Farewell to You and Me

My husband is my supervisor. Before the Day of the Dead comes, I submit an application for leave so I can pay my respects to my late mother. However, he refuses to approve my application. He insists on having me care for his childhood sweetheart, who got into an accident.

He even berates me and tells me it's my duty to care for the patients. I can't second-guess them out of jealousy.

But I saw him kissing his childhood sweetheart passionately in the hospital ward. He even slipped his hand underneath her clothes at the peak of his passion. "Let me check whether your wounds are better. Do you need more treatment?"

She leans closer saucily, and he spanks her. "Do you think you'd be getting this treatment if not for Kaia being pregnant?"

I look down at my baby bump as my heart shatters. No wonder he insisted on having me work despite me falling pregnant. How can he possibly love me?

If that's the case, I'll give them my blessings.

Tears uncontrollably streamed down my cheeks as I watched the two of them locked tightly in each other's arms.

Just yesterday, Carter Vance had refused to let me take leave to visit my mother's grave. The reason that he gave was that my nursing skills were the best, and his first love, Clara Whitmore, had just undergone an emergency surgery and urgently needed someone to tend to her.

I couldn't help feeling resistant. He was paying far too much attention to Clara.

After all, I was his wife. Besides, she could've been cared for by any qualified nurse. It didn't have to be me.

He lectured me with lofty ideals about medical ethics and putting the patient first when I refused to go. He even accused me of being overly jealous.

Upon seeing me upset, he held me in his arms and comforted me, saying, "Are you truly worried she'll steal me away? Darling, you're pregnant. How could I ever leave you and our baby?"

I silently rested my hand on my slightly rounded belly and trusted him. I turned a blind eye to the rumors circulating in the hospital that they might be a couple.

Carter and I had been married for three years but never announced our marriage publicly. He always said that people would judge him harshly if they knew we were married, especially since we worked in the same hospital, and he already took such good care of me at work.

I understood and respected him. However, I never imagined that he would cheat on me just seven weeks into my pregnancy.

I would've never discovered that they had slept together if I hadn't swapped shifts with a colleague that day.

…

The sound of a glass shattering on the floor came from inside the room.

I saw Carter pinning Clara against the nightstand through the crack in the door.

Clara gasped softly. Her eyes were wide with feigned innocence as she weakly pushed against him. "Stop it. I'm still on an IV…"

However, Carter didn't listen. He leaned forward and silenced her protests with a kiss. "Oh, now you're scared? Where was the courage when you drugged me? Listen to me, do you think you'd have this chance if my wife weren't pregnant?"

My hand hovered over the doorknob as I masochistically listened to everything behind the door.

I couldn't believe that he would betray me like this.

I was transferred to the hospital in Halden City a few years ago. Here, I was constantly ostracized and endlessly bullied by my colleagues because of my lack of credentials.

When I was on the brink of collapse, Carter was the one who had quietly helped shoulder my burden when I was deliberately overloaded with tedious tasks.

There was a time when a colleague had locked me in the storage room, and an electrical fire broke out due to faulty wiring.

Carter had rushed in without hesitation and carried me out. His back had been burned so badly from saving me that his flesh was torn and bloody.

He was like a guiding light in my life during those difficult days. I had grown strong in a foreign land under his protection, and I began to shine in the field I excelled in.

That was why I'd chosen to marry him without a second thought. I thought we would spend a lifetime and weather all of life's ups and downs together.