“I understand. Thank you, doctor.”

Claudia lowered her eyes and acknowledged the doctor softly. After that, the doctor advised her on several matters before leaving the ward.

When he reached the door, he brushed shoulders with Brett who was standing by the doorway.

Brett proceeded to step into the ward and sat down beside the bed. Then he looked at Claudia without saying a word.

Claudia felt her heart skip a beat upon seeing him. She wondered if he had overheard her conversation with the doctor.

She looked at him silently for what seemed like forever until he started, “Fione is my wife. I had to save her first.”

When she heard this, she breathed a sigh of relief. He had not heard the conversation after all.

She was otherwise unbothered by his claim about having to save Fione first. “It was right of you to do that, my dear brother-in-law.”

Brett felt a sudden wave of panic at her words. “Didn’t you refuse to address me as brother-in-law in the past?”

“I have come to accept the truth.” She paused briefly before continuing without sparing a glance at him, “I accepted the fact that no one will love me.”

She spoke in a very calm voice, so much so that Brett felt a dry retch in his throat. He remarked in a drab voice, “Don’t forget about Brett. He loved you.”

Claudia smiled.

She smiled until her eyes began to fray with red before saying, “He's dead.”

She wanted to tell him that the moment Brett had decided to fake his death, he was dead to her.

When Brett observed the still look in her eyes, he could no longer muster a word.

He felt a wave of guilt washing over him. Then he got up and decided he could no longer stay by her bedside.

“I’m going to Fione.”

Claudia followed the doctor's advice and stayed in the hospital for a few more days to recover.

On the day she was discharged, Phillip gathered Claudia, Brett and Fione and instructed Claudia to sit beside him.

“Claudia, they’re going to visit Brett at the cemetery today so you can see him one last time.”

He sighed with a mixture of sadness and regret pooling inside his eyes. After briefly speaking to Brett and Fione, he let them leave.

Just as they were about to depart, Fione suddenly remembered she had forgotten something and had to head back into the house.

Around the same time, Claudia was just about to open the door to the car when she felt Brett grab her wrist.

“What did Grandpa mean when he said you would be seeing Brett for the last time? Are you hiding something from us?”

Claudia looked at his iron grip on her wrist and proceeded to shrug him off, “Nothing. He only said that because he hoped I would stop grieving over someone who is gone.”

With that, she got into the car and slammed the door shut.

Brett stared at his hand and had an ill feeling that things were spiraling out of his control, but he could not figure out what it was. When he tried to speak, Fione came running back to the car.

“Honey, let's go!”

He swallowed whatever he was about to say.

As soon as they arrived at the cemetery, Brett’s phone suddenly rang. He snuck a glance at the screen and proceeded to motion for Claudia and Fione to go ahead while he answered the call.

Claudia placed a large bouquet in front of the gravestone. The picture etched onto the gravestone looked just like Brett.

In the past, she would sob uncontrollably whenever she saw the picture and become filled with so much pain she thought she would die right then and there. But now, she hardly felt anything.

Suddenly, Fione produced a letter and began to wave it wildly in front of Claudia while wearing a smug grin.

“Claudia, you sure are lucky to survive falling into the ocean considering nobody in our family tried to save you.

“I have been very upset recently until I found something very interesting. Do you want to know what it is?

“As it turns out, I was wrong last time. Remember when I said that Brett would still love you even if nobody else did? Well, I happened to find a love letter he addressed to me, it turns out this entire time I was the one he had a crush on.

“I just found out that he was the one who had been preparing breakfast for me all the time when I was young. It’s not a coincidence that he was always the first person who came to me whenever I was in a bad mood!

“I know why he wanted to marry you now, it’s because he was worried you would get in between me and Arthur. Hahaha! You are such a walking and living joke…”

Claudia listened to Fione's incessant insults and began to shut her eyes.

When Fione failed to draw the agonizing reaction she was looking for, she could no longer keep up the ridicule and smug tone in her voice.

She became upset and raised her hand to hit Claudia. Moments before that, she caught a glimpse of Brett who was approaching them.

A sharp, wrathful look flashed in her eyes. She suddenly tilted her body and made herself fall!

Everything happened so quickly.

Before Claudia even had time to react, Fione was already shrieking and tumbling down the stairs.

She was horrified and immediately looked down the stairs to inspect. Unsurprisingly, Brett was completely beside himself and was charging toward their direction.

“Fione!”

Fione’s complexion was very pale. She pressed herself into Brett’s arm and her forehead was drenched in sweat because of the excruciating pain.

She began by trying to defend Claudia but at the same time sounded like she was accusing her.

“Honey, it’s not Claudia’s fault, she’s having a hard time getting over her husband’s death. I’ll be fine…”

“I didn’t—”

Claudia wanted to defend herself but her sentence was cut off as soon as she spoke.

Brett was completely enraged when he heard Fione holding back the pain in her voice.

He began to lash out without even thinking about it.

“Claudia, you have no right to take out your anger on someone else just because your husband died! Don’t forget that unlike you, Fione has a husband to protect her!”

With that, he carried Fione in his arms and turned away without even sparing another glance at Claudia.

Claudia felt like someone had stabbed her in the heart when she looked at the pair leaving.

