A Bird in the Cage

Chapter 15

Chapter 15 Sick

Tossing the phone on the bed, Catherine rushed into the bathroom. With her physical condition, she

would get a fever if she showered with cold water.

Today, she wanted to punish herself by falling ill and making herself suffer or she would feel even more

tortured by her guilt and go crazy.

Since Ryan was going on his honeymoon tomorrow, he definitely would not come back tonight.

Therefore, now was the time to taste the suffering of being ill and alone in his apartment.

In fact, she hoped that it was more painful than she expected.

Although the water wasn’t considered too cold in June, it was bone-chillingly cold to Catherine. As

she shuddered a little, she realized that it was not only her body that was cold but her heart.

Taking a shower, she began drenching herself. As if that wasn’t enough because she didn’t feel numb

from the feelings, she remembered all the pajamas Ryan had bought for her.

How could she be so worthless as to forget how hateful he was just because of those pajamas? How

could she harbor designs on Jas’ love?

Drawing a cold water bath, she soaked herself in it and continued showering with cold water.

At that point, she was so cold that her teeth were chattering and she had goosebumps all over. Of

course, that was the best. Better yet, she hoped it would be cold enough to freeze her heart.

Not knowing how long she was lying in a bath of cold water, she realized that the colder she felt, the

warmer her breath was.

Suddenly, her cellphone rang from the bedroom. Getting out of the bathtub and feeling a little dizzy, she

forced herself to wipe her body with a towel and stumbled back into the bedroom.

It was her mother. She called to remind her that she cooked dinner and told her to come back with

Luca. She almost forgot all about it.

“Why does your throat sound so hoarse, Cath?” Her mother asked over the phone. Only then did she

realize how painful her throat was and it was swollen.

“I think I’ve caught a cold,” she replied with a thick nasal voice.

“But you were fine this morning. How did you suddenly catch a cold? Did you turn on the air conditioner

when you napped in the afternoon?”

“It’s nothing, Mom. I’ll be fine after drinking some hot water. I don’t feel like moving around today. I’ll

bring him back soon okay?”

“Okay. Tell him to take care of you and make you some warm soup. If he doesn’t know how to do, I will

send it to you after I make some.”

“There’s no need, Mom. He knows how to do it. He knows how to do everything…” Catherine was so

anxious that she began to cough. If her mother came over, everything would be over.

“Fine. Fine. Hang up and go get some water to drink.”

“Um…” Catherine endured it and only coughed after hanging up the phone.

Immediately, she coughed so hard that her face was completely red. Even though she was so thirsty,

she didn’t want to drink some water so she

could torture herself even more.

If her throat hurt, her heart wouldn’t hurt.

When her mother asked her how she caught a cold within the day, it occurred to her that life was so

changeable. Her world got turned upside down when she saw Ryan appearing at Jas’ wedding.

Although Ryan never said he liked her or loved her, she thought that she could move him one day if

she tried hard.

As her hope got shattered, her life just withered slowly from then on.

But wasn’t it a little early for a 22-year-old girl to lose hope? Despite being at the peak of her youth, her

heart withered like flowers fading in autumn.

Just then, she realized that she didn’t take her birth control pills today so she grabbed the bottle

and swallowed one pill.

However, she spent quite some time just doing that and ended up coughing.

After coughing for some time, she finally stopped but she kept feeling colder and colder lying on the

bed.

Curling up and shivering, she refused to cover up with a blanket despite it being just next to her feet.

She wanted the cold to swallow her completely.

At that moment, the heat and the cold tortured her at the same time as she was shivering on the bed.

The warmer her breath got, the more fuzzy her vision was.

Suddenly, Cayden appeared in the midst of her fuzziness, a outgoing and handsome man she missed

a lot.

“Are you sad, darling?” he asked tenderly.

“Why are you so foolish? Come over here and let me hug you, silly.” In her trance, he seemed more

handsome than usual. After taking a closer look, she realized that it was actually Ryan.

“I don’t want you. I want Cayden. He won’t hurt me. He would never do that!” she screamed at him

and choked up as tears fell down her cheeks.

Suddenly, the man she saw became Cayden and he gently pulled her into his arms, comforting her.

“Everything will fine, darling. Don’t be sad. I will protect you forever.”

Feeling much more comfortable, she nestled into his embrace and breathed heavily. Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Suddenly, she thought of Ryan and realized that she was his worthless mistress right now and she

didn’t deserve Cayden’s love at all.

“I’m sorry! You should go!” she cried out in despair even though she craved his warmth so badly.

However, she couldn’t selfishly have him.

Staring at her in disappointment for a long time, Cayden ended up walking away.

Watching him walk away, Catherine continued crying, feeling colder and hungrier as she woke up in

suffering.

At the time, it was already late at night and the room was pitch black. There wasn’t any glimmer of light

at all, like her heart.

It turned out, the sadness she felt in her dream was real and so were her tears.

Just as she expected, Ryan wasn’t there. He was probably looking forward to his honeymoon with

Jasmine tonight instead.

Not feeling sleepy at all, she only felt her temperature rising. In the end, she passed out from the fever

while realizing how lonely she was in her fuzziness.

As an orphan who had once been abandoned by her parents and now abandoned by life itself, it was

also a kind of release for her to die like that.