Chapter 2

"You're out of your mind!" Allan's voice rose, his anger eclipsing his confusion. "Even so, Ruby at least deserves to know the truth. You shouldn't have snuck behind her back to register a marriage, then parade it to the world!"

But Robbie spoke with the tone of a man convinced no one could possibly understand him.

"Allan, that's how an outsider thinks! Lucy needs security. If I marry her and keep it secret, how could she ever trust me?"

So… all this time, he'd only been thinking about Lucy's feelings. To give her a sense of safety, he could trample on my dignity and our love without a second thought.

It felt as if a blade had pierced straight through my heart. My knees went weak; I could only lean against the doorframe, gasping for air.

"What about Ruby?" Allan thundered. "We were all classmates. I've watched you two from the start. She's my friend, just like you are!"

Robbie hesitated for a moment.

"No matter what, I need to stabilize Lucy's condition first. When she stops thinking about ending her life, I'll slowly bring up divorce. It's just a year or so. Ruby and I have been together this long. She'll wait for me."

And then, unbelievably, he chuckled. "She loves me so much she can't leave me. Of course she'll understand."

In that instant, I no longer had the strength to open the door.

I stumbled downstairs, hollow and lost, and walked away.

What gave him the right to assume I would naturally understand everything he'd done?

I drifted aimlessly through the snowy streets, memories of the past years with Robbie unspooling in my mind like an old film.

His nervous but earnest confession in the university library.

The first night we spent together after graduation, his awkward yet pure expression.

The time I prepared a birthday dinner just for him, when tears welled in his eyes as he hugged me tightly, swearing he'd never let me go.

And yet, the one I had loved and trusted with everything had driven a knife straight into my unguarded heart.

Snow began to fall harder, and people in the city quickened their steps, hurrying to find shelter from the storm.

But my feet felt heavy as lead. Snow settled on my hair and shoulders as I wandered, directionless.

The squeal of brakes cut through the night, snow crunching under tires. A car screeched to a stop beside me.

Robbie leapt out, pulling me into the car in one quick motion.

He handed me a blanket, his expression tight and uneasy.

"Baby, I called you so many times. Why didn't you pick up? It's snowing so hard. Why didn't you find somewhere to wait?"

Hearing him still call me "baby" in that same tender tone made my stomach turn.

He was someone else's husband now.

"Don't call me that. Go to Lucy. She's your wife, isn't she?"

I flung the blanket aside, opened the door, and stepped out of the car.

His car sat motionless in the snow, wipers sweeping back and forth.

In eight years, I had never been this cold to him.

I ran into the snow, pain burning in my chest, not knowing where to go.

Behind me came hurried footsteps.

Robbie caught up.

He was much taller and stronger; he seized my wrist and pulled me into his arms.

"Baby, please… don't do this. We can talk about everything. Just give me another chance. It's snowing so hard. Let's go home first…"

He used the same tone, the same sweet words I'd heard a thousand times.

Looking at his disheveled face, a damp, suffocating weight rose inside me.

The world went dark.

I fainted.

When I woke again, I was in a hospital.