I never beat around the bush. When a strange woman’s intimate message appeared on my doctor boyfriend’s phone, I placed it squarely before him and demanded an explanation. After a long silence, Nick confessed: “She was a former patient, a severe case. I admit… I developed… different feelings.” “But Chloe,” he pleaded, “we’ve been through so much since college. I’ll cut her off completely.” Staring into his sincere eyes, I suppressed the sting in my heart and forgave him. The wedding continued as planned. But on our wedding day, a colleague burst in: “Dr. Morrison! Vanessa knows you’re getting married—she’s coding!” My bouquet dropped with a soft thud. Nick bolted out like a gust of wind. I screamed after him, eyes burning: “If you leave today, we’re done. For good!” His steps faltered for just a second—then he was gone, without looking back. He’d broken his promise after all. 1 The wedding hall erupted into chaos. The murmurs of the guests were like a thousand tiny needles pricking my skin. Our parents rushed to my side, their faces etched with confusion. Nick’s assistant, Chris, stood nearby, his face flushed with shame. “Chloe… Vanessa’s… her situation is complicated. The last time she flatlined, Nick was the one who brought her back. She only trusts him. He’s the only one who can calm her down… It’s a matter of life and death. He didn’t have a choice. Please, don’t blame him…” Chris had worked with Nick for two years and had always treated me with respect, calling me Chloe with a familiar warmth. Now, he couldn’t even meet my eyes. I could only wonder how many of Nick’s secrets he had kept, what other connections he had to this woman, Vanessa. A tight, crushing pain spread through my chest. The betrayal was real, and it was absolute. My parents held my hands, frantic. “What on earth is going on? Didn’t he take leave for the wedding? What kind of patient needs to be resuscitated right this second?” Nick’s parents, mortified, were already on the phone. “Chloe, sweetheart, don’t worry, I’m calling that worthless son of mine right now. If he doesn’t come back, I’ll break his legs!” The fallen bouquet was trampled underfoot by the shuffling crowd, its petals crushed and scattered—a perfect reflection of my own shattered heart. I stood frozen, my wedding dress pooling around me like a wilted flower after a storm. The wedding I had dreamed of for years had devolved into this humiliating disaster. The groom had abandoned his bride in the middle of a chapel filled with well-wishes, all for another woman. For four hours, I made seventy-six phone calls. Nick didn’t answer a single one. I watched my phone screen light up and go dark, over and over, until the battery finally died. Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting harsh, bright patches on the floor. A beam of light fell on my bare ring finger, and a chill went through me that had nothing to do with the temperature. The guests gradually dispersed, leaving behind a field of deflated balloons and half-eaten meals. Suddenly, the world began to spin. The last thing I heard was my mother’s panicked scream. When I opened my eyes again, the sterile, antiseptic smell of a hospital filled my nostrils. A nurse was taking my blood pressure. "You’re in a delicate condition now," she said softly. "You can't afford any more stress. You need to rest." I stared at the ceiling, silent tears tracing a path into my hair. The memories flooded back—a six-year film reel on fast forward. Me at nineteen, in the university library, when Nick handed me a notebook he’d “found.” The handwritten letters he sent every week when he was doing his residency out of state. The day he became an attending physician, holding my hands and promising, "I save lives for a living, but I will always, always protect you." I saw the poorly concealed joy on the faces of my parents and Nick’s, and my own tears welled up. How was I supposed to tell them that our six-year love story was over? 2 The third time news came that Vanessa was "critically ill," I was in the kitchen, brewing a traditional herbal remedy. The clay pot simmered on the stove, the bitter medicinal scent mingling with notes of dried citrus peel—a smell that perfectly captured the taste of my relationship with Nick these days. He burst in, a whirlwind in a white coat, the hem of it catching the edge of a bowl I’d just filled. The dark, murky liquid splattered across the cream-colored tiles, an ugly stain. “Chloe, Vanessa’s crashing again. Her heart rate dropped to forty, the doctors said…” He grabbed my arm, his grip so tight I thought my bones might snap. “I have to go to the hospital. Just for a minute. If she sees me, maybe she’ll stabilize…” I looked at the bloodshot veins in his eyes, at the single long, dark hair clinging to the collar of his coat—a hair that wasn't mine. And I laughed. “Nick,” I said, pulling my arm free. I knelt, grabbing a rag to wipe the floor, my nails scraping against the grout. “Do you remember what day it is?” He blinked, clearly having no idea. “It’s the day of my follow-up appointment.” My voice was as flat and lifeless as a stagnant pond. “The doctor said my recovery isn’t going well. I have to go today, or I risk a serious infection.” His Adam’s apple bobbed. His eyes darted away. “I know, but Vanessa…” “She’s important, and I’m not. Is that it?” I looked up, meeting his gaze, and enunciated every word. “In your eyes, am I just supposed to wait here forever? Wait for you to comfort your patient, wait for you to remember the fiancée you abandoned, wait for you to