Sweet Subterfuge

Chapter 99

After hanging up, Larissa realized that Kevan was staring at her.

The two of them had been very close. Her conversation with the nurse earlier had been overheard by him

entirely.

“Do you want to go?” he asked her.

“No.” Her reply was swift with no trace of hesitation in her voice.

Kevan sighed in relief.

Still, he couldn’t help but ask, “Because there’s no cable car?”

“I wouldn’t go even if there was.” Larissa wiped away the few drops of tears leaking through the corner of her eyes as she spoke, her expression blank.

She most probably wouldn’t be attending his funeral either–if only to avoid encountering his family members.

Seeing her tears, Kevan’s heart sank.

“Are you sad that he’s no longer alive?”

“A bit.” Larissa’s answer was frank. “We were once husband and wife after all.”

Kevan sneered. “What do you mean you were once husband and wife? Don’t forget that good husband of yours was the one who’d gotten another woman pregnant while he cheated on you behind your

back.”

His sarcasm disgusted her. “Can we not talk about this?”

Kevan’s face darkened further, his tone becoming even more unpleasant. “You’re still devoted to him! You always will be.”

This entire thing with Travis had always been a sore spot of hers. Moreover, he’d just passed away– she didn’t like to speak ill of the dead.

Larissa was just about to turn away and leave when she spotted the needle on the back of his palm and resisted the urge.

After that, she turned her back on him and scrolled through her phone, her head down. She did not say another

word to him afterward.

Kevan felt very uncomfortable.

This discomfort he felt was even worse than that of his fever.

He knew that she was hurting and angry at him, but he couldn’t bring himself to set aside his pride and make amends with her.

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The two of them found themselves at a stalemate until her alarm rang.

Larissa glanced at the IV bag above him–the solution within had reached the neck of the bag.

Then, she called the doctor. “The IV’s almost finished.”

This time, the doctor arrived very quickly and removed the needle from his arm.

“Press onto his wound for me.” He handed a cotton ball to Larissa.

A drop of blood had already surfaced on the back of his hand, and Larissa hurriedly pressed the cotton ball onto the entrance wound of the needle. Kevan took the opportunity to hold her hand.

Larissa was shocked by his actions and struggled to break free instinctively.

Kevan hadn’t been lying earlier when he said that the fever had rendered his body weak. He could barely muster the strength to exert enough force, and his previous grip on her had been nothing but an instinctual reaction. Now, he hadn’t been able to properly hold her hand, to begin with.

Larissa’s grip loosened and the cotton ball fell onto the bed. Blood trickled out from his wound once again.

“What the hell was that?” The doctor glared at Larissa. “Didn’t I tell you to press it onto his arm properly? Do you want him to bleed to death?”

The word death made Larissa inexplicably panicked and, to some degree, fearful.

She picked up the cotton ball again and pressed it tightly onto the back of his arm where the needle had pierced his skin.

This time, when Kevan tried to hold her hand again, she did not move.

The doctor gave Larissa a thermometer and instructed her, “Take his temperature periodically. If his fever spikes in the middle of the night, you must call me.”

Larissa could already sense that this was going to be a long, sleepless night.

Kevan’s bleeding had stopped, but he showed no signs of letting go of her arm.

Larissa, on the other hand, had no qualms and took her arm away from him.

Kevan’s eyes dimmed.

“I’m sorry.” He finally voiced the words after an immense internal struggle.

Larissa’s eyes widened in surprise.

She’d never imagined that she would ever live to hear those words from Kevan.

All of her anger dissipated at once. Instead, what was left behind was that endless guilt, and–fear. Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Kevan almost never apologized, so now that he did, he felt unusually uncomfortable.

He lowered his head, his voice barely audible when he spoke. “I had no intention of mocking you. I just–I just think that you shouldn’t feel the need to be sorry for someone like him.”