Shawn felt that Candace had changed, but he couldn't identify which part of her had changed exactly. He gave the silver necklace a thorough cleaning before handing it to Yelena.
"This is my most precious necklace. It's yours now."
"Shawn, I think Candace is angry. You should hurry home," Yelena advised gently.
"What does her being angry have to do with me?" Shawn asked. "Let's go!"
…
The clock on the wall struck midnight, but Shawn still hadn't returned home. The Candace of the past would have called everyone close to him to ask about his whereabouts before asking them to tell him to come home.
After all, Shawn had undergone two craniotomies. His body wouldn't be able to handle it if he stayed up too late.
Currently, Candace was busy going through her belongings and had no time to waste on people who didn't matter to her.
She ordered her maid, Lisa Fairview, to get rid of all the presents she had given Shawn over the past few years. There were enough items to fill five big boxes, which included watches that were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, paintings, and 136 haute couture suits.
There were also 238 love letters that Shawn had written for her in the past.
Candace had once tried to use these letters to jog Shawn's memory, to make him recall the love he once had for her. She never expected her roommate, Yelena, to plot against her behind the scenes and delay her trip to the hospital to visit Shawn.
When she finally made it to the hospital with the love letters clutched in her hand, Shawn, who had just regained consciousness, had been holding Yelena's hand tightly.
His eyes overflowed with affection when he said, "Lena, I'll treat you well for the rest of my life. I'm going to make you the movie queen of this generation!"
Candace had been shocked and upset. She tried to use the love letters and silver necklace to prove her identity to Shawn. However, she was only met with his cold suspicion. "You're such a malicious woman. How dare you steal the love letters I wrote for Yelena and change the recipient to yourself?
"You even went so far as to get the same tattoo that I have over my heart and steal the silver necklace I gave to Yelena. You're the worst of the worst!"
The man who had once loved her so deeply had fallen for Yelena's lies. The only feelings he had for Candace at that moment were disgust and disdain.
No matter how hard his friends tried to explain the truth to him, Shawn was convinced that Candace was deliberately trying to steal Yelena's rightful position from her. He even told his friends that if they continued to stand up for Candace, he would sever his friendship with them.
Candace recalled how she had chased after Shawn for the last eight years. Tears welled in her eyes and turned her vision blurry when she remembered the endless waiting and how she had to endure his biting insults.
If Shawn truly loved her, why would he have no recollection of her? Why would he mistake another woman for his girlfriend? Why would he hurt her so much and have no trust in her? The bottom line was that Shawn's love for her wasn't strong enough, which was why he had been so easily deluded by Yelena.
Candace suppressed the bitterness in her heart as she removed her wedding ring and threw it into the trash. She then poured gasoline all over the discarded items.
Lisa retrieved the ring from the trash and said urgently, "Mrs. Hamilton, Mr. Hamilton personally crafted this lily-shaped wedding ring for you when he was 16. You can't throw this away!
"He also cherished the gifts and love letters once upon a time. If you burn them all, he won't be able to take them back. I beg you to give Mr. Hamilton more time. He loves you so much, so he'll definitely regain his memories!"
"It doesn't matter to me if Shawn regains his memories or not. I don't want him anymore."
Candace tossed the lit-up lighter atop the clothes. "The Shawn whom I loved died when he was 16. He's never coming back."
The rising flames were reflected in Candace's cold but clear gaze. An all-encompassing despair swirled within her eyes, but there were also glimmers of hope for the future.
In 62 hours, Candace was going to take Jamie with her and disappear. She wasn't going to leave a single thing behind for Shawn.
Before Candace turned in for the night, she heard the sounds of a roaring storm outside. Lightning flashed across the sky while deafening thunder boomed in her ears.
Her greatest fear was the sound of thunder, so she hastily put on a pair of noise-cancelling headphones before diving into bed. She curled up under the blankets as she waited for the storm to pass.
Suddenly, she heard Jamie shrieking from the cot. Suppressing her own fear, she crawled out of bed to check on him.
