Chapter 442: You Count as the Third Party (2)

She was probably the most talked-about person in the company right now.

How many people were comparing her to Rose Everett? How many were mocking her behind her back?

In fact, from the very beginning of her relationship with Dylan Heston, everyone had probably been waiting for them to break up.

Now that they had, she was the only one bearing the brunt of the gossip.

She acted calm on the outside, but inside, her world was turning upside down.

Two days passed in deceptive calm. On the third day, the other leading lady in this drama came looking for her.

She was just coming back inside. The sun was scorching, and she felt dizzy from the heat.

Before she could even get a drink of water, Rose Everett was standing in front of her. “Nancy Hughes,” Rose said softly, “I was wondering if you have a moment. There’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”

The moment Rose appeared in the office, all eyes were on them. Everyone was waiting for the drama to unfold.

Nancy put her things away in her bag. “Oh, all right. Can you give me ten minutes?”

“Of course. I’ll wait for you outside.”

In reality, she had nothing to do. She slowly turned on her computer and stared at it blankly, killing time until ten minutes had passed before heading out.

In the breakroom, it was just the two of them.

“Nancy, I’m sure you’ve heard that Dylan and I are getting engaged. I hope you understand your position and stay away from him.” Rose’s words were blunt, her disdainful gaze raking over Nancy from head to toe.

It wasn’t that she looked down on Nancy. In her mind, there was simply no comparison to be made.

In every aspect, she was a hundred times better than Nancy. It was only natural that Dylan would fall for her.

“Is that all you came here to say?” Nancy suddenly looked up, feeling that old, familiar sense of inferiority in Rose’s presence.

Someone’s voice suddenly echoed in her mind. ‘You’re not so bad. You don’t need to feel inferior to anyone.’

“Rose, do you realize he and I haven’t even broken up yet? That makes you the other woman—a third party wrecking a relationship.”

Rose’s expression turned ugly, but she quickly forced a smile. “Nancy, a man like Dylan is out of your league. It’s best to know your place.”

With that, Rose let out a cold laugh and turned to leave.

‘Know your place.’ Ha. I’ve been *too* aware of my place. That’s why I’ve spent the last twenty years of my life walking on eggshells, afraid of my own shadow.

Nancy decided to ask Dylan Heston to meet. If he didn’t want to, then so be it.

She had barely dialed the number when the call connected. “Hello?”

“It’s me. Do you have time? I’d like to see you.”

He hesitated for a few seconds on the other end, as if weighing whether to see her. Nancy spoke again, “If you don’t have time, then never mind. Sorry to bother you!”

‘I forgot,’ she thought bitterly. ‘Dylan’s a very busy man. Back when he was interested in me, of course he had time. Now that he’s with Rose Everett, why would he spare me a thought?’

“I’ll pick you up tonight.”

“That’s very kind of you,” she said, her tone polite and distant, as if speaking to a stranger.

Dylan Heston had said *he* would pick her up, but when afternoon came, it was his secretary who arrived.

‘Well, Secretary Kerr is one of his people, I guess,’ she tried to reassure herself.

As she settled into the car, she was looking at her phone when it suddenly rang. It was a call from the hospital.

Her expression immediately grew tense. “Secretary Kerr, please, could you pull over at the next intersection!”

“Miss Hughes, has something happened?” Secretary Kerr asked, confused, as he slowed down and pulled the car over to the side of the road.

“Something’s come up. Please tell Dylan we’ll have to reschedule,” she said hurriedly, pushing the car door open.

Before Kyle Kerr could even ask what was wrong, Nancy Hughes was already running off into the distance.

She hastily hailed a cab and left.

‘If it was an emergency, I could have driven her,’ he thought.

Kyle Kerr called Dylan Heston. “Miss Hughes left suddenly partway through the trip. She said she’d like to reschedule.”

Dylan was in a meeting. He couldn’t help but furrow his brow, his grip tightening on the pen in his hand. “Follow her,” he said, his face expressionless.

“See what’s going on.”

“Understood.”

He ended the call, stepped on the gas, and tailed the taxi Nancy had gotten into.

In the building where she used to live, her next-door neighbor was an elderly woman who lived alone.

Nancy used to visit her often, partly because of Blue.

This time, the old woman had been found collapsed in her home and was rushed to the hospital.

Since she had no family, they had notified Nancy.

She rushed to the hospital. When she arrived at the room, the old woman hadn’t woken up yet.

“Doctor, how is she?”

The doctor, holding a chart, glanced up at her. “And you are?”

“Oh, I’m her neighbor.”

“Her neighbor? I thought you were her granddaughter!” The doctor’s attitude softened a bit. Nancy explained, “She doesn’t have any family. She’s an elderly woman who lives alone, so I visit her often.”

