Please Forget Me - Chapter 310

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

“Dana, that bastard is only using you. Why do you keep following Rupert down the wrong path? Why do you live like a parrot, repeating his nonsense? Are you really happy living like this?”

In the end, I said the words I had held back for so long.

“Dana, I want you to make a choice that makes you happy.”

You had been sobbing with your face buried in my shoulder, but at those words your small body shook violently.

“Hic… I don’t even know why I’m here anymore, or what I’m doing. This isn’t what I wanted… I just loved that man… I just wanted him to love me again….”

It was all my fault. I never should have given you up. I should have told you the truth.

If sacrificing my life could turn back time, I would have offered it without hesitation. But that was impossible—then as now.

“…I’m sorry.”

I was holding your head, choking on regret, when—

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Rupert’s furious voice sliced through the backyard, tearing us apart.

We hadn’t heard him coming at all. Apparently his car had broken down on the way back, so he’d walked. The snow must have swallowed the sound of his footsteps.

He acted as though he’d caught us in the middle of an affair. He told you to go inside first, then faced me alone at the edge of the yard.

“Don’t misunderstand. I was hearing her confession.”

Even then, I made up an excuse for your sake. At that point, I still wanted to keep things quiet, afraid that arguing with Rupert would only bring trouble down on you.

“Confession? Do you hug every penitent you hear confessions from? Who would fall for such a flimsy lie?”

“Do you think we committed adultery? Don’t mistake Dana and me for the same kind of human trash you are.”

But in the end, I couldn’t hold back and admitted that I knew about his affair.

“So you go after a married woman whose husband cheated on her, and you think you’re not trash? That’s rich.”

As expected, he was shameless.

“I’ve never gone after Dana.”

“Spare me the obvious lies. You still haven’t gotten over her.”

Why did I have to be accused of trying to steal you by a thief who had already taken you? Yes, no matter what, he was your husband, and I was nothing.

“I’m over her. I have been for a long time.”

“No, you’re not. If you were, why are you sticking your nose into our marriage?”

“I didn’t interfere. I was just there as a friend.”

“Dana’s friend?”

He laughed mockingly.

“You were never her friend. From the beginning, you saw her as a woman and you still do. Wake up. Dana is my woman. Aren’t you ashamed, with your position, to desire another man’s wife?”

Even if you were his wife now, why did I have to be condemned for loving you ten years ago? Anyone listening would think I’d been secretly lusting after someone else’s lover from the start.

A lack of conscience should still have limits. Why did I have to be lectured about morality by someone with none?

“This is your final warning. Forget all your feelings for Dana.”

I finally snapped and poured out the words that had been rotting inside me.

“Fine. I’ll admit it. I haven’t forgotten Dana. And that’s not my fault, it’s yours.”

“What?”

“If Dana had been happy, I would have forgotten everything.”

“That’s a lie. Even then, you wouldn’t have forgotten her. Don’t blame me. You were already—”

“Choose your words carefully. The one who forced me between the two of you was you. You were so confident back then. So why are you insecure now? Because you failed her.”

“Failed her how?”

“Does Dana look happy to you? Does this life look like the one she wanted?”

“Right now, it can’t be helped. Dana knows that too. And she volunteered to risk her life.”

Conveniently, he left out his own obvious sin, his infidelity.

“And what gives you the right—”

“What gives me the right?”

I may not be your husband or your lover. But I am the one who saved your life. That will never change.

“At the very least, when it comes to Dana’s life, I think I have the right to speak. Don’t I?”

I didn’t save you just so he could exploit you and send you to your death. He must not have expected me to bring that up, after pretending for so long that nothing had happened.

“……”

He couldn’t say a word. He couldn’t lie to me about the fact that I had saved you.

I had given you up thinking he truly loved you. I told myself it was enough if you were happy. But that wasn’t true either.

The rage I’d suppressed in silence for over ten years surged up to my throat. I felt like I would burn from the inside if I didn’t release it. Just as I was about to unleash it on him—

“So this is all you took Dana from me for—”

At that moment, I locked eyes with you, who had slipped outside and hidden behind the storage shed.

The snow that had muffled Rupert’s footsteps had also hidden yours. I had no idea how much you’d overheard.

But one thing was clear, you had discovered my feelings.

Do you know what your eyes looked like when you met mine?

Once, while we were shopping at the Leningen market, you saw a man and flinched, hiding behind me. That man was the officer who had propositioned you under the guise of consolation.

You were looking at me now with the same eyes you’d used to look at him.

To you, I had become no different from that man—just another filthy beast.