Jamie's entire body was hot to the touch. His face had flushed a ruddy red, and he kept vomiting milk.
Candace's face twisted as she scooped Jamie into her arms and rushed downstairs to hail a cab to the hospital. Unfortunately, her marital home was located in the suburbs. On top of that, it was storming that night, making it even more difficult for her to hail a cab.
She was beyond panicked when she saw a familiar Rolls-Royce driving past her. She could see Shawn and Yelena seated inside.
"Stop! Stop the car!"
Candace didn't have the luxury of worrying about the feud she had with Shawn. She ran as quickly as she could toward the car while shielding herself and Jamie from the storm with an umbrella.
She hammered her fist against the car window and yelled, "Shawn, let me in! Jamie is having a high fever and needs to go to the hospital now!"
Shawn rolled down the car window and stared at her. His tone was icy when he said, "You sly woman. You're lying to me about the baby being sick because you realized that I refused to go home, huh?"
"Jamie really is running a fever!" Sweat poured from Candace's forehead from how worried she was.
Her voice trembled as she said, "Shawn, I've never begged you for anything. Please help me this one time! Remember how I took care of you when you were blind for three years? Please send Jamie and me to the hospital. He needs to see a doctor as soon as possible!"
"Shawn, it's not easy to hail a cab during a storm. You should let them in." Yelena straightened Shawn's tie for him. She said gently, "The wound on my forehead will heal in the next few days. It'll be fine."
"You silly woman. Think about all the times Candace hurt you in the past. Why haven't you learned your lesson yet?" Shawn's brow furrowed in displeasure. "We need to take Nathan to the hospital for his dental fillings. We don't have time to waste on her. Start the car!"
The car sped off into the distance, splashing muddy water all over Candace's coat. Her skin was beginning to turn icy. She was so cold that she started to quiver all over, unable to get a word out.
It was already terribly cruel that Shawn forgot how deeply he once loved her and only wished for her death these days. But he proved himself a failure of a father tonight by refusing to save his own flesh and blood when he had the opportunity to do so.
Powering through her exhaustion, Candace ran to the highway and waved vigorously at the passing cars. Finally, a cab slowed to a stop in front of her. The driver alighted from the car and opened the back door. "Is your child sick? Get in. I'll take the two of you to the hospital."
"Thank you." Tears streamed down Candace's face as she cradled Jamie close to her. "Jamie, you have to stay strong. We'll be at the hospital soon!"
"Miss, your baby looks so small. He's not even a month old, is he? Where's your husband? Why is he letting you take care of a baby with a high fever all by yourself when you just gave birth?" the driver asked.
"He's dead," Candace answered indifferently.
The driver looked at her sympathetically. "That's rough. Here, I have a towel you can use to dry your hair. It'll be bad if you catch a cold during your postpartum recovery period since you can't take most medicines."
Candace thanked the driver as she accepted the towel and dried her hair.
The driver sped through traffic and soon caught up with Shawn's Rolls-Royce. The two cars were parallel to each other as they waited for the red light to turn green. Through the window, Candace could see Yelena perched on Shawn's lap as they shared a passionate kiss. Yelena shot her a provoking look.
"Miss, is the man in that car your husband?" the driver asked as he followed Candace's line of sight.
His words were colored with anger when he exclaimed, "That motherfucker isn't human. His child is so sick, yet he would rather be tangled up with his mistress and leave his wife and child alone. You gave him a son for crying out loud!"
"So what if I gave birth to his son? He only likes to take care of children who don't belong to him. He doesn't like his own child."
Candace hung her head low and wiped the sweat from Jamie's armpits and the inside of his elbows. Her tone was tinged with bitterness when she said, "Sir, please drive as fast as you can to the hospital!"
Jamie was rushed to the emergency room after he and Candace were dropped off at the hospital.
The attending doctor from the emergency department wrote up a bill for Candace and asked her to pay the medical fee. Jamie was a premature baby, so he had to use imported medication. The medical bill totaled around 2,000 dollars.
