Chapter 3
Everything changed in the second year after David's wedding.
The whole story really began with Lauren.
That Christmas Eve, David, Michael, and I were at home making roast turkey. The place was warm and filled with laughter.
Suddenly, someone knocked at the door.
When we opened it, Lauren was standing there, soaked, disheveled, and shivering like crazy.
She was the daughter of David's college mentor. After her family went bankrupt, she was chased all over by debt collectors, with nowhere left to go, so she turned to David for refuge.
David's brow furrowed, and after a few seconds of silence, he gritted his teeth and pulled her inside. "Don't be scared. I've got you."
From then on, David quit his beloved teaching job and jumped headfirst into the business world, working around the clock, all to clear Lauren's family's debts as soon as possible.
One time, he drank himself into a bleeding ulcer to land a deal and ended up in the hospital.
I sat by his hospital bed, crying, upset. "David, why put yourself through all this?"
He managed a weak smile, reached out, and messed up my hair like he always did. "It's nothing. I can't let Lauren go through all that pain."
Two years flew by in a flash.
David worked himself to the bone to pay off Lauren's debts, dropping thirty pounds along the way.
All that hard work finally paid off. He not only cleared every last debt but also won Lauren's heart.
That day, the three of us sat in our tiny apartment, raising our glasses to celebrate.
My eyes were red, my voice thick with emotion as I said, "Let's promise no matter what, we'll stick together for life and never let anything tear us apart."
David's company kept getting busier and busier, and he'd often be gone for days at a time.
But the day he finally landed that angel investment, he was so thrilled that he insisted on taking us out for a big celebration dinner.
We were halfway through the meal when Michael, who hadn't shown up in forever, suddenly called.
His voice was full of panic and fear. "David, I'm in deep trouble. They've got me cornered at the bar. Please, you have to come save me."
David didn't hesitate for a second. He dropped his fork on the table with a loud clatter and rushed out the door.
However, he never made it back in one piece.
While trying to protect Michael, David got smashed in the back of the head with a bottle and was knocked out cold right there.
When Lauren and I finally got to the hospital, David was like a little kid, barely five years old.
He didn't remember anyone but me. He only clung to my hand, mumbling my name over and over.
My whole world fell apart.
I fought back my tears, eyes red as I looked at Lauren. "Lauren, David loved you more than anything when he was well.
"He'd never want you to be held back because of him. I'm making the call for him. You should get a divorce."
Lauren clung tightly to David, tears pouring down her face. "I'll never leave David, not even if I die. I'm staying with him, no matter what."
She didn't pause.
I believed her, so I gave up my claim to David's company and told Lauren, "From now on, you're in charge."
Michael was wracked with guilt. He holed up in his room for days on end, drowning himself in booze and self-pity, completely falling apart.
That was until Lauren kicked the door open, slapped him hard across the face, her eyes blazing with anger. "If you really want to make it up to David, get your act together and look after the company and the family. Stop wallowing in self-pity."
The red mark on Michael's face was impossible to miss.
From that day on, he started working at David's company and stepped up to take care of both David and me.
Back then, I was lost in grief and uncertainty about the future. Michael was the only thing I could lean on.
Later, he dragged me to the courthouse, and we got married. Right there by David's hospital bed, he gripped my hand and promised, "I'll look after you for the rest of your life, like David would have wanted."
*****
During our high school graduation trip, we went to a picturesque resort, but we never saw the landslide coming.
All the other students got picked up by their parents, but David was away on a business trip and couldn't get back in time.
The mud and rocks swallowed up our hotel in seconds. I was pinned under the fallen beams, totally helpless and desperate.
When I thought I couldn't hold on any longer, Michael fought his way through the chaos, heading straight for me.
He clawed at the mud and debris like a man possessed, his fingernails ripped and blood streaming down his hands.
He clawed through the rubble from sunrise to sunset, his voice raw but steady. "Anna, don't be scared. I'm here for you."
He carried me on his back the whole night, trudging through the ruins until we finally escaped that nightmare.
By the time we reached the hospital, his shoes were gone, his feet covered in bloody gashes, and his fingernails were shredded and bleeding.
I was crying my eyes out, heart aching for him, but he grinned and tried to cheer me up, "Anna, why are you crying? As long as you're safe, even if I end up a wreck, it's all worth it."
Right then, he was my knight in shining armor.
But heroes could fall from grace.
He once looked at me with all that tenderness and said, "Anna, when the first snow comes, we'll finally have our wedding."
This city was warm all year round, but that winter was unusually bitter.
The forecast said Christmas would bring the first snowfall in fifty years.