I Hate That I Loved You

“Well, sure—just kneel and apologize to my fiancée.”

Elijah’s voice cut through my thoughts.

Sophia, still recovering from the pain I had caused her moments ago, perked up at his words.

Without hesitation, I knelt before her.

“I’m sorry, Miss Sophia. I shouldn’t have been disrespectful just now.”

“You’re generous and kind—please forgive me.”

Sophia smiled and stepped forward, slipping her arm through Elijah’s. “A simple apology isn’t enough. My shoes are dirty. Wipe them clean.”

A sharp pain throbbed at the back of my head, making me sway slightly.

Emily rushed over, holding me tightly as she cried out to Elijah, “Elijah, who do you think you are to humiliate her like this?”

“Do you even know how much Yvonne suffered back then? She married Henry to save you!”

I squeezed Emily’s hand, silently signaling her to stop talking.

Lowering my head, I used the hem of my dress to carefully wipe away the invisible dirt on Sophia’s shoes.

“You still want to lie to Elijah about what happened back then? Henry already told him everything. You married him because you were greedy for wealth and status!” Sophia sneered, pressing her heel down on my hand with cruel force.

“Yvonne, you were born to grovel at my and Elijah’s feet.”

The pain on the back of my hand was unbearable, bringing tears to my eyes.

But thinking of my bedridden mother, I clenched my teeth and swallowed the cry in my throat.

“You’re truly ruthless, Yvonne.” Elijah took Sophia’s hand and turned away without another glance at me.

Emily and I rushed out of the hotel, flagging down a taxi to the hospital.

After explaining my mother’s condition, the doctor once again asked if I wanted to proceed with surgery.

I nodded.

But when I unlocked my phone to make the payment, I realized—Elijah’s money hadn’t arrived as it always did.

My hands trembled as I called him. However, the line was busy.

The nurse urged me to make the payment.

Emily emptied every bill she had on her, but against the towering surgery costs, it was nothing.

Clutching a few thousand dollars I had left, I knelt on the cold hospital floor and pleaded.

“I beg you—please, save her!”

“I will have the money, I swear. Just give me one more day. Tomorrow, I’ll pay in full.”

The medical staff exchanged glances, feeling torn.

“It’s not that we don’t want to help, Miss Perez, but...”

One of them hesitated before sighing, “Your mother has been surviving on money alone for too long. This isn’t a real solution.”

“She... she has almost no chance of making it.”

I knew that. But hearing it out loud still crushed me.

Wiping my tears away, I stumbled back into my mother’s hospital room.

Emily, sobbing, came to support me.

And then, as if by some final miracle, my mother was awake—sitting up, waiting for me.

Her face was pale, yet she smiled warmly. “Yvonne, come sit with Mom.”

Summoning the last of my strength, I forced a smile and sat by her bedside, clutching her frail hand.

“I knew you’d get better,” I choked out.

She reached up to wipe the tears from my face, tucking a stray lock of my hair behind my ear.

Noticing the fresh wounds on my hands, she smiled bitterly. “Silly child, Mom won’t get better.”

“These past few years have been too hard on you. But I can’t keep dragging you down.”

“Let me go, Yvonne. Let yourself go too.” She sighed, her voice filled with regret.

“I only regret not stopping your father back then. Maybe then, all these tragedies wouldn’t have fallen upon you...”

As she spoke, her hand slipped from mine.

I caught it, and held it tightly.

Suppressing my tears, I threw my arms around her, my heart breaking.

“My baby... happy birthday.”

“I will be your mother again in our next life, okay? I’ll make it up to you...”