Chapter 4

When Catherine woke up, she found herself lying in a hospital room. She struggled to open her eyes, and beside her were only her worried parents. There was no sign of Raphael. Katie got up immediately and went to stand by her. "You're finally awake, Cathy. Your father and I have been worried sick." In a hoarse voice, Catherine asked, "Who saved me, Mom?" "It was a waiter by the pool. Luckily, he knew how to swim," Katie replied, clasping her hands in gratitude as if she were offering thanks to some higher power. Catherine was stunned. That scene she saw before losing consciousness—Raphael abandoning her to swim toward Fiona—wasn't a hallucination. She closed her eyes, and a sharp pain welled up inside her heart. Katie noticed how pale she was but assumed that she was traumatized after nearly drowning. She adjusted the blanket and said, "Rest up. Fiona is still in bed, too, and Raphael has been by her side the whole time." So that was where he was. He stayed with the person who had pushed her into the water. … Late at night, Raphael finally came to see Catherine. When he saw her lying on the hospital bed, pale and weak, his first words weren't of concern. Instead, with a stony expression, he said, "Don't ever pull something like this again." His voice was distant, and it even carried a faint hint of anger. Catherine was taken aback, as she didn't understand what he meant. "What are you talking about?" Raphael frowned, thinking she was pretending. His anger was barely restrained. "Don't act like you don't know. Fiona told me everything. You pushed her into the pool on purpose." "What?" Catherine exclaimed inwardly. She struggled to sit up, reeling in shock that Fiona had twisted the story around completely. But what stunned her even more was Raphael's reaction—he believed Fiona! The person who had once trusted and protected her the most had—in the span of a day—hit her with two major blows. "I didn't! She was the one who pushed me!" Catherine denied it vehemently. But no matter how much she tried to explain, Raphael didn't believe her. Instead, he looked at her with disappointment. "Fiona is gentle and kind. There's no way she would suddenly push you. But you…" He didn't finish his sentence, but Catherine could tell what he meant from his expression. Raphael believed she had pushed Fiona into the pool out of jealousy because she liked him. Her throat tightened as she stubbornly insisted, "I didn't." But her explanation only deepened the look of distrust in Raphael's eyes. After a long silence, he finally warned with a heavy voice, "Don't ever do this again." With that, he slammed the door and left. Catherine watched his back as he walked away. Her heart ached in a way that was beyond words. It wasn't supposed to be like this. It had never been like this before. In the past, he had always been the one who cared for her the most when she was unwell. But today, he hadn't shown any concern and only questioned her harshly. Before he could leave the room, Catherine couldn't hold it in any longer. She cried out, her voice full of hurt. "Raphael, is it a sin for me to love you? Because I love you, you forced me to go on blind dates and introduced me to countless people. Because I love you, you flaunted your girlfriend in front of me without a care. And because I love you, you let her accuse me blindly." As Catherine expressed her grievance, her voice began to become choked with emotion. "You used to care about me the most. Even when the whole world doubted me, you would stand in front of me and protect me…" A memory suddenly surfaced in her mind. When she was in senior high, there had been a time when she was falsely accused of cheating on an exam. She had been busy with dance rehearsals, so her academic grades had never been stellar. But for that particular final exam, she got a perfect score. Of course, no one believed such a thing was possible. Her classmates accused her of cheating, and even her teachers and her parents were skeptical. The school had almost rendered her score invalid due to the allegations against her. At that time, only Raphael had believed in her. The moment he heard about it, he had rushed back from abroad. He even let go of a multimillion-dollar international business deal. He flew for over ten hours just to back her up. "I know Catherine. She would never do something like this! The school had better have evidence because neither of us will accept these baseless accusations," Raphael stated firmly. When no one else had believed her back then, Raphael had stood by her side. But now, with just one accusation from Fiona, he doubted her and demanded an explanation from Catherine without hesitation.