He Proposed to Her on a Mountain, I Got a Cancer Diagnosis in a Hospital Chapter 09

He Proposed to Her on a Mountain, I Got a Cancer Diagnosis in a Hospital Chapter 09

His words hit like a poisoned arrow, straight through 

my heart. 

He pressed his lips together, then grabbed my hand 

tightly. 

And smiled. 

“You’re right. I deserve to have no one. I deserve to 

die.” 

“But Grace, you were the one who took me in.” 

“You chose me, and I got to grow up because of you.” 

The slap cracked across his face. “Shut up.” 

I shoved him away with all the strength I had left and 

slapped him hard across the face. 

I was breathing in harsh, ragged gasps. 

“Ungrateful bastard.” 

“Nathan, I will never forgive you. Not even in death.” 

He tilted his head and went very still. 

“I know.” 

“I don’t know how to forgive myself either.” 

He carried me into the music room. 

Notes drifted slowly from beneath his fingers. 

Sunlight fell across his face. 

His voice caught as he said, “Grace, does it sound 

familiar? Do you want to hear it again? I have another 

one too. I can play it right now.” 

“It doesn’t sound familiar. It sounds awful.” 

“Liar.” 

“You remember it. It was that one–of–a–kind piece 

meant just for you.” 

For a moment, my gaze went blank. 

It was true. I really had treasured it once. 

I looked at his fingers. His hands really were beautiful 

when he played. 

“Nathan, how am I supposed to accept any of this?” 

“Because you didn’t trust me, my mother died in that hospital. Because of you, I lost everything too.” 

“So what difference does it make whether I remember 

it or not?” 

“But I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.” He shot 

to his feet, breathing hard. 

“It doesn’t matter. I’m tired.” 

I closed my eyes in a daze. 

By midnight, the room was thick with the smell of 

alcohol. 

Nathan was lying on the floor, surrounded by empty 

bottles. 

My breathing caught. 

“Don’t… don’t leave me…” 

“Grace…” 

I forced my emotions down and pulled out the divorce 

papers again. 

“Nathan, sign them.” 

He was too drunk to think straight. 

“What…” 

“Grace, are you taking me back?” 

I handed them to him perfunctorily. 

“Yeah.” 

A grin pulled at his mouth. 

“That’s great. Grace forgave me.” 

His movements were slow, each stroke deliberate. 

And in the end, his name appeared on the divorce 

papers. 

For no reason I could explain, I felt lighter. 

At last, there would be nothing left tying me to him. 

It had been more than ten years, and even now, I did 

not know how we had ended up here. 

My cold fingertips brushed lightly across his face. 

“Nathan, I really did love you once.” 

All my closest friends used to envy what I had. 

And yet this was how it ended. 

So your love had an expiration date too, didn’t it? 

I lay back on the bed and slowly closed my eyes. 

I really… 

missed my mom and dad. 

I wanted to go home. 

By the time Nathan sobered up, Grace had already 

stopped breathing. 

The so–called divorce papers were still clutched tightly 

in her hand. 

Nathan tucked her hand against his chest. 

“You idiot.” 

“It doesn’t count if the divorce was never finalized.” 

He lowered his head and kissed her bluish fingertips 

again and again. 

He knew. 

He knew all of it. 

It was just that sober, he could never bring himself to 

sign. 

Even if it shredded his heart to pieces, 

he still could not agree to let Grace leave him. 

That was the ending she wanted. 

Only when he was drunk could he give it to her. 

A fortune–teller once read his future and said he was 

destined to grow old alone. 

Grace had pouted at that. 

She had been the first to argue back, saying she would 

stay with him for the rest of her life. 

Now it turned out she had been telling the truth. 

From here on out, 

he really would be alone. 

He had trapped himself in the very web he spun. 

From that moment on, his world had no more spring or 

fall, only winter and summer.