At these words, Stacy felt something shatter inside her soul.

Her heart was seized in an excruciating vice-grip, so that each breath she took was a painful ordeal.

Charlotte was rushed into the operating theater.

Joseph's eyes closed slowly, and his hand fell limply away from her.

The heart rate monitor emitted an urgent squeal.

His friends were losing their minds from panic, begging and pleading for her to think of something.

Stacy rallied herself and called up an old friend from back in Safeport, whose uncle used to be a hospital director here in Balmora, although he'd retired long ago. Once Stacy had outlined the situation, her friend urged her to have Joseph sent to another hospital, where she'd persuade her uncle to come out of retirement for his sake.

The hospital staff flew into action, loading Joseph back onboard the ambulance, even as they fought to keep him alive.

Ten minutes later, Joseph was being wheeled into a different operating theater.

Stacy waited outside. She waited the whole night.

Her mind was blank. She chewed her lower lip into a blotchy mess.

At daybreak, the doors to the operating theater were finally opened.

"The surgery has been a resounding success."

Hearing the good news from the surgeon, Stacy suddenly felt all the strength leaving her body. She exhaled heavily, her legs gave out beneath her, and she fainted dead away.

The next day, Stacy awoke at noon to see a nurse pulling a needle out of her.

"Relax, your boyfriend's operation was a complete success! He's already come out of the ICU."

Soothing the needle wound with a hand, Stacy found out which hospital room Joseph was in, and then clambered weakly out of bed.

Arriving outside the specified hospital room, she heard a commotion coming from within:

"Joseph, we've just told you that Charlotte is fine! Why do you need to be transferred to the hospital where she is? You've only just taken a step back from death's door. You're still not that far away!"

"That's right! Do you have any idea how many phone calls Stacy had to make last night, in order to save your miserable life? Quit being such a nuisance, alright? Charlotte is in better shape than you. She's fine, and she will still be fine several days from now!"

Besieged on all sides by friends who obviously only had his best interests at heart, Joseph nonetheless insisted, "No, I tried to protect her when we crashed, but she was still badly hurt. I need to see her with my own eyes… I have to!"

Stacy listened to all this through the closed door, and then proceeded inside.

As one, everyone turned to look at her.

Joseph's resolve flagged for a moment, his face a portrait of confused emotions.

Before he could figure out which way to steer this dialogue, Stacy seized the initiative first. "I know I'm not your family, so it's not my place to make this decision for you. If your heart is set on being transferred elsewhere, I'll put a call through to your sister, and she should be able to make it back here before evening. Just wait a few more hours, okay?"

Stacy said all this calmly, maintaining an even tone.

However, Joseph was deeply troubled by her words. He shooed everyone else out of the room, and then took her hand in both of his, struggling to find the right words.

"I was the one who let Charlotte drive my car. That makes all this my fault. That's why I insisted on saving her life before my own. The truth is that you're as close to my heart as my own sister, or anyone else in my life. I didn't mean for those words to hurt you…"

Stacy could no longer tell the truth from the lies.

However, if Joseph held her in equal standing to his own sister… What of Charlotte? Who was she to him, in the grand scheme of things?

Instead of asking so directly, Stacy took a more roundabout tack.

"Joseph, do you wish to go on living? Don't you think life is a valuable thing?"

Not knowing why she would suddenly ask such a question, Joseph nodded with uncertainty.

"Of course…"

So… Joseph valued Charlotte's life over his own.

Stacy had gotten the answer she wanted. She withdrew her hand, swallowed the anguished protests she yearned to make, and forced a smile for him.

"Fine, transfer yourself over there, if that's what you want. However, I'll have to let your sister know about all this, in case anything goes wrong along the way."

Then she turned sharply on her heel, and strode out of the room.

Just before the door closed shut behind her, she heard Joseph speak up, his tone anxious. "I won't transfer, then! Stacy, please don't tell my sister! She can't find out!"

