Chapter 3

I had no choice but to send him a message:

[Ethan, I have a high fever and can't get out of bed. The pharmacies are all closed at this hour. Could you come back and take me to the hospital?]

He replied ten minutes later:

【knew.】

But I waited for more than an hour before the door was opened.

It wasn't Ethan who walked in, but his best friend Chloe.

She looked down at me:

“Vanessa drank too much, and Ethan was worried that she would have a stomachache at night, so he went to her house to take care of her. He asked me to come and check on her first.”

"Tsk, your face is so red, you're really putting on an act. Did you put a hot water bottle on your face before I came?"

As she spoke, she picked up her phone, which was on a call.

“Hey, Ethan, don’t worry, Claire is perfectly fine. She’s just faking it.”

"You know she's always been jealous, so just take good care of Vanessa."

I stared at her in disbelief.

Gritting her teeth, she snatched the phone: "Ethan, she's lying, I didn't..."

Ethan interrupted me impatiently:

"Claire, are you never going to stop? Vanessa was right, you really did want to fake being sick to lure me back. Even your best friend said so, what are you still trying to deny?"

"If you hadn't been so jealous and embarrassed Vanessa, making her feel bad, she wouldn't have drunk so much and vomited so badly."

"If you still want to register our marriage, you have to accept that I can't abandon my best friend just because I'm with you. Okay, I still have to take care of Vanessa. You should reflect on this and not be so possessive in the future."

The call was abruptly ended.

Before leaving, Chloe couldn't resist mocking me:

"Claire, I'm not trying to be mean, but a small-town girl like you is already very lucky to have found someone as good as Ethan. Everyone already thinks you'll be Mrs. Shaw, so why bother competing with Vanessa?"

“Ethan cares so much about Vanessa. If you can make her happy, your married life will be easier. I just praised Vanessa for being more generous and having a better figure than you, and Ethan rewarded me with 100,000. That’s the smart thing to do. Don’t do anything stupid.”

After Chloe left, I was burning up and my vision was going black.

The phone rang suddenly; it was from that familiar number.

I pressed the answer button and asked weakly:

Are you still abroad?

"Of course, you've already had your wedding, can't I at least relax a bit... Claire, your voice sounds off, what's wrong?"

Hearing the man's instantly tense voice, I forced a smile.

"The wedding was held, but the marriage certificate hasn't been obtained yet."

The man paused for a second: "Claire, you mean..."

Before plunging into complete darkness, I said:

"Go back to China immediately, and the spot to get our marriage certificate is yours."

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in a private hospital room, with no one in front of me.

The nurse came in to change my IV drip, not forgetting to say:

"Your fever has subsided, but you have a mild lung infection. If your friend abroad hadn't called an ambulance for you last night, you would be meeting your maker right now."

“Your husband is really something else. When our people arrived, they couldn’t get into the house, so they got his contact information from the property management.”

"We finally got through on the phone and asked him to come back, but he insisted that we were actors you hired. We had no choice but to break down the door."

"I heard you just had your wedding yesterday. Who leaves the bride alone in the bridal chamber? That's hilarious!"

I didn't say anything, and I opened my phone.

Just last night, when I was so feverish that I fainted, Vanessa posted an Instagram video.

Knowing I have a sensitive stomach and worried I'd be hungry again after vomiting, someone personally prepared a large, nutritious meal.