Cephalosporin and Alcohol on New Year's Eve

I met and fell in love with Jennifer in college. We both studied finance. Our university was ranked among the top in the country.

Most of the students in this department came from families with "connections" and "backgrounds," but Jennifer was different.

She relied entirely on her own efforts to get in, and she planned to build her future from scratch.

That determination of hers immediately attracted me. It was no surprise that we ended up together.

I was the one who pursued her, and I learned a lot from her along the way.

My family didn’t value Jennifer.

In fact, when I was about to graduate, they had already chosen a marriage alliance partner for me, assuming I was just playing around with her and would eventually return to fulfill their expectations.

But people were always rebellious. That youthful defiance I had back then was something I could no longer muster.

I broke ties with my family and chose to stay with Jennifer.

Looking back now, we had been married for three years and been together for five. Over those three years, Jennifer’s career, with my support, had been smooth sailing.

She once protected me as fiercely as she protected Henry today.

I remember how she stood up for me against disrespectful business partners who kept forcing me to drink, angrily scolding them in front of everyone.

Later, she would stay up late taking care of me. I truly believed I could spend the rest of my life with Jennifer.

Life got better, but the love between us began to fade.

Ever since Henry joined the company as an intern assistant, Jennifer’s attitude towards me took a sharp turn.

I heard she even personally requested Henry to be transferred to her team.

Since then, she had been frequently working overtime and traveling, always taking Henry with her.

She claimed it was to "develop his skills," but I didn’t know what kind of "skills" were being developed.

As a result, rumors started circulating in the company over the past few months, suggesting that Henry had actually been "favored" by Jennifer.

While I was lost in thought, another slap landed squarely on my face without hesitation.

I raised my eyes slowly to look at Jennifer, only to see her gritting her teeth and speaking each word slowly.

“Lee, accept Henry’s apology immediately, or I won’t leave you alone.”

“Jennifer, stop hitting him! Please don’t fight because of me!”

Henry, seeing the situation, waited until she finished hitting me before finally speaking to stop her. Then, with a resolute expression, he stood up decisively.

“Lee, since you still refuse to forgive me, I’ll just turn myself in. I’m willing to atone for this with the rest of my life!”

Without waiting for our reaction, he bolted out of the ward.

“Henry! What are you doing? Don’t do anything stupid!”

Jennifer rushed after him in a panic, but not before throwing me a final harsh warning.

“If anything happens to him, Lee, I won’t forgive you!”

The door slammed shut behind her, leaving the room quiet at last. I let out a long sigh, feeling nothing but exhaustion.

There was no way Henry was actually going to turn himself in. Everything he did today was just to provoke conflict between Jennifer and me. This obvious scheme could only fool someone like Jennifer.

Sure enough, not long after, Jennifer posted on her social media. The photo was a scenic shot taken just outside the hospital, and the caption read, “I’ll protect you for a lifetime.”

She didn’t block anyone from seeing it, blatantly posting it for everyone to see.

After she chased after him, she didn’t come back to check on me again. Not that it was necessary—my life was no longer in danger, so there was no reason for her to return.

I sneered, unmoved by her subtle provocation.

After having my stomach pumped last night, I couldn’t eat anything, nor did I want to stay in the hospital any longer. So I arranged with the doctor to be discharged the next day.

When I got home after packing my things, I found Jennifer was there too.