Emily thought about her stillborn child, and she still couldn't help being sad. With tears welling in her eyes she spoke, "If you have forgotten, I can remind you of everything that you did to hurt Jacob and me... Speaking of being sorry, you should feel sorry for everything."
Jack's face turned gray. Every word she said stabbed him in the heart like an ice-pick. Then he closed his eyes in disappointment. He was afraid to look at the expression on her face.
It was true that he had brought all these troubles on himself.
This was retribution for all of the bad things which he had done.
He had no right to blame others.
"I'm sorry, Emily."
"You don't have to tell me you're sorry." She realized her gaffe and wiped away her tears, "You lost the use of your legs because of Beryl. You saved her. I really thank you from the bottom of my heart for that. I will do my best to make it up to you."
She knew that it was a great blow to him to be paralyzed. But she had suffered no less than he had.
Who should be the one to blame? It was hard to say.
"You can contact me after you make up your mind." She wrote down her contact information on a nearby notepad, then she set it down on the desk.
However, he grabbed her hands suddenly and held on so tightly with an expression of panic on his face, "Emily, please don't go. Please listen to me... I don't want any compensation. I just want..."
She struggled to pull away his hands, "What do you want?"
He looked at her intensely, with eyes full of guilt and regret, and unspeakable sadness. When he spoke, he enunciated every syllable with great difficulty, "I just want your forgiveness..."
Her eyes met his unflinchingly, and after a moment she released her fingers one by one before replying firmly, "That's impossible."
She was obliged to thank him and compensate him for Beryl. But she would never forgive what he had done.
Those were injuries so grave as to be carved into her very bones. When she had thought that Jacob had died it was as if she had wanted to die also.
That was the most desperate moment in her life.
And the second child she lost.
She was not a saint, and she would never forgive Jack for what he had done.
"Emily..." Watching her turn and leave without looking back, his thin face seemed to lose vigor. Although he was still young, his face had become lined like an old man's.
Would she really never forgive him?
He would live in sorrow for the rest of his life. Never be able to earn redemption.
What was the difference between living this way and being dead?
It would be more painful than death.
He looked numbly at her departing back, and the light in his eyes flickered like a dying candle. In his chest, his heart seemed to stop beating.
He raised his hand and slowly covered his heart.
His home used to filled with flowers and lush grass because of her, but it turned into a desert after she left. So did his heart.
Her refusal had now set a fire in his heart. From now on the seeds of love would never more flower there. His soul had become a barren wasteland.
At the very beginning, it was he who had ruined everything for himself.
Ah, retribution.
When she reached the door, a bodyguard in a black suit suddenly barred her way, stopping her from leaving. Still she refused to look back.
Jack, who had been silent, said hoarsely, "Let her go."
The bodyguard immediately stepped aside, "Miss Emily, please."
Collecting Beryl from the waiting room, she left the hospital quickly.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: A Call That Changed Her Entire Life