Chapter 4

By the time I reached the hospital, the doctor took one look at my wound and frowned deeply.

"It's already infected and full of pus inside. Why didn't you come to the hospital earlier?"

I lowered my head and apologized, feeling heavy and stifled inside.

While the wound was being bandaged, my screen lit up with a birthday greeting from the bank.

I never expected the first happy birthday of my twenty-fifth year to come from a bank customer service rep.

When I got home, Eric was sitting on the sofa in the living room.

When he saw me come back, his gaze landed on the bandaged wound on my calf.

"Lucy, you owe Bella an apology."

Looking at his matter-of-fact expression, I no longer had the desire to argue with him.

Besides, I still had to pack for the flight tomorrow morning.

I threw the hospital report in front of him. The infected wound had been circled in red by the doctor.

Eric glanced at it and his tone softened.

"Sorry, Lucy. I didn't know you were hurt this badly."

I didn't look at him. In the end, I swept my gaze around the house.

The sofa was the brown leather Bella liked, and the floor was the off-white tile Bella had picked.

Even beside the bed in the bedroom, there was a massage recliner reserved for Bella.

It turned out that Bella's traces had long since filled every corner of my life with Eric.

I just hadn't noticed it all this time.

Seeing that I still didn't speak, Eric wrapped his arms around me from behind.

"Lucy, I'll definitely take you to the amusement park for your birthday next year."

I had heard this line too many times and believed it too many times, but now it no longer meant anything.

I hummed in response and turned to go into the bedroom.

I zipped up my second suitcase.

When he saw the two suitcases beside me, his face showed confusion.

"Why are you packing? Going on a business trip?"

I closed the suitcase and said softly,

"Seasonal cleanup."

He didn't ask any further.

"Come eat first! I even added an egg for you."

Just as he finished speaking, Eric's phone rang.

When he came back, his voice sounded unnatural.

"Lucy, something came up at work. I need to go back and work overtime."

If this had happened before, I would definitely have called out such a lousy lie and asked him who he was really going to see.

But now, him not being home worked perfectly for me.

"Okay. Don't keep your coworkers waiting too long."

Eric was very satisfied with my understanding.

He kissed my forehead, grabbed his coat, and rushed out the door.

By the time I finished packing, it was already midnight.

Eric called me.

"The work stuff is a little tricky. Go to sleep first. Don't wait for me."

"I'll take you to the hospital to change your bandage tomorrow, and I'll have lunch with you at noon. Be good."

I hummed and hung up.

The next second, he appeared in Bella's updated post.

"Suddenly wanted to go to the amusement park. Eric booked out the whole place right away and even arranged a fireworks show. Good job~"

In the video, the two of them leaned close together, and the fireworks reflected in both of their eyes.

I lowered my eyes and looked at the gift box I usually treated like treasure.

Inside was the ring Eric had given me five years ago.

I grew up in an orphanage, and whenever I watched TV, I would hope to go to an amusement park once.

Back then, Eric made promise after promise.

"Lucy, every year on your birthday, I'll take you to the amusement park!"

"With this ring as a promise token, when you turn 25, I'll set off fireworks across the whole sky and use them to propose to you!"

But every year on my birthday, Eric would forget his promise to me because he had to rush off to see Bella.

This year, he didn't forget.

He went to the amusement park.

He set off fireworks across the whole sky.

It was just that none of it was for me.

I put the ring on the nightstand.

Since the person who made the promise had already forgotten it, I didn't need to keep it anymore.