Chapter 3

She was my classmate.

We were both waiting backstage during a speech contest when I suddenly had appendicitis and started sweating profusely in pain. Without a word, she helped me go to the hospital and stayed with me until the surgery was completed.

Although she missed the contest, she smiled brightly. "All that matters is that you're okay. The contest is just a small matter."

I fell for her at that moment, but I later learned that she had been in a relationship with her boyfriend for several years, so I kept my feelings hidden all those years.

When I learned that she had tried to take her own life due to heartbreak, I made a decision immediately. When she woke up, I would protect her for the rest of my life and never let her suffer again.

Her breast cancer had already spread, so she had to undergo a double mastectomy.

Before the surgery, she cried her eyes out, trembling as she huddled in a corner. "How... How can I face anyone after this? I'm not a complete woman anymore."

I held her tightly, slipping the ring I had prepared onto her ring finger. "In my eyes, you lack nothing; you're just like before."

She sobbed uncontrollably in my arms. "Gale, now I know why I suffered so many hardships before — it was to let me meet the best version of you."

Shortly after the surgery, I married her against my family's wishes.

Because of her physical disability, she was very sensitive to how others looked at her. "I don't want to go to work anymore; they all look at me like I'm a monster."

Although my career was just starting and I was struggling financially, I gritted my teeth and supported her decision. After our marriage, I took care of all the housework, washing her clothes, cooking for her, combing her hair, washing her feet... She never set foot in the kitchen during these ten years.

Now, Anthony was back, crying pitifully like a homeless person. "I was too impulsive back then. I'd never experienced such a blow and didn't know how to face you when you were devastated. I was actually more devastated than you. By the time I came to my senses, you were already married."

What a pathetic excuse. Even more pathetic was that all it took was a few tears from Anthony for her to forgive him and forget the past.

'No, thinking about it now, she probably never hated him at all,' I pondered.

After the photoshoot, Anthony offered to take her home.

When they arrived at the residential area, she surprisingly invited Anthony home. "Gale's been in the hospital lately; no one's home."

At that moment, I wished I were still alive and had the strength to slap her.

I had no idea what the woman I had loved for so many years was thinking. How could she bring someone home so blatantly?

Faced with his ex-lover's blatant advances, Anthony hesitated. "That's not a good idea. Gale's already wary of me. I don't want to cause you two to argue again because of me."

Jane opened the door nonchalantly. "What's there to be afraid of? He's in the hospital. Besides, so what if he were home? This is my home. I can let whoever I want come."

I smiled bitterly as I floated in mid-air.

She was right; the house had been transferred to her name after my diagnosis. Her remark was not wrong.

Anthony's phone rang at the door. He gestured toward Jane with his chin. "I need to take this call. The company really can't do without me."

Jane's eyes were full of admiration as she walked in cheerfully. Once inside, her expression immediately darkened. "The house is a complete pigsty. What a useless coward who's utterly unreliable."

She rolled up her sleeves and quickly tidied up.

In fact, she just picked up the scattered clothes, threw them into Maya's room, and locked the door. She was muttering under her breath, "He insists on staying in the hospital over a minor illness. He might as well just die in the hospital and never come back."

Looking at her, I felt utterly hopeless.

All these years, I had given her my whole heart, spoiling her into a pampered lady who had never performed a single house chore.