Chapter 6

Juliet shook her head lightly. Her eyes were filled with exhaustion and resignation as she said, "I know you had your reasons. I've never blamed you. Now that things have come to this point, nothing's gonna help even if I regret it now. I'm 22 and still young, so I can always start over." Seeing the forced smile on her face, Henry reached out and gently patted her head. "That's right. You'll have a whole new life, and I'm sure you'll meet someone better." For the next few days, Juliet stayed in the hospital for recovery. Sometimes, she would overhear bits of gossip when the nurses came in to check on her. "I heard the entire VIP ward upstairs was booked by the CEO of Kane Group. That explains the generosity. His fiancee is staying there, right?" "I heard he barely leaves her bedside, feeds her soup, and brings her gifts just to spoil her!" "Apparently, she gave birth to their child before they even got married. The wedding is gonna be held in a few days, and they say her wedding gown and ring cost billions." "Judging from how he's gonna stream the ceremony live to the world and the lengths he has gone for her, that's honestly some mad love." Hearing their envious chatter, Juliet was reminded of the plan she had overheard outside the private room of the club that night and slowly closed her eyes. Since Damien was going all out to host such a grand, lavish wedding, he had to be certain that Callie would accept his confession. He had waited so many years and planned this act so carefully. It was all falling perfectly into place now. As the clingy fool he had always found so annoying, Juliet would vanish quietly and never show up again after their wedding. It was the perfect, best-of-both-worlds ending for him that was worth celebrating. Lost in her thoughts, Juliet didn't even notice her phone ringing. By the time she snapped out of it and saw the name on the screen, she blanked out for a few seconds before tapping on the answer button. "I heard you were admitted to the hospital, Julie. Are you feeling better?" It was a call from one of Henry's closest friends. He asked about her recovery and beat about the bush with small talk. Juliet could sniff out his intentions a mile away, and sure enough, after endless circling around, he hesitantly came to his true agenda. "I heard Henry and Damien got into a fight, and things are pretty tense right now. We tried talking some sense into them, but nothing worked. Do you know what happened?" She was silent for a moment before calmly briefing him on the truth. After listening to her recount, he sighed and said, "This is years of brotherhood. It'd be embarrassing if word got out that they fell out over such a minor misunderstanding. Julie, could you help us? We're getting everyone together tonight, so tell Henry to come. They could sit down face-to-face and talk it all out." Juliet knew that Henry attached the most significance to his family and these buddies, who had been through thick and thin with him. She didn't want to be the reason he drifted apart from them, so she agreed.