The Road Back Buried in Snow

But the call would not go through.

Joanna had blocked me.

I kept calling anyway. Over and over, more than three hundred times.

I was like a trapped animal, ramming myself against the bars again and again until my head was bloodied, yet still unable to escape.

The doctors kept injecting me with medication, and I gradually stabilized.

The housekeeper pointed at the doctor in front of us and said, "You must have misdiagnosed him. My sir is going to live a long life."

Then she took me to other hospitals.

For three days, I saw countless doctors, but every answer was the same.

There was no treatment.

Rest well, and maybe I might live to see spring.

On the first day after I woke, I sent Joanna a message.

[My heart condition is not cured. Other doctors say I only have a few days left.]

Finally, on the third day, she replied.

Joanna asked me instead:

[Dr. Wells already said you were fine. Mason, stop lying. I know you are unhappy that I am with Adrian, but I promise you, I love you. I only see Adrian as a younger brother. For the rest of my life, my husband will only be you.]

Joanna said Dr. Wells was trustworthy.

But Dr. Wells had already disappeared.

In three days, I dug up everything about her.

She was Adrian's close friend. They had studied at the same university abroad, and she had once been Adrian's most passionate pursuer.

Seven years ago, Adrian stubbornly went to become an international doctor. Tara followed him, but she soon returned alone, without Adrian.

Only now did I understand that Tara had known something had happened to Adrian back then.

After returning, she had deliberately approached Joanna.

At that time, Joanna had spent three years searching for Adrian like a madwoman. She wrecked her own body, damaged her heart, and her attending physician was Dr. Wells.

Her therapist was me.

[Tara Wells is lying to you. That fraud has disappeared. You may not know the truth, but Tara Wells and Adrian Shaw are not innocent.]

I sent Joanna photos of the blood I had vomited over the past three days, diagnoses from more than thirty doctors in other hospitals, and all the information I had found about Tara Wells.

But Joanna only replied:

[Be good. Do not use AI. Dr. Wells is an old friend of mine and does not know Adrian. I trust her, Mason. This is not the time to be jealous.]

[I am not jealous. Everything I said is true. I also suspect Adrian has not forgotten anything at all. His innocence is all an act.]

I did not believe Tara Wells alone had the courage or ability to harm me and then leave safely.

If Joanna had not interfered, then it could only have been Adrian.

[Enough! I will not allow you to slander Adrian.] Joanna was angry.

[I will block you for now. Take care of yourself. While I am gone, the housekeeper will look after you. Remember, do not appear in front of me and Adrian.]

I tested it by sending one word.

[Wife.]

What I received was the unsent mark.

Joanna did not believe me.

She believed Adrian.

Again and again, I sent her messages.

[Why don't you believe me?]

[Joanna, you have been lying to me all along.]

[I do not want to love you anymore.]

[I hate you.]

But every message stayed gray.

The pain reached a level I could no longer endure.

I drank all the pain medication.

The doctor had advised against it, but it hurt too much. It really hurt.

Joanna, my heart really hurt.

I vomited more and more blood, staining the message where Joanna had once promised to spend her life with me.

Snow covered the whole world in cold white.

I laughed, and tears fell with the laughter.

But Joanna, I would not live to see three months from now.

I was going to die in this winter.