Chapter 3 Why Didn't You Die

Suddenly, Fiona's eyes widened and she stared at Spencer, unable to move.

"Great! Ahem..." Wayne cleared his throat. He was finally relieved. "Fiona, what do you say?"

"I..." Fiona stammered. "Grandpa Wayne, I'm still quite young!"

"Not at all. I think you're old enough. Spencer's grandmother was almost the same age as you when she married me."

"Yes," Anna smiled. "Spencer is older than you. He knows how to take care of you."

Fiona glanced at the man in front of her. She was highly doubtful about his ability to take care of her.

"Fiona, Spencer has already agreed. All you have to do is say yes. Please," Wayne said with a hopeful expression.

Fiona felt a rush of anxiety. She knew that her aunt Jenny as well as her family would have given her a hard time if it wasn't for Wayne's help all these years. Now Wayne was sick and he only had one wish. Fiona was supposed to say yes to marriage. However, it was such an important decision and a big commitment! How could she just agree for his sake? Plus, she was still young. Marriage was a very far-fetched notion for her!

"My dear girl, Spencer is a good boy. Trust me. I will feel so much ease knowing he is taking care of you!" Wayne coaxed. "You've been living alone for so many years. You will have Cheng family to look out for you after you get married."

Fiona didn't look convinced. She was still hesitating.

"Fiona, I know there's something on your mind, but your parents have promised your marriage to Spencer," Wayne explained, his wrinkled face wrought with emotion. "They certainly don't want you to be alone. If you don't say yes, I can't explain this to them after I die."

Biting her lips, Fiona finally relented, "I...I agree."

"Oh! Good girl, good girl!" Wayne burst into peals of joyous laughter. He held Spencer's and Fiona's hands. "You can get married at the Civil Affairs Bureau on Fiona's birthday!"

"Okay," Spencer said.

"Hasn't Celine arrived yet?" Wayne inquired, glancing around the ward. Spencer's left eyelid twitched when he heard the name.

"Celine...umm..." Anna tried to find an excuse. "She's still studying abroad. She..."

"Humph!" Wayne interrupted her angrily. "I don't care!"

Fiona knew that Celine was Anna's daughter and she was one year older than Spencer. Wayne had never liked her.

Soon Wayne fell asleep and everyone in the ward walked out quietly to let him rest. Ethan left in a hurry because of some emergency business.

Fiona's palm was sweating, as the warmth from Spencer's palm was still lingering.

"Fiona," Spencer called out.

"Hmm? Yes?" Hearing her name, she snapped out of her reverie. She looked around and found nobody in the corridor other than the two of them. "What's up?"

"So when is your birthday?" With one hand in his pocket, Spencer was staring at Fiona, seeming a little impatient.

"There are a few months left," she replied somewhat curtly.

"I want the specific time!" he demanded, incensed by her short reply.

Fiona glanced at him and answered, "October 8th!"

"Let's get married on that day," Spencer commanded, leaving no room for discussion.

"What? Get married? Are you really going to go ahead with this marriage?" She didn't want to get married so soon!

"Do I look like I am kidding?" Spencer asked, curling his lips.

"But we have only just met," Fiona responded in a mix of confusion and shock.

"I think you have misunderstood this entire thing," Spencer snorted. "I am marrying you only for the sake of my grandpa. I can't refuse his request. I will marry you just to set his mind at rest."

"And then what?" Fiona asked. Instead of getting panicked, she felt relieved. "What are you trying to say?"

"I won't fall in love with you." Spencer's eyes were cold. "Grandpa's health is deteriorating by the day. The doctor said he probably only has three years or so. If grandpa passes away, our engagement will be canceled."

"Okay, that sounds like the best option." Fiona acquiesced. There was really no better solution to this predicament. "Grandpa Wayne has been taking care of me for so many years. I will try my best to fulfill his wish," she continued. "But I have one condition."

"What condition?" Spencer asked raising his eyebrow.

