phone:

"That's too sudden. Marriage is a big deal, after all. Let's think about it some more."

As if afraid I might say something else to put him on the spot, he muttered that he was tired and turned his back to me, lying down.

That night, I couldn't sleep.

Listening to his gradually steadying breath, I took my tablet and went to the bathroom.

I saw that his contact name for Callie had a heart emoji. In their chat history, they were like a bickering couple making up.

Fintan resented her for leaving him to go abroad after his family went bankrupt. He responded to Callie's attempts at reconciliation with sarcasm and scorn.

He bought the bracelet Callie liked and gave it to me, even sending her a photo to provoke her. However, his harsh words came to an abrupt halt when she sent over her medical records.

I remembered feeling so happy when I received that birthday gift, but his face quickly changed and he ran out, not returning all night.

Callie wanted him to break up with me, but he said I had helped him too much and he couldn't abandon me.

Every word was filled with difficulty, every sentence with weariness.

I felt like the Milky Way separating them, preventing two lovers from being together.

At the end of the dream, I was crying silently in the bathroom.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Quint. He was happy to see me awake.

"Is there anything bothering you? Your post-operative recovery hasn't been great, and now you've fallen ill again. You'll need to rest for a while."

"Dr. Carlisle, do you give such personal attention to all your patients?"

A flash of panic crossed Quint's eyes. He tried to change the subject by calling for Fintan, but I refused.

Fintan didn't come to see me for the next few days. I sent a message to my best friend, Melody.

"Scarlett, are you trying to kill yourself? You've landed yourself in the hospital again!"

My best friend burst into the room like a whirlwind, grabbing the medical chart from the bedside and flipping through it.

She's a surgeon who had been in intensive training recently. As soon as she saw my message, she rushed over.

I checked out of the hospital, and we went back together to move my things to her place.

My best friend looked at my pale face, her brow furrowing. "This isn't right. Why is your body so weak now?"

I clutched the knife wound on my abdomen, pressing my lips together. "Melody, I feel like something's not right."

Whether it was Fintan or the Carlisle siblings, there was something off about all of them.

Especially Quint. His eyes were filled with guilt when he looked at me.

My best friend took me to the hospital where she worked and had me undergo a full-body examination.

The doctor asked me, puzzled, why there was no record of a kidney transplant in my medical history.

"What kidney transplant? She never had that kind of surgery!" My best friend's voice rose in disbelief as she snatched the X-rays.

The most absurd guess turned out to be true. My whole body trembled, and I bit my lip until it bled.