After my family abandoned me—I sold my emotions for 800,000 Chapter 05
Graham always claimed he loved me and
trusted me, yet he kept leaving me behind to
be with Yvonne, time after time.
Even so, when I needed to borrow money,
the first person I called was still Graham.
He was the son of the chairman of Ashworth
Group, and $800,000 was not a large sum
for him.
But no matter how many messages I sent or calls I made, I got no response at all.
After I dialed his number over and over again
stubbornly, the call finally connected.
On the other end of the line came Yvonne’s
soft chuckle:
“Sis, Graham is taking a shower. Just tell me whatever you need, and I’ll pass it along to
him.”
At that moment, I suddenly realized that $800,000 had indeed bought out every last trace of my affection for him.
Because when I recalled these
heart–wrenching moments, there was not a
single ripple of emotion in my heart at all.
Right now, Graham repeated his demand
again:
“Be at my office before 6 PM, or the
engagement will be called off…”
“Don’t bother calling off the engagement. Let’s just break up directly.” I cut him off,
“You wouldn’t even lend me $800,000. What difference does it make whether you’re in
my life or not?” With that, I hung up immediately.
Everything went smoothly after that.
I paid the fee and got admitted to the hospital.
A doctor happened to have a free operating slot, and I got that spot.
I completed all pre–op preparations and began fasting, permitted neither food nor
water.
The empty feeling in my stomach was unpleasant. To distract myself, I could only keep scrolling through my phone.
Messages in the family group chat never
stopped popping up.
Yvonne, who was the group owner, posted a
group announcement:
[Tomorrow is my graduation ceremony from
Maplewood University.
It’s such an important day for me, so I hope
all my dearest family members can attend
and witness this important moment in my
life with me.]
Below the announcement were replies from my parents and my older brother, Eliot.
Dad: [Of course, baby. I even postponed the
shareholders‘ meeting for you.]
Mom: [My little baby is graduating from college already. Mom is so happy.]
Eliot: [Don’t worry, your big brother will
dress to the nines tomorrow, I’ll never
embarrass you!]
Yvonne: [Waaaa, I knew Mom, Dad and you
love me the most!]
Then she mentioned me specifically:
[@Hazel Oh right, you have to come too, sis!
No one in the family can be missing!]
I typed back:
[I’m not coming. I have surgery tomorrow.]
Before Yvonne could even say anything,
someone already blew up on her behalf.
Eliot: [Still spouting lies? Do you even have
the slightest bit of common sense? Surgery
requires a family member’s signature! All your family members are right here, what kind of bullshit surgery are you having?!]
In fact, if he had bothered to look it up
online, he would have known that a trusted friend can sign off on the forms too, as long
as an additional authorization form is
submitted.
The person who signed for me was Celia Rhodes, the girl who was kidnapped
alongside me years ago. We had been close
friends all these years.
She felt terrible for my situation, and
transferred every last cent of her savings to
me, but it was still a drop in the bucket.
When she found out I had scraped together
enough money for the treatment, she didn’t even ask where I got the money.
She just cried hard, “That’s great, that’s
wonderful… I’m so glad you have enough…”
But I didn’t bother typing all that out to
Eliot.
Yvonne sent a voice message, her tone laced
with a faint sob:
“Sis, are you still mad at me for what
happened last year?”
I would have forgotten all about it if she
hadn’t brought it up.
When I graduated from Maplewood
University last year, I also invited the whole
family to my graduation ceremony.
But on the way there, Yvonne suddenly said
she didn’t feel well, so my parents turned the car around directly and drove to the hospital.
[I’m sorry sis, I shouldn’t have gotten sick right at that time. Can you forgive me this
time?]
Mom also chimed in:
[Hazel, Mom was also very sad that we couldn’t make it to your graduation last
year, but you can’t blame Yvonne for that.
Promise Mom you’ll come home right now,
and accompany Yvonne to school happily
tomorrow, okay?]
Me: [No.]
Dad flew into a rage: [Your mom is begging you like this, and you still don’t care? You
ungrateful brat. I wish I had never given birth to you.]
Eliot tried to hit my sore spot: [No wonder Graham texted me privately, asking what
kind of person you really are. It’s true, Hazel. Anyone would get sick of putting up with your after spending even a little time around.
you…]
There was a soft double knock on the ward
door.
“Stop playing on your phone now. It’s time
to sleep.”
I begged quickly, “Just one more minute,
please.”
I exited the group chat. Fifty–five seconds
left.
Eliot sent a private message cursing me for
daring to leave the group. I blocked him.
Forty seconds left.
I blocked all my family members. Ten
seconds left.
In the final few seconds, Graham called. I
hung up immediately, then turned off my
phone directly.
When I handed my phone over to the nurse, I
grinned.
“See? I only took exactly one minute.”
