Taking My Hope Away

Arthur picked Shawna up from the hospital when she was discharged a month later.

Ian had been the only one by my side after my death, but things were different for Shawna. Her hospital ward was crammed full of friends and family. They were all excited when Arthur arrived.

"When are you going to marry Shawna, Mr. Rothe? She must be happy to see how much you treasure her," someone said.

Shawna lowered her head shyly and said, "Don't say that. Art is already married, and I don't want Leona to get the wrong idea. I don't want to be a homewrecker, either. She'll make things hard for me again if she hears about this."

One of her friends mocked, "I don't see what's so great about her when all she does is vie for attention out of jealousy. You're the one Arthur loves, not her. That makes her the third party in this relationship! All she's done so far is harm you! I would've divorced her ages ago if the choice was up to me!"

I found those words laughable. So, it turned out I was the one interfering with Arthur and Shawna's relationship. This was what Shawna did each time, though. She would use her words to make Arthur think I was at fault.

But what hurt me the most was Arthur's attitude. He didn't say anything as he packed Shawna's things. There were so many people in the hospital ward, but none of them bothered helping—all so he could do it.

I thought about what my life had been like after I'd married Arthur. He'd claimed he would always love me, but I'd always been the one doing the housework and suffering grievances. I'd thought he would keep me safe from storms, but in hindsight, he'd been the cause of all my trouble.

"Shawna's been single all these years because of you, Mr. Rothe. You can't let her down." One of Shawna's friends kept talking, and she pushed Arthur to Shawna in an attempt to matchmake them.

I watched them bitterly. It turned out this was how they spoke of me when I wasn't around. It seemed I was an unforgivable sinner in their eyes. Since Arthur hadn't said anything, I assumed he agreed with them.

Arthur took Shawna back to his bachelor pad. It was a place he went to be alone whenever we argued—he'd never taken me there before.

I should've long since known that she was the true exception in his life. He could change all his principles for her.

As he bent over to put her things away, she approached him and hugged him.

My heart clenched at the sight. It hadn't been that long after my death, yet they were being so intimate. The way they acted around each other made it seem like Arthur wasn't a married man.

To my surprise, he stiffened. He seemed to want to avoid her, but she only tightened her grip.

She rested her head against his back and murmured, "Can you give me another chance, Art? I didn't mean to leave you back then. I would never have left after taking your father's money if my mother hadn't been sick."

Oh, so she'd left after taking a lifesaving sum, leading to a bad ending between them. It was such a typical story, yet Arthur had pined after her for so long.

He laughed, but it was hard to read his emotions. "We wouldn't have ended up like this if you'd been honest with me. I could've given you the money my father did, couldn't I?"

Shawna choked. Still, she was intelligent. She knew he despised me, so she dragged me into the fray.

"You hate me, don't you? Is that why you didn't do anything when Leona bullied me? She hired someone to badmouth me at my company and got hooligans to violate me—they almost succeeded, too!

"She even refused to donate her kidney to me despite knowing I needed it to survive. Is that how you want to get revenge on me?"

She was lying! Shawna was lying through her teeth. Everything she said had never happened—I didn't even know where her company was!

Besides, I was nothing but an orphan. How could I have had the influence to make some hooligans do my bidding?

A simple investigation would be enough to expose Shawn's dumb lies, but Arthur believed her. In fact, she'd been spouting nonsense when saying he hadn't done anything to me.

Since learning what he thought was the truth, he'd dragged me out of my workplace with all my colleagues watching. His face had been so twisted with rage that it was almost as if I'd done something horrible.

After that, he'd hired a group of gangsters to humiliate and beat me up. I'd curled up in a corner and trembled with despair as those men had taken improper photos of me.

Arthur had watched the whole thing. Then, he'd waved his phone before me and threatened, "Touch another hair on Shawna's head, and I'll spread these photos and videos online. I'll hold this against you forever."

He'd turned a deaf ear to me when I'd repeatedly insisted that I hadn't done anything. He'd never believed me.

Now, Shawna was dredging up the past, but Arthur didn't say anything about how he'd tormented me because of her lies.

It was ridiculous. I couldn't understand why he'd married me if he didn't love me.