Cooper Coldson sat in the car, feeling as though all the blood in his body had frozen. He clearly saw his car hit Yolanda Greenwood.
How could this happen?
His hands trembled incessantly, and it took several attempts before he finally managed to open the car door.
Once he got out, he indeed saw Yolanda Greenwood lying in front of the car.
She was curled up, holding one leg, frowning, and looking at him with eyes full of panic.
"Yolanda, where does it hurt? I'll take you to the hospital right now!" Cooper squatted beside her, reaching out his hand but not daring to touch her.
"Cooper, it's not what you think..." Yolanda shook her head helplessly, her eyes red as she explained, "I wasn't after your money...no money..."
"Damn it!" Cooper was furious. Was this the time to talk about that? He confirmed again, "I'm asking you, did you get hit anywhere?"
"I—I'm okay." Yolanda, enduring severe pain and shivering, took out her phone and found the message to show Cooper.
She looked at Cooper pitifully, "I didn't want your money; I just wanted... wanted to give you back to Melissa."
Cooper took the phone and saw the content of the message.
[Yolanda, it's been a year, and I still can't forget Cooper. I want to come back. Can you give him back to me? — Cousin Melissa.]
Cooper clenched the phone tightly. By the time he looked up, Yolanda had passed out from pain without him realizing.
"Yolanda!" Cooper hurriedly carried her into the car and sped toward the hospital.
...
When Yolanda Greenwood woke up again, she found herself in the hospital.
She groggily opened her eyes and heard Eliana Reed speaking softly on the phone beside her, her voice gentler and more affectionate than she had ever heard.
"Don't worry, it's all right."
"You just come back peacefully, everyone misses you."
"You..." Eliana Reed turned around and saw Yolanda staring at her.
"Alright, I won't talk anymore; we'll chat when you get back." She quickly hung up the phone, and her smile immediately vanished.
"Who?" Yolanda was very curious. "Mom, who were you just talking to?"
"It's none of your business." Eliana Reed put away her phone, as if worried Yolanda would snatch it.
Yolanda had a guess and couldn't help but probe, "Was it Cousin Melissa Greenwood?"
"I've told you, it's none of your business. Mind your own!" Eliana Reed started shouting, "Isn't your leg hurting anymore? Why didn't it kill you!"
Yolanda was furious, but her mind was unexpectedly clear.
Eliana Reed drugging Cooper and urging him to divorce her, could it be because Melissa wanted to come back?
Thinking of this possibility, her heart ached fiercely.
"So you drugged Cooper to make him remember what happened a year ago, to make him despise me even more, all for Melissa?"
Eliana Reed's eyes dodged for a moment, and she quickly started cursing loudly.
"Yolanda, have you no shame? Knowing that Melissa is coming back, you still want to cling to being Mrs. Coldson?"
She scoffed disdainfully.
"You deliberately made Cooper break your leg because you knew your position was unstable, so you wanted to make Cooper feel guilty and soften his heart, not divorcing you, right?"
It was indeed so.
Yolanda was so angry she laughed, "Okay, very good, Eliana, the more you want me to step aside for Melissa, the more I will make it unpleasant for you."
"Right, you're absolutely correct," she said with a vindictive smile, "I'm going to hold onto the position of Mrs. Coldson and not let Melissa have her way, are you satisfied now..."
She hadn't finished speaking when she saw Cooper push the door open, his expression grim.
Cooper Coldson held dinner in his hand, feeling like a joke. He really was foolish to repeatedly let Yolanda Greenwood manipulate him.
This woman, full of schemes, was even despised by her own mother. It was a fate she brought upon herself.
He threw the dinner on the ground, stomped on it, and gave Yolanda a cold stare, "The divorce papers, I'll sign them and bring them to you!"
Tolerating another day in this marriage was his own humiliation.
Cooper slammed the door and left.
Yolanda regretted her sharp tongue just moments earlier, but then she saw Eliana Reed laughing uncontrollably by her side.
"Between Melissa Greenwood and me, who really is your biological daughter?" she couldn't help but ask.
Eliana sized Yolanda up and down and clicked her tongue twice.
"I do wish I had a smart and beautiful daughter like Melissa. Sadly, I'm not that fortunate."
"Get lost!" Yolanda picked up a pillow and threw it at her.
"Are you crazy?" Eliana jumped in anger, "You even hit your mother, are you still human?"
"Do you even deserve to be a mother? Get lost, I don't want to see you."
Yolanda grabbed something from the table and threw it again, she truly didn't want to see Eliana, not even one glance.
"Fine, I'll go! Do you think I wanted to come?"
Eliana slung her bag over her shoulder, rolled her eyes at the door, and sashayed away.
If it weren't for Cooper personally informing her, she wouldn't have bothered to come see that wretched girl.
Yolanda despondently lay back on the bed.
She spent a lonely night in the hospital alone, only to open her eyes the next morning to see Melissa Greenwood.
Melissa hadn't been seen for a year, and she had become even more stunning.
With her light brown curly hair, a flawless makeup look, a well-tailored suit dress, and standard eight-centimeter high-heels, she had none of the distress or squalor of before her departure abroad. She had reverted to the enviable Miss Greenwood once again.
Melissa was Yolanda's cousin; they were born on the same year, month, and day, Melissa being barely an hour older.
This less than an hour made their lives starkly different.
Melissa's father was the Patriarch of the Greenwood Family, managing Greenwood Group, a very generous and gentle man.
Whereas Yolanda's father, the third son of the Greenwood family, was alcoholic, fond of gambling, and irresponsible, and had drunk himself to death six months prior.
Melissa's mother was everything Yolanda could imagine a mother to be: gentle, beautiful, always softly calling her Yolanda.
She would ask Yolanda if she had eaten, or if she liked drawing too.
She always said that their Yolanda would become a great painter one day.
And Yolanda's mother... she would repeatedly tear up Yolanda's paintings, telling her to abandon any dreams of becoming a painter, declaring her artwork worthless.
"Yolanda?" Melissa waved her hand in front of Yolanda, "What? Don't recognize your cousin?"
Yolanda hastily wiped away her tears, "Cousin, you've finally returned."
She quickly lowered her head, unable to look Melissa in the eye.
Yolanda had always wanted to apologize to Melissa face-to-face since the incident, but Melissa had been unwilling to meet her.
Meeting again, Yolanda was overwhelmed with shame.
Melissa, however, acted as if nothing had happened and pulled up a chair to sit beside the bed.
"I heard from Cooper that he accidentally injured your leg, but he's been busy with my return to the country recently and really had no time to visit the hospital. You don't mind, do you?"