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"I asked the doctor. She said the medication you're on might cause some pain, but you have to bear with it. Once you're better..."
"Leo, go home."
I cut him off, advising him coldly.
Hearing this, he paused for a moment, then curled his lips into a smile. "No."
"Sylvia, I know you're still angry with me, but there's really nothing between me and Lina."
"I admit, during my most frustrated and exhausted times, her companionship did make my heart flutter for a moment, but that wasn't love."
"The only person I truly love is you. I've cut all ties with her."
I listened to his explanation, feeling nothing inside. "Then why did you come looking for me? Was it because of our past feelings?"
"Or was it because you heard I'm dying and felt uneasy?"
Leo looked at me, hesitating to speak, before finally lowering his head. "Both."
"But Sylvia, the person I love has always been you. I just took a wrong turn. Please, for the sake of our past, give me another chance."
"We can completely start over, can't we?"
Hearing this, I decisively shook my head. "Leo, it's precisely because of our past that we haven't resorted to bitter words."
"Since it's already a spoiled relationship, wouldn't it be better for us both to let it go?"
"NO!!!" Leo suddenly roared, his eyes crimson as he looked at me, his voice choked with emotion. "Sylvia... no..."
"I don't want to be apart from you. I promised to give you a home, to never make you cry again..."
"But you broke all those promises." I interrupted Leo, sighing helplessly. "Leo, let's both move forward."
Leo's stubbornness was almost frightening. Initially, he just stayed guard in the hallway.
But after I found him that night, he had the audacity to start sleeping on the sofa in my hospital room.
Regarding this, he even said pitifully, "It's just too cold outside. Can't you take pity on me and let me sleep here?"
I looked at him speechlessly and said irritably, "You could just go back to your big villa. There's no need to pester me here."
Hearing this, Leo laughed heartily. "I will pester you. I'll pester you for a lifetime." As he spoke, he pulled out a property deed from somewhere and solemnly handed it to me. "Sylvia, I bought back the apartment you sold."
"I know you're actively treating yourself now and will get better one day. Let's get married the day you're discharged from the hospital, okay?"
I looked at his passionate expression and said nothing.
Lately, Leo seemed to have transformed back into the Leo who once loved me deeply, but it all felt like a final flare-up before the end.
I knew we could never return to the past.
Whenever I felt even slightly wavering, the young Leo would appear before me, smiling and saying, "Don't forgive him."
My thoughts returned to the present.
I pushed the property deed back into Leo's hands and said calmly, "No, I no longer look forward to marrying you."
As if remembering something, I smiled and looked at him. "You know what? On the day you married Lina, I found out I was terminally ill and didn't have long to live. When I called you helplessly, you were in the middle of marrying her."
"But as your girlfriend, I knew nothing. I even foolishly went to pick up the paired rings I had custom-made a year ago."
"Leo, actually, a long time ago, I firmly believed that even if you never brought up marriage, we would definitely get married someday."
"So before I died, I wanted to marry you."
"That day... I was actually planning to propose to you."
Leo's face instantly turned pale, while I remained completely calm.
He trembled uncontrollably, his mouth opening and closing several times before he could ask, "The thing you threw at me that day... was it the paired rings you were going to use to propose?"
I didn't answer.
The next second, Leo covered his face and broke down sobbing.
"What have I done?!"
"You must have been so scared when you found out you were sick... but I kept saying you were annoying, and I married Lina behind your back." At this point, he looked up at me, his scalding tears falling on the back of my hand. "I'm sorry, Sylvia... I didn't know."
"...I really didn't know."
I smiled indifferently. "What does it matter whether you knew or not?"
"Stop crying. It's really annoying."
