The doctor at the front was shouting at people in the hallway, "Make way, please!


    This patient has lost consciousness and needs immediate medical attention. Please don''t block the way! Thank you!"


    Another doctor was on the phone with the emergency department, jogging alongside the gurney while loudly describing the patient''s condition.


    "The patient is suffering from infection and blood clotplications following a kidney removal. She has lost consciousness and needs urgent care. Please have the emergency team on standby in the ER!"


    It was only because Noreen overheard the medical details that she nced over.


    What she saw made her heart stop.


    Lying on the gurney was Bianca, whom she hadn''t seen in a long time.


    Wasn''t she supposed to be in a detention center?


    And what was this about a kidney removal?


    After getting Rosalind''s test results, Noreen felt a wave of relief.


    All the tests showed that Rosalind''s recovery was going very well. She just needed


    to follow the doctor''s orders ande in for regr check-ups.


    As they were about to leave the doctor''s office, the attending physician was called away by a colleague for an emergency consultation in the ER.


    Noreen heard it clearly.


    The other doctor said the patient''s condition was critical, the infection was severe, and she was in imminent danger.


    As they left the hospital, Noreen told Rosalind to wait at the entrance while she went to get the car from the nearby parking lot.


    But when she pulled up, she saw Rosalind talking to a man.


    His back was to her, but it was the same figure she had seen in the pavilion that night.


    Noreen couldn''t hear what they were saying, but she could see that Rosalind was very emotional.


    When the man reached out to grab her, she forcefully shook him off.


    Noreen drove the car a little closer, and now she could finally see the man''s face.


    It was Forrest!


    She could also faintly hear their conversation, though it was fragmented.


    "Enough!" Rosalind''s voice was suddenly sharp. It wasn''t loud, but it carried an undeniable finality. "The past is the past. It''s just memories, dead ashes that can''t be rekindled. You standing here now, saying these things what''s the point other than to disrupt my life and


    keme"


    uneasy?"


    "No! That''s not what I meant at all!" Forrest frantically tried to exin. "I just... I just wanted to see you, to tell you..."


    "Tell me what? That you still love


    me?" Rosalind''s tone grew colder "Forrest, you need to wake up. That isn''t love It''s resentment it''s nostalgia, its the self pity of


    middle-aged man!"


    "Your so-called ''regret'' is a ticking time bomb for me, a desecration of everything I have now!"


    Forrest''s face turned pale. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.


    Rosalind looked at him without a


    hint of warmth, her voice a warning. "Let the past rot where it''s buried.


    Don''t


    n''t try to dig it up again. All you''ll


    find is the stench of decay. We''re done."


    Without another nce, she turned and walked straight toward Noreen''s car.


    Her departing footsteps sounded like a final farewell, each onending like a blow on Forrest''s heart.


    After Rosalind got in the car, she was still visibly shaken.


    Noreen watched her in the rearview mirror.


    Rosalind sighed. "You can ask whatever you want."


    There was no point in hiding it anymore.