Slapped on Our Anniversary - Chapter 10: Chapter 10

Adam refused to let him into the ward, so he waited outside my window. While everyone else bundled up in thick down jackets, he stood there in nothing but a thin shirt, seemingly numb to the cold. Every time I glanced his way, I caught that same foolish, hopeful smile on his face.
Maybe when death draws near, even the hardest hearts soften.
Worried he'd freeze to death out there, I finally agreed to see him one last time.
"Rachel, I swear I never loved Olivia. I took back everything I ever gave her—ruined her reputation, blacklisted her from the industry. She's miserable now. Does that… make you even a little happy?"
When I didn't answer, he moved closer to the window, blocking the draft seeping through the cracks. The heating in the room was fine—he didn't need to do that. But he did it anyway.
Just like years ago, when we lived in that damp basement. Even after I'd recovered from my fever, he'd still check my temperature every day, brew ginger tea, wake up in the dead of night to wipe away the icy water leaking through the walls.
I shut my eyes, unable to look at him anymore.
The once tall, striking Ethan Evans was now gaunt, hollow-cheeked—more like a dying man than I was.
"Ethan," I said quietly, "just live well from now on."
"Move forward. Pretend I've forgiven you. Stop punishing yourself."
His voice cracked, thick with tears. "Rachel, I don't want your forgiveness. I want you to hate me. Scream at me, hit me—I don't care. Just don't… don't shut me out like this."
His breath hitched. "I can't take it. I really can't."
This time, I believed him.
But it was too late.
He'd had seven years to prove himself. Seven years to show me he cared. Instead, he waited until my heart had already turned to ash.
What good were his tears now?
"Believe what you want. I've said all I need to." My strength was fading. "Take care of yourself."
Exhausted, I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep.
Ethan kept talking, his voice raw. "You know, Rachel? Back when you had that high fever—when I carried you to the hospital—I imagined this exact moment. Watching you slip away, helpless to stop it."
"Just the thought of it choked me."
"But now that it's really happening…" His words trembled. "It's a thousand times worse. I'd trade my life for yours in a heartbeat."
I bit my lip.
Years ago, when my father was dying, my mother had prayed the same way.
But this world doesn't deal in miracles.
After Dad passed, Mom cried herself sick and followed him soon after.
How long would Ethan last?
Then he asked the question that forced my eyes open.
"Rachel… do you still love me? Even a little? Even just… liking me?"
His gaze burned with desperate hope, like my answer was the only thing keeping him from drowning.
But was there anything left?
I shook my head without hesitation.
"Nothing."
"Ethan Evans, those seven years of hell… they burned away every last shred of love I had for you."
The light in his eyes died.
He stood there, hollow, then turned and stumbled out of the room—out of the hospital.
I never saw him again.
On my last day, Adam finally told me what happened to him.
"That idiot brought it on himself. After realizing what he'd done to you, he switched to torturing himself instead. By the time I saw him, he'd lost his mind—holed up in that crumbling old house."
"Said if he just waited long enough, you'd come back…"
But I…
I could never go back.
As the darkness closed in, my life flickered past—until it settled on the first time Ethan and I ever met.
Two people, wildly in love.
Life was a cruel joke.
I'd left him back then because I was afraid he wouldn't survive the pain of losing me.
And after everything, after all the heartbreak and regret…
Nothing had changed.