Wandering From Pity

Wandering From Pity

~RHYS~

If I hadn't walked in at the time I did, it'd have been too late.

“Your name again?” The doctor asked, scribbling something in his clipboard.

“Rhys.” I folded my arms, glancing at Stella as she was fast asleep.

“If I may ask, what's your relationship with our patient?” His eyes met mine.

“She’s my…” The door pulled open, saving me from calling her my ‘brother’s wife’.

Her best friend, Valerie, ran in desperately, despite the nurses trying to stop her.

I didn't need instincts to know terrible things would happen the moment Stella found out Dylan and Taylor weren't who the world thought they were.

“How long has she been unconscious?” Valerie panicked as she watched over her.

Seven damn hours. The doctor asked me a few questions and examined her before leaving. “When she wakes up, please don't tell her anything yet. We need to explain everything ourselves and make sure she's stable enough to handle it.” With that statement, the little color on Valerie's face drained. I'd asked Hardy to inform her of Stella's situation immediately we reached the hospital.

An hour or two later, I walked back into the ward with a bag of fruits. Valerie called to inform me that Stella was already awake and her parents had arrived.

When I walked into the room, I found Valerie seated close to the door, giving them enough privacy. I joined her and we sat quietly.

The nurses walked in with their kits. When my eyes found the pack of sanitary pads, a wave of sadness hit my chest.

How would she react? How would she take the news the doctor had said might lead to shock?

“Please, we'd need everyone to excuse us.” The dullness in her eyes disappeared at the doctor's voice.

She tried to sit up, but a groan escaped her lips instead. The nurses held her up and I hated the way my chest burned as I watched her in pain.

“Miss Stella.” He examined her as we headed out of the room.

From outside, I heard him explain to her, “The fall caused severe trauma to your abdomen. And the impact affected the placenta, causing it to separate from the uterine wall.”

She finally spoke, but her voice was shaky as if she was doubting something. “What do you mean, doctor?”

“We tried to stabilize the situation, but the separation affected the baby’s oxygen supply. We did everything we could, but I’m so sorry… the pregnancy could not be saved.”

I didn't hear her cry or react. For half a second, I wished I was in there to hold her and beg her to let out all the suppressed sobs. Her silence scared me more than any scream could have.

Her parents had forced her into every bit of shit she went through with Dylan, and they still somehow managed to wear proud faces.

I'd never been interested in Dylan's personal life, but the very day I saw her in person, things changed.

I didn't know how to see her as "Dylan's wife.” After all, he wasn't serious. I knew it from the very first time I heard people talk about his marriage.

Dylan and Taylor had been gay since college in Canada and nothing could come between them. To make matters worse, Dylan was practically a lackey for him.

When the doctors changed her pads and we walked back inside the room, my eyes caught hers. They were glassy and her lips were trembling with unshed tears.

“You just have to forgive him, Stella. Shit like this happens in marriages.” Her Father said.

Strangling him with that tie around his neck? Or giving him a black eye that won't heal in a month? I needed to decide because the opportunity was coming… was here already. She shot him a death glance, but the fucker didn't know when to stop.

Valerie and I maintained silence and from the gazes we exchanged, I could say we were pretty on the same page. “Stella, Dylan is still your husband… And you must try to make things work out between you two.”

I knew parents like them. Their eyes were blinded with greed and Dylan had taken advantage of it.

Stella didn't say a word to them.

The door slid open and when I turned, it was Dylan. He walked in with a bouquet in one hand and a ‘get well soon’ balloon floating from the other. ‘Perfect husband facade’.

He looked innocent— as if he hadn't watched his boyfriend slam a bat to the back of her head, plotting her death.

How painful it must have been for her to see him pretend none of that had happened.

“Leave us alone. Only Valerie and his brother stay.” Her shaky voice rose defiantly.

His brother. I hated how it sounded in my ears, because Dylan and I were two different lines that'd never come together.

“Look, Stella…I can explain.” To be clear, he mentioned her name and not mine but I didn't see enough reason as to why my chest almost exploded.

