During that time, Lennox's phone rang almost non-stop, but she never dared answer it. Until today. Her phone buzzed with a text message. Her expression flickered, her eyes tightening slightly. A few seconds later, with a hint of guilt, she spoke.
"There's an emergency at the company. I need to handle it quickly."
Summer immediately leaned toward the screen. The moment she saw the message, she looked alarmed. "Daddy, I have to go with Mommy to the office, too."
The way they both changed expression. What company business would ever require a child to come along? I was certain this involved Becket Thorne.
Seeing me nod, they both immediately rushed out of the room. I secretly climbed out of bed and followed behind them.
At a corner in the hospital, I saw Becket Thorne holding Lennox tightly in his arms, his eyes brimming with tears. Lennox looked uncomfortable, pulling his hands away, her voice carrying a note of warning. "What are you doing at the hospital? I already told you Aaron's health hasn't recovered yet. These past few days you need to stay home like a good boy. You can't appear in front of him."
At that, Becket only cried harder, throwing himself at her again, his arms gripping her waist tightly as his voice choked. "Do you know it's been ten days since I've seen you both? We had an agreement. At least half an hour with me every single day."
Seeing Becket cry, Summer rushed to explain frantically. "Beck, Mommy and I miss you so much too. It's just that Daddy isn't better yet. We have to be with Daddy. Mommy, quick, comfort Beck."
Feeling the dampness against her chest, and hearing her daughter's urging, Lennox's voice gradually softened. "Seeing you cry breaks my heart too. Can we stay with you for the next two days?"
Only then did Becket's tears turn to laughter. He leaned down and kissed her lips several times. Lennox wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. The two of them kissed with deep longing, as if trying to make up for ten days of missing each other.
Summer saw the scene and immediately covered her eyes, turning away, her voice carrying a teasing note. "Mommy and Beck are being naughty again."
I stood there like a wooden puppet, stumbling back to my hospital room, tears streaming down my face, repeating to myself over and over, "Just hold on a little longer. Just a few more days and I can leave this world. This will be the last time I cry over them."
Perhaps because he'd been kept at arm's length for too long, Becket began to feel insecure. And finally he tore off his mask to reveal his true fangs.
The next morning when I woke up, the moment I opened my eyes, I saw Becket had sent me a barrage of messages.
Aaron Grant, I know you've read these. So tell me, how does it feel watching your wife kiss another man goodbye? While your daughter stands by covering for us. Pretty great, right?
Lennox loves me the most. She says just seeing me cry gives her this special sense of satisfaction, especially every night before bed. As long as I shed a few tears, she'll do anything I ask. She even says she wishes she could be stuck to me for twenty-four hours straight. She's never treated you like that, has she?
Even your daughter prefers having me around. She says being with me makes her feel comfortable and free. One time she thought I was asleep, and she even sneaked and called me Daddy. You really are a failure of a husband.
Reading those taunting messages, I forced myself to suppress the churning emotions inside. Then I screenshotted everything and saved it. Just three more days until I leave this place. All of this would be my final gift for Lennox and Summer.
That morning, I requested to be discharged. The hospital immediately notified Lennox. Before long she called me, her voice full of guilt. "Work's been so crazy lately, I can't get away. I'll have the driver come pick you up. Let me take care of Summer. You just rest well at home, okay?"
I knew perfectly well they were both busy with Becket Thorne. So I just calmly responded with a simple acknowledgement.
Three days before escaping this world, I had the household staff sell all my personal belongings like trash. The housekeeper asked, confused, "Are we replacing everything?"
I nodded. But they didn't know. It wasn't just the belongings. Even the master of this house would be replaced entirely.
Two days before leaving this world, I opened the secret room that only Lennox, Summer and I could access. Inside, the walls were covered, completely plastered with photos of us together, including pictures from when Summer was born. Every year we'd taken a family portrait. Over ten years the faces in those photos went from young to mature, from two people to three, and now we'd be losing one.
I took scissors and sat in that secret room from morning until night, cutting through each photograph, removing every part of me, leaving only Lennox and Summer.
Then I pulled out the marriage certificate we'd kept in the safe for five years. When I opened it, I was surprised to find inside a poem Lennox had written at our wedding.
Aaron, you are my entire world. Because of you, my world is filled with light again. I will love you forever. I believe we'll grow old together, loving each other through every lifetime.
I read every single word. The passionate declarations of love from that twenty-two-year-old girl, written for me with such devotion. By the time I finished reading, I laughed silently, my eyes stinging.
Finally I placed that vow back down, stacking it with the marriage certificate in the center of the room. Then I lit them on fire. I stood there quietly watching as every photograph and the marriage certificate turned to ash.
On my final day before leaving this world, I took those cut-up photos and all the recent messages Becket had sent, and printed them out page by page. Photos of Lennox in a flimsy nightgown, her neck covered in kiss marks, nestled against Becket's chest. And Summer too, leaning against Becket with eyes full of happiness, listening to him tell bedtime stories on their walks together. Lennox, Summer and Becket, all three of them wearing matching animal ear headbands, taking photos together at the amusement park.
I thought my heart would still ache, but facing these photographs I only felt hollow, like stagnant water.
I took all the printed photos and stuffed them into a file folder. Then I slipped off my wedding ring and added it to the pile.
The day I left this world, by pure coincidence, happened to be my and Lennox's seventh wedding anniversary.