When Tessa opened her eyes, she found herself wrapped all over in bandages.
The doctor looked at her with pity when she woke up. "There were too many shards in your body. It took five hours of surgery to remove all of them.
"Your wounds are considered minor, and they'll heal after a while. But there's a deep scar on your face. A piece of flesh was cut out when you arrived at the hospital. We treated it with a simple stitch, but it'll leave your face with a scar. You need reconstructive surgery to remove the scar.
"The surgery will cost ten thousand dollars. You can pay the bill at the counter."
Tessa was left with only a thousand dollars from the remaining two thousand she had. She did not have enough for the surgery.
She said with great difficulty, "Doctor, I… I don't want the reconstructive surgery."
The doctor frowned. "Are you sure? The scar is on your face."
No woman would want her face disfigured. However, Tessa did not have money for the surgery. She was silent for a while before nodding.
"Well, you can be discharged from the hospital. Be careful not to let your wounds come into contact with water."
A notification rang on Tessa's phone, and she tapped on it. It was a message from Henry.
[My boss' daughter is hurt, Tessa. I have to stay with her at the hospital. You should go home first.]
He had not realized she had fallen on the glass shards and gotten hurt. That should be expected. Henry only cared about Serene, whom he had protected in his arms. Tessa had no place in his heart at all.
Tessa got out of bed with great difficulty. She was hurting everywhere, but she dragged herself to the counter to settle the discharge documents.
When she got to the stairs, she saw Serene crying pitifully while covering her face. "I can't be disfigured. I can't have a scar on my face. I can't! We're getting engaged tomorrow."
Henry cajoled her patiently, "Don't worry, Serene. I won't let your face be scarred. I'll get the best medication and doctors for you."
A doctor next to them spoke up. "There's a very effective scar-removing cream available, but it's quite expensive. It's eight thousand dollars a tube."
Henry took out his black card. "Serene's face is the most important thing right now. Money is no issue. Get me ten tubes. I won't allow Serene to have any marks on her face."
Serene finally stopped crying and smiled. She wrapped her arms around Henry's neck. "It's good to have you by my side, Henry."
When she released her arms, Tessa finally saw Serene's 'disfigured' face. There was only a tinge of blood on it. It was so minor that no one could see it unless they really focused on it.
Henry took such a small injury seriously. He did not even think twice when paying 80 thousand dollars for her medication.
Tessa touched her face gently. She could feel the stitches through her bandages. She could imagine how horrible her scar was.
Eighty thousand dollars…
It was more than the 60 thousand she had spent four years saving up. It was way more than the ten thousand dollars she needed for her surgery.
They really did live in different worlds.
After Tessa completed the discharge procedure, she returned to her rental home. Less than four hours were left before she was due to board her 3:00 pm flight. Everything that belonged to her had mostly been packed away.
Henry and Serene's engagement party was the next day. It was time for her to prepare their gift.
She started sorting out all the gifts Henry had given her. She decided to send them back.
The free lipstick Henry gave her two days ago.
A hair band that cost 0.5 dollars. Henry got for her on their hundredth day anniversary.
The plastic flower he bought from a roadside stall for her 21st birthday.
A ring worth 2 dollars that Henry got her for their first anniversary.
There was also the most expensive gift she got from him—a silver bracelet worth about 15 dollars that he got for their second anniversary together.
She filled the box with every gift he had given her for the last two years. It soon became full and was pretty heavy. However, the full box was not worth even 50 dollars.
She was just a plaything in his eyes. He probably felt that these cheap items were all she deserved.
Tessa wrote something on the back of the invitation card. "Wishing you a blissful life together. Let's never meet again."
She placed the card at the top of the box. After that, she engaged a delivery company to deliver the box at noon the next day to the address printed on the card.
A reminder popped up on her phone. Only three hours were left until her boarding time.
Tessa grabbed her suitcase. She took one last look at this house, which used to be her prison, and left for the airport without looking back.
When the plane took flight in the air, Tessa had left behind everything in Capital City. From now on, everyone's life would be back on track.
Henry would return to his superior status as the rich heir to Jennings Corporation, and Tessa would continue her studies overseas. They would no longer cross paths.