“I thought I wasn't enough for you, Dylan.” The pain in her voice was raw as she began quietly. “I wanted to please you with everything, even when you were the most terrible thing that ever happened to me.” She paused again, wiping her tears.

“Stella, I promise you that it won't happen again. I swear—”

“Which one won't happen again? Your best friend hitting me with a bat? Or me discovering your best friend is your gay partner? Or the many times you hit me weeks after our wedding?” She paused, tears trekking down her cheeks. “Answer me, Dylan.”

Damn. Really tough phases she'd been through. The bastard was quiet, wrapping his fist around the base of the bouquet tightly.

“I bet you never knew I was pregnant, did you?” Her lips trembled as he raised his eyes to hers slowly.

Yes. I loved to see that humiliation cross his face. He wanted everything that was mine, and as a result, he'd married Stella—hoping she could give him a legal heir so he'd succeed my late father, who happened to be his stepfather.

His plans were gradually crumbling at his own hands. “You… you were pregnant?” He asked, color draining from his face.

“Thanks to your boyfriend. I lost my baby and…” The word hung down her throat, and a sob broke from her lips instead. “I was going to find out if you knew or not and your actions were enough.”

She wiped the tears off her face, like she was ready to drop her final grenade. Her gaze turned icy like she suddenly realized he wasn't worth her energy, “I want a divorce, Dylan.”

I should've been surprised at how fast she made up her mind but again, if she wasn't able to make a decision as rough as this, she didn't love her life. She was choosing herself.

He dropped to his knees, begging and shedding crocodile tears, and when I thought she was going to give in, she didn't. “Send him out. I'm done talking.” I loved that energy—the coldness and defiance in her eyes were the sexiest things I least expected from a woman in her situation.

“You can't. Stel—”

“Get out.” Her voice settled lower and colder this time. “We'll meet in court as well.”

From the other end of the room, I watched her quietly as she stared at the ceiling, her chest rising and falling with every breath. Shortly after Dylan left, her Father stormed into the room. “You cannot do that, you cannot divorce your husband, Stella.”

Only heaven knew the kind of thoughts running through her head. Was she planning to get a gun and serve them ice-cold revenge? Hell yeah. I'd gladly buy her dozens and watch her pull them down.

“I'm talking to you, Stella. Are you too big to respond—”

“She just had a fucking miscarriage, with an injury at the back of her head and now you're complaining about her decision? What exactly do you want from her?” I didn't know when I snapped. Watching them break her while calling it concern made something inside me snap.

This was enough— how much of all this mess had she endured to be so quiet while they pulled their tantrums?

“I wasn't talking to you, young man.” He spat.

“Leave.” Her weak voice broke the tension in the air. “She asked you to get out. Leave now!” He pointed toward the door, a stern expression on his face.

I was being a menace already, but I should've had the slightest moment to teach him a lesson.

“No. Leave, Dad. You and Mom.” My feet stopped.

“What?” Her Mom's voice shrilled with confusion.

“You heard her. Leave now.” I turned, flipping the hands of control.

“You cannot seriously be walking us out of here, right?” Her snort-laughed. “If this is a joke, stop it because the moment your mother and I walk out of that door, Stella, you lose your place as a Scott.”

I glanced over my shoulder where she lay with her eyes shut tight and fists folding.

“Leave, Dad. I want a divorce.” I didn't expect her to say it, but their faces shifted, feeling like their dignity had been stripped away.

They turned quietly and walked away, leaving me, her, and Valerie in the room. She didn't sob, but her eyes were bloodshot red as Val helped her sit up.

“Why are you helping me?” She turned to me, asking.

Why did my chest hurt watching her eyes water that much? I didn't know why I was doing all of this.

Initially, I'd thought of it as a way to get back at Dylan, but somehow, I started to pity her, and my pity was beginning to blur into something my fear wouldn't let me acknowledge.

I came here because of Dylan. Somehow, I was staying because of Stella.