My Ex Takes Me Home… to Fix His Appliances? Chapter 2

The car eventually came to a stop in front of my apartment building.

Zachary didn't get out of the vehicle. Instead, he turned to look at me with an unreadable look in his eyes.

"Are you short on money? How much do you need?" he asked.

He sounded as if I was some kind of charity case.

"I was, but I'm fine now," I replied.

I held my head up high and reached for the door, but Zachary suddenly reached over to grab my wrist.

"Cecelia," he began, his voice laced with weariness. "How can you be so heartless?"

"We've already broken up, Zachary. My life is no longer any of your business."

I yanked my hand away from him and ran upstairs without looking back.

The moment I closed the door behind me, I could no longer hold myself together. I dashed into the bathroom and turned on the faucet. Then, I splashed cold water on my face over and over again, hoping it'd somehow bring me back into my senses.

All of a sudden, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

The hospital had sent me a payment reminder. My brother's hospital bills were due once again.

The bill was 200,000 dollars.

Staring at the number made me feel lightheaded. The 500 dollars the client had thrown at me earlier could barely cover a fraction of it.

My brother, Colin Langston, was incredibly ill. Until he found a suitable bone marrow donor, the medical bills would keep piling up. Each payment was 200,000 dollars, so I had used up a million dollars in the blink of an eye.

I dried my face and pulled out a box from underneath my bed. Inside were certificates and awards I had received in college, along with a small velvet box.

I opened the box. It contained a ring Zachary had planned to propose to me with.

Back then, I had accidentally stumbled upon it in his bedside drawer. I pretended I hadn't seen it, but I was secretly thrilled, and I had already been coming up with ways to tease him during the proposal. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to. Before he could propose, I had received news that Colin was critically ill.