When He Stopped Loving Me Chapter 7

Still feverish and now traumatized, Claire didn't wake up.

Half-conscious, she heard Ethan shout: "Get a doctor!"

But Rachel's voice somehow appeared, gently stopping him. "Ethan, no need for a doctor. My family has a folk remedy that'll wake her immediately. Trust me, but everyone needs to leave the room."

Claire felt everyone exit.

Then sharp pain shot through her back—Rachel was scraping her with a blade!

"Ah!" Claire struggled desperately to open her eyes, discovering Rachel using a knife for what she called "gua sha"!

"Stop moving. This scraping is a folk remedy from my hometown. If you want to recover quickly, endure it."

"What family... uses knives for gua sha..." Claire broke into cold sweats from the pain, struggling harder.

This wasn't therapeutic scraping—this was torture!

She gathered her last bit of strength and shoved Rachel away!

Rachel stumbled backward with a cry, falling to the floor.

Just then, Ethan burst in.

"Claire!" Ethan rushed forward, helping Rachel up tenderly while glaring at Claire with fury. "You upset Rachel first! She generously came to treat you, and this is how you repay her? You're impossible!"

Claire couldn't speak through the pain, only staring at him.

Rachel nestled into Ethan's embrace, tears streaming. "It's okay, Ethan. Mrs. Pierce was probably just uncomfortable... I don't blame her..."

"No!" Ethan was distressed. "She needs to apologize to you!"

He turned to Claire, commanding: "Claire, apologize to Rachel!"

Claire bit her teeth, stubbornly turning away.

Ethan's anger exploded. He ordered the guards coldly: "Make her apologize!"

Guards immediately moved forward. One kicked Claire's legs, forcing her to her knees with a painful cry. Another pressed her head down, forcing her to bow toward Rachel!

THUD!

Her forehead struck the floor with a dull sound.

Rachel gasped. "No! Ethan, this is too much!"

Ethan seemed surprised by the guards' brutality. Something complicated flickered in his eyes, but seeing Rachel's distress, he suppressed it.

He pressed his lips together, voice cold. "She's too proud. Only this will teach her not to bully you."

"That's enough. Forget her. She has doctors here. You need rest."

But Rachel shook her head, putting on a kind, considerate act. "Mrs. Pierce only ended up like this because of me. I should stay and help care for her."

Ethan relented. "Then go rest in the guest room. I'll buy your favorite pastries."

He left with Rachel, never sparing another glance at Claire kneeling on the floor, forehead swollen and red.

Claire lay there, forehead throbbing, arms aching—but none of it compared to one ten-thousandth of her dead heart's pain.

She watched them leave together, their image overlapping with memories of the sixteen-year-old boy who'd vowed to protect her forever, then shattering to dust.

No going back.

Never, ever going back.

Soon a doctor came to treat her wounds.

Between pain and fever, Claire drifted back to sleep.

By evening, darkness had completely fallen.

Claire slept fitfully, suddenly jolted awake by thick smoke choking her lungs and sounds of chaos and running!

"The hospital's on fire! Run!"

Her heart jumped. She forced her weak, aching body up, opened the door to find the hallway filled with smoke, flames reaching high! People fled in panic toward the stairwell.

Claire stumbled after the crowd. At the stairs, she ran into Rachel, also escaping.

In the chaos, Rachel tripped on something, instinctively grabbing Claire's arm. Both lost balance, screaming as they tumbled down the stairs!

Intense pain hit. Claire's vision went black, nearly fainting again.

When she painfully lifted her head, she found they'd landed on a relatively enclosed corner platform. The only exit was blocked by burning debris.

Smoke thickened. Fire spread.

Rachel seemed to have injured her foot, sobbing quietly nearby.

Claire tried pushing the debris aside, but too weak, she couldn't budge it. Smoke made her cough violently, consciousness beginning to blur.

Just as she thought she'd die there, voices approached from outside—rescue workers, and one voice she knew bone-deep, frantic and urgent—

"Sir, the fire's too intense inside! It's too dangerous! You can't go in!"

"Let me go! My love is in there!"

It was Ethan!

The next moment, she saw Ethan charge through the smoke and flames without hesitation.

His gaze searched frantically, then locked—on Rachel.

He rushed over without pause, scooping Rachel into his arms, voice filled with relieved fear. "Rachel! Don't be scared. I'm here!"

The entire time, his eyes never once fell on Claire, also near death just feet away.

He held Rachel, turning to leave immediately.

Claire watched his decisive retreat, endless cold and despair spreading through her.

But after just two steps, Rachel whispered something in his ear.