Chapter 5
On the other end of the phone, Steven fell
silent.
After a long pause, his slightly awkward voice finally came through.
“Sorry, Gianna. Something came up at home, and I headed back earlier. Wait for me–I’ll come get you right now.”
As he spoke, rustling sounds and faint background chatter filtered through the line. Chloe’s voice called out cheerfully, “Steven, dinner‘ s almost ready! Where are you going?”
Gianna pressed her fingers to her temple, a bitter smile tugging at her lips. “Forget it. Don’t trouble yourself–I‘ ll manage on my own.”
This time, Steven hesitated for only half a second before agreeing.
“Alright, take your time. I cooked
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something good tonight. It‘ ll be waiting when you get home.”
After hanging up, Gianna let out a slow breath, though the wounds in her heart seemed to deepen. Lightly touching the Médecins Sans Frontières application
tucked in her pocket, she wondered how she could convince Steven to agree to her departure.
Leaning against the hospital wall, she hobbled out, each step sending waves of searing pain through her ankle. After what felt like an eternity, she managed to flag down a cab.
Sliding into the passenger seat, she realized her clothes were drenched with cold sweat.
The driver glanced at her pale face, his voice tinged with concern. “Miss, you don’t look well. Why don‘ t you call your boyfriend to come pick you up?”
Resting against the seat, Gianna tried to ease the pain and even managed a wry
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chuckle. “I don’t have a boyfriend, just a fiancé.”
“Then call your fiancé. Look at you–your face is white as a sheet. I bet he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to you.
“Fiancé?” Gianna scoffed softly, staring out the window. “Too bad he’s busy spending time with someone else. He got no time for me.”
The driver fell silent for a moment before muttering under his breath, “What kind of fiancé is that? Sounds pretty unreliable.”
Gianna chuckled at his candid remark.
“Unreliable?” she mused. “More like indifferent.”
Everything about the wedding
preparations, from the invitations to the
décor of their future home, had been left to Gianna alone.
When she’d asked Steven for input, his
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response had been dismissive. “The man works outside while the woman manages the home. Why are you asking me for every little thing? Don’t you have any opinions. of your own?”
Yet, when she had completed the
arrangements, Steven had found fault with everything. Ultimately, it was Chloe who finalized the décor to his satisfaction.
As she thought back on it all, Gianna felt a wave of exhaustion and disdain.
When the cab pulled up outside her apartment complex, it was just a short walk from the gate to her unit–barely a few hundred meters. Yet it took her nearly half an hour to cover the distance, her every step labored and slow.
Standing at the door, she instinctively reached for her keys before realizing they were missing. Frustrated, she knocked on the door.
It took a while, but Steven eventually
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opened it.
The first thing he said upon seeing her was tinged with impatience. “Don’t you have your keys? Why are you always knocking?”
Gianna didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she entered the apartment, walking slowly to the living room, and then pulled out her keyring from her bag.
“You took my key off the ring a few days ago to give to Chloe, remember?” she responded coldly.
Her words made Steven pause. His irritation faded slightly, replaced by a faint trace of guilt. But even then, his tone carried a hint of reproach. “I’ve been so busy lately that I forgot. Why didn‘ t you just get yourself a new one? You’ve got time for things like this.”
Gianna smiled faintly, offering no reply. She had long since stopped expecting fairness.
To Steven, anything concerning Chloe
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always seemed urgent, while her needs could wait–or be ignored altogether.
As she made her way into the dining room, she realized Chloe was already there.
“Gianna, you‘ re finally back!” Chloe greeted her enthusiastically, rushing forward to loop her arm through Gianna‘ s in a playful gesture, sticking out her tongue as she smiled.
