Once and Never Again

After I passed out, my husband, Charles Lewis, had the staff take me to a private hospital and then went back to walking the red carpet while holding hands with his girlfriend, Julia Chapman.When I came to, the first thing I did was touch my belly.The doctor saw what I was doing and said sadly, "I'm sorry. We tried everything we could. You lost a lot of blood, so we had to take out your uterus..."I forced a smile, feeling totally hopeless. I whispered, "I get it."I checked my phone, but there were no messages or missed calls.There were just a bunch of headlines:[Rich Girl Julia and Business Big Shot Charles Go Public With Their Love.][Charles Says They've Been in Love for Six Months.][Julia’s Best Friend Spills That They Plan to Get Engaged in Half a Year.][Charles Gives Julie a Ten-Carat Diamond Ring.]Each headline was a reminder of Charles and Julia's love, but Charles was supposed to be my husband.The doctor, seeing me glued to my phone, seemed to guess what wa

After the funeral, I dragged myself home, exhausted.I was deep asleep when laughter woke me up in the middle of the night. I crept toward the noise and pushed the door open. There they were, Charles and Julia, all wrapped up in each other while not wearing a thing.They did not even notice me as they kissed and held each other."Charles, you went to a funeral during the day and here you are, cheating at night! You're vile. Watch out, or my mom's spirit might just come after you!" I could not keep quiet any longer.Charles stopped suddenly, gently placing down the woman he was holding. He started getting dressed without any rush."When your mom was really sick, I was the one who said yes to the new treatment at the hospital. I knew you tricked me, but I still let her get better. If it weren't for me, she would've been gone a long time ago.""When I first met you, I just wanted you to help my mom. I didn't plan on us dating or getting married. You were the one who fell for me righ

While I was half-conscious, I could hear people arguing."How could you push her when she just had a big operation? She could've died today!""It was just a little push... What do you mean her operation was to take out her uterus? You did that without asking me? Why?""She lost a lot of blood the last time she had a baby. We had to do the operation to save her life.""Why didn't you tell me?""Charles, you need to take better care of your wife."I slowly opened my eyes and saw Charles looking worried. He tried to smile and asked, "How are you feeling? I'm sorry. I didn't know about your operation."I did not want to talk to him, so I turned my head away."I thought you just had a miscarriage and could still get pregnant again. If I had known you had to have your uterus removed, I would never have made you bend down to apologize.""Go away," I said quietly.Charles' smile disappeared, and he said in a low, stern voice, "Just because I caused this doesn't mean you can do whatev

I had a new name and a new life in a new city. To fix my past regrets of quitting school, I went back to college. While walking on campus, someone tapped my shoulder. "Sophia, is that you?"My heart jumped, and I started to panic, but when I turned around, it was a man I did not know."Do we know each other?" I asked, unsure."I'm Brandon. We went to the same college before you left.""Oh, right. Sorry, I just didn't remember you at first."Brandon Smith was someone I knew from college. We did not really hang out much. He had zero contact with Charles, so I had nothing to worry about. "Why are you here? Do you go to college here too?" I asked.Brandon grinned, his eyes twinkling. "I'm a researcher at this college.""Wow, that's cool," I said."It's so unexpected to see you again. I thought I'd never find you after you got married and then just vanished. I tried to find out what happened to you, but there was no luck."Thinking about the past made me feel sad. After Charles a

I took a deep breath, knowing it was time to tell the truth.I shared with Brandon my real story from the past years, and he went from being shocked to quiet.I said, "If you want to break up, I'll understand.""I'm not thinking about breaking up.""Don't kid around. I've been divorced, and I can't have kids because of my surgery. I was too ashamed to talk about it, but now that Charles is here, I have to be honest. I'm sorry for not telling you sooner."Brandon held onto my clothes, his eyes filled with sadness. "What happened before was all Charles' fault, so you don't have to say sorry. I'm not with you just to have kids. Just being together is enough for me. I wish I had told you how I felt sooner so that we could've faced life's challenges together."My eyes stung, and I was close to tears. "Thank you for being so kind to me.""Sophia, you don't realize how much I love you."We hugged each other tightly, and it felt like we had the whole world.To put an end to the proble