Chapter 14

The heavy odor filled Chloe's senses and making it unbearable. Her eyes were sticky, and she didn't dare to open them. Standing there, she felt helpless and embarrassed. The person who had splashed paint seemed unsatisfied and rushed forward to strike her. Chloe was immediately disoriented by the blows, taking two stumbling steps backward. She cowered, helpless, as the punches rained down on her. Suddenly, the fists striking her stopped. Ethan grabbed the person's hand, his expression fierce. "Do you want to turn yourself in at the police station, or should I call the police?" The person looked frightened and immediately withdrew their hands from Ethan's grip, bolting away. Chloe, still confused, took tissues from her bag and began wiping off the paint on her face. Ethan turned to her, taking the tissues from her hand, and personally helped wipe away the paint from her face. Chloe squinted her eyes, slowly opening them. In that brief moment of eye contact, a realization dawned. She heard Ethan ask slightly nervously, "Are you okay?" Chloe responded sharply, "Thanks for you fake kindness." Having been unjustly drenched in paint, she was furious. She had thought about calling the police but gave up because she couldn't identify the attacker's face. "Ding-" A series of new message notifications chimed on their phones. Chloe opened her phone and looked at the pop-up message about the canceled order, feeling a sudden shock. —— Ethan noticed Chloe's sudden change in mood and asked, "What's wrong?" Chloe abruptly looked up at Ethan, her tone harsh. "Are you happy now?" Ethan furrowed his brows, a hint of anger appearing on his face. "Don't push it too far!" Chloe sneered and retorted, "Who is pushing it too far? Is it me, or are you despicable and shameless?!" With that, she didn't care about Ethan's expression and walked away directly. Ethan watched Chloe's retreating figure, his face darkening. Without going to work, Chloe went straight to the hospital. As soon as she entered the hospital, she noticed people gossiping about her. Walking into the ward, from nurses to patients and their families, everyone cast strange looks at her. Clutching her hands tightly, she tried to ignore those judgmental stares. Suppressing her emotions along the way, she finally exploded when she overheard people gossiping in the restroom. Approaching to argue, she was pushed to the ground by others. Sitting on the ground, she watched as more people gathered around, their accusations and insults flooding toward her like a tide. "Shameless!" "Unfaithful woman!" —— Not daring to stay in the hospital any longer, Chloe feared that the hospital staff might treat her parents differently because of her. On the way back, she realized that people in the neighborhood recognized her. She quickly covered her face and ran back home. Chloe huddled on the sofa, cautiously checking her X. Overwhelming insults pressed down on her, making it hard for her to breathe. She searched for the hashtags she had seen yesterday, only to find that those posts had already been deleted. However, new posts still appeared from time to time. Just when she was puzzled, Ethan suddenly sent her a message. "The online posts have been deleted." Chloe looked at the message without any emotional response. Ethan's habitual tactic of deleting posts after stirring up trouble was disgusting. Without replying to Ethan's message, she went straight to the bathroom to prepare for a shower. The phone suddenly rang, and she lowered her head to see that it was a call from the hospital. She quickly swiped to answer, "Hello." "Miss Hollis, your previous payment balance is insufficient. Do you know when you can come to the hospital to settle the payment?" Chloe's heart tightened suddenly. She had paid off the debt of fifty thousand, and the remaining money in her hand was just enough for one more day of ICU for her father!