After Lucian hung up on her for the fourth time in a row, Grace completely lost it. Ignoring whether she was disturbing the other patients in the room, she held down the record button and unleashed a furious tirade.
Yesterday, when Arthur told her they were done, she had been seething. She was already in a foul mood from being beaten up, but then Arthur had wheeled Xanthe to the bathroom, fetched water for her, washed her face, and even washed her feet. Watching that had made Grace's blood boil with sheer jealousy.
Grace felt like the victim of a cruel tragedy.
Arthur was supposed to be taking care of her! He wasn't even related to Xanthe; why was he taking care of her?
This morning, Loretta walked past her room, pretending she had gone to the wrong door, but Grace knew she was just there to mock her.
Then, right after sunrise, she heard Loretta thanking Arthur, saying how lucky her cousin was. She mentioned that she should have been the one to stay the night, but she was injured and had just gotten back, so she didn't have time.
Finally, Grace heard Arthur reply, "It's good that you're here. I need to head back to prep the lunchboxes anyway. Amber and I will come over this afternoon. Loretta, we'll leave her in your hands for now."
Grace was livid. What did he mean, 'leave her in your hands'?
Did that pushover Arthur spend the whole night awake? Or had he and Xanthe developed feelings for each other overnight? Wasn't Loretta supposed to look after her own cousin anyway?
Why was he acting like Xanthe was his own wife?!
Grace ground her teeth in fury. Taking advantage of the moment Arthur stepped out of the room to head back to the apartment, she pretended she needed to use the restroom. She put on her most fragile, pitiful act—the kind that would make anyone walking by want to offer a hand. But Arthur, acting as if he had suddenly gone blind, just sidestepped her and walked away.
He walked away?!
Words couldn't describe how badly Grace wanted to scream.
But what infuriated her even more was what happened in the afternoon. She had managed to endure the wait, banking on Lucian showing up to help her save face. Instead, that wretched Amber pulled the exact same stunt as Loretta—pretending to walk into the wrong room, only to head next door.
Did she think Grace was blind?!
She had brought a classmate with her. Vance. Grace knew who he was. He was holding a massive, luxurious fruit basket. The way they flaunted it was basically a slap to her face.
Then, she had to sit there listening to the laughter and chatter coming from the next room. Xanthe kept praising Vance and expressing how grateful she was that Arthur had sold the lunches for her at noon.
She had felt so guilty yesterday for making the workers worry, but she hadn't expected Arthur to be so kind-hearted.
"Amber, Xanthe is so lucky."
Grace wanted to scream. That luck was supposed to be hers! How did it suddenly belong to Xanthe?
Originally, Amber and Arthur had planned to visit together. But since Vance and Tillie had been so relentless with their questions, Amber changed the plan and brought Vance to visit Xanthe instead.


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