After Candace got married, she resigned from her job so she could stay home and dedicate all her attention to caring for Shawn. As a result, she only had about 20,000 dollars in her savings account. She had already spent most of it on Jamie, so she was essentially broke.
She rummaged around in her bag for the black card Shawn had given her in the past. But when she tried using it, she realized that the bastard had canceled the card. She resorted to calling everyone on her contacts list, but nobody was willing to lend her a hand.
In the end, Candace had no choice but to call Shawn. The call went through within seconds as Yelena's voice echoed through the receiver. "Candace, what's up? Shawn is taking a shower."
Before Candace could respond, the sound of Yelena's giggling sounded from the other end of the line, and there came the unmistakable clatter of the phone falling to the floor.
"Why are you in such a hurry, Shawn? I haven't dried my hair yet—"
Wanton noises echoed through the line.
Disappointed, Candace hung up. As she was wondering who else she could ask to borrow money from, the attending doctor, Zayne Pearson, offered to foot the bill for her.
Candace was shocked, gratitude bubbling in her heart. She nodded at him gratefully and said, "Dr. Pearson, thank you for saving me and my child's life that day, and thank you for helping me out again today. Once I sell my marital home, I'll return the money to you."
"You don't need to rush to return the money to me." Zayne looked at her compassionately. "You're still recovering, so you can't afford to catch a cold. Take good care of yourself and don't take any unnecessary risks. After all, it took us an entire day and night to save you and your child in the operating room."
Warmth welled up in Candace's heart as tears began to fall. A doctor she had only met a handful of times was willing to extend a helping hand to her, but her own husband deemed it fit to punish her and cancel all her cards.
Worse yet, Shawn didn't care one bit about Jamie. He was too busy fooling around with his lover. There was no point for Candace to be "Mrs. Hamilton" anymore. The title was completely worthless as it didn't command any respect. In fact, it was more of a joke than anything else.
"Mrs. Hamilton, you should refrain from crying during the postpartum recovery period. You may develop issues with your eyes if you do," Zayne said gently. "Stay strong. I need to return to the emergency room."
Candace wiped away her tears. She chewed on her bottom lip before saying, "I will live well for Jamie's sake."
"Oh, that's right. Mrs. Hamilton, our hospital has developed a new medication that has shown promising results. Do you not plan to inform Mr. Hamilton?" Zayne asked. "This medication is able to repair damaged nerves in the brain. It should be able to help Mr. Hamilton regain his memories faster."
"You can tell him that after Jamie's one-month birthday celebration the day after tomorrow," Candace said.
Two hours later, Jamie's high fever was finally under control. She cradled him close to her, her tears dripping onto his small face. Zayne said that if they had arrived at the hospital just ten minutes later, Jamie would have suffered irreparable brain damage.
Jamie had only been four and a half pounds when Candace gave birth to him. He had spent half a month in an incubator just to stay alive.
Shawn had only dropped by once when Jamie was discharged from the hospital. He had looked at Jamie with disdain in his eyes for about three minutes before he took his leave.
Shawn's unwillingness to help Candace today had nearly caused Jamie to become a cripple! It was clear that Shawn was unsuited to being a father.
Candace became determined to make Shawn regret everything he had done today when he finally regained his memories. She wanted him to suffer heart-wrenching pain every single night and be tormented by his conscience for as long as he lived.
As she brought Jamie downstairs with her to retrieve his medication, Shawn, Yelena, and Nathan entered the elevator that she was in.
Shawn was carrying Nathan and was all smiles when he said, "You don't need to be frugal with my money, Lena. Just choose the most expensive dental filling for Nathan. 1,800 dollars is only worth a leather belt to me."
Candace lowered her gaze to hide the glaciers in her eyes. Would Shawn still be willing to fork out so much money for Nathan when he regained his memories? She was impatient to witness the scene of him breaking down in tears when he realized what he had done.
