When Winona saw the familiar decoration of the hospital room once again, her first reaction was to reach for the phone by the bedside and she relaxed only after seeing the date.
Luckily, she hadn’t been unconscious for long and hadn’t missed the departure time.
The man beside her saw she was awake, hurried to her side and asked anxiously. Genuine concern showed in his eyes.
"Winona, how do you feel now? The doctor said you were severely depleted and needed to rest in bed."
Winona silently watched him, the nausea in her chest surged again. She turned her head away and stopped looking at him.
Jonathan knew he was in the wrong, so he immediately tried to comfort her and apologize.
"Winona, I'm sorry, it's my fault. I didn't realize your feelings at the time. Fortunately, nothing happened to you, or I would never have forgiven myself."
"I promise, this kind of thing will never happen again. Let's live well from now on. My feelings for my sister were purely familial, please believe me."
Winona looked into his eyes ... that kind of fear and worry couldn’t be faked. But what he had done on the sofa with someone else, right in front of her, was real too.
But she no longer wanted to distinguish between truth and lies. After all, they had no future together.
"I'm tired."
She closed her eyes and lay back on the hospital bed.
In the past few days, Jonathan behaved unusually. He stayed at the hospital by her side without leaving even a step.
He personally stewed soup every day and ended up with several big blisters on his hands; every night, he carefully wiped her body with a towel; and at night, whenever she turned over, he immediately got up to check on her condition.
He even rejected all of Linnea's calls.
Even Winona’s attending doctor said she was lucky.
On the day she was discharged, she packed her things but saw the person who was supposed to bring back the discharge notice running out anxiously with a phone in hand, shouting in panic.
"I’m coming right away, sister, please believe me!"
As he ran past her, Winona hadn’t had time to dodge and was knocked to the ground. But he didn’t even look back and left without hesitation.
Winona tasted bitterness in her mouth. Whenever it came to Linnea, everyone else had to step aside.
She packed her things and went home alone. She took out her phone and booked a plane ticket.
Only fifteen days were left before she could leave this place.
The next time Jonathan showed up was three days later.
He stood at the doorway, watching her expression nervously, looking hesitant.
"Winona, a friend of mine had an accident that day and I didn’t have time to let you know."
"I went to the hospital to see you today, but the nurse said you had already been discharged. Winona, why didn’t you wait for me to come back and accompany you home?"
As he spoke, he walked over and tried to hug her. That cloying perfume scent still lingered on him.
Winona instinctively frowned and turned her head to avoid him.
"I wasn’t feeling well. Don’t touch me."
Jonathan’s outstretched hand froze in midair, his expression changed rapidly.
"What has been wrong with you lately? Even if you were upset, there should have been a limit. I knew you were sad about losing the baby, but that was my child too! If you had paid attention to the road, how could we have lost our baby?"
His tone was cold and his words were full of blame.
"You were becoming more and more sensitive and paranoid. She was my sister! Even if you were jealous, you should have known your limits! If you keep doubting me like this, we might as well get a divorce!"
He threw out those harsh words, thinking they would intimidate her.
But Winona's expression remained unchanged and she spoke in a calm tone,
"Alright."
When this day finally came, she realized her heart didn’t hurt anymore.
Forgiveness didn’t matter anymore ... she no longer loved him.
After hearing her answer, Jonathan got angry, slammed the door and left, leaving her to handle things on her own.
She didn’t care. Over the past few days, she had been meeting some friends to say goodbye and had given them some of her jewelry. After going abroad, she probably wouldn’t come back.
The lawyer also said everything went smoothly.
That day, her father called and said there was a banquet hosted by an old friend of his from back home and asked Winona to go and deliver the gifts for him.
In the evening, when Winona arrived, she happened to see Jonathan holding Linnea’s hand as they walked into the banquet hall.
When Jonathan saw her, his face looked a little awkward, but then he remembered the scene a few days ago when Winona agreed to the divorce and he left with a dark expression.
As the guests arrived one after another, someone asked curiously, "Wasn’t Miss Yvette married to Jonathan? Why didn’t they come together? And who was that woman with him?"
Someone replied, "You clearly didn’t know the backstory. That woman beside Jonathan was the housekeeper’s daughter ... his first love. Back then, the Blanchets didn’t allow them to be together, so Linnea married someone else. Now that she had gotten divorced and came back, Jonathan fell for her all over again. What a pity for Miss Yvette."
"The housekeeper’s daughter? No wonder. I could tell right away she wasn’t someone who belonged in high society. What kind of decent person would publicly interfere in someone else’s marriage?"
"But to be fair, Miss Yvette did take the opportunity to marry him when Linnea was sent abroad. Now that she was back, it made sense. After all, people hadn’t forgotten Miss Yvette’s ‘leaked photos’ scandal. If Jonathan hadn’t been kind-hearted, who would’ve wanted to marry her?"
The voices weren’t hushed at all and every word reached both Linnea and Winona clearly.
Winona felt nothing.
But Linnea, on the other hand, glared viciously at Winona, her face twisted with rage.
By the end of the banquet, Winona was socially exhausted. Even though the Yvettes had moved abroad, they had once led the industry, so plenty of people still wanted to connect with her.
Suddenly, she sensed a cold and hostile gaze. When she turned her head, she saw Linnea standing in the corner.
