The ninety-eighth time. I could no longer remember when it started when his hurtful actions stopped stirring even the slightest ripple in my heart.

Soren and I had been in a secret relationship for eight years. In that time, he helped me ninety-nine times. Initially, he even saved my life.

However, everything changed when Hannah returned.

Still, I chose to endure ninety-nine instances of pain from him just to repay the kindness he once showed me.

He had been good to me once, so I repaid him with self-destruction.

Each time he hurt me, that kindness meant less and less until the ninety-ninth time, when it would be gone completely.

I slept very lightly.

Before dawn, I heard Soren quietly open the door and come in.

He lay down beside me gently as if he had never left the night before.

I didn’t move, but I could still smell the faint scent of him. It wasn’t his. It was Hannah’s.

Soren wrapped his arms around my waist and fell into a deep sleep. But I couldn’t sleep again.

I turned to face him, eyes lowered and silently watched his sleeping face.

I instinctively reached out, wanting to trace his features, but just before my fingers touched him, I pulled my hand back.

Soren still looked the same as he did years ago. But the person in his heart was no longer me.

I turned my back to him again.

In the darkness, a tear slipped from the corner of my eye, soaking into the pillow.

Just one more time left.

When I felt Soren stir beside me, I knew he was awake. I sat up and reached for my phone on the nightstand.

He paused for a moment, clearly surprised to see me awake so early.

Under the pale moonlight, the scar at the corner of his eye became more visible.

It was the mark left from when he took a bullet for me.

I still remember how he pulled me, frozen with fear, into his arms.

The bullet grazed his cheek, nearly blinding him.

Afterward, I applied ointment to the wound, my heart aching the entire time. But he didn’t mind at all.

He only said it was a man’s badge of honor.

The wounds a man suffered protecting the woman he loved were a lifetime’s pride.

He had kissed away my tears then, calming my frightened heart.

“Don’t cry. As long as I’m here, I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

I lowered my eyes.

He wouldn’t let anyone hurt me. Turned out anyone didn’t include himself, huh?

How laughable.

I never imagined the final time would come so soon.

While Soren went downstairs to buy me food, the doctor came in with a hesitant look on his face.

“Miss Diana Silva, the results from the specialist consultation are in.”

He paused and sighed. “Due to poor care during pregnancy and delayed treatment after the miscarriage, your uterus has suffered severe damage. Surgery must be done right away. The uterus has to be removed.”

It hit me like a thunderclap.

“There’s, no way to fix it? Doctor, I… I’m only twenty-seven. Are you saying I’ll never be able to have my own children again?”

The doctor nodded.

“If the uterus isn’t removed, your life will be in danger. Please inform your family. I’ll schedule the surgery immediately.”

My hand clenched the bedsheet tightly. After a long hesitation, I still called Soren.

At that moment, he was the only one who could sign the consent form for the surgery.

And he was just downstairs getting food. He should be back soon.

The call rang twice, then picked up.

I was just about to speak, but instead, Hannah’s voice came through the line.

“Is this Miss Silva? Soren was too tired and just fell asleep. If there’s anything, you can tell me. I’ll let him know when he wakes up.”

I hung up immediately.

“Doctor, same as last time. I’ll sign it myself.”

Since Soren couldn’t even carry out the most basic duty of a family member, then he… I would abandon him.

After coming out of the operating room, once the anesthesia wore off, in complete darkness, I reached for the phone on the nightstand, enduring the pain.

There were a dozen missed calls, all from Soren.

I stared blankly for a moment.

Maybe Hannah had told him I’d called earlier.

In our WhatsApp chat, the last message had come ten minutes ago.

[Can’t pick up the phone? I’m heading to the hospital now, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.]

I didn’t reply. I just sat quietly in the unlit hospital room, my hand resting on my lower abdomen.

From now on, I would never be a mother again. That right had been taken from me.

And all of it was because of Soren.

Suddenly, the hospital door burst open.

Light from the hallway spilled in and when I looked up, I met Soren’s worried eyes.

“Why didn’t you turn on the light? Still not feeling well?”

He flipped on the switch.

The room lit up instantly and I saw the bouquet of bright red roses in his arms.

“For you.”

I pressed my lips together.

Roses?

I never liked them. I never liked those flashy, useless things.

And worse, I was allergic to pollen.

And he knew that.

I silently observed him, trying to read his thoughts.

So? Why did you bring me roses? Could it be because Hannah liked them?

A scene flashed through my mind. The day Hannah returned to the country, 9,999 roses had filled the entire airport.

She walked gracefully through the sea of flowers and embraced Soren in the middle of that dazzling display.

Soren placed the bouquet on the cabinet and then handed me a shopping bag with a luxury brand logo.

“I had something to do at the mall this afternoon and picked out a pretty bracelet for you while I was there. Try it on? I think it will look great on you.”

Was he shopping with Hannah?

I glanced at the love marks on his neck, clumsily hidden and slowly opened the bag.

The moment I saw the diamond bracelet inside, my hand trembled.

My heart pounded and the haze from the pain cleared in an instant.

In the first year, I was with Soren, we made a promise.

I told him that if one day he no longer loved me, he didn’t have to say it. Just give me a diamond bracelet. That would be enough for me to understand.

