She Cheated and then Regreted So Much novel Chapter 2

Not long after my parents left, Sarah showed up with a takeout container. 

She was wearing a men's dress shirt, the scent of sandalwood clinging to her. 

She glanced at the thermos my mom had left by my bed, then looked at me. 

"Your parents were here?" 

I didn't even look up from my phone.

"Yeah." 

She let out a cold laugh. 

"So that's why you told me to come this morning? You just wanted them to see me?" 

I frowned.

"When did I ask you to come to the hospital?" 

Sarah scoffed. 

"Don't play dumb."

"William said you texted him, and he told me to be here by noon." 

I didn't feel like arguing, so I pulled up my messages with William. 

The chat was completely empty. 

Sarah still wasn't convinced. 

"Texts can be deleted. Don't think I don't know that." 

I let out a slow, mocking smile. 

"Then why don't you ask your precious William to show you his messages?"

Sarah looked like she was ready to catch me in a lie as she pulled out her phone and called William.

"William, didn't you say James Brown told you to tell me to come to the hospital?"

The moment she spoke, the sound of sniffles came from the other end of the line.

"I'm sorry, Sarah. I lied to you."

"I just... James looked so miserable yesterday, and I felt bad for him. So I made it up."

By the end of his sentence, his voice was hoarse, almost breaking.

Sarah's face softened, full of concern.

Her tone turned impossibly gentle.

"It's okay, it's not your fault."

"You're just too kind—you got fooled by James's little act."

"I don't blame you."

"Didn't you say earlier you were craving coffee from that shop on Westside?"

"I'll grab it for you."

"Don't be sad, alright? I'll be home soon."

Hearing that, I couldn't help but think back to the past.

Last month, I told a harmless little lie to surprise her.

When she found out the truth, she was furious.

"James, do you think I have all the time in the world?"

"You lied to me over something so trivial."

"You know I hate liars, don't you?"

"She's all yours."

Then, I went to my chat list and unpinned the conversation that had been at the top for seven years.

I changed my lock screen to a default system wallpaper.

Just as I finished, Sarah's name popped up on my phone.

I didn't even need to think—I knew exactly why she was calling.

She wanted to yell at me for that comment.

Without hesitation, I declined the call.

She called again. And again. And again.

When I ignored them all, she switched to texts.

"James, did you seriously just hang up on me?"

"If you keep spouting nonsense and upsetting William, you can forget about keeping your job as director."

I raised an eyebrow at that.

Wasn't that exactly what I wanted?

I replied with a simple, "Got it."

Sarah didn't text back after that.

I didn't care either—I had work to wrap up before leaving.

For the rest of my hospital stay, Sarah never showed up again.

Every day, I saw William posting about what Sarah had done for him—where she took him, what she bought him.

Eventually, I got tired of it and muted his posts.