Semua Bab In Time, the Truth: Bab 1 - Bab 9

I smiled mockingly and said softly, "Go ahead. Your children need you."Alex didn't even look back at me once. He fled in panic, the wind from his movement brushing across my face.I sat alone in the darkness, neither turning on the lights nor crying. I knew Alex might never marry Brooke. But he would be called away by her again and again, because of those children.I had blended over a thousand fragrances. Top notes, middle notes, base notes, each layer distinct yet harmoniously unified. But my life had been forcibly invaded by a discordant, cheap odor.If I didn't divorce him, how long would I have to endure this contamination? A lifetime?A familiar, needle-like pain twisted through my stomach. I curled up on the couch and opened my phone.Brooke had posted a photo on her social media feed. Alex stood guard beside the incubator, his profile haggard, his expression showing a panic and anxiety I'd never seen on him before.Her caption read, "With you here, I'm not afraid."I l

Brooke's caption read, "New life, new chapter. Finally cleared out everything that didn't belong here."That photo stuck in my mind like a poisonous thorn.That night, the dull ache in my stomach and the chemotherapy side effects kept me awake. A hand reached over in the darkness, gently pried open my mouth, and placed a candy inside. A fresh lemon flavor spread across my tongue."Is it sweet?" David's voice was low and gentle, with a barely perceptible carefulness. I fell into a deep sleep soon after.A month later, David burst through the hospital room door, clutching a stack of test results. "Emma! All your indicators are completely normal!"I looked at the dark circles under his eyes and the bloodshot whites, my nose stinging unexpectedly. "How long has it been since you slept?""And..." I sniffled. "You smell like a combination of tobacco, caffeine, and three days without a shower. You reek."The air froze instantly. David, who was always decisive in business, slowly turn

Alex grew thinner by the day. The man in the mirror had sunken eyes and unkempt stubble, looking like a walking corpse. In the dead of night, he sat alone in the marital home that had been stripped of all traces of me, mumbling to the empty air."Em, where are you? Please come back..."He often caught my unique, cool fragrance in his dreams, only to wake to endless darkness and Brooke's cheap gardenia-scented perfume.Caleb placed reports of all unidentified female bodies found in the city on his desk every day. Alex trembled as he opened each file, feeling both relief and deep despair when he found no images of me. He felt like he was losing his mind.Meanwhile, at David's estate, I was recovering at an astonishing rate. The gardener said the color in my cheeks was better than the most vibrant roses in the garden.That day, I was tending to rare aromatic plants in the glass greenhouse when I heard hushed arguing from behind the bushes."Old man, keep it down! Don't scare the poo

"Excuse me, who are you?"Alex froze like he'd been struck by lightning, his face turning as white as a sheet in an instant. The hospital room fell so silent that you could almost hear heartbeats.David's attending physician stepped forward at the perfect moment, explaining the situation with a grave expression. "Mr. Carter, the patient previously underwent high-dose chemotherapy, which can damage brain neurons. Combined with the oxygen deprivation from drowning, selective amnesia is possible.""Chemo... Chemotherapy?" Alex grabbed the doctor's collar like a crazed animal. "What chemotherapy? What was wrong with her?"He turned to me, his voice shaking uncontrollably. "Em, I'm Alex! I'm your husband!"I tilted my head, studying him like a stranger, then burst into laughter. "Husband? You're my husband?"My gaze moved past him to Brooke at the doorway, holding her kids with an innocent expression. "Then why do you have children with another woman?"The color drained from his face