A Love That Fades

Selena's hollow gaze met Ian's.

His gaze wavered for a moment.

But then he thought of Vanessa, who was also in the hospital. Clenching his jaw, he turned and left without hesitation.

Henry watched in shock.

He had secretly liked Selena for a long time. But after hearing that she had a childhood sweetheart and that their relationship had always been strong, he had forced himself to suppress his feelings.

Once, he had been so jealous of this man he had never even met.

Yet, he never would have thought that in Selena's moment of greatest need, this man would leave her to care for another woman.

Selena's wound was still bleeding, but she seemed completely numb to the pain. Her eyes looked lifeless.

Henry's heart ached so much that his lips trembled. He couldn't imagine how deeply Ian must have hurt Selena to turn his once bright and cheerful senior into this hollow shell.

"Selena, I'll go get some gauze and dress your wound."

After her wound was treated, Selena asked Henry to help her with the discharge paperwork.

Before leaving, Henry gently held her back to talk.

He knew the Carter family had no place for her anymore. If she didn't mind, she could stay here for a few days. He was willing to take care of her.

However, Selena merely smiled and shook her head.

She didn't want to drag Henry into this. It was enough that she alone bore the pain.

-

Back at the Carter family home, Selena received a text from Zachary.

"Vanessa just had her gastric lavage. She needs someone to take care of her, so we won't be coming home tonight. I left some food for you in the kitchen. Eat when you get home."

On the dining table, there were only a few scraps of vegetables, meat, and a bowl of cold soup.

It wasn't food left for her. It was Vanessa's leftovers.

Selena showed no expression. She had long used to this long ago.

Since the day Vanessa arrived at the Carter family home through a sponsorship program, Zachary had doted on her.

He said she had grown up in the mountains and had been malnourished since childhood. So, whenever there was good food, Vanessa was given priority.

Selena was older, so she was expected to be understanding. She was expected to willingly give up everything.

Selena had never been the type to fight for anything. So all she could do was watch as Vanessa took everything from her.

Even her former bedroom had been given to Vanessa. Selena had been moved to the shabby attic with its hard wooden bed.

Perhaps in Zachary's eyes, Vanessa—sweet-tongued and good at winning people over—was the ideal daughter he had always wanted.

Just then, the door opened.

Her younger brother, Ryan, walked in carrying a bag. When he saw Selena, he froze for a moment. Then, his expression darkened in irritation, as if he had seen something disgusting.

"I'm just here to grab some toiletries for Vanessa.

"And by the way, Ian asked me to pass on a message. He's done with you. You should just let it go. Vanessa's depression has relapsed, and he can't leave her side right now.

"This is something you gave him before. He told me to return it to you."

He pulled out a tape recorder and handed it to Selena.

It was the first gift she had ever given Ian.

Back then, she'd had no money to buy anything expensive. She had saved up half a year's worth of breakfast money just to buy this tape recorder and had recorded all of Ian's favorite songs on it.

She still remembered how Ian had cried as he hugged her, swearing that he would cherish this gift for a lifetime.

And now?

Not only had he broken that promise, but he couldn't even be bothered to return it to her himself.