At the hospital.
“Doctor, please, perform the surgery for my grandma! I’ll figure out the money somehow,” I begged, my hair disheveled as I knelt before the doctor.
The doctor sighed. “Please get up. Your grandmother is too old for a heart transplant. We can only install a stent, but even the materials for that are expensive. The hospital requires at least 20% of the surgery fees before we can proceed.”
Despair settled over me. I had nothing left but the 100 dollars for my monthly living expenses.
“How much will it cost?” I asked.
“Approximately 10,000 dollars,” he said.
10,000 dollars.
That same amount.
I tried calling Brad once more, but there was no answer.
In desperation, I took a cab to the bar.
Just as I reached the bar entrance, my phone buzzed with a call from the doctor.
“Are you the patient’s family member? I regret to inform you that your grandmother passed away at 23:47:23.”
He sighed. “If you had come just three hours earlier, she could have lived another five years.”
Three hours.
I had asked Brad to go to the hospital with the money five hours ago.
Thunder rolled across the sky.
Moments later, a torrential downpour drenched me completely as I stood frozen outside the bar.
“Grandma’s little darling, you’re the best girl in the world. You deserve all the good things.”
“Look, Grandma made you new shoes. Try them on!”
“Today, Grandma earned a little money from picking scraps and bought you your favorite fruit.”
“Grandma will live long enough to see you get married and have children.”
Her voice echoed in my mind, bittersweet and haunting.
I dropped to my knees, the cold, hard pavement digging into my flesh.
But I was a puppet—numb, hollow.
“Ah—” A guttural scream tore through me, raw and feral.
I had no family left.
“Wendy!”
I looked up to see Brad rushing toward me, panic etched on his face. He wrapped me in his arms, his carefully maintained facade breaking as he forgot to play mute.
“Wendy, what happened? Are you okay?”
Blood surged up my throat, and I spat it directly onto his face.
With all the strength I had left, I slapped him hard.
Through gritted teeth, I hissed, “Brad, do you enjoy toying with commoners like me? Is this some rich-boy game to you? How can someone as disgusting as you exist? We’re over. Just thinking about spending three years with someone like you makes me want to vomit.”
