Lillian's voice was sharp, and Gloria's eyes rested on Lillian, who was emotional.
She said calmly, "If you don't need money, then why do you work in the Fittro Club?"
She was just stating a fact, and there was no emotion in her tone.
"I..." Lillian looked embarrassed, but soon, she said angrily, "I came to Fittro Club to be a waitress. You know the situation of my family. I needed money to pay for my tuition and living expenses."
Lillian stared at Gloria as if she was looking at trash. She continued, "I'm not like you! I won't do anything just to make money. Unlike you, I have limits!"
Gloria smiled. Lillian said that she had no limits, but that wasn't true. All she wanted was to stay alive.
"Stop smiling." Lillian stomped her feet angrily and shouted, "Gloria, listen to me. It will be meaningless to make money at the cost of your dignity. People will despise you and no one will look at you with respect!"
After she finished speaking, Lillian snorted coldly and looked away from Gloria.
Gloria was glued there for a while before she entered the bedroom.
She looked exhausted. Lillian's words still echoed in her head.
Gloria smiled.
She tried to make some money to keep her stomach full and a roof over her head. She did not want to live on the street, or she would not have needed the money.
Gloria helped Lillian out before. If she knew that it would cause so much trouble...
If she could choose again, would she...
She slowly fell asleep while thinking about it.
When Gloria woke up again, she was in the hospital.
"You're awake."
Gloria opened her eyes. Seeing the woman in front of her, she said in a low voice, "Christine, where am I?"
As soon as she spoke, she felt her throat dry and painful.
"You are at the hospital." Christine was cutting an apple into small pieces and then putting one in Gloria's mouth. "Eat something. We'll talk later."
Gloria was not used to this and chewed the apple in her mouth. "Christine, why am I in the hospital?"
Christine's expression was grave. She said seriously, "Why are you in the hospital? Let me ask you, how many days have you been having a high fever?"
Last night, Christine did not see Gloria in Fittro Club. She was a little worried, so she went to the dormitory, only to find that Gloria was having a high fever.
"I didn't see you in Fittro Club last night, so I went to your dormitory. Your body was so hot that you could almost fry eggs with it. When I sent you to the hospital, the doctor said that if we came a bit late, no doctor in the entire country would be able to save you."
Christine complained with resentment, "Why don't you tell your roommates that you have a fever? Do you know that you almost died?"
Gloria listened to Christine's nagging silently. Christine sounded mad, but Gloria could feel that she genuinely cared about her.
She had not shed tears for years, yet her eyes turned wet at this moment. Christine's care had opened a window in her heart and allowed light to pass through it.
However, she was getting more scared. If she never had it, she would not feel the pain of losing it.
Gloria was experienced in terms of it.
"Why?" Gloria finally mustered the courage to ask, her voice trembling.
Christine looked at Gloria with a complicated expression. She replied, "No one in this world cares about you. If I don't treat you well, who will take care of you?"
Christine shared a similar experience with Gloria.
Perhaps, what Christine had just said to Gloria she meant to say to her former self.
She sympathized with Gloria as well as her former self.
They were the same kind of people.
Christine looked at Gloria lying on the bed. Gloria was trying her best to hide her emotions, but her trembling eyelashes betrayed her.
"Gloria, can I ask you a question?"
"Christine, go ahead."
"What happened between you and Mr. Hammond?" Patrick was indeed vicious, yet he should not have treated a woman like this.
"Can you tell me about it?" Gloria's face froze for a moment, then Christine said, "Forget it if you can't tell me."
"Three years ago, I killed the woman he loved."
Christine's hand paused for a moment while holding the fork. She then put the apple slice into Gloria's mouth and asked, "But, you didn't kill her, did you?
"You would never kill anyone," Christine said confidently. "What really happened?"
Gloria hadn't said a single word in the face of the repeated blows and humiliation. But after hearing Christine's words, she couldn't help but cry miserably.
She thought, 'Patrick! Christine met me less than half a year ago, yet she knows me so well!
'Patrick! Finally, someone believes that I am not a murderer!'
Christine put down the fork. She didn't ask Gloria to stop crying. Instead, she rubbed Gloria's head gently.
She comforted Gloria, "It's OK. You are such a silly woman, and how can you be bold enough to kill someone? No. You are simply too proud to do such a thing."
Christine continued, "I guess you must have loved Mr. Hammond very much back then, but you would never kill his lover just to win his love. Gloria, your pride won't allow you to do such a thing."
Gloria's tears kept streaming down. All the emotions that she buried in her heart over the years poured out.
That afternoon, Gloria cried and cried.
She said incoherently to Christine, "I didn't do it... He didn't believe me... No one believed me...
"Everyone knows that he hates me. I thought that I would be able to live a peaceful life after I was released from prison.
"Christine, they scold me and slander me, saying that I am vicious and despicable. Christine, I don't care about what they say. I don't care about money either."