Ditching Me for His 'Soulmate'? His Loss. Next Stop: My New Life novel Chapter 32

Chapter 7

“Noah, tell me—are you a doctor or a troublemaker?” I teased, my voice barely above a whisper.

He grinned at me, a playful glint lighting up his eyes. “I’m a beast,” he replied with a smirk.

“This beast will be back to check on you in three hours. Try to get some rest,” he said softly.

Maybe there’s some truth to the idea that doctors’ words carry a kind of magic. Though I had only just woken up, my eyelids were already growing heavy again, weighed down by exhaustion. I turned over, surrendering to the pull of sleep, and soon slipped into a deep, dreamless rest.

Noah moved quietly beside me, carefully tucking the blanket’s corners around me. He glanced at a message on his phone before switching it off without a sound.

[Noah, Alexander suddenly canceled the wedding today.]

Back at home, Alexander had announced the sudden cancellation of his wedding that very morning. Sophie’s reaction was far more composed than he had anticipated. Her face was blank, yet tears streamed freely down her cheeks as she forced a bitter smile.

“I always knew this day would come, sooner or later,” she murmured.

“In truth, I was only borrowing time from Victoria all along. I used to sneak up to the third floor when no one was looking. You’ve been avoiding me since our engagement, so maybe you never noticed. But from that night on, I understood—I could never compete with her.”

Her voice trembled as she continued, “Your past with her was flawless. So perfect that it made me feel guilty just for existing. I resented why God had to make Miss Carter sick, why it had to rain that night, why fate had to bring me to you.”

Slowly, she slid the cheap ring off her finger and tossed it into the trash bin without a second thought.

“Because I love you, I started to hate myself,” Sophie confessed, tears blurring her vision.

“I don’t even know why I became this way—showing off in front of someone who was ill, using games as a way to hurt her. River, I wasn’t always like this. Once, I was a good person… a very good person.”

She wiped her face in a messy attempt to clear the tears, laughing and crying all at once—a chaotic storm of emotions.

“I’m going back to Stone Creek. I can’t adjust to this place anymore. Thank you for planting jasmine for me,” she said quietly.

“I saw it. That spot was meant for tulips anyway,” I replied softly.

“Goodbye, Alexander,” she said with a graceful nod, though I sensed the weight of guilt lurking beneath her calm exterior.

“Alexander, I heard you’re planning to find Miss Carter,” she added.

When I finally woke, Noah was holding me close, tears streaming down his face.

“Then why didn’t you come to my wedding?” I asked softly.

“I only found out after I got married that you’d gone abroad to study. You left without saying goodbye, and when I called, you just said you were busy,” he replied, pouting.

“Because I hated you,” he added after a pause.

“Because you liked me,” I said, looking him straight in the eyes with all the honesty I could muster.

He turned his face away, his earlobes flushed with color, and I knew I hadn’t been mistaken.

“Noah, find someone else to like. I’m nothing special,” I whispered.

A wave of dizziness washed over me again, and I lowered my head, staring at the drops of blood falling onto my hands.

“And I think… I’m really going to die soon.”