Tears Overwhelm Everything Else Chapter 2

"Claire, that is enough!"

Henry's face darkened with absolute fury.

He stormed across the living room and clamped his hand around my wrist like a vice.

"Are you seriously using a breakup to blackmail me? Do you think this is some kind of sick game?"

"I already told you I would figure out a way to get the hospital money! Why are you intentionally trying to make me look like a monster?"

A dull ache radiated from where his fingers dug into my bone.

I violently ripped my arm out of his grip, staring at him with eyes like dead ice.

"Figure out a way? What exactly is your plan, Henry?"

"Are you going to spend another night camping out in the ER for someone else's kid, or are you just going to sit here and eat the soup she made you?"

Right on cue, Maya let out a muffled, agonizing sob from the entryway.

She covered her mouth with both hands, her shoulders trembling violently.

"Henry, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I never should have dragged you into my mess."

"Claire is right. I need to pay that money back..."

Tears streaming down her face, she frantically started digging through her purse for her phone.

"I'll just... I'll take out a payday loan online. I don't care how predatory the interest rates are. I won't let my problems ruin your relationship."

"Maya, stop being ridiculous!"

Henry instantly closed the distance, grabbing her hands to stop her from using her phone.

He whipped his head back toward me, his eyes burning with toxic disappointment.

"Look what you've done to her! Are you happy now? Do you only feel satisfied when you drive people to the absolute edge?!"

I looked at the two of them. A tragic hero and his damsel in distress.

Suddenly, I didn't even have the energy to argue anymore.

I grabbed my purse off the couch and walked straight toward the front door.

As I brushed past Maya, she practically shrank into herself, stumbling backward until her shoulder bumped into Henry's chest.

Henry instinctively wrapped his arm around her, shielding her completely.

"Where do you think you're going?" he demanded, his voice hard.

"The hospital."

I didn't even turn my head. I yanked the door open and stepped into the hallway.

The heavy door slammed shut behind me.

Cutting off whatever pathetic excuse Henry was about to throw at me.

When I finally reached the hospital, my mother was sitting on a plastic chair in the corridor, quietly wiping her eyes with a tissue.

Seeing me, she quickly stood up and grabbed my hands.

"Claire, where is Henry? Didn't he come with you?"

She looked over my shoulder, searching the empty hallway with a flicker of hopeful expectation.

"Your father woke up for a few minutes last night and actually asked for him."

My throat tightened painfully. I forced the corners of my mouth up into a smile.

"There was an emergency project at his firm. He couldn't get away."

"Oh." My mother couldn't hide her disappointment, but she nodded understandingly.

"It's good that he's working hard. You need to be supportive, Claire. Don't pick fights with him just because you're stressed about your dad."

I dropped my gaze to the scuffed linoleum floor, unable to look at the exhaustion carved into my mother's face.

The money for the surgery had ultimately come from my uncle.

Even though my aunt agreed to the loan, she had spent ten minutes on the phone throwing sharp, passive-aggressive jabs, loudly wondering why my fiancé—a department manager at a major tech firm—couldn't foot the bill.

My mother had to swallow her pride and cover for him, lying that his cash was tied up in investments.

I sat in that hallway for almost two hours.

Finally, Henry appeared.

He was carrying a generic fruit basket, walking toward us with a stiff, unnatural expression.

"Mrs. Solis, I'm so sorry I'm late."

He set the basket down on an empty chair, perfectly executing the role of the deeply apologetic son-in-law.

"One of my major clients had a massive crisis last night. I had to go put out the fire, so I couldn't be here with you and Claire."

My mother waved her hand dismissively, a relieved, weary smile breaking through her exhaustion.

"Work always comes first. I'm just glad you could make it now."

"Sit, sit! Claire, go get Henry some water."

I watched him perform with icy detachment.

A client crisis?

Since when did Maya become his corporate client?

Henry sat down in the plastic chair next to me. Under the guise of adjusting his coat, he reached out and secretly tugged on my sleeve.

"Stop being mad," he hissed under his breath.

"I already cleared it with HR. I took the next three days off to stay here at the hospital. You go home and get some actual sleep."

If he had said that to me a year ago, I would have melted.

Now, I just felt a sickening sense of irony.

Three years ago, my appendix ruptured. I was rolling on our bedroom floor in agonizing pain.

While he was driving me to the ER, his phone rang. It was Maya.

She was sobbing hysterically because Leo had scraped his knee at the playground and was screaming for his "Uncle Henry."

Henry pulled the car over three blocks from the hospital and unlocked the doors.

"The ER entrance is just down the street, you can walk from here. I need to go check on Leo. The kid doesn't have a father, he can't handle trauma like this."

He spent the entire afternoon at the playground, hugging another woman's child.

Meanwhile, I went into septic shock in the ER waiting room. The triage nurse had to dig my phone out of my purse to call a coworker to sign my emergency consent forms.

That incident became the permanent forbidden topic in our relationship.

Whenever I brought it up, he accused me of holding onto petty grudges.

"Don't bother," I said, dodging his hand.

"My dad only needs me here."

Henry's face tightened, his ego clearly bruised.

He opened his mouth to argue, but his phone suddenly blared from his jacket pocket.

The sharp ringtone echoed aggressively in the quiet ICU hallway.

He glanced at the screen, his eyes violently flickering. He immediately stood up and walked several paces away to answer.

"What's wrong? Did Leo's fever spike again?"

The hallway was empty. Even though he lowered his voice, the words carried perfectly clearly to where I was sitting.

I couldn't hear the response on the other end.

But Henry's posture instantly went rigid with panic.

"Don't move, I'm on my way right now!"

He hung up the phone and spun around to face me and my mother. He immediately deployed his signature mask of pained reluctance.

"Mrs. Solis, Claire... something catastrophic just happened at the office. I have to go back immediately."

My mother blinked, surprised, but quickly nodded.

"Go, go! Don't let us hold you back from your career."

Henry gave me one long, deeply meaningful look before turning and practically sprinting toward the elevators.

I watched his back disappear around the corner.

I remembered the exact expression on his face when he answered that call.

It was the exact same look he had the day he dumped me on the sidewalk with a ruptured appendix.

"Henry is such a responsible young man," my mother murmured beside me, completely oblivious.

I didn't say a word. The overpowering smell of hospital bleach suddenly made my eyes sting.