Chapter 118: Chapter 118

Camille didn’t know how she did it, but she managed to return to her desk without collapsing to the ground or stumbling in her steps.

When she reached her chair, she immediately sank into it, feeling the hot vestiges of anger running all over her skin. It was as though lava was overflowing through several parts of her body, not yet evaporating into thin air.

‘I need to calm down,’ she thought.

When she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror on her desk, she was almost startled at what she saw.

Her face was flushed, and her eyes were bloodshot. Her hair was also a little tousled in some angles.

In short, she was a mess.

She quickly turned away, unable to stomach the sight of herself.

She felt so exhausted that she was already longing for the comfort of her bed back at home. To be away from all this confusing, chaotic mess. To slowly untangle all the knots in her mind and try to figure out what to do next.

So much had happened in such a short time, and she wasn’t physically and emotionally prepared to process it all.

Camille thought back to her words that were directed to Christian in the office just before she left, and she let out a heavy sigh.

Her words, in hindsight, weren’t entirely true. There were individuals with troubled pasts who were fully capable of learning to love themselves and others later in life. A lack of love in one’s childhood would make it harder for them to develop the emotional capacity to love others, yes.

But that didn’t mean that it was impossible. Life wasn’t so black and white. There were layers to everything.

So, just because someone wasn’t loved, didn’t mean that they couldn’t love others in return.

Following that train of thought, a person’s unfortunate circumstances didn’t always lead to them making evil decisions later on.

However, considering Christian’s personality, Camille just couldn’t imagine anyone in this world of nearly nine billion people who could tolerate him fully. Maybe a woman who had an infinite amount of patience, but such people were extremely rare to find.

Camille certainly did not have the patience of a saint, that was for sure.

She lifted her hand and rubbed at the right side of her temple, feeling like her migraine was getting worse. It was probably because of stress, honestly. After all, there were cases when people got sick due to stress. Camille wouldn’t be surprised if she suddenly had a stroke after dealing with Christian all of these years. He certainly didn’t give a damn about boundaries.

‘Damn it,’ she thought to herself, feeling agitated. ‘I can’t keep thinking about it. Otherwise, I might explode.’

Still, it was better said than done. First off, yes, she was greatly relieved that her father finally made it onto the priority list. While it didn’t mean a hundred percent guarantee of a perfect recovery, the success rate was still quite promising compared to leaving him in the care of the other doctors in the city.

The problem was that it was all Christian’s doing all along, and that in itself was appalling.

Coupled with the stunt that he pulled in the office just now, the urge to scream bloody murder became even stronger.

That was her first kiss.

Her first kiss, and yet it was painful. Not physically, but emotionally.

Christian had definitely succeeded in making her feel more worthless than she already thought she was. Worthless as a woman because she no longer had her freedom, and worthless as a person because she just took it and didn’t resist, just like he told her to. Like she was someone who had no spine, someone who could crumble so easily just after pulling a string of authority.

‘Pathetic,’ she taunted herself.

Gone were her innocent teenage dreams of having her first kiss with someone she loved and who loved her back in a pure sense. Oh, how naïve she had been back in those days. Thinking about it now, it was cringey. She really did think that life could be that simple and carefree.

If only she hadn’t left all those years ago. It was a regret that came back to her every time, repeatedly, like a taunt, a mockery of her situation. She would think of this each time she was on the verge of giving up. At this point, it was like an automatic thought, a pessimistic way of reminding herself of how much of an idiot she had been.

‘The consequences of my actions, right?’ she thought wryly.

***

Camille didn’t know how she managed to get through the rest of the day, but for some reason, she did.

Although work was stressful as always, constantly writing emails, making calls, and checking up on things at several departments, they still served as a helpful distraction from the tangled mess that was going on in her head. For now, that chaotic knot was pushed to the recesses of her mind, locked away momentarily for her to focus on later in the evening before bed.

Speaking of late nights…

Camille looked at the clock and saw that it was almost nine thirty in the evening. It seemed that she had ended up working overtime, after all. She didn’t even notice. She tended to have a one track mind when it came to work, thanks to her natural stubbornness.

She looked down at the piles of documents on her desk and repressed a sigh. There were still a lot of things that she needed to do, but her headache was growing worse, and she suspected that she was both hungry and thirsty right now.

She also needed some sleep. If she went on like this, she would die before even getting to pay Christian back for his inconsideration.

‘Let’s just survive first,’ Camille thought as she closed all the tabs on her computer before she could change her mind. ‘Work can wait until tomorrow.’