Call Me a Jinx, Cry When I'm Gone

In his rush to get to the hospital, Derek forgot his phone, something he never left behind. I unlocked it and scrolled to a contact saved as "Boss", then started typing a message.

"Boss" was Derek's mistress, Lily Morgan. I knew her well. I'd run into her countless times.

Derek didn't have a real job. He was pathetic and terrified of his wife. When Alessia spoke, he never dared disobey her.

But whenever his wife and daughter weren't home, he brought Lily over to fool around.

When I was home, Derek never bothered hiding it from me. He openly brought Lily to the house, made me be polite to her, had me serve them dinner, and then sent me away.

Afterward, Derek always gave me ten bucks as hush money. Since Alessia and I had a bad relationship, he was confident that I wouldn't sell him out.

For the sake of family harmony, I stomached my disgust and never breathed a word. Derek bragged to everyone about how good Alessia was to him.

People had to face reality eventually. Alessia, who'd been kept in the dark, deserved to know the truth.

Using Derek's name, I typed out a message. "Babe, I'm in the emergency room right now!"

The next message naturally included the hospital's address. Within a minute, Lily sent over a dozen messages in a row. I didn't reply to any of them.

Leaning against the couch, I figured Lily should be arriving at the hospital about now. I changed into nicer clothes and headed to the hospital to watch the show.

Before I even reached the emergency room, I heard Alessia shrieking. "Derek, you explain this to me right now! Who is this woman?"

Derek knelt on the ground, begging forgiveness. "Honey, I swear I don't know her!"

Lily wasn't backing down either. "Derek, you coward! When you had your arms around me, you didn't say you didn't know me!

"You called your wife a fat pig and said she was worse than a tiger. Did you forget all that? You even told me her useless body couldn't give you a son, so having a son depended entirely on me!"

Alessia ripped out her IV in fury and lunged at Lily like a rabid dog. "You homewrecker! How dare you steal my husband? You even had the nerve to show up at the hospital? I'll beat you to death!"

Alessia and Lily got into a full brawl. Derek didn't know which one to pull away.

His precious daughter saw her mother losing her mind but just lay calmly in bed playing games on her phone. It was like whatever happened in the family had nothing to do with her.

The hospital was full of sick patients. Being ill was already miserable enough, and now this ridiculous scene was disrupting everyone's rest. It sparked public outrage.

Medical staff and other patients' families shouted at them.

"This is a hospital! If you want to fight, go home and do it! Let people rest!"

"My dad's heart rate just hit 180! If something happens to him, you'll answer for it!"

A burly family member walked over and kicked Derek twice as he knelt there groveling. "Are you even a man? You can't even control your own women. Get them both out of here now!"

I noticed Derek kept making eyes at Lily, mouthing words silently, signaling for her to leave.

Lily had come to the city for work. She used to wait tables at a restaurant, where she met Derek.

She was lazy and didn't want to work. She wanted someone to take care of her, so she became Derek's mistress.

Lily was only a few years older than me. Derek was probably older than her own father.

She'd taken his money, so she couldn't disobey him. Lily didn't dare ignore Derek. If she lost this meal ticket, she'd have to go back to working, getting up early and staying up late. Lily was done with that life.

She played along with Derek, humbly apologizing to Alessia. "Ma'am, I'm so sorry. I mistook you for someone else. Your husband looks just like mine. Are they twins or something?"

"Are you crazy? My husband doesn't have a twin!"

Alessia suspected Lily was lying, but she wasn't about to make a bigger scene. With all these people watching, she'd take the excuse and deal with it later.

I pressed hard on the wound on my stomach. Tears immediately sprang to my eyes. The show hadn't reached its climax yet. I couldn't let it end here.

Ignoring the pain, I rushed into the ward and shouted, "Dad! Mom! Ray! Are you all okay?"

I grabbed Lily just as she was about to leave and greeted her loudly. "Lily! What's wrong with you? Why are you at the hospital too?"