"The bracelet will still be mine," Fiona stated coolly. She had been wearing that bracelet ever since she was a child. She had great interest in jewelry design because of her mother, which was why she had chosen it as her major. She wouldn't allow anyone to take it from her!

Spencer silently glanced at her slender wrist and at

the dark golden bracelet shining on it.

"Your mother gave it to me." Fiona took a deep breath, trying to convince him. "So, you don't have the right to take it back."

"Don't talk about my mother!" All of a sudden, Spencer punched the wall behind Fiona, his eyes was red with anger. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Fiona, who was leaning against the cold wall, shivered in fear. "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? Have you forgotten about the car accident ten years ago?"

Fiona was frightened. She was looking at Spencer as if he was the devil.

"They all died in the car accident ten years ago! Why didn't you die?" Spencer yelled, clenching his fists. "Because of that car accident, my life has completely changed. Fiona, it was your mother who killed my mother!"

Her eyes widened as Spencer's words stabbed into her chest like knives. He had accused her mother of being a murderer!

"I hate your entire family and you are the only child left in the Ji family. Fiona, you will have to pay for what your mother has done!"

Spencer strode away fuming,

but his words hung heavy in the air.

Anna asked Fiona to stay, but the latter determined to leave. She returned to the Four Seasons Scenery community in Victor's car.

When she was back in the room, she went straight to the bathtub and lay there until the water became cold.

Standing in front of the mirror, Fiona wiped the fog off the mirror and turned around expressionlessly. She saw two ugly scars on her back in the reflection. The scars almost stretched along her entire back.

This was the indelible mark left by the car accident on the day when her fate had turned around. Her mind wandered back to that horrible day.

"Mom, where are we going?" Sitting in the back seat of the car, an eight-year-old Fiona was watching the rain outside the window.

"We're going to my house!" answered Spencer's mother, who was in the passenger seat up front. She turned around to look at Fiona. "Today, Spencer will come home. Fiona, you'll definitely like him!"

Fiona sweetly smiled back at her.

"It's a pity that the weather is so bad. I'm a little scared driving in such heavy rain," said Fiona's mother, who was driving the car.

"It doesn't matter. You can drive slowly!"

Fiona's mother's mobile phone rang,

when they were driving on the River Road.

"You focus on driving. Let me answer the phone for you! I'll put it on speaker so that you can hear as well," said Spencer's mother and answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Mrs. Ji, something bad has happened!" It was Fiona's father's assistant. "Something has gone wrong during the mission..."

"What?"

The two women cried out in unison. Fiona's mother was clutching the steering wheel hard and her face was pale. She turned to the phone and yelled, "Which hospital are you in? Tell me!"

"In M City—"

"Watch out!" Before the assistant could finish his sentence, a gut-wrenching scream was let out by Spencer's mother.

It was so loud that it almost pierced Fiona's eardrums. Bang!

The assistant's voice was drowned out in the crash. Without understanding what had happened, Fiona felt that she was flung to the front seat and toppled a few times as the car spun out of control. Then she was thrown out of the car and fell down on the side of the road.

She thought she might be dead as the pain in her back was unbearable. But she survived.

"Mom?" Fiona sobbed as she struggled to sit up. Her head felt heavy and the torrential rain slammed against her body. Wiping away the tears on her face, she looked at the car. Smoke was rising from it a dozen meters away. The car was upside down and the front of the car was totally smashed.

There was a mixture of blood and rain on the road. Tears trickled down Fiona's face. She got to her feet somehow and tottered towards the car. But she crumpled to the ground when she took a small step.

"Aahhh..."

Standing in front of the mirror, Fiona sighed heavily as she jolted back to reality. She closed her eyes and opened them again. After wiping the water off her body, she walked into the bedroom.

"They all died. Why didn't you die?"

Spencer's words echoed in her mind. Fiona sneered. There was someone in the world who truly loathed her. But was Spencer entitled to throw this accusation at her?

Later, Fiona found out that her father did not make it either on that day.

Both her parents were snatched away from her in one night.

Her father was killed when trying to protect Spencer's father. So Spencer had no right to hate her family!