My Missing Husband

I had just hung up the phone when I ran straight into Jeff Winger as he walked out of the bar.

Seeing me, he froze for a moment, then shook his head helplessly.

"I've already told you many times, stop coming to find me. I really am not your husband."

A trace of pity appeared on his friend's face, and he advised me, "Hazel, you don't look like you've slept well for several days. Go back and rest first."

I shook off his hand and looked at Jeff.

"It's not several days; it's three years.

"From the day you went missing, I haven't slept a full night. I was called a jinx, blamed as the culprit who caused your death.

"Devastated, my mind was hazy, and I fell down the stairs. Even the baby wasn't saved.

"For these past three years, I searched the whole country, tortured by self-blame and guilt. In the end..."

I looked at the plain band worn on his ring finger.

"In the end, my newlywed husband tells me that he fell in love with another woman."

Listening to my slightly trembling voice, Jeff's expression shifted slightly.

He subconsciously touched the plain ring on his hand, where the newlywed ring I personally designed used to be worn.

The moment he touched the plain ring, his eyes suddenly became clear, and he said impatiently, "It's a tragic story, but what does all of this have to do with me?"

Looking at the indifference on his face, my very last bit of wavering completely dissolved.

What did it have to do with him?

Wasn't he the culprit who caused all of this?

Thinking of the eyes of my parents-in-law, full of anticipation before I left the house, hoping I would bring their missing son home, my heart ached.

It turned out that something even harder to accept than Jeff's death was that he had planned all of this.

These past days, I was filled with grief as I told him about our past over and over again, trying to awaken his memory. Had he not felt even a bit moved?

Or rather, was he mocking my pathetic state with Nora Melville?

Meeting my bloodshot eyes, Jeff frowned and subconsciously took a few steps toward me.

He just raised his hand.

Slap!

Nora slapped me right across the face, pointing at my nose and cursing furiously, "What are you pretending to be aggrieved for? Chasing someone else's boyfriend all day and calling him your husband, how pathetic are you?!"

Seeing the bright red finger marks rising on my face, a trace of shock flashed across Jeff's face.

Without even thinking, he immediately pulled Nora behind him.

"Nora just has a blunt personality. Don't mind her."

The look he gave me was full of vigilance and wariness, terrified that I would harm his beloved woman.

A burning pain dulled across my face. Thinking of the conversation I had overheard inside the bar, it felt like a massive hole had been ripped open in my heart.

The amnesia was an act, but his coldness and heartlessness toward me were real.

So I booked a plane ticket home right there and then and looked at Jeff.

"Don't worry, I won't disturb you two again."

Since he liked to pretend to be dead, I would fulfill his wish!

...

Early the next morning, just as I was about to leave, I suddenly received a call from my father-in-law.

"Lydia had a heart attack and hasn't come out of the ICU yet. She keeps muttering Jeff's name.

"He... is he really not Jeff?"