Jonathan had been dragged away by the elders to socialize and she wasn’t allowed to join, so she stayed alone in the venue.
Because of the gossip earlier, no one wanted to talk to her. Everyone avoided her like the plague.
Winona saw Linnea’s lips moving and clearly understood what she mouthed.
"Winona, I want you dead!"
Winona didn’t dodge and stood still, staring straight back at her.
Linnea walked slowly to her with a glass of red wine in hand, smiling proudly.
"Winona, Jonathan really was thoughtless for not picking you up for the banquet today. I even told him I could stay home, but he insisted on bringing me. He said he didn’t want to keep me hidden and wanted everyone to know I was back."
While showing off, Linnea carefully observed Winona’s expression, only to find no significant change. Her expression also twisted.
She leaned slightly to the side and rested close to Winona’s ear, acting just like a pair of inseparable sisters.
"By the way, you probably didn’t know ... when Jonathan decided to marry you, he was the one who personally arranged for those photos of you to be spread. To make sure the Yvettes didn’t have time to delete them, he even hired people to attack them so they’d be too overwhelmed to react."
Her rising tone was like a cold, poisonous snake sinking its fangs deep into Winona.
Winona’s eyes widened instinctively as she turned to look at her. Linnea stood with her arms crossed, watching her with a malicious smile.
She looked pleased to see Winona’s reaction.
"Winona, how could you? How could you even think of comparing yourself to me? In Jonathan’s eyes, you were just a keepsake from his pursuit of me. Know your place."
Right after she spoke, her expression suddenly changed as she let out a panicked scream. Winona had been on guard and immediately took a step back.
She watched as the champagne spilled perfectly over Linnea, soaking her completely. Her white evening dress was stained all over and she looked completely humiliated.
At that moment, Linea stared at Winona in disbelief and broke down, shouting, "Winona! I already told you I didn’t like Jonathan and would never fight you for him. Why would you still do this!"
The entire room went into an uproar and all eyes turned toward them.
A figure ran across the venue in large strides. He took off his jacket without hesitation and covered Linnea with it.
Jonathan gave Winona a displeased glance, then left with Linnea in his arms.
Winona was left standing alone in the hall, surrounded by people whose curious eyes kept scanning her.
She looked down at her hands and let out a quiet, mocking laugh.
She didn’t hold even the slightest bit of trust in Jonathan’s heart.
After giving her father’s gift to her friend, Winona prepared to leave.
As soon as she walked out the door, she saw the flashy Maybach with the license plate 99999 ... a symbol of Jonathan’s status in the business world.
She was about to turn away, but the car horn sounded from behind, urging her to come closer.
Winona walked over and opened the car door, only to find Linnea curled up in the passenger seat, her cheeks still flushed ... clearly just after an intimate moment.
She paused for a moment, then closed the door and walked to the back seat.
Jonathan’s expression turned cold as he noticed her silence.
"Winona, I apologized to Linnea on your behalf for what happened at the banquet today when you poured wine on her for no reason. She forgave you."
Winona calmly gazed out the window, saying nothing.
Seeing this, Jonathan’s face grew even darker. He stepped on the gas and the car instantly shot forward.
The whole way, they remained silent.
When they got out of the car, Linnea suddenly cried out sweetly, "Jonathan, I had no strength left, my legs felt weak."
As she spoke, she looked up at Jonathan with affectionate eyes, her tone carrying a touch of intimate complaint.
Without the slightest hesitation, Jonathan walked over, bent down, picked Linnea up in his arms and headed straight toward the villa.
"Winona, don’t take it too personally. Jonathan just cared too much about me."
Linnea said to Winona as if comforting her, yet her face, unseen by Jonathan, radiated with pride and contempt.
Watching the two of them leave while holding each other so intimately, Winona felt almost nothing.
She instinctively touched her chest … her heartbeat was still strong and steady, free from the usual dull ache.
When she went inside the house, Jonathan was attentively helping Linnea take off her shoes, speaking to her in a soft voice, completely ignoring Winona when she came in.
Winona was about to go to the guest room but was stopped. She turned around.
"Winona, didn’t your family teach you manners? Didn’t they teach you what politeness means? Today, you caused a huge scene in front of so many people and Linnea didn’t blame you but forgave you instead. Shouldn’t you have thanked her?"
Winona looked at Linnea, her eyes full of pride.
"Shouldn’t she be the one thanking me? After all, without me, she wouldn’t have been able to stand here today."
She spoke calmly and lightly. In that instant, Linnea's face twisted and Jonathan's expression turned grim.
Back then, Linnea had been compelled by the Blanchets to marry and move abroad, simply because the Blanchets couldn’t accept a woman born to a housemaid as their matriarch.
Her recent success in divorcing and returning to the country hadn’t been just because Jonathan had gained some influence within the Blanchets, but more because their marriage had seemed harmonious to the public.
To the Blanchets, Linnea was no longer a threat.
Linnea was well aware that even then, she had never been qualified to marry Jonathan. That had always been her weak spot.
As expected, Linnea’s fierce expression had become visible and her words turned sharp.
"Winona!"
But she didn’t stay to hear Linnea’s biting curses and went straight back to her room.
She checked her flight on her phone.
Five days later, she would leave for good. and this time, she wouldn’t hesitate.
