Chapter 8: Chapter 8

645 words

<html><head></head><body>Zephyr Ashcroft was rushed to the hospital. The doctor stitched up his forehead with eight stitches. When he woke up, he felt dizzy and couldn't stop vomiting. The diagnosis was a concussion. The bodyguards stood by, looking aggrieved. "We just wanted him to leave. He was the one who ran into the doorframe." On the hospital bed, Zephyr breathed weakly. He trembled as he reached out to me. "Astrid, my head is spinning..." Alistair Cortez pulled me behind him. He instructed the bodyguards, "Get him a nurse." As we reached the door of the hospital room, Zephyr started vomiting violently again. The call button was pressed repeatedly. Watching the medical staff bustling around, I sighed softly. "Alistair, let me talk to him." The door to the hospital room closed gently. A flicker of joy appeared in Zephyr's eyes.  "Astrid, I know you can't bear to leave me." "You still care about me, don't you?" "We can start over now. It's not too late. We'll get married tomorrow. I'll give you the grandest wedding. Whatever you want, I'll..." "Zephyr, don't you understand?" I coldly interrupted his fantasy. "I don't love you. It's not out of spite, nor because of Seraphina." "I truly don't love you anymore." His lips trembled slightly. His face was frighteningly pale. He shook his head, refusing to believe. "You used to love me so much." "Yes, I did love you once." "But how did you repay me?" "You were jealous of the Valrose family's status, resentful that I was born at the top of the pyramid, and insecure that the Ashcrofts were inferior to the Valroses."  "So you deliberately used Seraphina to provoke me, publicly declaring that you loved her and not me, saying I was desperate, that I was clingy." "You stabbed me in the heart so many times. Did you ever think it would hurt?" Zephyr opened his mouth. But in the end, he said nothing. He knew everything I said was true. The insecurities and jealousy hidden deep in his heart. Now laid bare. He didn't even have the courage to look at me. A long silence spread through the hospital room. Until Alistair knocked on the door to remind us. Zephyr finally asked in a low voice, "Astrid, can we really never go back?" "Even if I change all my flaws, it won't work?" I shook my head firmly. "We won't have a future together."  He persisted stubbornly, "How do you know without trying?" I stood up. Gazing into the eyes that once made my heart flutter. "I've tried in my dreams." "The ending of marrying you is that you would hate me forever, take away the Valrose fortune, and kill me and my parents." "In the end, you and Seraphina would live happily ever after." As I turned to leave, I heard Zephyr's suppressed sobs. The sound was eerily similar to the cries of my parents and me in the car accident in my past life. But in this life, The ending will definitely be different. On the eve of the wedding, The Ashcrofts followed in the footsteps of the Vances. I heard that Seraphina had collected a large amount of evidence.  Not only did she report the Ashcrofts for tax evasion, But she also exposed them for beating their employees. The Ashcrofts completely lost their chance to recover. The Vances and Ashcrofts disappeared without a trace. Zephyr was also nowhere to be found. On the day of the wedding, I put on the Cortez family's heirloom jade bracelet. Alistair's grandmother came especially. She brought the yearbook he had cherished for years. He had carefully preserved the page I wrote on. The words under the protective film were still clear. Looking at my childish handwriting, I couldn't help but laugh. "Alistair, the place you're going is so far away." "For me, it's like gazing at the stars."  </body></html>