CHAPTER 61: CHAPTER 61: THE PAIN OF LOSING A LOVED ONE

Sasha Shaw dragged Ruby Sullivan all the way to the entrance of the medical building before stopping, gasping for breath.

The night was deeply settled, so quiet that you could hear the chirping of insects. The light from inside the medical building slanted outwards, casting their shadows long and stretched, like the final frame of a tragic film.

Sasha took a deep breath, as if the slightly cool air could take away some of the burning in her chest. After calming down a bit, she turned to look at Ruby, seeing her pitiful face glistening with tears, reluctant to scold her further. She leaned in and gently hugged her, soothingly saying, "It’s all right, it’s all right."

Ruby raised her hand to grab the shirt on Sasha’s back, clutching it tightly, fearing that if she let go, her emotions would spiral out of control.

Sasha gently patted her back. "No one wished for this to happen. If the elder Mrs. Sterling’s spirit is watching over us, she would understand your predicament today. It wasn’t your fault, understand?"

In truth, Ruby couldn’t take in any of Sasha’s words. Her mind felt frozen, incapable of thought, leaving her senses with only a feeling of discomfort and no relief.

The elder Mrs. Sterling was not only her mother’s teacher, but she had also taught her painting. Although Ruby had no talent for it, her father must have spoken to the elder Mrs. Sterling, for she charged no tuition and was rather lenient in teaching. Ruby was never too interested in painting, preferring the thrill of the kitchen instead, but she had her own little reasons. Before high school, she would persistently attend classes until Ethan went to college.

She simply wanted to be with Ethan. Growing older, she realized that this constant desire to see him, this uncontrollable longing to think of him, was called affection.

Thinking back now, perhaps the elder Mrs. Sterling saw through her thoughts and intended to play matchmaker?

"All right, stop being so fake; Ethan can’t even see you now."

A disgusting voice suddenly emerged, pulling Ruby from her memories. She raised her head from Sasha’s embrace, grabbed Sasha’s arm, and shook her head at her.

Ruby didn’t even want to look directly at her; she pulled Sasha along to continue forward.

Rhonda Sullivan, a bit surprised, quickly caught up and blocked their way. "Don’t be in such a rush to leave. I have something for you to see." She smiled confidently, raising an eyebrow. "Do you want to see it?"

"Do you know seeing you makes me sick?" Ruby shot her a glance, deliberately stepping forward and bumping her aside.

Rhonda, unwilling to concede, shouted at her retreating figure, "Ethan is mine. No one can take him away, neither you nor anyone else!"

Ruby, who had walked far ahead, suddenly stopped, tilted her head to look at Sasha, and exhaled, saying, "I’m a bit upset."

Sasha pursed her lips slightly, "I’ve been upset for a long time now."

After speaking, they turned back and quickly headed towards Rhonda, taking her down quickly. Sasha covered her mouth to prevent her from making a sound, while Ruby swiftly stole her high heels before running off. By the time Rhonda called out to the patrolling security for help, the shoes were already in the trash, and Ruby and Sasha were nowhere to be seen.

When Ruby had decided to lose weight, she dragged Sasha into boxing with her, and neither expected to develop a keen interest in combat sports like martial arts, and later, Taekwondo and Aikido. They often fantasized about using these skills on Rhonda.

Unexpectedly, these wishes came true on such an awkward occasion today.

*

In the advanced ward, Ethan Sterling sat dazedly by the hospital bed, watching his grandmother. It seemed like she was only asleep. The scenes from the past kept replaying in his mind, but then those memories turned into black-and-white silent films, shattering into fragments, leaving nothing behind.

He sniffed, took out his phone, and dialed a string of unnamed numbers.

In his memory, this number had appeared so infrequently on his phone that it was almost negligible, yet he had never forgotten the sequence.

The busy tone lasted for quite a while before the call connected.

"Ethan?" The voice on the other side was full of laziness, as if having been woken from sleep.

"Grandma passed away." He calmly informed, listening for a moment before asking, "Are you coming back?"

Silence, for a second or two... after quite a while, a sigh finally came from the other end, "I’ll be back."

"Okay." Ethan responded softly and then ended the call.

On the other end of the line was his mother. Since she left the Sterlings with his siblings twenty years ago, they only met once or twice a year at most, but now, he found himself missing her a little.

Ethan tightly closed his eyes, tilting his head back, hoping his emotions could be suppressed as well, but still, a cool tear escaped and rolled down his cheek.

He thought the Sterlings were used to death and farewells, numbed by them.

It turns out, he was wrong too.

He didn’t know how long had passed before he wiped the tears from his face, got up, and carefully covered his grandmother’s face with the sheet. Seeing that it was almost dawn outside, he made a call to Howard as he walked out.

"Reschedule the company matters. I’ll need a few days to take care of Grandma’s funeral."

"Understood, Mr. Sterling." Howard, always seemingly at the ready, kept his voice clear even at this hour.

"We need to find a solution for Honey’s marrow quickly."

"Yes."

Ethan hung up the phone just as dawn was breaking. Squinting, he slowly walked into the sunlight, his heart filled with gloom.

By the time he reached home, Seth was already up, waiting for him in the living room. As Ethan entered, Seth rushed over to meet him.

"How’s Great-Grandma?"

Ethan looked at him and said with exhaustion, "Great-Grandma has passed away." He glanced at Mama Bennett, who had red eyes and covered her mouth in sorrow. "Condolences."

Seth watched his father’s disheartened back, feeling for the first time how heavy sorrow could be, enough to crush a person.

The Sullivan Family.

Ruby Sullivan woke up to find it was already afternoon. Forcing herself to take a shower, she finally noticed several unread messages on her phone.

There was one from Howard informing her of the funeral’s time and place, and a multimedia message from an unknown number, containing several photos.

These days, multimedia messages are often just marketing ads, seldom displaying a normal phone number.

When she opened it, she realized it wasn’t one of those money-scam or virus texts; it seemed to have come from Rhonda.

They were pictures of Ruby and Ethan in bed. They weren’t exactly explicit but rather suggestive, the kind of photos often exposed online as borderline indecent. Ethan’s face was clear but clearly sleeping, while the photos showed Ruby’s various poses along with an oblivious Ethan.

Ruby stared at the photos for a while and then sent a message back, "If you’re looking to blackmail, you should send this to Ethan. Please verify the phone number before sending."

Ruby didn’t have the energy to indulge this woman’s low tricks. After sending the message, she blocked and muted the other number, avoiding further annoyance.

Not knowing if she was welcome, she still decided to visit Ethan. Growing up by his grandmother’s side, she understood the pain of losing a loved one.

For these few hours, she told herself, she’d put aside past grievances and focus on being there for Ethan as she sat in the car.