There was a phantom pain that remained with her the entire time even after Brett walked away.

The pain was agonizing. She tightly held her chest with her hand until she cried.

Unlike her, Fione has a husband to protect her. How ridiculous!

Brett, you of all people should know whose husband you are.

Finally, she went home by herself. There were only three days to go until her eventual departure.

Instead of staying at home, she went to the places she used to go with Brett when they were still in love.

On the first day, she went to the Lover's Bridge.

There was a saying that couples who hung their lockets together on the Lover's Bridge would be fated to be together forever. This was the place they visited when they were at the height of their “passion” for each other.

It had been so many years ago. When she arrived at the bridge, the railing was completely covered in countless lockets.

She walked to the center of the Lover's Bridge and immediately spotted the locket they put here years ago.

She could still make out the crooked words etched on its face.

[Brett and Claudia. Together Forever!]

At the time, Brett held her hand to scribble those words. He had always been praised for having good handwriting but because he was not used to writing while holding someone else’s hand, it had turned out rather messy.

Claudia teased him about it for a long time after that.

His ear was beet red when he was writing it and he expressed in an uncharacteristically flustered voice, “Claudia, I can’t write properly because you’re all I’m thinking about now! You’ll have to pay for this.”

Then, he kissed her.

Claudia felt her eyes welling up with tears as she reached for the lock with a key and unlocked it. After that, she tossed it off the edge of the cliff, and with that, it was gone forever.

'Brett, you sure are a wonderful actor.

'I never knew you were so gifted at acting, so much to the point where you had me falling madly in love with you. This entire time, you had devoted yourself to Fione instead.'

The next day, Claudia went to Cocteau Church.

The church was located on the top of a hill so she had to climb the three thousand flights of stairs to get to the church. She made a climb with a heart filled with piety the entire time.

Four years ago during their first wedding anniversary, they were on their way to celebrate when they got into an accident.

In one crucial moment, Brett threw himself on her to shield her from harm.

She remembered thinking that if Brett was willing to risk his life for her, she should offer the same devotion to him.

Later when Brett fell into a coma in the hospital, she became frantic. That was when she was told that Cocteau Church was one of the most sacred churches in the country and with that, she made the pilgrimage to get a cross for him.

Later when he finally came to, they returned to the church together where he vowed to her, “Claudia, I want to be with you forever.”

She believed him at the time but now she realized that it was a complete lie.

On the third day, she went to see a maidenhair tree that they had planted together.

The light green tree of the leaf was dancing in the wind. Etched on the trunk were a few words that had become distorted due to the growth of the tree over time. Despite that, one could faintly make out the words “I love you Claudia and we will be together forever. Brett.”

There was a saying that the maidenhair tree symbolizes love, and that was why they came here together to plant the tree. He was holding her hand the entire time they were carving the text. The handwriting turned out better this time.

Though the tree had blossomed with leaves, their love had completely wilted.

Then, she made a gesture to signal the crew that had been waiting for her instruction. They proceeded to turn on the electric saw which produced a loud, screeching sound.

The worker looked at the tree and asked in a voice filled with lament, “Miss Hepburn, this is a healthy tree, why do you want to cut it down?”

She fell silent for a long time before smiling faintly. “It never should have existed.”

It was a tree born from lies and it should return to the dirt.

She stayed awake all night.

The following day was going to be the wedding anniversary of Fione and “Arthur”. It was also going to be the day when she would leave the Maxwells.

She stood at the head of the stairs and watched as the couple departed for the banquet hall first thing in the morning. Before leaving, Fione even made a point of repeatedly reminding Claudia to attend the party and witness their love.

Claudia nodded perfunctorily and waited until they left before collecting her luggage.

She received a text on her phone informing her that her purchase of the island had been finalized. She smiled faintly upon seeing the text and left for the airport without looking back.

'Fione. Brett.

'I will never see you two again for the rest of my life.'

That night, in the banquet hall.

The party had been progressing smoothly but for some reason, Brett was nervous.

Fione could tell he was distracted. She went to him with a smile and took his hand in hers. “What is it, Honey?”

He suddenly stiffened and realized that he had been thinking about Claudia the entire time.

The thought threw him off further but when he noticed Fione still staring at him, he trained a smile and made up something on the spot.

“I’m fine, I just didn't sleep well last night. Nothing to worry about.”

Fortunately, Fione only nodded and did not pry.

After Fione was gone, he called over his assistant who he had previously assigned to keep an eye on Claudia. “Where has Claudia been these days? What has she been up to?”

The assistant handed over several sheets of documents and proceeded with a report.

The Lover's Bridge, Cocteau Church, and the place where they planted the maidenhair tree.

There were all the places they went to in the past.

He became even more restless to the point of nearly panicking. He had a fleeting feeling that something was escaping his grasp and every time he tried to catch it, there was nothing but air.

When it was time for the present gifting session, he glanced in the direction of the door but still could not spot the figure he had been looking for. He was spiraling inside.

That was until the door of the hall was suddenly thrown open.

Everyone watched attentively as a man who was dressed very formally walked up to Brett with a present.

“Mr. Maxwell, I am delivering this present on behalf of Miss Hepburn!”