Chapter 2

The door to the exam room opened, and Selena Collins, the attending physician, called my name.

"How did this happen?" she asked, pulling on a pair of gloves and gently examining my finger with a pair of tweezers.

When she realized how serious the wound was, she immediately frowned. "That's a deep cut. You've injured the tendon, too. You'll need stitches."

I pressed my lips together and said nothing.

As she prepared the anesthetic, she reminisced. "I remember you. You came in before with a cut.

"The woman who brought you in last time seemed pretty cold, but she was so worried about you. She practically carried you into the hospital and cried so much she ruined her makeup. Why isn't she here this time?"

Her words sent me drifting back to that memory.

We'd only been living together for a short time then. I'd broken a teacup in the kitchen and stepped on a shard of glass while cleaning it up. It was barely more than a scratch.

Feeling playful, I deliberately limped over to Willow and exaggerated my injury.

She was working on an important project, her computer screen filled with lines of code.

Knowing how busy she was, I quickly waved off her concern. "I'm kidding. It's nothing. Just a little cut."

But she immediately got to her feet and insisted on taking me to the hospital. She supported me the entire way, stubbornly bearing half my weight as sweat beaded on her forehead.

Feeling guilty, I tried to stop her. "Babe, I'm too heavy, and everyone's watching. I can walk on my own."

But her arm only tightened stubbornly around my waist.

"I'm fine," she said in that stubborn, serious voice. "Caius, you need to take better care of yourself. Getting cut by glass can be dangerous."

Selena was still reminiscing about that time when she said, "You two were so in love."

I forced a smile and interrupted her. "We broke up."

She paused awkwardly before offering a dry consolation. "Well, you're young. You'll meet someone better."

I felt every pull of the stitches as Selena worked.

I stared at the ceiling, but all I could see was Jayden's latest social media post. He'd posted nine photos, all taken at the movie theater.

Willow sat beside him in every one. The woman who usually hated having her picture taken was looking straight at the camera, a faint smile on her lips in each shot.

Jayden's caption read, "A man doesn't need much to be happy. A nice evening, a beautiful sunset, and a silly woman willing to sit through the world's most boring movie with him."

Suddenly, I remembered our wedding day.

All our friends had joked that Willow was completely out of my league—beautiful, aloof, and the kind of woman who could freeze you with a single look. None of them could believe that someone like her had chosen me.

When Jayden heard it, he glanced at me with a teasing smile. "Caius, you'd better hold on to her. Willow's gorgeous. You never know how many guys might come after her."

Then he looked me up and down. "And you? You're just some ordinary guy. Willow must've been blind to pick you."

The words cut deeper than I wanted to admit. I was about to argue when Willow's gaze settled calmly on Jayden.

"Jayden, just because you lack confidence doesn't mean everyone else does. Caius is the partner I chose. I'm happy with him. It has nothing to do with you."

Jayden's face went pale, then darkened.

But now, things had changed.

I stared at his smug smile on my phone.

The two people who used to clash at every turn were now sharing strawberries, sitting side by side in the dark of a movie theater, and sharing a kind of intimacy I'd always thought was meant for me.

I closed my eyes, overcome by a deep sense of sadness.

I remembered asking Willow, unable to hide my disappointment, why she wouldn't even go to the movies with me.

She flipped through a stack of documents without even looking up as she answered, "Movie theater seats are dirty. The speakers are too loud. Besides, I don't have time for that."

Her excuses had always sounded so reasonable that I could never argue with them.

Eventually, after I confronted her about her interactions with Jayden, all my resentment spilling out, she looked at me the way you might look at an unreasonable child.

"You're my husband. I don't have to put on an act around you. I can be honest about what I like and what I don't. With Jayden, I have to be more accommodating. It's harder to turn him down without making things awkward."

She even added at the end, "Is that clear enough?"

It seemed that because I was her husband, she expected me to accept all her impatience and every hurtful truth she had no problem throwing my way.

When the stitches were done, Selena told me not to get the wound wet for the next few days.

I nodded mechanically.

After I left the hospital, I took a cab straight to a law firm.

The attorney was a gentle, middle-aged woman. She listened as I explained what I wanted.

She then explained, "As for the assets in your wife's name—"

"I don't want anything," I cut her off. "She can have it all. I only have one request—make it fast. I'm leaving the country in seven days."

By the time I left the law firm, the sky was already dark. The streetlights cast a dim glow as I stood on the sidewalk waiting for a ride. Suddenly, a wave of dizziness hit me.

That was when I remembered I hadn't eaten anything all day. I'd been grocery shopping and cooking since morning without a break, and now the hunger was finally catching up.

I tried to make it to a convenience store to grab some chocolate, but after only a few steps, my vision suddenly went black, and I collapsed onto the sidewalk. Pain shot through my knee as it hit the ground.

I clenched my teeth and forced myself to stay conscious long enough to pull out my phone and call my emergency contact.

"Sorry, the number you have dialed is currently busy."

Willow didn't answer.

I called again.

She rejected the call after the first ring this time.

Then my screen lit up with a voice message from Jayden.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Caius? Why do you keep calling? Willow and I are in the middle of a game. She doesn't have time to deal with you!"

He then let out a mocking laugh. "Fine, I'll be generous. If you miss her that much, I'll let you hear your wife beg me to—"

I lay there on the ground as the last of my strength drained away. My mind grew hazy.

Through the fog, I felt several hands searching through my clothes.

Then came a low, knowing laugh.

"Damn, he's passed out. Looks like he's got money. No cameras around here... Should we take advantage of it?"