“Doctor, what’s her condition?”

“It’s nothing too serious. High blood pressure. She just needs to rest and recuperate.”

“Okay, thank you, Doctor.”

Nancy never liked being in hospitals. The heavy scent of disinfectant was overpowering, and it always brought back bad memories.

The neighbor woke up a short while later and saw Nancy sitting by her bed. “What are you doing here?”

“Don’t move just yet. Just lie back and rest.” Nancy gently pressed her shoulder, helping her lie flat. “Would you like some water?”

The old woman was getting on in years, and her memory wasn’t what it used to be. She took a sip of water, and after a moment, she remembered why she was in the hospital.

Then, she felt a pang of guilt for putting Nancy, who was at her side, through this. “We’re not even related. I’m so sorry to trouble you like this!”

“It’s no trouble. I didn’t have anything else to do anyway.” She shook her head. “Right, let me go buy you something to eat. You should stay in the hospital overnight for observation.”

Even if the old woman wanted to leave, she didn’t have the strength.

Nancy ran out to buy some congee and quickly returned.

“Once you get old, you become useless. Your own body won’t even listen to you anymore!” the neighbor sighed, taking a sip of the congee Nancy had bought.

“Don’t say that.”

An elderly person’s routine is simple. Eat, chat for a bit, and then it’s time for sleep.

But the old woman suddenly remembered something important. “Oh, my cats haven’t been fed!”

Having no family, the neighbor kept several cats for company.

She usually watched over them and cared for them every day. The sudden thought that she was gone and her cats hadn’t eaten instantly chased away her drowsiness.

Nancy tucked her in. “You go ahead and sleep. I’ll go feed your cats for you!”

“That would be good. The key is in the usual spot.”

“I know. Get some sleep now.”

Under the effect of the medication, the old woman soon fell asleep.

She gathered her bag and checked the time. If she hurried over there now, she might be able to catch the last bus back.

She checked in with the nurse at the duty station and hurried off.

She arrived, out of breath, at her old apartment building. It had only been a few days since she’d left, and not much had changed.

She glanced at the car parked in front of the building and went upstairs.

Her old apartment was on the same floor as her neighbor’s. As she climbed the stairs, she saw a man standing at her door and stopped dead in her tracks.

They stared at each other. Neither spoke. The air was heavy with a dead silence.

Nancy had thought he was so busy that if she hadn’t called him first, he probably wouldn’t have even remembered her.

And yet, here he was.

An indescribable emotion welled up inside her, and she clenched her fists, trying to keep herself in check.

Taking a deep breath, she suppressed the strange feeling in her heart and tore her gaze away from Dylan Heston.

A heavy silence hung between them until Dylan was the first to speak. “You moved out?”

She gave a soft “mhm” in response.

‘So that’s what happened,’ he thought. Kyle Kerr had followed her to the hospital entrance, and he himself had been waiting here for nearly two hours.

It had been so long since he’d come here that he’d almost forgotten he still carried the key to this place.

And yet, a stranger was now living here.

They had given him a strange look and would have called the police if not for his expensive-looking clothes.

‘She moved out without so much as a word. Then why did she call me today?’

He admitted he had been busy lately, too busy to give her attention, but that was no reason for her to be this unreasonable.

Nancy clutched her bag strap. ‘Since he’s here, there’s no need to reschedule,’ she thought. ‘I’ll just give him his thing back and get this over with.’

“Here, this is yours.” She took a watch from her bag and held it out to him.

Dylan’s eyes narrowed. “How do you have this?”

“Are you surprised it’s in my hands? Dylan, I may be a little dense, but I’m not an idiot. Rose Everett gave this to me herself. She said you accidentally left it at her place and asked me to return it to you. I remember you never take this watch off, so I don’t even want to know why it ended up at her place. Just take this watch, and take that woman, and get the hell out of my sight!” Her voice grew louder, more and more uncontrolled, and her eyes started to turn red.

‘So this is what it feels like,’ she thought. Only when she faced everything head-on, stripping away all her daily pretenses, did she feel the true, searing pain.

She took a deep, shuddering breath. “Dylan, I’m not blind, and I’m not deaf. You really didn’t need to do all this. Let’s just break up peacefully now. I wish you and Rose Everett a long and happy life together.”

With that, she hurried down the stairs.

Nancy didn’t run far. She just crouched down behind a bush downstairs.

She waited a long time before she saw Dylan come out of the building. He stood in front of his car and smoked for a while.

Only after Dylan had left did she drag her numb legs back upstairs.

Because of Dylan, she had been delayed for a long time.

By the time she finished feeding the cats, it was already very late. She decided to just make do and spend the night there, heading back in the morning.

The relationship that should never have begun was finally over. A great weight was finally lifted from her heart.