Love's Quiet Demise

"Janelle, do you have any idea how close Sean came to losing his mind looking for you this past year? Someone almost died because of you! Sean only skipped the wedding to clean up your mess, but you just left. How could you throw away eight years of love like it meant nothing?"

I had just come out of the fetal monitoring room, replying to my husband's message on my phone, when my former sister-in-law, Wynne Jenkins, blocked my path.

She was stunned for a moment, then immediately hurled accusations my way. Even after a year, she still looked as arrogant as every Jenkins in the family.

Back then, it was Sean Jenkins who was two-timing. But to Wynne, it was my fault.

I felt nothing hearing his name again. It was like touching a scalding cup—the burning sensation would last for two seconds, then vanish.

Calmly, I met the babbling Wynne's gaze and said, "I broke up with Sean a year ago. What you're saying has nothing to do with me."

She froze for a moment, eyes wide with disbelief.

"Everyone knows you're Sean's simp!" she blurted out. "You do nothing but watch him all day, terrified that some woman might get close to him. How could you ever give up?"

Her condescending gaze fell on the bulge of my belly, then she scoffed. Her eyes were identical to Sean's, and now, she was looking at me with those very eyes—as if I were a stray dog.

I had endured that look in her eyes for the past eight years.

Sean came from a family of prestigious doctors, while I was from a single-parent family in the slums. When I decided to pursue him, everyone laughed, calling me a fool going for someone way out of my league. But in the end, he accepted me.

Then, they called me a total suck-up, betting on when he would dump me. Some bet a week, some a month, and some three months. No one expected me to stay by his side for eight years.