Chapter 1
The night the typhoon made landfall, with rain pouring down, my husband, captain of the Criminal Investigation Division, vanished without a trace.
When I finally saw him again, he was lying in the orthopedic ward with his right leg crushed.
He wore a cartoon raincoat that was too big for him and smelled strongly of cheap perfume.
Marlon Willard had severe acrophobia and he couldn't step onto a second-floor balcony.
The instructor hesitated before finally revealing the truth: a girl streamer had gotten stuck at the very top of the Ferris wheel while live-streaming.
Without waiting for the rescue team, Marlon climbed the heights alone, no gear, no backup, and carried her down on his back.
"Really, it wasn't a big deal. The streamer just kept freaking out, and Captain Marlon ended up falling while trying to calm her down."
Just before the call ended, the Instructor added, "Mrs. Willard, honestly, that streamer never called the police. She simply video-called Captain Marlon directly."
At that moment, it felt like my blood had turned to ice.
Just two hours ago, my dad took his last breath in my arms.
The ambulance got stuck two kilometers away, blocked by a fallen tree.
I called Marlon twelve times.
Not one call got answered.
I thought he was out there on the front lines, battling the storm.
Even as my dad was slipping away, he kept telling me, "Don't blame Marlon. He's a cop. People need him more than ever right now."
And for what?
My husband, who's scared to death of heights, was up there on top of a Ferris wheel, risking everything to rescue some attention-seeking streamer who got herself into trouble.
I folded up my dad's death certificate and tucked it deep inside my bag.
I pushed open the hospital room door.
Marlon was still out cold, his right leg in a thick cast, suspended in the air.
I walked over and picked up his phone.
The lock screen was still our wedding photo, taken five years ago.
Back then, his fear of heights was so bad that even the studio ladder freaked him out.
I spent three years with him in the training room, helping him get over it.
Every single time, he'd say, "Honey, I can't do it. I'm gonna die."
But now, he finally made it.
The phone wasn't locked. The passcode was my birthday.
Pinned at the top of his WhatsApp chats was a user named "Sugar."
I opened it up, and the chat history was still there. He hadn't deleted it yet.
Last night, 9:03 PM.
Sugar: [Captain Marlon, it's storming out and the Ferris wheel is shaking like crazy. I'm freaking out here.]
Marlon: [Don't worry, I'm right here with you.]
Sugar: [You're the only one who can save me. The rescue team is taking forever. I swear I'm not gonna make it.]
Marlon: [Hang tight. I'm coming for you.]
Last night, 9:15 PM, the exact time I was desperately calling him over and over, twelve times in a row.
Marlon replied: [Don't cry, I'm at the bottom now. Listen, no matter how high it gets, if it's for you, I'll climb it.]
The last thing was a video call that lasted 45 minutes.
It spanned the most intense stretch of the typhoon's landfall.
Marlon woke up.
He opened his eyes and instinctively reached under his pillow for his phone.
When he found nothing there, he looked up in a panic and met my gaze.
A flicker of guilt flashed in his eyes.
"What took you so long? I've been awake for ages," he said.
"Not even a glass of water? Didn't think to get me some?"
I looked at him quietly.
"Is this why you climbed up the Ferris wheel?" I held his phone up to his face, the screen lit.
Marlon's face fell, and he instantly lunged for the phone.
"Why are you snooping through my phone? Do I get any privacy at all?" he blurted out.
The sudden movement made his injured leg throb, and he gritted his teeth in pain.
"Marlon, you're scared to even step out on a second-floor balcony, but you scaled all those meters with nothing but your bare hands?"
I slowly and deliberately set his phone back on the nightstand, looking down at him, literally and figuratively.
"So, is that what it takes? Only when you're holding another woman do your legs stop shaking?"
Marlon flinched, like I'd just hit a nerve.
"Lynn! Can you stop being so twisted?" he shouted.
He yelled, voice echoing in the room.
"It was a matter of life and death! The rescue team couldn't get up there, and if I hadn't gone, she would've jumped! I'm a cop. Was I just supposed to stand by and watch someone die?"
"Funny!" I scoffed.
"You mean the kind who skips 911 and goes straight for a private video call to you?"
Marlon froze for a second, then his face darkened with even more anger and shame.
"She trusted me! You're just sitting in your office all day, enjoying the AC. What do you know about being out there on the front lines? Or what it means to make a life-or-death call when everything's on the line?"
He made himself out to be the selfless hero.
And I was the cold, jealous, petty wife.
"And what's the deal with that pink raincoat?" I said, gesturing at the cartoonish thing.