December 8th, seventeen days before Christmas, is the day Brett and Kaley got engaged.
Kaley found out Brett had injured his left hand and personally visited him in the hospital. She initially thought it was a minor injury, but was surprised to find his hand heavily bandaged with a cast.
"How did you get so badly injured?"
Brett, who had been dozing off, abruptly opened his eyes upon hearing Kaley's voice.
"Why are you here?"
"I heard you hurt your hand, so I came to see you." Kaley looked at his left hand and frowned. She wondered how he was going to wear a ring on their engagement day given his severe injury.
"Leave!"
Before, Brett had just found Kaley's behavior somewhat distasteful, but now he was truly repulsed by her. His cold gaze and tone did not conceal this at all.
Seemingly oblivious, Kaley responded, "No matter how much you despise me, in a few days, you will still have to be engaged to me."
"I don't need you to remind me," Brett retorted with a cold face. "Even if you marry me, I won't touch you."
Kaley didn't care, after all, she just wanted to be Ms. Windham.
"Is that so?" she said, smiling. "You seemed to have said the same thing when you married Izabella."
Brett replied, "Kaley, I don't love you anymore. Even if you marry me, you will get nothing."
"Who said so? As long as I marry you, Izabella will forever be the mistress!" Kaley repeated the words Izabella used to provoke her back then, verbatim.
Seeing Brett's gaze grow colder, Kaley felt a bit afraid and took a step back. "Izabella said those words first."
"So, you're doing this to get back at her?"
She had been humiliated by Izabella; what was wrong with wanting a bit of revenge? After all, Izabella took something that she shouldn't have.
That's what Kaley thought but didn't dare to say. Instead, she said, "No, it's because I like you."
"If I didn't have a penny and became a complete waste, would you still like me?" Brett countered.
Kaley hesitated before saying, "Of course, I would."
Brett's gaze was filled with mockery. Kaley maintained a safe distance from him, three meters away, but she could still feel his chilling stare.
"You should go. Don't come again."
"But our engagement ceremony..."
Brett interrupted her, "Don't worry, I'll be there on time. And don't forget to take care of your health, I don't want any filth blood enter Izabella's body."
Kaley's face turned pale. She turned to leave, but suddenly turned back to ask him one more question, "Brett, I've always wanted to ask you. If it hadn't been me who saved you nine years ago, would you still have asked Izabella to donate blood to me when I was about to die in a car accident?"
Brett replied, "There are no 'ifs' in this world."
Kaley forced a smile, her eyes filled with loneliness. "Can't we really go back to the past?"
"There are no emotions in the world that can go back to the past. Even if there can, everything has completely changed. The only thing that can go back is memory. But the memories I have of you are not worth reminiscing for me."
He should have understood long ago that he and Izabella could never go back to the past. The things he had done to her had already lost him the chance to salvage their relationship. It was just a pity that he realized this too late.
"I understand." Kaley turned and left. The person who saved Brett nine years ago was not her, and there was no possibility between them at all.
After Kaley left, the empty ward quieted down again. When the medical staff came to check, Brett asked, "How many more days do I have to stay in the hospital?"
"You just came in yesterday. At the very least, you'll need to stay for a week. Besides, with your hand in a cast, it won't be convenient for you to do anything at home. You might as well stay in the hospital to rest properly." The nurse noticed that the IV was almost finished and began to remove it for him.
"If he keeps getting IVs, it's inconvenient to move around with a needle stuck in his right hand all the time," she thought.
Brett looked somewhat irritated. He had only injured his hand, he wasn't paralyzed, why did he need to stay in the hospital for so many days?
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