True Love's Price

I could only watch helplessly as they gazed into each other's eyes lovingly and embraced each other.

And so, Celeste stayed at the hospital for a few days under Jeremy's unfaltering care, and he was the one who helped her out with all her procedures the day she was discharged too.

After Celeste was escorted home, she held onto Jeremy, not willing to let go. "Jeremy, I don't want to worry my parents, but I'm a clumsy dummy who can't take care of herself… Can't you stay and keep me company?"

Jeremy, as always, enjoyed the feeling of being relied on by Celeste, and he held onto her. "Of course. I'll take a few days off work to take care of you."

The resulting pang in my heart was indescribable.

To think that the man who I didn't dare inconvenience in the slightest was willing to give himself so freely to another woman.

Their sweet embrace was interrupted by a sudden incoming call.

Seeing the unfamiliar number, Jeremy confusedly accepted the call, and the voice of my father's shouting came from the other end. "You bastard! How could you treat my daughter like that? You're the one who caused her to die so painfully!"

Jeremy's expression immediately twisted. "That's quite enough from you. Are you playing along with Elodie's little act too? What, was acting sick not enough that now she has to play dead? Tell her this for me—I won't play her sick little game! If anything happened to her, she deserved it!"

His words undoubtedly splashed oil onto a burning flame, and my father was completely enraged. "My daughter died because of you! You and that bitch are the ones who are supposed to be dead!"

He sounded completely hysterical; his sense of reason was lost to his anger.

In response, Jeremy only hung up with a furrow of the brow, prompting Celeste to ask in curiosity, "Who was it?"

"Just Elodie's father here to keep up the act. How could a father jinx his daughter and say that she's dead?" Jeremy replied with a shrug, his expression like he was witnessing a joke. "It's funny how far that family can go to make Elodie get married to me."

At the very mention of our marriage, Celeste's expression became overcast. "Then… Are you still planning on getting married to Elodie?"

A conflicted expression made its way onto Jeremy's face. "We're officially engaged, and my parents have a really good impression of Elodie, too. Things might become really messy if we break up…"

As he said so, he sighed. "Actually, other than the fact that she keeps initiating squabbles with me because she doesn't like you, she's actually not that bad."

What he said was the truth.

In the eight years we were dating, and the half year we were engaged, I've been nothing but unconditionally accepting of Jeremy on everything, except for when it came to Celeste.

I understood how hectic his job was, so I was fine with not voicing how I felt neglected. I wanted to continue to be his most stalwart supporter, after all. Even when his parents became sick, I was the one who took care of them and paid for their care.

Perhaps, at the end of the day, that just made him think of me as nothing more than a suitable candidate for marriage.

Celeste's expression became more and more dissatisfied the more she listened, and she was about to kick up a fuss, Jeremy got another call from his own father. "This is preposterous, Jeremy! How could I have given birth to a son like you?"

Without any warning, Jeremy's father started scolding him, "How could you act so coldly when something this terrible happened?!"

Jeremy was stunned for a moment, before he laughed. "Dad, why are you playing along with Elodie too?"

Jeremy's father sounded like he was going to get a heart attack. "This isn't a joking matter, Jeremy.

"How could you not know that Elodie passed away? My future daughter-in-law's dead!"