Chosen as the Cursed Alpha's Seventh Bride

Chapter 271: Chapter 271 It Tastes Better with Tears

Emilia’s POV

The whole ward reeked of disinfectant, and I hated hospitals to begin with. Now there was something worse than the smell filling up the room. There was him.

"Emilia, I’m sorry. I swear I didn’t know you were actually sick. I’m so sorry."

Sebastian stood over my bed, apologizing like his life depended on it. He looked wrecked, guilt written all over that stupid handsome face. When I called him last night, apparently it never crossed his mind that Abigail and I could both be sick at the same time. What terrible luck for him.

"You have to get better, okay? When you’re back on your feet, you can do whatever you want to me. Yell at me. Hit me. I won’t stop you."

"Get out. I don’t want to look at you right now."

My voice came out flat and cold. Last night, when I actually needed him, he was nowhere. Now that I didn’t need a single thing from him, he could stay or go for all I cared.

"How am I supposed to relax when you’re lying here like this?"

"Oh, you managed just fine last night. What’s changed?"

"I told you already. I genuinely thought you were making it up to guilt me into coming home. Abigail got rushed back to the ER right then. Was I supposed to just walk away from that?"

"So you couldn’t leave her, which means you left me instead." I let out a short laugh. "What if I’d actually died in that house last night, Sebastian?"

"Don’t." He clapped a hand over my mouth, jaw tight. "Don’t you dare talk like that."

I shoved his hand off, my blood boiling. "Stop pretending you give a damn. You don’t care whether I live or die."

"Then tell me what you want from me. You want me to cut my chest open and hand you my heart? Would that finally do it?"

I looked at him for a long moment. Eve stirred low in my chest, quiet and hurt, and I swallowed hard.

"Maybe you mean it," I said. "But I can’t feel any of it. Not one bit."

He shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose like I was giving him a migraine. "Fine. Forget sincerity. Have you eaten anything this morning?"

"None of your business."

Right on cue, the nurse walked in with a fresh bag of saline. "You still haven’t eaten? On an empty stomach with the drip? Your body won’t handle that."

Without a word, Sebastian turned and walked out. A few minutes later he came back with a bag of food, set it on the table, and reached to help me sit up.

"Don’t touch me."

I shrugged his hand off like it burned. The second I imagined those same hands wrapped around Abigail last night, my stomach flipped.

"Can you stop causing a scene?" he muttered. "Can’t this wait until we’re home? Just eat something."

"I lose my appetite every time I see your face. Get out."

"Hate me all you want, but there’s no reason to punish your own body over it. You might not care what happens to you. I do."

He hauled me upright while I fought him the whole way. "I’m already sick of the sight of you," I snapped. "Don’t make it worse."

"Alright. You want me gone that badly, I’ll go. But you’re eating this first."

He pulled a warm sandwich out of the bag and held it out.

Fine. If it got him out the door faster, I’d take it. I snatched it from his hand. "There. I’m eating. Now leave."

"...Okay."

He sighed, that heavy, exhausted sigh of his, and dragged his feet toward the door like every step cost him something. I didn’t turn to watch. I just listened to his footsteps growing fainter and fainter until the door clicked shut.

And that was when it broke loose in my chest.

He actually left. I told him to go, and he went. Just like last night, when I begged him to come and he never showed. He’d walk away the instant I said the word, but he’d never come running when I actually needed him.

The tears came before I could stop them, hot and furious, spilling down my face. I bit into the sandwich and chewed hard, like the bread had personally wronged me. Every bite was soaked in salt and rage. I tore off another chunk and crushed it between my teeth, imagining it was his ego I was ripping apart.

"Stop crying," Eve murmured miserably. "You’ll make yourself sicker."

I ignored her and kept eating, shoulders shaking, cheeks a mess.

I don’t know how long I sat there sobbing into that stupid sandwich. Then I heard the door open again. Footsteps. His footsteps. He hadn’t left the floor at all.

He crossed the room, dropped onto the edge of my bed, and looked at the tears still dripping off my chin.

"Tastes better soaked in tears, doesn’t it?" he said sourly.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!