Sitting in the front row at the wedding banquet, I quietly kicked off my high heels. This bride was truly difficult to deal with, torturing me from 3 AM until 9 AM.
I had practically been on my knees to finish her bridal makeup.
I usually only take on big fashion shows through my company, but the bride had thrown a lot of money around to specifically request me. Thinking of the new villa Alex had his eye on, I figured I could just grit my teeth and get through it!
As the wedding march began to play, I looked up while massaging my knees.
To my shock, the man in the groom's attire was none other than my husband, Alex!
Alex clearly hadn't expected me to be here either. His hands fidgeted nervously, unsure where to place them.
The bride nestled coyly against him, taking his hand and placing it on her waist.
She swayed her body flirtatiously.
That sway sent waves of nausea through me. I grabbed the nearby trash can and started dry heaving.
Having not even had a sip of water this morning, there was nothing to bring up but my tears, not even stomach acid.
"How disgusting!" The bride's contemptuous voice came through the microphone, drawing everyone's eyes to me.
"She looks kind of familiar…" "Isn't that Alex's wife?" The murmurs grew louder.
I turned my head, scanning the crowd, and spotted several of Alex's good friends. When they saw me looking, they all quickly turned away, pretending not to have noticed me.
What was the bride's name again? Nadia?
I suddenly looked up at the woman. It was Nadia!
The childhood sweetheart Alex had told me was suffering from increasingly severe epilepsy after a car accident!
In the year since she'd returned to the country, Alex and I had fought, argued, and given each other the cold shoulder countless times because of her. I had even considered divorce.
Every time she called in the middle of the night, Alex would immediately rush off to comfort her, abandoning me.
If I showed even a hint of emotion about it, I was accused of being unsympathetic to a sick person.
Now, Nadia extended her bouquet towards me provocatively, showing no signs of illness:
"You look so haggard and unloved. Here, take this!"
I bit my lip, staring at Alex in disbelief.
Seeing my hesitation to accept the bouquet, he walked over and explained in a low voice: "Ember Carter! Nadia's condition is getting worse. She just wants to have a wedding with me while she can still remember me. Don't make a scene right now!"
"Is Ember refusing my blessing? I suppose Nadia isn't as good at making money as Ember. Nadia only knows how to spend money!" Nadia put on a fragile act, tears welling up in her eyes. Alex hurriedly went over to hold her, gently stroking her head to comfort her.
She lowered her head, but I caught sight of her mocking smile directed at me.
I opened my mobile banking app.
Sure enough, the "hush money" I thought I had earned had been transferred out of my account by Alex that morning, for the exact same amount.
Alex frowned, gesturing for me to quickly take the bouquet.
I instinctively touched my abdomen, then slowly walked up to the stage.
"Well, well! It takes Alex to handle this!" Someone in the audience started heckling. I spotted several familiar faces.
"Hmph!" Nadia contemptuously threw the flowers at me. The bouquet scattered, pelting me.
The thorns of the roses scratched my chin.
I had heard she and Alex were childhood sweethearts. For the entire year since she'd returned to the country, Alex had carefully concealed her from me. I had never seen her face. I had always wondered if it was because he was afraid I might accidentally run into her and hurt her?
Everyone thought I would cover for him and this woman as I always had, with my usual graciousness.
After all, the whole world knew I loved Alex to the point of having no dignity.
From that first glance in the hospital room seven years ago.
Our relationship had always been based on my pursuit of him.
Looking at the two of them nestled together, I suddenly felt so tired.
I turned and knocked over the champagne tower.
Amid Nadia's shrieks, 999 champagne glasses shattered.
Alex rushed to shield Nadia. I stared at him, struggling to hold back the tears in my eyes, and yanked down the three-tiered cake.
In the midst of the chaos, I took off my wedding ring and threw it at Alex's face:
"Alex, I want a divorce!"
Alex glared at me malevolently from behind: "Divorce? Don't forget your Carter family owes me a life debt!"
The wedding at the hillside resort – at first I thought it was novel, but now I realize it was just Nadia's way of cutting off my escape route down the mountain.
Her provocations had been brazen and unchecked.
From Alex taking off our wedding rings and replacing them with couple rings I'd never seen before;
The strong perfume smell on his shirt after not coming home all night;
The unfamiliar lipstick on the passenger seat……
I covered my eyes, only believing the excuses I heard – those excuses Alex couldn't even be bothered to make coherent.
Even finding red long hair on our marriage bed when I returned from a business trip.
I had pushed back my own boundaries time and time again.
She had brazenly entered our home, my life completely exposed to her.
Yet Alex carefully protected her – I hadn't even seen her face until today.
Yesterday, I stood at the hospital entrance, clutching the ultrasound report, wanting to give our relationship one last chance.
Alex was still on the phone, coaxing me in a low voice, saying he was going out of town with friends to inspect a project and would be back soon. I automatically increased the limit on Alex's bank card.
Thinking about it now, I wanted to slap myself hard!
