Fake dating my enemy, The playboy billionaire

YIREN (PART 3)

I hiss as Jun helps me take off the mask, the movement sending a sharp sting through my already swollen, bruised nose. I instinctively reach up to touch it, but he catches my wrist, his grip firm but not painful.

"You’ll make it worse. Let the doctors handle that there’s an edge of steel beneath his voice.

Still holding my wrist, he leads me to his car, and orders the driver, "Langone hospital."

That one word—hospital—hits me like a freight train. Everything floods back. My reason for being here, why I came to this dark, twisted place in the first place: Ning and her baby.

I turn to him, my throat tightening, my heart pounding in desperation. Tears blur my vision, and before I can stop myself, I grab his hand, clinging to him as if he’s the only lifeline I have left.

"Jun, help me. Please." I don’t care about pride anymore. I don’t care about the argument, about the things he said. "Please, help me. Once. Just this once, and I promise—I’ll stay with you. I’ll be your slave for life, do anything you want. I’ll forget about last night, erase it from my mind like it never happened. I’ll be the perfect, obedient girlfriend you need for your family. You can... you can make me your punching bag, and I won’t say a word. I won’t fight back. Just... please... please save Ning and her baby. Please."

The words spill out of me in a rush, my chest heaving with panic, my fingers tightening around his hand like a vice. I can’t lose her. I can’t lose Ning.

His face remains unreadable, his eyes locked on mine.

Tears streamed down my face, blurring everything, but he remained silent. No matter how much I cried, how much I begged, he didn’t say a word. He just sat there, cold and detached, his grip on the situation unyielding.

"Please, Jun. Don’t be this heartless," I sobbed, my voice barely above a whisper. "Just like you love your brothers, I love my sister. Please... I beg you. Help me."

My voice cracked as I looked out the window, seeing the streets pass by. We were heading in the opposite direction from where Ning was. Where Kai was waiting. The hospital where Ning and her baby were fighting for their lives.

"Wrong turn. You have to take a right. Ning’s hospital is on the other side." My voice grew louder, more frantic, but no one responded. No one even acknowledged my words. I looked out the window, watching the distance between me and my sister grow further. It was like the air was being pulled from my lungs.

I cried.

I cried

.... and cried, each sob feeling like a knife twisting deeper into my chest. I felt so helpless, so utterly useless. I was a failure. A failure as a sister, as a daughter. It was my fault we were still living paycheck to paycheck, deprived of our inheritance because of my incapabilities.

The car came to a stop, I saw the hospital in front of me—a place I could never afford, a place that was worlds away from the life I lived.

Jun’s voice broke through my haze, steady and calm, "Go meet your nephew and sister."

I froze. My body, my mind—they all stopped. I stared at him, at the hospital, at everything. The disbelief hit me like a punch to the gut. He had brought me here. To Ning?

I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move. All I could do was stare, dumbfounded and overwhelmed.

The feeling was surreal. My body failed me. My voice failed me. I couldn’t tell how I was walking, or where I was heading—just that the man beside me was guiding me through the hospital halls. His hand in mine. My surroundings blurred, faces of people as desperate as me coming in and out of focus. Their expressions mirrored the chaos inside me. The bustling hospital felt simultaneously alive and dead. Yet, something was different here. The air was cleaner, more disciplined. This wasn’t like the hospital Ning was in—the one filled with hopeless faces and overworked staff. No, this place radiated a sense of security, a promise that everything would be fine. She will be fine.

Is this why people fight to get their loved ones into the best care, no matter the cost? That underlying hope that somehow, paying more guarantees survival?

We came to a stop outside a room. The bustling chaos of the lobby was left behind. Here, the walls were quiet, the air heavy.

"Oh my God, Yiren. What happened?" Was that Zian’s voice? It sounded so distant, like I was hearing it through water. But I couldn’t focus. My eyes were locked on the woman lying in the bed. Ning. She was there, hooked up to machines that beeped in steady rhythm, her face pale, her head wrapped in bandages.

But... she was alive.

Relief and fear tangled inside me, battling for dominance.

"Yiren—" Kai’s voice broke through, drawing my attention. He was on the couch, holding a baby, my nephew, nestled against his bare chest, also hooked up to machines. He was so small, so fragile, born seven months too soon.

My breath hitched. The sight of his tiny body overwhelmed me, making everything inside me ache. So tiny... just seven months tiny... my nephew... too tiny...

The world tilted, spinning out of control. Everything around me darkened, and before I could fight it, everything went black.

********

I feel a hand caressing my head. The touch is gentle. Loving. It reminds me of my mom. But those are not her hands. This belongs to a man. Strong. Rough. Yet I like it. Who is he? It’s clouds everywhere... Am I floating? Am I dead? Oh wait...

"I’m sorry, Yiren. Please forgive me."

Ah, nice voice. I like him.

I feel a soft press of lips on my forehead. A forehead kiss? Mom used to say they are the best type of kisses.

But who is he?