Proposal No. 18: Still Lost to Her Childhood Sweetheart Chapter 10
What was something I once regarded as a treasure now seemed nothing special.
When I heard a commotion, I looked over.
Heartbroken, Eric closed his eyes, took a small knife from his pocket, and stabbed it straight toward his heart.
No one had expected this to happen, and I rushed forward at lightning speed to stop him.
He couldn’t get hurt, not at this critical moment. Otherwise, public opinion would be affected, and so would the project.
Daisy cried out in worry behind me, “Security! Can’t you see someone’s trying to kill themselves? Stop him! Daniel, be careful!”
Her tone was frantic, which made Hailey quickly snap out of it. As I grabbed Eric’s hand, she also hectically tried to wrestle the knife away.
It was a small fruit knife, so it wasn’t very lethal, but there would be no saving him if it pierced his heart.
I always knew part of Eric’s depression was an act and an excuse to keep Hailey with him. I didn’t expect him to go this far when she left.
“Eric, are you insane? Do you have to push me like this?” Hailey asked him through tears.
Tears fell onto the back of Eric’s hand, and he shuddered.
Eric’s mental state was unstable, and veins bulged on his hands. Because he refused to drop the knife and struggled, his palm was cut and started bleeding.
“Eric, drop the knife. Do you hear me?”
As if knowing Eric only listened to her, Hailey’s voice took on a stern edge.
“Why?” His words and the sound of the knife hitting the ground rang out at the same time.
I let out a sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground.
“Why did you leave me? Why did you come looking for him? He doesn’t want you anymore. I’m the only one who will love you from beginning to end. Don’t you understand, Hailey?
“Come back with me, okay? Let’s live like before, with just the two of us. I can work and support you.”
The hand Eric extended was covered in scars. Combined with his sickly pale face, it looked somewhat frightening.
I didn’t know what he’d been through to change so drastically in such a short time. But when I thought back, I suddenly understood something.
When Hailey loved him, she gave me the cold shoulder and harsh words.
Now that she had come looking for me, she probably wasn’t treating him very kindly either.
It was one thing if he never had her love to begin with. But Eric once had that and was favored, no less. It made sense that he found the sudden loss hard to swallow.
“Let’s go,” I said to Daisy. I wanted them to sort out their own mess.
But Hailey wasn’t having it. She dumped a bunch of things out of her bag while completely ignoring Eric.
“Daniel, look! This is the custom doll you gave me on our first anniversary. You said it looked like me, and that you wanted a daughter who was just like me in the future.
“And this, this is the ring you insisted on buying for our third anniversary. I thought it was too expensive since it cost a month’s salary, but you bought it anyway.
“This is proof that you loved me. You couldn’t have let go of me that easily.”
On our first anniversary, she didn’t even eat the meal and instead rushed off to take care of Eric.
On our third anniversary, she brought Eric with her, saying it was easier to take care of him.
“On our fifth anniversary, you hit me for the first time because of Eric. You said I was heartless, that I knew he had depression and still refused to give in.”
I wanted to continue listing what she had done, but Hailey slumped to the ground.
Eight years-every single memory from those eight years had Eric in it.
Really, how pathetic of me. I was a complete failure.
Eric, standing off to the side, snapped his gaze into focus when he heard what I said. His eyes lit up with a spark.
He had every reason to feel smug-not everyone was capable of messing up a relationship this badly and spectacularly.
