Betrayed for a Dying Lover

Not long after Steven left, a nurse came to change my dressing. As she finished, I vaguely heard her talking on the phone.

"Mr. Reed, Mrs. Reed requires rest for her leg injury. It's best not to move her unnecessarily–

"Alright, I understand."

Before I could react, four nurses pushed my hospital bed and moved me out of the ward.

I didn't even have time to ask what was going on before my bed was pushed into a private ward.

The room was filled with a faint scent of lilies. Lily lay on the hospital bed, her face pale. She was sleeping peacefully.

Seeing me being wheeled in, Steven stood up, walked to my bedside, and explained gently, "Julia, Lily isn't doing well right now. I thought I'd move you to her room so I can take care of both of you more easily."

I looked at their interlocked fingers and gave a bitter smile.

I had always known that Steven had a first love, one he could never have. She had married someone abroad.

When I heard she had returned, I did feel a little shaken. But Steven had treated me well all these years.

Everyone around us knew him as the perfect husband.

Steven pushed me closer to Lily. I looked at her bald head and thought of the first time I met her. Back then, she had just been diagnosed with brain cancer, and the doctors had predicted she only had a month left to live.

She sat in a wheelchair In the hospital corridor. Her head was bare, and her face was drained of blood. She seemed fragile and pitiful.

The moment Steven saw her, his eyes filled with tears. He held her tightly and called her name with deep sorrow. "Lily."

I couldn’t quite describe what I felt at that moment. Maybe it was a little bit of jealousy. I was jealous that she had earned Steven’s pity.

But my innate kindness kept me from saying anything.

After all, in the face of life and death, it wasn’t a big deal.

Why should I resent someone who was already dying?

“Mrs. Reed." Lily's voice was as soft as a whisper. It trembled slightly. "You're so lucky. You have a healthy body, beautiful hair, and soon a child."

Her voice choked on the word ‘child,' and her eyes welled with tears.

Instinctively, I placed a hand on my stomach. I was pregnant with the child Steven and I had created together. It was the most precious gift of my life.

"I once had a child too," Lily murmured, her voice sinking into a painful memory. "But he never made it into this world."

Her voice grew weaker and weaker until it faded into silent sobs.

Watching her suffer, I felt a surge of sympathy.

But every time Steven visited her, she would bring up these same words again and again.

And every time, Steven would be tormented by them. He was nearly driven to madness.

“I feel so bad for Lily. She doesn’t have much time left. I just want to make her happy.

"So I was thinking maybe you could--"

He never finished his sentence, but I already understood.

I knew he had lost his mind for a moment, but I still rejected him directly. "Impossible!"

Steven didn’t say another word. He simply gripped the steering wheel tightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

He didn’t speak to me for an entire day.

After much thought, I decided to offer Lily some comfort for the sake of the child in my belly. It was to earn him some good karma.

I shaved my head bald.

When Lily saw me again, her eyes lit up, and Steven finally smiled, feeling reassured.

What about me? Was I happy?

I supposed I should be.

Steven’s words still echoed in my ears. "She’s already dying. Why do you even bother to compete with her?"

Now, I felt like nothing more than a pathetic joke, serving only to highlight the deep love between the two of them.