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Chapter_173
Whitney stood motionless in the doorway, her heart sinking as the sight before her slowly registered. Ludwik, the man she had been desperately trying to save, was now holding Elaine in an embrace that spoke of deep, unspoken emotions. The kiss they shared was tender, too tender, and the intimacy between them seemed to pierce through Whitney’s very soul.
Her breath caught in her throat as a wave of dizziness hit her, her legs weakening beneath her. The bag of cookies she had been holding fell to the floor with a soft thud, the warm sweetness of the gesture now lost in the bitter chill that suddenly filled the room.
Elaine’s eyes fluttered open, her gaze catching Whitney’s as she stood frozen in the doorway. There was no shame, no guilt in her expression—just a cold, calculating indifference. Elaine’s smile was almost serene, as though she had expected this moment to come.
Ludwik’s eyes, however, were different. The instant his gaze met Whitney’s, his entire body seemed to freeze. His lips parted, but no words came out, and the realization seemed to dawn on him far too late. The woman who had cared for him, who had been by his side in his darkest moments, was standing in front of him, visibly shattered.
Whitney’s heart broke in two, and the shock in her chest was so overwhelming that for a moment, she couldn’t move. She wanted to turn and run, to escape this suffocating silence that hung in the air, but her feet remained planted, her mind struggling to process the weight of what she had just witnessed.
Ludwik slowly pushed Elaine away, his movements slow and hesitant, like a man who had only just come to his senses. “Whitney…” he began, his voice weak and strained, a mixture of guilt and confusion filling the space between them.
But Whitney didn’t wait for him to finish. She couldn’t.
“Don’t,” she whispered, her voice barely audible over the pounding of her heart. “I don’t know what to say anymore. I thought I was helping you. I thought… I thought we were building something.”
Her eyes flickered between him and Elaine, and the bitterness she had tried so hard to suppress bubbled to the surface. She had put everything into this—her time, her energy, her very soul. And yet, it seemed like it had never mattered at all.
With a final, pained look at Ludwik, Whitney turned on her heel and fled from the room.
As she ran down the hallway, tears blurred her vision. The hospital was silent, but it felt like the entire world was closing in on her. Her breath was shallow, her chest tight as the reality of the situation settled like a stone in her stomach.
She could still hear Ludwik’s voice calling her name, but she didn’t stop. Not now. Not when it felt like everything she had worked for, every fragile hope she had clung to, had just crumbled to dust.
Outside, the cool air hit her like a slap, but it did little to numb the pain in her chest. She walked aimlessly, not sure where she was going, only that she had to keep moving.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket again, but she ignored it. She couldn’t deal with anyone right now—not Tiana, not her uncle, and certainly not Ludwik. Not when her heart was so raw and exposed.
All she wanted was some space, some time to breathe without the weight of everything pressing down on her. But as she wandered, the nagging thoughts continued to swirl—about Ludwik, about Elaine, about the child growing inside her.
Would Ludwik ever accept them? Would he ever love her, or would she always be second to the shadow of someone else in his life?
The questions burned in her mind, and there was no answer. Not yet, anyway.
