Pieces of Me

After hanging up, I, Andrew Shaw, immediately caught sight of the two people kissing passionately in the hallway.

Alex Carter looked up and met my gaze. He deliberately tightened his arm around Josie Jackson's waist as if provoking me.

It hurt to even look at them.

I turned around and walked away quickly. I was desperate to get away from this place.

The wound that had not yet healed started bleeding again, leaving drops of bright red blood behind.

The people around me looked at me strangely.

I didn't even know how long I ran. By the time I got home, my pants were already soaked with blood.

I locked myself in the bathroom and stared at my wounded lower body in the mirror. I was trembling.

Just to make Alex happy, Josie treated me like an animal and hurt me without hesitation.

Whenever I closed my eyes, I could still remember the pain I felt on the operating table.

I heard movement from the front door. Josie was back.

The moment she stepped inside, she saw the bloodstained pants I had thrown on the floor.

"Andrew, the wound was still so deep. Why did you leave the hospital in a hurry?"

Josie was carrying several boxes of medicine. She grabbed my hand.

"I brought you painkillers. Take this, and it'll stop hurting after a while."

It sounded like concern, but all I felt was coldness and irony.

Josie reached for a tube of ointment, but the moment she saw my wound, the disgust in her eyes returned.

I pulled away from her and spoke hoarsely.

"Isn't this exactly what you wanted to see?"

She clearly hadn't expected me to say that. Knowing she was in the wrong, she softened her attitude for once.

"Yeah, you've suffered, but Alex still wants to get married and have children. He's been looked down on for all these years. Can't you think about him for once?"

"If I think about him, then who thinks about me?"

I raised my voice. My whole body trembled.

This was the first time in ten years that I had ever spoken to Josie like this.

Josie frowned.

"You were the one who refused to save him back then. If it weren't for you, Alex wouldn't have suffered. Everything you have now should have belonged to him!"

She threw the ointment at me. She no longer bothered to pretend she cared.

For all these years, I had always felt guilty because of that incident.

I always put them first.

I forced down the despair inside me and spoke with a trembling voice.

"If it weren't for me, you would've died long–"

Before I could finish, Josie raised her hand and slapped me across the face.