Chapter 348: Unforgivable
The rain fell all night before gradually stopping.
In the early morning at the private hospital, the scent of disinfectant filled the quiet corridors.
Inside the VIP ward, the gentle, comfortable light dispelled the night’s silence.
The medicine in the IV bag was still dripping slowly, and the heart monitor emitted a regular, faint beeping.
Sean Sterling lay on the hospital bed, his face so pale it was almost translucent. His lips were chapped and peeling, a clear sign of his frail condition.
After what felt like an eternity, his closed eyes trembled slightly. His long lashes cast a faint shadow beneath them as he slowly opened his eyes.
At first, his vision was a blur. His mind was groggy and heavy, and his entire body ached as if it were about to fall apart.
A sharp, twisting pain shot through his stomach, tugging at his nerves and making him instinctively gasp.
The stark white furnishings, the pungent smell of disinfectant, the IV needle in his wrist.
As it all came into focus, Sean Sterling belatedly realized he was in a hospital.
Fragmented memories came rushing back.
The previous evening, he had gone to the Lancaster family’s home to find Adrian Lancaster and Wren Sutton and ask about Isla Griffith’s whereabouts.
Adrian Lancaster and Wren Sutton wouldn’t tell him. He lost control, his chest overwhelmed by intense pain and despair. Compounded by his physical exhaustion, his vision went black, and he fainted.
"Sean, you’re awake?!"
A voice, choked with surprise and relief, sounded by his ear.
Yvonne Donovan hadn’t slept all night. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen.
She leaned over and gingerly placed her fingertips on Sean Sterling’s forehead. Only after confirming his high fever had broken did she finally feel relieved.
"Thank goodness, your temperature is back to normal too."
Hearing the sound, Simon Sterling shot up from the sofa and hurried to the bedside, his excitement palpable.
"It’s good that you’re awake. It’s good that you’re awake."
Sean Sterling’s gaze focused. He looked at his parents, his eyes as calm as still water, showing no surprise, no warmth.
His throat was painfully dry. He opened his mouth and managed to force out two words, his voice so hoarse it was barely a whisper.
"Thank you."
The light-as-air words, like a feather landing on water, created not a single ripple, yet they completely extinguished the flicker of joy in Yvonne Donovan’s heart.
Her hand froze in midair, her fingertips trembling slightly. The light in her eyes instantly dimmed, shattering into a million pieces.
Yvonne Donovan stared blankly at Sean Sterling, at the impenetrable coldness and distance in his eyes. Her heart felt as though it were being repeatedly sawn by a dull knife, a tight, agonizing pain.
Simon Sterling also froze on the spot, his heart twisting as if struck by a knife.
The couple knew all too well the meaning behind their son’s "Thank you."
It wasn’t forgiveness, nor was it reconciliation. It was simply gratitude for them having watched over him in the hospital for a night.
Yvonne Donovan’s tears welled up instantly. She fought to hold them back, afraid of upsetting her sick son, and could only bite down hard on her lip, her shoulders trembling slightly.
"Sean, you’re being so polite... It makes me feel awful."
Simon Sterling’s expression darkened, his brow furrowing. His eyes were filled with a complex mix of frustration and helplessness.
He glanced at his weak son on the bed, then at his heartbroken wife beside him. His Adam’s apple bobbed a few times, but in the end, he suppressed the anger and displeasure rising in his heart.
He knew this wasn’t the time to argue.
"Just focus on getting better. Don’t overthink things. The doctor said your illness was caused by accumulated fatigue and emotional distress. You need to rest."
Sean Sterling listened to his parents’ words, but his eyes showed no hint of emotion, only a silent, profound coldness.
The twisting pain in his stomach continued, but it was nothing compared to the agony of the wound in his heart being torn open again and again.
He couldn’t forgive Simon Sterling and Yvonne Donovan.
Sean Sterling turned his head away, avoiding their gazes. His thin lips parted, and his voice, still hoarse, was as cold as ice.
"It’s morning. You don’t need to stay here."
Yvonne Donovan’s heart shattered. She covered her mouth, her face streaked with tears. "Sean..."
"I will never, ever forgive you for what you did to Isla."
"Right now, I just want to be alone. I don’t want to talk, and I don’t want to see you."
Simon Sterling’s face turned frighteningly dark, rage surging through him.
He was about to scold Sean Sterling for being so unreasonable, but when his eyes met that pair of utterly cold ones, he swallowed the words back down.
The man on the bed looked so fragile he might shatter at a touch, yet the stubbornness and distance in his eyes were harder than steel.
Sean Sterling closed his eyes and turned onto his side, not even deigning to spare them a single glance.
"Get out."