Nine years had passed in a blink and I never thought that the day would truly come when I would receive a diamond bracelet.

Whether Soren did it intentionally or not, the moment I saw that bracelet, everything between us came to an end.

“You don’t like it?”

Seeing my silence, Soren frowned slightly and looked at my wrist.

I felt something wasn’t right.

As I was thinking, he sat beside me and reached out to remove the bracelet.

“Let me help you take it off.”

I pulled my hand back and looked at him cautiously.

“Soren, what do you mean?”

Soren hesitated. He stared at his now-empty hand for a long time before finally speaking.

“I’ll be honest with you. Hannah’s depression is getting worse. The bracelet on your wrist is something I gave you. Technically, it’s mine. I want to give it to Hannah to wear for a while. It can help calm her, like I’m with her even when I’m not.”

He paused, then added, “Diana, don’t overthink it. I didn’t tell you earlier because I didn’t want you to worry, it could affect your health.”

I opened my mouth, but no words came.

I thought maybe he gave me the bracelet out of guilt.

But it turned out it was just to prepare for taking it back.

I quietly removed the bracelet and handed it to him.

“Here.”

Soren, from this moment on, we were completely even.

Yet he didn’t notice anything strange about me. He simply clutched the bracelet to his chest, leaned in and kissed my forehead.

“Diana, I knew you were the most understanding. Don’t worry, once Hannah has this bracelet, I won’t need to stay with her so often anymore. We’ll have more time together. Diana, we’ll have a baby again very soon.”

I just smiled.

There wasn’t much time left. And there would never be another child.

Just as Soren was about to pull me into his arms, there was a knock at the door.

The doctor walked in, holding a medical chart in hand.

“Miss Silva, after the hysterectomy, are you feeling any discomfort?”

At those words, Soren suddenly stood up. In disbelief, he looked at me and then turned to the doctor.

“What did you say? What did you say Diana had removed?”

The doctor glanced at him in confusion, his tone sharp with reproach.

"You, as a husband, are truly negligent. You don’t care at all about your wife’s condition! Miss Silva’s uterus had pathological changes. Any further delay would’ve cost her life! We called you at 1 p.m., but you didn’t answer. Miss Silva had no choice but to sign the surgery consent form herself!"

Soren staggered back two steps, only to be steadied by a soft, delicate hand at his waist.

Then, a gentle voice followed.

“Soren, are you alright?”

Looking down, Soren saw Hannah gazing at him with worry, her whole figure dainty and fragile as she leaned against his chest.

He was tall and handsome; she was gentle and petite. From where I sat, they looked like a perfect match, truly well-suited.

Interrupted by Hannah, the regret and guilt that had just filled Soren’s face quickly disappeared.

All his attention shifted to her.

“Miss Silva just had surgery. Step outside. I’ll explain some post-op precautions.”

The doctor turned and left the room.

Soren glanced at me hesitantly, as if unsure.

Hannah spoke softly, “Go ahead, Soren. I’ll take care of Miss Silva.”

Right in front of me, Soren gently slipped the bracelet he’d just taken from me onto Hannah’s wrist.

He gently touched her face, his tone full of affection.

“Thank goodness you’re here. Sorry to trouble you, even though you’re not feeling well yourself, to keep Diana company for a bit.”

Watching the two of them so close, one of them still my husband, I felt a wave of nausea rise in my chest.

As soon as Soren left and the door shut behind him, Hannah’s soft, timid expression disappeared.

In its place was a cold, mocking smirk.

She walked toward me in her heels, one step at a time.

“My dear Miss Silva, I heard you signed off on two surgeries for yourself in just one week?”

She chuckled softly as if remembering something funny.

“Do you know? While you were lying on that operating table, taking a walk through hell, Soren was holding me, whispering that I’m his one and only sweetheart.”

I trembled all over.

Curled up in the hospital bed, fresh blood slowly soaked the gauze on my abdomen.

Now that the anesthesia had worn off, the pain stabbed through me like a thousand steel needles twisting deep inside.

Hannah’s mocking stare and light tone felt like another round of torture.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?”

She lazily untied the ribbon on her top, revealing a trail of reddish-purple marks below her collarbone.

“When Soren got rough with me the other night, I hurt like hell too.”

The diamond bracelet on her wrist clinked against the headboard with a sharp, cold sound.

That bracelet, which had sat on my wrist for nine full years, was now on hers, taken back by Soren himself.

The broken sparkles from the diamonds under the white fluorescent light stung my eyes.

But it still wasn’t enough for her.

With her long, manicured nails, she poked at my lower abdomen and smiled brightly.

“You’ll never be able to have children again and the truth is, Soren won’t be sad about that at all.”

“When he was drunk once, he told me the truth. He said you, a fatherless and motherless orphan, have no right to give birth to the heir of the prestigious Whitaker Family of Arlington. Only I, only someone of equal status, someone truly in love with him, am worthy of bearing his children!”

“Even if your child had made it into this world, his fate would’ve been pathetic. Better off dead from the start!”

My nails dug deep into my palms.

“You’re lying. Let Soren in, I want to hear him say it to my face!”

I tried to press the call button, but Hannah grabbed my wrist and slammed it hard against the wall.