Chapter 2

Melissa's POV

My tears mixed with the rain as they ran down my cheeks. Only by clamping a hand over my mouth tightly was I able to stop the sobs from escaping.

Back when I woke up in the hospital and found out that Samuel had never left my bedside in over two weeks, I was incredibly touched. I even thought that, even if I never got to pilot a plane again, it wouldn't be that unbearable as long as I still had him.

However, I've realized now that his unwavering care was all simply because he was worried about another woman exhausting herself.

Unable to bear listening to them any longer, I charged out into the rain.

The smile on Hailey's face froze. "Mel, what are you doing here…"

The instant Samuel saw me, he instinctively pulled Hailey behind him protectively. However, when he spotted the blood seeping through my bandage, the wary look in his eyes eased a little.

Taking off his jacket, he draped it over me and asked, "Why did you do this to yourself? Don't you know that you're not supposed to get your bandage wet?"

The familiar care had my nose tingling.

I stared straight into his eyes, rasping out, "Samuel Zayner, are you not going to explain yourself?"

He paused briefly in the middle of tightening the jacket around me, then sighed.

"Mel, you've endured it for the past six years already. Why shatter the illusion now? Pretending to be oblivious is the best course of action for us all, isn't it?"

With just a few flippant words, he easily brushed off all the suffering I had endured in the past six years.

Unable to hold back any longer, I slapped him with as much force as I could.

Seeing that, Hailey immediately lunged forward to protect him, her eyes reddening. "Mel, this is all my fault. All these years, whenever you were grounded, Sam would get you back on the flight schedule.

"Whenever you were punished or fined, he would help clean up the mess for you. You've never genuinely suffered. So what gives you the right to hit him?"

What gave me the right?

Through the curtain of rain, I stared at the couple hugging each other and realized how utterly ridiculous this situation was.

Over the last few years, Hailey had always accused Samuel of not being attentive enough toward me, while he had blamed her for always hogging me to herself. They used to argue terribly over who treated me better, but now, it seemed like I was the unwanted person here.

As it turned out, a secret I never knew about had been hiding beneath their bickering and fighting all along.

At that moment, the door to the rooftop burst open as someone kicked it. Following that, the passengers whose flight had been delayed today swarmed toward me angrily.

"There's the jinx! Get her!"

Before I could react, a hard kick landed across the side of my waist, catching me off guard.

As I slammed into a puddle on the ground, a wave of spasming pain spread from my lower abdomen.

"Mel!"

Amid the chaos, Samuel rushed forward to block the luggage that was being thrown at me.

Just like he had many times before in the past six years, he huddled over me protectively. Whenever I was threatened by the passengers, he would step in front of me. Whenever I was beaten up, he would rush me to the hospital in his arms, his eyes red.

Back then, he told me, "I'll make anyone who picks on you pay the price."

The anxious, worried look on his face then was exactly the same as it was now.

For a pitiful moment, I even thought that he still cared about me.

However, in the next second, Hailey, who was behind us, was shoved to the ground. Letting out a pained scream, she exclaimed, "Sam, our baby! Is our baby going to be fine?"

The moment she finished speaking, the body above me abruptly stiffened.

Immediately after that, Samuel let me go without any hesitation and rushed toward Hailey, carefully pulling her into his arms.

Dumbfounded, I stared at the hand Hailey was using to cradle her abdomen protectively. My entire body felt like it had been dunked in icy waters.

She was pregnant.

For the past six years of our marriage, Samuel had insisted that he didn't like children. Hence, I had been taking contraceptive pills all these years, not daring to forget even once.

However, it turned out that it wasn't that he didn't want to be a father—he simply didn't want me to be the mother of his child.

"Mel, Hails is bleeding, so I'm taking her to the hospital first. Wait here for me, okay? I'll come back for you once everything there has been settled."

With that, he didn't spare me another glance and ran off with Hailey in his arms, leaving me at the mercy of the furious passengers.

They continued attacking me.

I lay in the puddle of rainwater, unable to do anything but watch as his figure rushed off resolutely. All the energy seemed to have drained from me, and for a moment, I even forgot to fight back.

The tearing pain in my abdomen grew, and my vision gradually blurred.

Right before I lost consciousness, I vaguely noticed bright red blood flowing from my lower body.