Those two words landed on Yvonne Donovan’s heart like a thousand-pound weight.
She could no longer hold it together. The hand covering her mouth fell away limply as scalding tears rolled down her cheeks.
The worry and heartache she had suppressed all night, coupled with her son’s merciless indifference, shattered all her restraint in an instant.
Her whole body trembled violently, and choked, desperate sobs escaped her throat.
"Sean, please don’t be like this. I wasn’t thinking straight, I made a mistake. I’m sorry. Please don’t treat me like this, okay?"
Yvonne Donovan reached out to touch Sean Sterling’s shoulder, but her fingertips hovered in the air, not daring to land, afraid of making him even more repulsed.
"I was wrong about what happened with Isla Griffith, but I was so worried about you. You had a high fever all night, and I didn’t dare leave your side for a second."
"My love for you is real. It’s never changed."
Yvonne Donovan’s voice was so choked with sobs it was almost unintelligible, her eyes filled with a desperate plea.
But looking at her son’s unmoving back, turned resolutely away from her, all her words felt like punches thrown at cotton, leaving only a heart full of sorrow and despair.
He was her only son. She had doted on him since he was a child, cradling him in the palm of her hand. She never imagined that one day he would push her a thousand miles away with such cold, distant behavior.
Beside her, Simon Sterling’s fists were clenched so tight his knuckles turned white. A vein throbbed on his temple, and the rage surging in his chest threatened to overwhelm his reason.
He admitted what he’d done to Isla Griffith had been excessive, but his original intention for everything was for Sean Sterling’s sake—for the future of the Sterling family!
He didn’t understand how his own son could be so stubborn, so unable to comprehend his parents’ good intentions.
"Sean Sterling!" he roared in a low voice, his tone seething with suppressed fury, his chest heaving with rage.
Yvonne Donovan stopped Simon Sterling. "Don’t say anything else. Haven’t you caused enough trouble already?"
"I..."
Simon Sterling had no choice but to force down the towering inferno of rage in his heart, leaving only exhaustion and pain in its place.
The ward was filled with the sound of Yvonne Donovan’s crying, Simon Sterling’s heavy breathing, and the steady, soft beeping of the monitor. The atmosphere was suffocating.
Sean Sterling kept his eyes closed, his brow never even twitching.
His mother’s tears and his father’s anger had nothing to do with him.
His heart held only guilt toward Isla Griffith and an unrelenting hatred for his parents.
He didn’t want to hear any explanations or accept any apologies. Some wounds, once inflicted, could never be erased. He would never forgive them for destroying everything he and Isla Griffith had.
Seeing that Sean Sterling remained unmoved, Simon Sterling closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they were filled with deep disappointment and helplessness.
He reached out and forcefully pulled up the trembling Yvonne Donovan, his movements firm and unyielding.
"We’re leaving."
He didn’t want to stay here and be humiliated, and he certainly didn’t want to watch his wife remain heartbroken.
Yvonne Donovan struggled, looking back at Sean Sterling’s back with tear-filled eyes every few steps.
She wanted to say something more to her son, but Simon Sterling half-dragged, half-supported her toward the ward’s door.
"Sean, please forgive me, won’t you? I really know I was wrong..."
The door to the ward slammed shut with a BANG, cutting off all sound.
Sean Sterling slowly opened his eyes. They were completely vacant as a tear slid from the corner of one.
"I’m sorry, Isla."
「Outside the ward.」
Yvonne Donovan pulled her hand free from Simon Sterling’s grasp. Her steps unsteady, she walked to a bench by the wall and slowly sat down.
She curled up on the bench, her shoulders still trembling violently, her sobs echoing clearly in the empty, quiet corridor.
Simon Sterling’s brow was knotted deeply, his heart a tangled mess of irritation, anger, and helplessness.
He took a step forward and tried to console her in a low voice, his tone laced with unconcealable exhaustion.
"Stop crying. This is a hospital. What will people think if they see you like this?"
The guilt, regret, heartache, and helplessness Yvonne Donovan had bottled up inside all came pouring out with her tears, impossible to stop.
Every time she thought of the absolute coldness in her son’s eyes, of his distant "Thank you" and icy "Get out," her heart ached so much she could barely breathe.
She had watched over him for an entire night, terrified for an entire night, only to be met with her son’s complete rejection and unforgiveness.
All those things she had once done, convinced they were for his own good, now felt like sharp knives stabbing back at her.
After a moment, the sobbing in the hallway gradually subsided.
Yvonne Donovan slowly raised her head and wiped away her tears. Her swollen, red eyes looked at the grim-faced Simon Sterling beside her.
"Mr. Sterling, why don’t we just agree to it?"