His reaction was swift and cruel. He didn’t even try to deny it, his face contorting with anger as if my pain was an inconvenience. "Amelia, how dare you use your filthy mouth to slander Sophia?! She’s pure and innocent—unlike you! You’re always lying, always scheming! You’re nothing but a crazed, useless shrew!"
The words I wanted to say crumbled into nothingness, lodged in my throat by the weight of his hatred. Tears burned in my eyes, but Daniel didn’t even notice. He didn’t care.
"I regret marrying you more than anything," he spat before slamming the door.
The sound of the door closing behind him echoed like a death knell in the house that had once been our home. I knew where he was going—back to her, using whatever excuse he needed to spend yet another night in Sophia’s arms.
As his figure disappeared down the hallway, I stood there, staring into the emptiness he had left behind. My mind was a storm of questions I couldn’t answer. Where had the Daniel who once loved me gone? Had I changed, or had he? Was it my fault for wanting too much, for believing that our vows had meant something?
Or had I always been just "someone else" to him—nothing more than a placeholder, waiting for Sophia to return and claim what had never truly been mine?
Perhaps, I thought bitterly, he had been wearing a mask all along, and I had been too blind to see the truth. The man I had loved was never real.
The bitter truth unraveled after the New Year, delivering a pain I could never have imagined. But it wasn’t just me. Ryan, too, was grappling with disbelief, watching Daniel—my husband—casually ignore my life hanging in the balance, instead whispering sweet nothings to her, Sophia. The fury on Ryan’s face was unmistakable as he roared at Daniel, desperate to shake some sense into him.
"Daniel! I’m not lying to you! Your wife is dying! The operating room is five minutes away, and you can’t even spare that for her?" His voice cracked with anger and frustration, but Daniel’s heart had grown too cold to care.
"That’s right! I won’t waste even a second on her lies!" Daniel spat as if my suffering was an inconvenience he couldn't be bothered with.