Chapter 5

Dora POV:

His declaration, stark and brutal, extinguished the last flickering ember of hope in my chest. I would die for Arleen. Not for me. Never for me. My heart, already a barren wasteland, crumbled into dust.

Just then, a nurse burst into the room, her face pale with panic. "Mr. Nash! Miss Coffey! Something's happened! Arleen... she's fallen! She's bleeding!"

Dawson's face, usually so composed, contorted with sheer terror. He shot out of his chair as if propelled by an invisible force, a primal roar escaping his lips. "Arleen! Where is she?!" He didn't wait for an answer. He bolted out of the room, a blur of frantic energy.

In his haste, he knocked over the bedside table. A cup of hot tea, which I had been trying to sip, spilled across my bandaged arm. A searing pain erupted, a sharp, white-hot agony that made me cry out. My arm instantly blazed red, blisters already rising. But Dawson was gone. He didn't hear my cry, didn't see the scalding liquid. He simply vanished, leaving me alone with my fresh wound and the lingering smell of burnt sugar and tea.

"Dawson!" I tried to call out, my voice weak, hoarse from the pain. But he was already too far, his panicked footsteps fading down the corridor. No one was left to help. The hospital room felt vast and empty. I was alone. Again.

I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to reach for the call button. My fingers, still trembling from the shock, fumbled with the cold plastic. Finally, a nurse arrived, her eyes widening at my scalded arm. "Oh my god, Dora! What happened?!"

As she rushed to tend to my burn, I caught a glimpse of Dawson at the end of the hallway. He was shouting, his voice echoing, filled with a furious desperation I had never witnessed. He was raging at a group of doctors and nurses, his hands gesturing wildly. "Save her! Do you hear me?! Save Arleen! If anything happens to her, I'll shut this entire damn hospital down!"

A bitter, hollow laugh bubbled up from my throat. He threatened to destroy a hospital for Arleen, a woman with a sprained ankle and a tiny cut. For me, with a fractured leg, a concussion, and now a severe burn, he had left without a backward glance. The contrast was a crushing weight.

I turned away from the horrifying spectacle, my heart a dull, bruised thing. The nurse, a kind-faced woman, gently applied ointment to my arm, her touch a stark reminder of the care Dawson denied me.

"She's lost a lot of blood," I heard a doctor say from a nearby room, his voice hushed but audible. "And her blood type is rare. We're running low on supply."

Suddenly, Dawson's voice, booming and resolute, cut through the quiet. "Take my blood! I'm O-negative! Take as much as you need!"

The doctors tried to dissuade him. "Mr. Nash, you've already donated quite a bit this week. It's not advisable to over-donate."

"I don't care about advisable!" Dawson roared, his voice laced with a terrifying ferocity. "She needs it! I will give her every drop I have! I will die for her, if that's what it takes!" I heard a scuffle, then the rapid footsteps of Dawson being led away.

My mind flashed back to his words, I would die for Arleen. "I would give my life for her, without a second thought." He had just said it. And now, he was proving it. Not just saying it, but doing it. He was literally giving his blood, risking his own life, for her.

A dry, choked sob escaped me, morphing into a bitter, humorless laugh. He had never offered me a single drop of his blood. He had only drained me dry, taking my innocence, my trust, my love, and discarding it all.

The days that followed were a blur of pain and loneliness. No one from Dawson's household came to visit me. He seemed to have forgotten I even existed. The nurses, sensing my isolation, were exceptionally kind, but their pity only amplified the gaping hole in my heart.

I overheard their hushed whispers. "Mr. Nash is practically living in Arleen Coffey's room. He hasn't left her side." "Such devotion! It's like something out of a movie." "No, it's not," I thought bitterly. It was something out of a nightmare, and I was the forgotten casualty.

One afternoon, a social worker approached my bed. "Miss Corbett," she began gently, "we've been trying to reach Mr. Nash regarding your medical bills, and discharge arrangements. He hasn't returned our calls." Her voice was filled with a mix of frustration and thinly veiled disgust.

The words didn't sting. They simply confirmed what I already knew. I was utterly alone.

Finally, the day came for my discharge. With a heavy cast on my leg and my arm still bandaged, I hobbled out of the hospital, leaning on a pair of crutches. As I reached the entrance, a sleek black car pulled up. Dawson stepped out, helping a frail-looking Arleen, her ankle wrapped in a pristine white bandage, into the passenger seat.

Arleen spotted me. Her eyes widened, then her face softened into a concerned smile. "Dora, darling! So glad to see you up and about!" She gave a little wave. "Dawson, look, it's Dora! She's being discharged."

Dawson glanced at me, a fleeting, almost indifferent look. "Oh. Good for her." He barely registered my presence.

"Aren't you going to say thank you to Dora, Dawson?" Arleen cooed, her eyes twinkling. "She did try to help me, you know. Before... well, before she got into her accident." Her words, laced with false gratitude, felt like a sly dig, placing blame subtly.

Dawson scoffed. "Thank her? For what? For being careless and getting herself hurt? No, Arleen, you don't need to thank her. You're home now, and that's all that matters." He opened the back door for Arleen, then turned to me, his voice sharp. "My mother wants to see you later, Dora. She's worried sick about Arleen." He then added, with a sickeningly sweet smile to Arleen, "You know, this house isn't just my home, darling. It's yours too. Always has been."

He was replacing me. Not subtly, not carefully. He was doing it openly, brazenly, right in front of me. The house, my sanctuary, my only place of belonging, was now hers. And I was... nothing.

I watched as he gently helped Arleen into the car, his touch reverent, his gaze brimming with an affection that pierced my very soul. He buckled her in, smoothed her hair, then leaned in to whisper something only she could hear, making her giggle. It was a scene of such tender intimacy, such profound love, that it stole my breath.

This was it. This was real love. The kind that made you risk your life, give your blood, forget everything else. The kind he had never, ever felt for me. And in that moment, watching them drive away, leaving me alone in the hospital driveway, I finally understood. My heart, which I thought had been dead, felt a strange, chilling sense of calm. All the pain, all the betrayal, all the humiliation-it had burned away every last shred of my affection for Dawson Nash. There was nothing left but a cold, empty resolve.