Drunk on Regret

"Mark, hurry up and kiss her! That's your punishment! Come on, do it!"

I stood in the doorway, watching my husband, Marcus Parker, use a game of truth or dare as an excuse to passionately kiss his childhood friend through a poker card. My heart instantly plummeted to rock bottom.

If I had not received that anonymous text message, I never would have believed that Marcus, who was always so restrained and proper with me and never touched alcohol, would engage in something like this.

I swallowed the bitter feeling rising in my throat and pushed open the door. "Marcus, what are you doing?"

Hannah Carter suddenly fell to the ground as if startled by my questioning voice. Someone immediately spoke up to criticize me.

"Claire, aren't you being a bit too uptight? It's just a game of truth or dare. It's not real."

Hannah looked at me with rapid, shallow breaths. "Claire, don't blame Mark for this. It's my fault. I lost the game, so he drank and played along with me..."

Hannah was Marcus' childhood friend, and she was born with asthma. She was abroad for treatment for nearly ten years before recovering enough to return home.

Seeing Hannah's asthma attack triggered by her attempt to explain, Marcus angrily turned to me. "Claire, why did you have to burst in like that? Are you happy now that Hannah's having an asthma attack?"

He then spoke to Hannah in a gentle, soothing tone. Hannah tugged at his sleeve playfully. "I'll only feel better if you personally peel me an apple, Mark."

Marcus patiently peeled an apple for her, but Hannah kept making demands and getting in his way. With all her fussing and interference, Marcus ended up cutting his hand—the same hand he was always so careful to protect.

Hannah let out a cry, her voice full of concern but tinged with excitement. "Oh no, Mark! Your hand is hurt. What about your surgery tomorrow?"

"It's fine, I'll have a colleague cover for me." Marcus' casual words made my face instantly go pale.

He had forgotten that tomorrow was my mom's final surgery that came with high risks. With the help of my published research findings, he became the only person in the city capable of performing my mom's operation.

"Marcus, have you forgotten that tomorrow is my mom's surgery?"

I asked Marcus, my face deathly pale. After losing my father as a teenager, my mom raised me alone. She had even used all her life savings to buy us a house next to Marcus' research institute, just so he could focus on his research and help more people.

If I had not suffered that miscarriage and developed postpartum depression, I never would have handed over my hard-earned research results to him. I had only relented so that he could skillfully save my mom when she fell critically ill.

He immediately looked guilty. "Claire, this was just an accident. Even with my hand injured, I can still—"

Before he could finish, Hannah had already found a bandage from somewhere and was stopping the bleeding on Marcus' hand. Her clumsy movements made Marcus look at her with tender affection, but when he moved his gaze back toward me, it burned with anger.

"Even with my injured hand, I can still complete the surgery!"

Hannah leaned weakly against him, comforting him by saying, "Mark, don't be angry. How could Claire understand? She never studied medicine."

After my father died saving me in that car accident, I developed a condition that made me faint at the sight of blood. Marcus knew this perfectly well, yet he still humiliated me in front of everyone.

"She faints at the sight of blood. How could she possibly hold a scalpel?"

As if to spite me, he deliberately drank a lot more alcohol. Marcus had never been much of a drinker, and after finishing an entire bottle, there was no way he could perform surgery tomorrow.

Just then, my aunt, who was caring for my mom, called. "Claire, something terrible has happened. Your mother has gotten worse..."

"Aunt Jane, wait for me. I'm coming right over..."

Aunt Jane's crying made everything go blank. Marcus, despite all the alcohol, went pale too. He reached for me but lost his balance, crashing into Hannah instead. Their lips collided.

"Mark, you... Claire, please don't get the wrong idea. We didn't mean for that to happen..."