I kicked a rock that was in my way, but my heel got caught in a crack and I fell straight down.
As I struggled to get up again, a sharp pain shot through my right ankle. The mirror from my makeup case had fallen out.
I frantically tried to smooth my disheveled long hair, looking at the dark circles and bags under my eyes that I couldn't hide from the early morning. My face was pale and haggard.
Seven years. I had wasted seven whole years on this man who didn't love me.
After the Martin family went bankrupt, to maintain his accustomed lifestyle, I worked desperately to make money.
Now, he stood beside Nadia in a bespoke suit, looking dashing, while I had become a cast-off, dried-up ex-wife.
I desperately tried to wipe the tears from my face, but my makeup just got more and more smeared.
In the end, I lay on the ground, crying hysterically……
"Get in the car!" Alex coldly rolled down the window.
I hadn't expected his car to come down the mountain before the ambulance arrived. It seems the wedding I ruined was quite thorough.
"Alex was just fulfilling my wish. We weren't really going to get a marriage certificate. Did you have to make such an embarrassing scene?" Nadia sat up straight in the passenger seat, pressing her body close to Alex.
I let out a cold laugh: "I won't interfere with your newlywed bliss. I already have a car coming to pick me up!" I tried to get up from the ground, but the movement aggravated my sprained ankle, causing me to break out in a cold sweat from the pain.
"You're putting on this pitiful act by the roadside just so I'd see you, right?" Alex got out of the car and picked me up directly, stuffing me into the back seat.
Alex stared at me through the rearview mirror: "Why didn't you answer your phone? Nadia is sick, why do you have to be so difficult with her? Is this little incident worth divorcing me over?"
Again, it's me being difficult. Whenever it involves his childhood sweetheart, I'm always the one being unreasonable.
I glanced at Nadia. She pulled her neckline even lower, leaning over to press tightly against Alex's arm.
He didn't seem to find any of this inappropriate, and even thoughtfully turned up the air conditioning temperature a bit.
Seven years ago, my dad was in a car accident. Alex risked danger to pull my dad out of the car. To show gratitude, my dad gave Alex a large sum of money, which disappeared without a trace.
Although my dad was grateful to Alex, he felt Alex was irresponsible and didn't approve of us being together. I stubbornly insisted, willing to break ties with my parents just to marry him.
I closed my eyes, not wanting to watch Nadia's performance, inwardly grieving for my own blindness.
But Nadia wasn't about to let me off easily. She grabbed the ornament from the passenger seat: "Alex, this is making my head hurt!" It was a custom-made kiss photo of Alex and me from the day we got the car. She tossed it out the window.
Alex instinctively reached out to grab it, momentarily letting go of the steering wheel.
We had just turned a corner when an ambulance suddenly appeared from the opposite direction. It was probably the one I had called for help earlier.
Alex hurried to swerve, but the car still scraped against the hillside.
In the jolt, the makeup case in my arms slammed hard into my abdomen. A sharp pain shot through me, and I felt a hot flow running down my legs.
I curled up, huddling together unable to alleviate the tearing pain. Out of habit, I reached out to grab Alex: "Alex, Alex, my stomach…"
The car had only bumped and wasn't seriously damaged. Nadia didn't even have a scratch, but her face turned pale white in Alex's arms: "Alex, I'm scared, I'm so scared!"
Alex immediately embraced her and was about to rush out the door towards the ambulance. I struggled to grab the hem of his clothes: "Save me, Alex, I'm pregnant, Alex! I think I'm bleeding…"
The pain in my ankle and abdomen hit me together, and my consciousness was gradually becoming unclear.
Alex's hand hesitated, but Nadia in his arms started wailing loudly: "I know you're afraid I'll steal Alex away, so you're lying about being pregnant. You don't want him to save me…"
Alex's face suddenly darkened, and he forcefully pulled away from my grasp: "Using pregnancy to compete for attention? You disgust me!" He carried Nadia out and turned back to slam the car door shut.
Nadia turned her head in his arms, flashing a sinister smile at me.
My pleas for help grew weaker and weaker: "The baby, Alex, save my baby…" The smell of blood filled the car, stimulating what little consciousness I had left.
Outside, the ambulance medic anxiously asked: "Is anyone else injured? We're here for another patient. You can call for another ambulance…"
Alex hurriedly interrupted: "No need to check, it's just us two. We made the call earlier. Quick, take her to the hospital! Hurry!"
At Alex's urging, the ambulance sped away with sirens blaring.
I stretched out my hand desperately to bang on the car door, but I had no strength. I only left a long bloody streak on the glass.
The blood from my lower body was increasing, and the strong smell of blood filled the car. That was my child, using its life to denounce me.
Denouncing me for being blind enough to love this man.
Denouncing me for wasting seven years like a fawning dog, losing not just my pitiful love.
I covered my abdomen, opened my mouth, but could no longer make a sound through my sobs.
As my consciousness gradually faded, I closed my eyes in despair.
Alex, the life debt the Carter family owed you… I've repaid it now…
