Holding my luggage, I was about to leave. Asher looked at me without saying a word.

"Aren't you going to stay at my mom's place for a while?"

I felt suffocating anxiety.

"No, I won't be there." Asher emphasized, saying, "That's not my home. Our home is here."

Asher's parents had been divorced early on. I knew he had always been obsessed with the idea of having a family. He wouldn't let me leave, so I wisely kept my mouth shut and refrained from saying anything that might upset him.

I kept thinking on the way as to whether I shouldn't have left him. Upon opening the door, I regretted not coming earlier to take care of my mother.

Clothes on the sofa were piled up randomly. It was hard to tell if they had been washed or not. The dishes and utensils from the day when my father fainted were still piled up in the sink.

There was a trash can by the bed filled with used tissues.

Since the day my dad fainted, the time had come to still be here.

Asher had been messaging me. It seemed like he had never been in a good mood.

[Is it because you hate me that you don't come home? Maybe I don't deserve to have a family. I'm not worthy of you.]

[Did I hold you back? Can I talk to you?]

[My new song is about to be released. I want to tell you such news, yet I dare not. Will you find me annoying?]

I tried my best to tell him that I was swamped, and I couldn't leave my mother. Her situation was quite bad. I reassured him that I loved him. I wouldn't find him annoying.

All my efforts were in vain. It seemed that he didn't believe anything I said.

"It's like he's forcing me to surrender and to bow my head."

"I won't do it. But I forget that Asher will always have helpers."

"Or maybe I don't expect that Asher will ever try to show consideration to me."

It was at midnight again that I got a call from a familiar number.

I was startled by this phone call, anxiously observing if my mother had been awakened.

My mother had been sleeping a little lately. Now, she was looking at me sleepily.

I answered the call with a frown.

Jessa shouted at me, saying, "Didn't you take what I said to you last time seriously? Are you happy to see Asher in such a desperate state? Or do you hope he dies?" I even felt her voice echoing in the hospital.

"Tell me what happened to Asher."

"You didn't come to Asher's celebration party. He almost drank himself to death because of you. Are you pretending to be in the dark? How did Asher end up marrying a trash like you? If you are still a human being, get over here right now!"

She immediately hung up.

I was scolded inexplicably. Asher didn't tell me about such a celebration party at all.

Then I received a voice message from Asher. He was apologizing to me while he was drunk.

[Sorry, you've been too busy lately. I was afraid of disturbing you, so I didn't tell you about my celebration party. My song got a lot of positive feedback when it was first released. I invited my friends to have a meal at a restaurant around the corner of a street near our house. Focus on your things. Don't listen to Jessa's nonsense. I didn't drink."

Coincidentally, I didn't know the address, so he revealed it.

I was shocked by such a coincidence.

"Was he intentionally not telling me first and using his friends to pressure me? Was he eliminating any chance for me to stay in the hospital and refuse to attend the banquet?"

"Alice, go to him. I'm here with your father." My mom seemed to see through my reluctance. She gently persuaded me, saying, "If anything happens, I'll call you. Our family can't afford any more accidents."

After saying that, my mom turned her head and wiped tears from the corner of her eyes. My dad, lying stiffly beside her, showed no signs of waking up.

Asher seemed to have put a dog collar on me around my neck, making it hard for me to breathe.

I felt uneasy, sitting in the car. It was as if my intuition kept reminding me that something was about to happen.

But I didn't know if it would take place in the hospital or Asher's side.

As I looked at the night scene outside the window, my thoughts ran wild. While praying for a miracle to happen and for my father to be safe, I randomly speculated whether Asher was deliberately deceiving me. I was wavering between affirmation and denial.

I was a little scared when I pushed open the door to a private box. I was afraid that my relationship was all about one-sided demands and intentional deception.

The moment I opened the door, Asher greeted me with a smile on his face. Although he couldn't be considered sober, he walked steadily.

I was stunned, asking, "Didn't you drink a lot of alcohol?"

"Didn't Jessa say you were going to die?"

"I didn't say that. Jessa lied to you. Don't be angry." When Asher said this, he didn't hide the satisfaction and pleasure in his eyes.

I smiled bitterly. He didn't need to hide anything. He had always known my love for him and my tenderness very well.

"Alice? Don't be angry..." Asher seemed to sense that something was wrong with me.

"Asher, are you spoiling her too much?!" Jessa stood up and angrily knocked on the table, saying, "She did something wrong, but you are being so gentle. I wonder if someone in her family is dying. She didn't even come to her husband's celebration party!"

My ears were buzzing. I only caught the last sentence she said.

I kicked Jessa's stomach hard. She screamed in pain, hunched over, and covered her stomach. I grabbed her hair forcefully and pulled her to look at me.

"Take your words back. Damn it!"

Asher grabbed my arm and said, "What are you doing, Alice? Let go of Jessa!"

In my eyes, there was only Jessa. She twisted and cried, but she didn't apologize or take back her words.

Kellan wanted to come over and pull my hand away. I picked up a bottle of wine and smashed it on the table.

Jessa screamed.

I held a broken bottle in my hands, forcing the people around me to step back. In the end, I pointed the bottle at Jessa's face.

"Apologize to me!"