Chapter 3
At the hospital, Sebastian sat by my bedside, absentmindedly running his fingers along the edge of my medical chart.
"Why do you keep hurting yourself?" His voice was flat. "Is this your way of getting attention?"
I watched as Sebastian's brow furrowed slightly, his expression like he was dealing with a clueless child.
"Sophie's situation isn't the same as yours," he continued, his voice laced with tired patience. "After she lost her memory, I was all she had left.
"Sophie and I grew up together. Her parents are always abroad, hardly ever around. So she's always seen me as her only family."
He paused, his eyes landing on my bandaged wrist. "She doesn't recognize anyone else but me now... Ever since the accident, I'm the only person she remembers..."
His fingers absentmindedly traced the IV tube, but his eyes stayed fixed on the window. "The psychologist said... it's a sign of extreme insecurity."
Then, he looked at me with a frown.
I looked at his slightly furrowed brow, the expression on his face both helpless and weary.
"It's really not what you think between us," he said, sounding a bit desperate. "She's like a sister to me, you get that?"
He gave me a distant look. "You know it. You know she's not well, so why do you keep letting her get to you?"
He looked at me and let out a sigh. "Stop being difficult, okay? You'll always be my wife. That will never change."
His fingers brushed against the tip of my hair, but he pulled away quickly.
"Once Sophie gets better, I'll make it up to you. We'll take that honeymoon trip, alright?" he asked.
I caught the tips of his ears turning red. That was his giveaway when he was lying.
"Right now..." His voice dropped. "Can you... try to understand me for once?"
He gave me that pleading look. "She really needs me right now. Just for this stretch, alright?"
I sat there in silence, listening to Sebastian's excuses, my empty eyes fixed on the ceiling.
His words felt distant and muffled, like they were echoing from another world, yet I couldn't help but hear every single one.
"Yeah," I murmured, my voice rough and barely recognizable as my own.
The numbness from my depression left me too drained to even feel angry.
He told me to wait, promised he'd make it up to me, asked me to be understanding...
His words fell on me like feathers, weightless and forgotten.
I watched his eyes flick to his phone, his feet inching toward the door without him even realizing.
Suddenly, it all felt so ridiculous.
Three years, and he kept feeding me the same lines. And somehow, I kept falling for it every single time.
"Just go," I said, surprised by how calm I sounded.
The relief that flashed across Sebastian's face cut right through my numbness.
He hurried to my bedside, reaching out to touch my hair, but I instinctively turned my head away.
"You..." Sebastian froze for a second, then gave a resigned smile. "Stop this tantrum. I'll be back soon."
I watched him turn and leave, heard his voice go soft the moment he picked up the phone, and it hit me: my heart had died, killed by all the times he chose someone else.
It was crushed by Sophie's constant gloating, and by my own stupid expectations.
The hospital room door closed with barely a sound, but it felt like a lock, shutting us away in two separate worlds for good.
I slowly closed my eyes, as the darkness swallowed up the last bit of light.