Chapter 4

The smoke grew thicker. With every breath Sabrina took, her consciousness began to blur. Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself up against the wall and staggered toward the door. But a fallen beam blocked the exit, and there was no way out. Sabrina stared at the burning beam in despair, then turned and ran for the window. When she shoved it open, cold air rushed in and cleared her head just a little. She looked down just in time to see Nester sprint out of the villa with Snowball in his arms. Della threw herself at him. "Nester! You gave me such a fright!" Della pitifully cried out. "I thought Snowball was going to die in there… We raised him together for so many years, so he's a witness to our love…" Nester stiffened, as if he was about to push her away. But seeing how hard she was crying, he eventually raised his hand and gently patted her on the back, murmuring words of comfort, "Don't cry. Everything's okay now. Both you and Snowball are fine." Watching the scene, Sabrina felt as though an icy hand had seized her heart, then abruptly let go. It left behind only a vast, numb emptiness. She stopped counting on anyone. After climbing onto the windowsill, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and jumped. The moment was over almost instantly. She didn’t even have time to feel fear before she hit the ground with a deafening crash. Intense pain swept through her entire body. She lay on the ground as warm blood spread beneath her. "Mrs. Blackwell! Mrs. Blackwell jumped!" a housekeeper screamed. "Sabrina!" When Nester spun around and saw Sabrina lying in a pool of blood, the expression on his face was a look she had never seen before. He was filled with shock, disbelief, and a flicker of… panic. She looked at him and parted her lips as if to speak, only to cough up a mouthful of blood. Then, everything went black. … Sabrina woke up to the sharp smell of disinfectant and a white ceiling above her. When she moved slightly, her whole body ached. There was an especially piercing, bone-deep pain in her legs. "Sabrina!" Nester's voice sounded beside her. She turned her head and saw him at her bedside. His eyes were bloodshot, and stubble shadowed his jaw, so he looked utterly haggard. He grabbed her hand, and his voice shook as he bombarded her with questions. "You're awake! How do you feel? Are you in pain anywhere?" She didn't answer. Instead, she pulled her hand out of his grasp with slow but unwavering determination. Nester's hand hung frozen in midair, and his expression shifted slightly. He assumed she was mad about the fire and the jump, and blamed him for not saving her first. So, he lowered his voice and tried to explain. "Sabrina, I didn't see you anywhere when I went into the room and thought you'd escaped. That's why I only took Snowball. "He's not just a dog. He's—" What was Snowball? Was he a token of Nester and Della's love, or a witness to their beautiful, cherished moments? "Since you were in the room, why didn't you call out to me?" Nester demanded. Why hadn't Sabrina called out to him? That question finally prompted her to look up at him. Her dark, deep eyes held no resentment or expectation, and only a deep, unfathomable calmness. "Because I no longer expect anything from you." Nester violently jolted as if he had been struck hard. His pupils constricted as he stared at her in disbelief. "What do you mean… you have no expectations?" His voice sounded dry to his ears. It felt as though her words had suddenly hollowed out his heart from his chest and let in a cold, unfamiliar air. Sabrina calmly looked at him as if he were a stranger. "Exactly what it sounds like. I don't expect you to save me, choose me, or love me." Nester's heart shook violently. He was about to speak when his phone rang with a call from Della. After walking up to the window, he answered the phone with his back to Sabrina. She couldn't hear the specifics and only saw the tension in his back. His tone shifted from initial impatience to suppressed resignation, finally ending with a subdued "I get it". He hung up and returned to the bed, looking troubled. When he looked up at Sabrina, it seemed almost like he wanted to speak, but stopped on second thought. "Go ahead," she said in that usual, suffocatingly calm voice before he could speak. "I don't need anyone here." When Nester looked at her, his chest felt clogged like it was stuffed with damp cotton, making it hard to breathe. Even after opening his mouth, all he managed to do was say, "Della ran into some trouble. I… need to deal with it, and I'll be back soon." After a pause, he added, "I know you're mad about what happened before and said everything you did out of spite. But don't worry; nothing like that will happen again. "Emma's death anniversary is coming up in a few days. Let's visit her together." Sabrina's lowered lashes faintly trembled. "Mom's death anniversary is on the same day as Della's birthday," she said with a soft laugh. "Aren't you going to spend Della's birthday with her instead?" Nester clearly hadn't expected Sabrina to bring up Della's birthday suddenly, and his expression stiffened subtly. After several seconds of silence, he avoided her gaze and stiffly replied, "What does her birthday have to do with me?" Sabrina laughed. How could Della's birthday have nothing to do with him? For five years of their marriage, Nester was busy on this exact date every year. In the first year, he had excused himself for a business trip, and in the second, he had a meeting. In the third year, he had plans for a business dinner with a client. Later, Sabrina learned the truth that the death anniversary of her mom, Emma Middleton, fell on the same date as Della's birthday. Every year, Nester would fly for hours across the globe just to stand outside Della's door all night and leave a gift before turning away. Now that Della was back this year, he could see her in person and express his love more freely than ever. "Oh, is that so?" Sabrina murmured, then said nothing more. She closed her eyes again, clearly exhausted and completely shutting him out. Her indifference ignited frustrated anger in Nester's chest, but there was nowhere he could vent it. When he stared at her pale face and the tightly shut eyes, he wanted to say, "Nothing is going on between Della and me anymore, so don't make this something it isn't." But that eventually went unsaid. All he could do was say, "Get some rest. I'll come back later." With that, he turned and rushed out of the ward.