Chapter 3

Lucia's POV

Around midnight, Grayson called to tell me Holden had gotten into a fight at the hospital and his hand was injured.

Grayson was Holden's close friend.

I frowned and asked him what exactly happened.

He hemmed and hawed on the phone.

"Vivienne was being harassed by some creeps at a bar, and Holden was trying to help her... Don't read too much into it. Holden was just helping Vivienne. The situation is urgent though. You should come to the hospital as soon as possible."

After hanging up, I smiled silently in the darkness.

In the past, I treasured Holden's hands even more than he did.

For a designer, how important hands are goes without saying.

I got up slowly and got dressed. Looking at my pale face in the mirror, I even added some lipstick.

Only then did I leave and take a cab to the hospital.

At the hospital, I asked the front desk for the room number.

When I reached the hospital room door, it wasn't fully closed. There was a gap.

The conversation inside drifted out in fragments.

"Holden, your hands are insured for over a hundred million. You'd waste them just to play hero for Vivienne? That's way too high a price for rescuing a damsel in distress."

Holden's voice was lazy.

"This little injury is nothing. As long as she's okay, it doesn't matter if they're ruined."

In that moment, my hand froze in midair.

I remembered four years ago when I accidentally spilled coffee and scalded the back of his hand.

He didn't speak to me for three whole days, coldly reproaching me for being clumsy.

Another voice from inside continued, full of sighs.

"Back when Vivienne got a boyfriend overseas, you got blackout drunk and drove on the highway at 120 miles per hour like you had a death wish. You totaled the front of your car."

"Later when you woke up, to get revenge on Vivienne, you turned around and married Lucia. Lucia's pathetic enough. She's just Vivienne's replacement."

"Lucia can really endure too. These past four years she's devoted herself completely to taking care of you. She probably still thinks it's true love."

"Talk about brutal. If she knew her four-year marriage was just a tool you used to provoke Vivienne, that she means less to you than a single tear Vivienne sheds, she'd probably collapse on the spot."

A roaring sound filled my head.

The softest part of my heart was being viciously twisted.

I stood outside the door, my hands and feet ice cold, even breathing felt painful.

So that was it.

Before, I thought he was just cold by nature, not good with words.

I thought it was because I'd stayed by his bedside for days and nights after his car accident that I'd melted his frozen heart.

It turned out it was all for Vivienne.

For her, he didn't even care about his own life.

Everything I gave over four years. In others' eyes, I was just a pathetic woman.

So pathetic that in the end, I had nothing.

I took out my phone, my fingers trembling as I opened my notes.

I took a deep breath, steadied my breathing, and as if nothing was wrong, gently pushed open the door.

The laughter in the hospital room stopped abruptly.

Everyone in the room looked at me, their expressions incredibly colorful.

Grayson looked like he'd seen a ghost, stammering,

"When did you get here?"

His eyes darted around, afraid I'd heard what they'd just said.

I smiled.

"Just now. What were you all talking about? Sounded lively."

Hearing this, everyone visibly relaxed.

They exchanged glances.

Grayson smoothed things over.

"Nothing much. We were criticizing Holden for being too impulsive. Since you're here now, we won't disturb you."

Another person said,

"We were just chatting casually, nothing more. Don't take it to heart."

With that, the group quickly left.