What exactly was it he didn't want Jeanne finding out about? That he'd gotten hurt? Or that he'd been dating her best friend behind her back?

Stacy didn't know the answer to this question, and she honestly couldn't be bothered to care anymore.

Ultimately, she decided not to inform Jeanne. Her best friend was having a good time on vacation. No reason to ruin her mood.

She found two of the hospital's staff, and made arrangements for Joseph's stay.

When they served food to her own room there, they would often make some sort of report to her as well.

"Ms. Rivers, Mr. Dorne has been asking about you again. In particular, he's wondering if you're upset with him."

Stacy merely grunted in response.

After lunch, she visited Joseph's room. He wasn't there.

The staff were just finishing up with the cleaning. Seeing her, they said, "Mr. Dorne has applied to be transferred over to Southpoint Hospital."

He'd flown the coop. Stacy allowed herself a wry little smile.

She unlocked her phone, and scrolled through the messages Joseph had been sending her these past few days.

[Stacy, I'm bored… come over here and hang out with me.]

[It's been three days since we last spoke… Don't you miss me?]

[Please forgive me. I'll buy you something nice, once we're out of here. How's that sound?]

If she didn't know about Charlotte, it would have been easy for Stacy to believe that this boy was head-over-heels for her.

However, having now seen what he was like when he really loved a girl, she no longer bought into such delusions.

Returning to her place on her own, she contacted an agent, and put her condominium apartment up for sale online.

Over the next few days, half-a-dozen prospective buyers came by to inspect the premises.

Eager to complete the sale sooner rather than later, she'd offered it up at quite a bargain. Sure enough, it didn't take long at all to secure a deal.

Just as Stacy was signing off on the agreement, Joseph walked in. Surprised, he noted the company uniform worn by the real estate agent.

"Stacy, you're selling this place off?"

No point lying about it now. She nodded affirmatively.

He cocked an eyebrow, and then surveyed the room nonchalantly. "Yeah… this place has been feeling kinda cramped. You could move into my villa, in West Hills. I've had it for a while now, but it's mostly been left vacant."

Stacy didn't answer. Instead, she saw the agent out the door, and then changed the topic. "Are you feeling better these days?"

"Much better!" Joseph trilled cheerfully. "See, I knew you cared!" He strode up to her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and leaned in for a kiss.

His breath was hot, like the blast from a furnace. Stacy dodged aside reflexively.

Joseph stared at her, puzzled.

Keeping a straight face, she fibbed, "I'm on my period."

Joseph sighed faintly. "Stacy, it's not always like that… we haven't seen each other in a while. Is it so hard to believe that I just miss you? Just want to kiss you?"

Indeed, Stacy found that hard to believe.

She no longer had the patience to put up with his endless theatrics. Muttering various excuses, she went to wash up and go to bed.

The next couple of days, Joseph didn't leave.

Stacy brought out a box, containing all the mementos collected over the years they'd been together.

Matching mugs, a shaving razor she'd bought for him, gifts he'd given to her, couple of selfies, miscellaneous trinkets…

She gathered them all up, every single item, and stuffed them all into a rubbish bag.

Joseph emerged from the study, noticed how bare the whole house suddenly felt, and began to get nervous.

"Why are you throwing this all away?"

"Didn't you say something about moving to your spare villa? I'm just cleaning up some odds and ends."

This explanation allayed his doubts somewhat, but he nevertheless detected that she was in a peculiar sort of mood. That evening, he managed to convince her to accompany him to some sort of auction.

The first several pieces were jewelry, and Joseph bought them all without a moment's hesitation. Stacy received envious looks from all across the hall… but she wasn't the least bit interested in any of it.

As he was getting up from his seat, Joseph's phone rang.

Stacy glanced at the screen. It was Charlotte. Without a word, she headed off to the restroom.

When Stacy returned, she was shocked to find the auction hall in total uproar, people shrieking and running for their lives.

