A Night of Desire

Chapter 375 - 368: If I Don’t Leave You, I Might Hurt You

Seeing she had successfully captured everyone’s attention, Autumn Shelby secretly clenched her fist, lowered her voice slightly, and continued, "I had depression. Severe depression. That’s why I secretly went abroad for treatment."

"The truth is, I’d had depression for a long time before that. I was secretly seeing a psychiatrist, taking medication, and going to therapy, but nothing worked. My depression didn’t just fail to improve; it got worse and worse."

As she spoke, her gaze locked onto Seth Quinn. "Seth, you know? Especially after we got engaged and set a date for the wedding. I knew I should have been happy. I was finally going to marry the man I love, finally making a dream I’ve had for over twenty years come true."

"But I just couldn’t be happy. Instead, my insecurity grew even stronger. I spent night after night wide awake. I felt lost, helpless, dejected, and miserable every single day. Especially whenever I saw you. We were about to become the closest people in the world, but you were as cold to me as ever."

"I told myself that’s just how you are, that I shouldn’t ask for too much. But the more I thought that, the more unbearably sad and pained I became! I’d still force a smile when I was with you, but when I went home, the depression would drive me insane!"

"Eventually, I didn’t dare to face you anymore. I was terrified I’d lose control and have a breakdown in front of you. I didn’t want you to see me like that. I couldn’t bear to let you see my weakness, my wretched state!"

As Autumn Shelby spoke, tears streamed down her face. "Finally, my parents decided things couldn’t drag on any longer. They said I had to leave for a while, that I couldn’t handle any more triggers. And the treatment options in the U.S.A. were better; maybe I’d recover faster there. But I didn’t want to go! I didn’t want to leave you—

even though you were so cold to me, even though your indifference was what turned me into that person, I still wanted to see you every single second!"

"But things got to the point where I even started having thoughts of killing you and then myself. That way, you’d belong completely to me and could never leave me. That’s when I knew I had to leave. Because if I didn’t get away from you, I might have actually hurt you!"

"So, my parents sent me to the U.S.A. for treatment. I didn’t want you to feel guilty, and I didn’t want you to know about that horrible side of me, so they didn’t tell you the truth. They just said I had pre-wedding jitters and needed to get away to clear my head."

Sienna Hale had always been genuinely fond of Autumn Shelby, and she was a soft-hearted person. Hearing Autumn’s story now, she couldn’t help but cry along with her. She instinctively took a step forward and said,

"But why didn’t you say anything? We wouldn’t have thought any less of you for it. And if you had told us, maybe Seth’s attitude toward you would have changed. If we had known the truth, things wouldn’t have ended up like this. Seth would have supported you through your treatment. We all would have."

Seth Quinn glanced at his mother but said nothing.

Autumn Shelby sobbed. "But I didn’t dare. Seth never really cared that much about me to begin with. He probably didn’t even like me. So, I was terrified... what if he saw me like that and disliked me even more?"

As she spoke, Autumn Shelby slowly rolled up her sleeve, revealing an arm that should have been as fair and delicate as the rest of her skin.

However, the sight of her arm was horrifying!