She Got 41 Tries, I Got Zero Seconds. So I Gave Myself a One-Way Ticket Out Chapter 09

She Got 41 Tries, I Got Zero Seconds. So I Gave Myself a One-Way Ticket Out Chapter 09

Auden froze.

I pressed on. “And she didn’t just try it on, did she? Didn’t you already propose to Blythe with it?”

The moment I landed, I had turned on my phone and Blythe’s message popped up.

It was a video.

In it, Auden was down on one knee, proposing to Blythe.

Not a single emotion stirred inside me. I only asked, calmly, “So now you’re standing here, looking all

devoted, trying to propose to me with a ring you already used to propose to another woman. Auden, do you

not find that disgusting?”

“No. I didn’t. I didn’t.” Auden’s voice shot up in denial. “It was just a rehearsal. Just a rehearsal.”

“A rehearsal?” I looked at him. “Auden, don’t you hear how pathetic that sounds? You practiced proposing

to me by saying another woman’s name.”

“How little did you have to care about me to think that was acceptable?”

Auden stood there, completely lost. After a long pause, he shook his head. “No… it’s not what you think. It’s

not…”

He threw the ring away. “Then we won’t use this one. I’ll buy you another. A new one. No, custom. I’ll have one made just for you. One no one else has ever tried on. One that belongs only to you.”

Compared to his panic, I was almost strangely calm.

I refused him again without hesitation. “There’s no need. I don’t love you anymore, so none of it matters.”

With that, I turned and walked straight back toward the clinic

Not long after, my phone rang.

It was an unknown number.

I answered, but the voice was familiar.

“Tam.”

I was about to hang up when she spoke quickly.

“Don’t hang up.”

“Tam, we’re best friends. We’re sisters. Can you give Auden to me?”

Blythe called us best friends. Then she used that friendship to trap me.

In the past, I would have been hurt. I would have been devastated. I would have felt like my chest was being

torn open.

But now, I was unbelievably calm.

“Blythe, Auden and I already broke up. We have nothing to do with each other anymore. Whatever happens between you two is none of my business, and telling me is pointless.”

I paused. “Also, we’re not friends anymore. Let’s pretend we never knew each other.”

Then I hung up, blocked the number, and deleted it.

A thunderous boom split the air.

A mortar round landed nearby.

The blast knocked me unconscious.

I did not know how long I was out. When I opened my eyes again, someone was lying over me, his face

covered in blood.

It was Auden.

Thankfully, his injuries were not serious. But as I changed the bandage on his arm, he tried to reach for my hand, only to suck in a sharp breath before he could lift it.

His arm wouldn’t move.

When the shell hit, he had thrown himself over me. A piece of shrapnel had sliced a deep gash into his arm.

“Tam,” he said, his voice weak, “you still care about me, don’t you?”

“You’re not as over me as you said. If you were, you wouldn’t have saved me. You wouldn’t be treating my wound. Tam, can you stop lying to me? Stop lying to yourself?”\

I had not lied to anyone.

“I’m a doctor,” I said. “Treating the injured is my job. If it hadn’t been you, I would have done the same for

anyone.”

Auden looked crushed. After a moment, he said helplessly, “Alright, you don’t have to forgive me. But you

have to come home with me. It’s too dangerous here. You can’t stay here.”

I finished dressing his wound and paused.

“Auden, let me make this clear. We have nothing to do with each other anymore. You have no right to

interfere with my freedom.”

“When I chose to come here, I knew exactly what kind of danger I was choosing. I’ll protect myself. You need to go home.”

“How are you supposed to protect yourself?” Auden suddenly grew agitated.

“Like just now? A shell landed right in front of you. How were you going to protect yourself? How?”