Pushing against the flow of the crowd, she made her way back to where Joseph was, and spotted him attacking another man, livid with rage. The other man's face was already badly bruised and swollen, yet he continued to bellow some sort of manic tirade.

"That chick you were just talking to on the phone? A couple of years ago, when I was in university, she was a regular in my bed! She's the campus bicycle, everyone's taken her for a ride, and foreigners are her type! Killing me won't change the truth! I've got a bunch of her photos right here on my phone! Hey, you wanna watch a video together?!"

With a shaking hand, the heckler offered up his phone. Joseph's face flushed bright red, veins throbbing in his forehead.

He reached out hesitantly for the truth… but then, Charlotte came running in, screaming his name, "Joseph!"

Joseph turned to her, his eyes brimming with conflicting emotions. Unconcealed shock, disbelieving reluctance, fathomless confusion, excruciating agony…

His opponent caught sight of Charlotte as well, and became greatly agitated.

"That's her! Here, take it! There's an album under her name, the password is her birthday… you'll see I'm not lying! She's a total freak in the sack! Definitely nothing like the pure, innocent angel she pretends to be!"

Charlotte saw who was saying these things about her, and the color drained from her face. She rushed forward and flung herself onto Joseph, talking frantically.

"It's not like that, Joseph! I was forced into doing those things! He was chasing me so desperately, so I took pity and went out on one date with him, but then he slipped something into my drink!"

"I could swear you were the one who was desperately coming on to me! Just look at how much fun you're having here, in this shot… nobody forced you to do any of that!"

That was more than Joseph would allow. He began attacking the man with everything within reach: chairs, wine bottles…

Broken glass cut deep into the man's eye. Blood came spurting out. He rolled around on the floor, clutching his mangled face and howling in pain.

Joseph swept Charlotte into his arms, laying a hand protectively over her eyes.

"It's alright, Charlotte. I'll handle this. Don't worry. I won't let any of this get around."

Saying so, he hurled the man's smartphone onto the ground, crushed it into smithereens, then doused it with whiskey, and lit the whole mess on fire.

The flames licked high into the air. All the memory chips inside that phone would be scorched beyond salvaging.

Standing not far off, Stacy watched the way Joseph pampered and consoled Charlotte, "I promise you, Charlotte, this scoundrel will be put behind bars. Pretend it was all just a bad dream. I swear I'll never let this kind of filth come near you, ever again."

Charlotte clung to him tight, tears streaming down her face. "Joseph, do you really mean all that? You don't think I'm… disgusting?"

Carefully, Joseph wiped her tears away, while holding back his own. "Perish the thought. In my eyes, you'll always be perfect. In my heart, you'll always be my angel."

And with that, he swept her off her feet, and carried her away from this scene of misery.

Soundlessly, Stacy laughed at the comedy that was life. She went over to retrieve her handbag from her seat.

Several event staff were cowering nearby, and they hissed urgently at her now, "Ma'am, Mr. Dorne has yet to collect all the jewelry he bought for you!"

She turned to them, meaning to decline, but then Joseph's former adversary suddenly leapt to his feet, battered and bloody. Snatching up a bottle of champagne, he smashed it against the back of Stacy's head.

"Damn him! He's going to ruin my life, on the word of that witch?!" the man snarled, full of hatred and fury. "Here's another one of your precious pets, eh? Well, say goodbye to her!"

Hot blood flowed down her neck, rapidly staining her white dress crimson. Stacy toppled forwards onto the floor, her mind plunged into the darkness of a stormcloud, coursing with errant flashes of lightning.

Her eyes stared forward at nothing. Her ears echoed with the vague sound of screams all around.

"Help! Someone's been murdered!"

"Mr. Dorne, it's your girlfriend!"

In a fleeting moment of lucidity, Stacy caught sight of Joseph disappearing into the crowd, unheeding as he walked away, Charlotte safe within his arms.

He never looked back, even once.