After my family abandoned me—I sold my emotions for 800,000 Chapter 06
The surgery was a great success.
I recovered very quickly.
When a friend came to visit, they asked me,
“Do you have any plans?”
Of course I did.
I used to work at Ashworth Group.
Now that I had broken up with Graham, it was better for me not to stay there.
Before I found a new job, I would work part–time at the familiar Starlight Lounge to cover my living costs.
Once I made up my mind, I completed the discharge procedures and left the hospital.
The evening I was discharged, the wind was soft and cool, blowing pleasantly against my
skin.
I had only walked a few steps when I spotted
two figures: my brother, Eliot Thornton, and
my ex–boyfriend Graham.
They were standing outside smoking. Graham was rambling anxiously about
something, while Eliot twisted a cigarette butt between his fingers, his expression equally anxious and irritable.
Suddenly, my brother turned his head and
saw me.
He marched straight up to me.
“You finally fucking dare show up?
“Do you have any idea how long your family
has been looking for you? Yvonne even
passed out from crying!
She left before her graduation ceremony
ended to look for you, not eating or drinking
for days.
And you? You’ve been ghosting us for a
whole week, having fun? Why didn’t you just
die out there?”
I was actually a little confused.
If they really wanted to find me, how could
they fail?
I had clearly told them I needed surgery.
If they had just split up to inquire at the
inpatient departments of major hospitals,
they would have found me easily.
There was only one possibility: they were
absolutely convinced that I was lying about
needing surgery, so they never even
bothered to look.
My brother suddenly frowned and looked me
up and down.
“You didn’t deliberately show up at the
hospital entrance to put on a show for us, did
you?”
It dawned on him all at once, and he said
with a smug realization,
“It’s because Graham posted his location on
his social media, right? So you picked the
hospital closest to his location, pretending to run into us by chance!”
I stared at him motionlessly.
My brother looked triumphant, “Got you,
didn’t I? With your silly little tricks…”
“Eliot,” I called his name calmly, pointing in
the direction of the hospital, “Go register for
a consultation. Even if cerebral palsy can’t be
cured, you should at least let a doctor take a
look, right?”
After saying that, I left my brother yelling furiously behind me and turned to walk
away.
But my wrist was suddenly grabbed.
Graham’s voice came from behind me, slightly hoarse:
“Hazel, are you really sick?”
I turned back, forcing a cold, fake smile.
“I’m already fine. Don’t waste your
concern.”
I wrenched my wrist free sharply and turned
to leave.
Graham seemed like he wanted to chase
after me.
But my brother stopped him with a sharp
grab.
“Don’t coddle her! The more you coddle her,
the more she plays up!
“Just look at her. Even if she was sick, it’s definitely nothing serious. She used to sob for hours over a tiny scrape when she was little. If she really just had surgery, there’s no way she’d be this calm.”
Graham stood rooted to the spot.
He seemed to call out softly:
“Hazel.”
The wind carried his voice away.
I didn’t look back even once.
This little incident didn’t affect me at all.
The owner of Starlight Lounge knew me very well. When he learned I had just had surgery, he assigned me the lightest work and even
promised to pay me daily.
When my shift ended, I took off my work
uniform and walked out, only to see a farce
unfolding in the corridor.
A young man in a designer dress shirt was
yelling, “Come on, whoever kisses me gets
this ring!”
His assistant was frantically tugging him
back, beads of sweat rolling down his
forehead, “Mr. Vanderbilt, you’re really
drunk.”
“I keep my word even when I’m drunk! Come
on, you there, kiss me, and this is yours.”
The man known as Lucien pointed at me. He
didn’t hold the ring properly, and it rolled to
the ground.
The assistant apologized to me repeatedly,
“I’m sorry, miss. Mr. Vanderbilt isn’t usually‘ like this. He didn’t mean to offend you…”
I guess my sense of shame, the kind most
normal people have, was already bought off
for 800 grand.
Anyway, I didn’t feel offended at all.
I just stared at the huge diamond ring on the
ground, and thought:
Is this for real?
