Robinson Crusoe Novels & Stories

On the day of the wedding, Galen Shaw forces me to crack walnuts with my bare hands for his so-called female buddy. My expression goes cold, and I refuse outright. "My hands are for holding a scalpel, not cracking walnuts for her!" He only chuckles and orders someone to hold me down. Then, he glues the walnuts to my palms himself. One by one, he slams them against the ground. "You cheated while studying medicine. Now that you've married me, forget about ever being a doctor again!" I grit my teeth through the pain. My fingers are aching, but I try to explain. "I went abroad to study medicine for you!" His so-called female buddy sneers in a shrill voice. "All that talk about the Shaw family's hereditary disease is nonsense! Galen has been perfectly healthy for over 20 years. Don't tell me you just want another excuse to cozy up with your precious senior?" The moment those words leave her lips, the faint thought of having someone bandage my hand disappears. A shadow crosses Galen's face. "Looks like you haven't learned your lesson!" He throws me into the basement and locks me there for three days. By the time I crawl out, my hands are completely ruined. Later, when Galen's hereditary disease finally surfaces, the doctor tries to comfort him. "This disease may be terminal, but there is still a way. Dr. Robinson has just returned from overseas. She's the only one in the world who can perform this surgery. "I hear that she's your wife."

After the car accident, one of the Laurent heiresses has died, while the other lives. The moment my religious wife, Amelia Laurent, opens her eyes in the hospital, she addresses me as her brother-in-law. Then, she claims that her older sister, Penelope Laurent's soul has possessed her body. I quickly get all the doctors and priests I can find, hoping to swap Penelope's soul out for Amelia's. That is, until I overhear Amelia's conversation with our daughter, Charlotte Robinson, at night. "Mom, you've had a crush on Uncle Samuel for so many years, and you've even gone into abstinence by staying in the monastery for years. Now, you can finally be with him in the open." Amelia pats Charlotte on the head. "If it wasn't for the need to prevent your father from ruining Samuel's relationship back then, I wouldn't have married your father in the first place." As I struggle to register the truth from the shadows, I witness what happens next after Charlotte leaves the ward. Amelia, who has always prided herself on her composure and restraint; who has practiced abstinence for seven long years for the sake of her religion, proceeds to be physically intimate with Samuel Bennett—a fresh widower—on the cramped hospital bed. The next day, I apply for Amelia's death certificate immediately before burning our marriage certificate. On the day Amelia throws a grand proposal banquet for Samuel, I board the helicopter that has flown over to pick me up. But strangely enough, Amelia tears through the streets while chasing after the helicopter.

I step into his office, and he is already waiting behind the desk. His amber eyes lock onto mine the moment I enter—deep, intense, and unreadable, as if he is trying to reach something buried beneath everything I refuse to show. “You can’t work under me anymore, Ms. Robinson,” he says calmly. His voice is steady, controlled. Too controlled. I tilt my head slightly, pretending indifference. “Are you firing me, sir?” The word feels unfamiliar on my tongue, even now, like it carries a distance I’m not used to acknowledging. He exhales slowly and stands from his chair, closing the space between us just enough to make it harder to breathe. “I can’t continue pretending you don’t know what I want,” he replies. My fingers tighten at my side. I force myself to look away. “You know it’s not possible,” I say quietly. “You’re married.” And just like that, everything shifts. Because I know this conversation. I’ve lived it in silence long before today. Four years ago, he left to study abroad. He promised he would come back. He promised that what we had wasn’t over. So I waited. I built my life around that promise, holding on to the belief that love like ours didn’t simply end—it paused, it endured, it survived distance. We were each other’s first love. Or at least, I thought we were something that would never be replaced. But when he returned, he did not return alone. He returned as someone else’s husband. Now he stands in front of me again, no longer the boy I once knew, but a man shaped by time, choices, and consequences I was never part of. And yet, the way he looks at me tells me nothing between us has truly ended. He wants something from me. Something I am not sure I can give without losing myself in the process. And worse than that— A part of me is still waiting to find out what happens if I don’t walk away this time.