Parting Like Rain

At the peak of his love for Cynthia, Ethan—a staunch materialist—had once climbed a thousand temple steps, praying at each one for her recovery as she lay gravely ill.

Yet at the height of his hatred, for the sake of another woman, he forced her—now terminally ill herself—to bow her head to the floor nine hundred and ninety-nine times in return.

"991… 992… 997… 999!"

After Cynthia’s forehead struck the floor for the final time, Ethan’s bodyguards finally released their grip.

Without their support, she crumpled to the ground like a discarded rag doll, her pathetic posture drawing mocking laughter from the onlookers.

Ethan looked down, his eyes radiating icy contempt.

"Now do you understand what you've done, Cynthia? If I ever find out you’ve tried to poison Mariah again, I’ll make you wish you were dead."

Her face was smeared with blood. She lifted her gaze to him, lips trembling, but no words came out.

Seven years. Not a single day had passed without her longing to see him again. And now, finally reunited, he stood with a fiancée at his side, his heart filled with nothing but hatred for her.

But before all this, they had loved each other passionately for five years.

Back then, Ethan had treated her like fragile porcelain, showering her with all his affection. If she’d asked for the moon and stars, he would have tried to pluck them from the sky.

To outsiders, they were the enviable young couple, the very picture of perfect happiness.

Everything shattered in the upheaval seven years ago. The Ethan family was framed, their empire collapsing overnight. His parents, their honor and legacy destroyed, chose to end their lives together.

Overnight, Ethan was plunged into the mud, crushed under mountains of debt. To repay it, he worked ten jobs at once, squeezing five days into one, treating night as day.

And at his lowest point, when he needed companionship the most, Cynthia vanished, leaving behind only a divorce agreement.

Ethan exhausted every means to find her, even groveling on his knees, begging her to come back and see him just once. But she never appeared.

Everyone cursed her as ungrateful, a heartless woman. No one knew that at the time, she was lying in a hospital bed, not a single patch of skin left unmarred.

She hadn’t dared tell him. The night he collapsed from overwork, as she rushed him to the hospital, they’d been in a car accident. To save him, her internal organs were shattered. Without immediate treatment, she would die—but the medical costs were astronomical.

She didn’t want to burden him. He was already carrying so much.

She never imagined she’d survive this long. And she certainly never imagined that after clawing his way back to the top, Ethan would find her, force her to stay by his side, and make her watch as he doted on another woman.

She knew. This was his revenge.

An hour ago, Mariah had eaten the breakfast Cynthia prepared and started vomiting violently, insisting she’d been poisoned.

Ethan flew into a rage, forcing Cynthia to prostrate herself nine hundred and ninety-nine times before Mariah. Even when her forehead split open and bled, he didn’t let her stop.

Agony lanced through Cynthia. She met Ethan’s gaze, enunciating each word clearly.

"I told you. I did not poison Mariah."

Ethan’s face darkened. He flung a medical report into her face, his voice cold as steel.

"The evidence is right in front of you, and you’re still lying. It seems I’ve been too lenient."

"Someone! Lock her up. She is not to take a single step out of her room without my permission, and she is to receive no food."

Before Cynthia could resist, she was grabbed and thrown into a small, dark storage room.

Panic instantly seized her. She pounded on the door, her voice desperate and pleading.

"Ethan, I really didn’t do it! Let me out, please! It’s so dark in here, I’m scared! Please, let me out!"

But Ethan remained unmoved. He turned to leave, only for his foot to accidentally kick something on the floor.

He looked down. It was Cynthia’s phone, fallen from her pocket.

The screen was lit up, displaying a text message from a doctor.

**Doctor:** Ms Cynthia, your full medical report is in.

**Doctor:** The damage to multiple internal organs is severe and irreversible. There are early indications of cancer.

**Doctor:** I'm afraid your time is limited. Please prepare yourself.