The Ninety-Ninth Spring Goodbye

Whether Vivian would come to regret it no longer mattered to me.

After I completely gave up on her treatment, the nerves I had kept stretched tight finally loosened a little.

After leaving the Grant estate, I was about to ask Vivian to return my passport and ID.

All of my documents had been with her these past few years.

As soon as I reached a corner by the street, a sharp pain exploded across my forehead.

Hot blood gushed from the wound.

Dizziness swept over me. Before I even understood what had happened, a group of people grabbed me, pulled me around, and started punching and kicking me.

"It's him! He's the homewrecker!"

"Ms. Grant and Nolan Ash are the real couple. He just had to force himself between them."

"Disgusting. What a disgrace to the legal profession. He specializes in divorce cases, but he can't even sort out his own family mess."

The noise immediately drew the attention of passersby.

No one stepped in to help. Instead, they kept filming me with their phones.

Because I had lost too much blood, I had no strength to fight back.

When the crowd saw that I could barely resist, they gradually lost interest and left.

Before they went, they spat on me.

"We'll beat you every time we see you!"

As my vision blurred, I saw Vivian not far away.

She and Nolan were holding hands, smiling sweetly.

She looked truly happy.

When our eyes met, Vivian's expression stiffened.

Her feet instinctively moved toward me.

"You... what happened to you?"

Blood would not stop flowing. It had dyed my clothes red.

Vivian's mind seemed to go blank.

She appeared panicked. With trembling hands, she took out her phone to call emergency services.

But Nolan stopped her.

"Leave him. Maybe he staged this himself to win your sympathy.

"It only looks scary. He's fine."

Nolan pulled her away. Vivian hesitated for a moment, then turned off her phone.

She did not look at me again.

I leaned against the wall, gasping for breath, while the blood kept flowing.

In the end, I was the one who called the ambulance.

But before it arrived, I completely lost consciousness.

When I woke again, a week had passed.

The doctor said that if I had arrived any later, I might have died from blood loss.

When Mrs. Grant found out, she came to the hospital specifically to see me.

She covered all my medical bills.

"Julian, those people were too extreme. I have already handled it for you.

"Vivian, she...

"She just forgot that you have a clotting disorder."

Mrs. Grant tried to persuade me again, but when she saw how pale I looked, she swallowed the rest of her words.

I gave her a faint smile.

"Mrs. Grant, she and I are divorced now, and I won't stay in Ashford anymore.

"I won't come back again."

When Mrs. Grant heard the changed form of address, her eyes instantly reddened.

In the end, she only nodded.

"Julian, whatever you want to do, I'll help you."