throw me a scrap of your attention?” “No, it’s not like that!” he stammered, but his phone began to vibrate violently, the screen flashing with the words “ICU.” He glanced at the phone, then back at me. Finally, he grabbed his car keys. “Chloe, I’m begging you. I promise, I’ll go to the hospital with you as soon as I get back. I’ll stay as long as you need…” “Don’t bother.” I stood up and tossed the soiled rag into the trash. “Go, Nick.” He froze, a look of surprise on his face. He probably hadn’t expected me to be so calm. “But there’s something you should know,” I said, walking to the hall closet and zipping my jacket up to my nose. “At my last check-up, the doctor said that from now on… it might be difficult for me to get pregnant again.” The car keys clattered to the floor. “What did you say?” His voice trembled. He lunged forward, trying to hug me. “How? Was it the surgery…?” “Yes,” I said, taking a step back, avoiding his touch. “Or maybe it was when I fainted at the wedding and hit my stomach. Who knows.” I tried to smile, but my lips wouldn’t cooperate. “But it doesn’t matter. You don’t care anyway, right?” He stood there, his face as white as a sheet, his lips trembling, unable to form a single word. The phone continued its shrill, insistent ringing, a death knell for us. I pulled on my shoes and opened the door. A blast of cold air made me shiver. “Go,” I said, staring at the bleak fluorescent light in the hallway. “Don’t keep your patient waiting.” He didn’t move, his eyes fixed on me as if trying to burn my image into his memory. “Nick,” I said, giving him one last look, “the moment you chose her, you should have known. Once something is broken, it can never be put back together again.” The door clicked shut behind me, cutting off whatever he was about to say, and sealing the end of the six years he had personally destroyed. I walked downstairs. It had started to rain, a fine, cold mist that stung my face. I hadn’t gone far when I heard hurried footsteps behind me. He had followed me out, my medical file clutched in his hand. He must have grabbed it in his panic. “Chloe! I’ll take you to the hospital! Right now!” He tried to grab my arm, the desperation in his eyes spilling over. “I’ll have a colleague watch Vanessa, I’m worried about you…” “Don’t be.” I pulled the file from his grasp. “Dr. Morrison, you should go save your patient. After all, in your heart, her life is so much more important than mine.” I turned and walked into the rain, and I didn’t look back. The footsteps followed for a few paces, then stopped. I knew his phone must have been ringing again. The rain blurred my vision, and with it, the path that had begun in a sunlit library, a path I once believed would last a lifetime. I later heard that he did, in fact, go back to the hospital that day. Vanessa hadn't been crashing. She had pulled out her own IV line, just to get him there. And while he was there, I was at my own appointment. The anesthetic didn't take full effect. I felt everything. I bit down on the bedsheet so hard I thought my teeth would break, tears and cold sweat soaking the pillow. The nurses said I never made a sound. They didn’t know that compared to the pain in my heart, the physical agony was a dull ache. My heart had gone numb from the moment he had run to her, again and again and again. 3 At 8 PM, after seven hours of silence, Nick finally showed up at the hospital. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his gaze was heavy with guilt. “Chloe, I’m sorry,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Vanessa… I couldn’t just let her die. It’s my duty to save lives.” I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat. “There are dozens of other doctors in that hospital. Did it have to be you?” I paused. “Nick, I’m not an idiot.” After a long silence, he took my cold hand in his. “Chloe, in six years, I’ve never asked you for anything. Just this once, I’m begging you. Don’t make a scene. Don’t do anything that could negatively affect Vanessa. Her condition… she can’t handle that kind of stress.” I looked at the earnest plea in his eyes, and my heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vise. I couldn’t breathe. He shouldn’t be begging me for this. He should be apologizing to me. A person’s first instinct doesn’t lie. He never once thought about how humiliated I was at the wedding. He never worried about why I ended up in the hospital. His first words, his only thoughts, were of Vanessa. Tears fell like broken pearls onto the white duvet, spreading into dark, wet spots. It took all my strength to force out a single word. “Fine.” He visibly relaxed. “Vanessa knows I was getting married, and she’s emotionally unstable. Let’s postpone the wedding for now.” His voice was cautious, testing the waters. “I’ll stay with her through her treatment. Once she’s a little more stable… maybe two months. Just two months. Then we’ll have our wedding. Okay?” I had waited six years. What was another two months? But as I saw the worry for another woman in his eyes, I suddenly felt that I couldn’t wait another two seconds. The little life inside me seemed to sense my despair and gave a faint flutter. I placed a hand on my stomach, on the five-week-old secret that was ours, but now felt like only mine. I slowly pulled my hand away, my voice as still as a deep, dark lake. “Nick.” “My memory isn’t perfect, but I remember being nineteen, in the library, when you handed me that notebook, so nervous you could barely speak.” “I remember our first date, how your palms were so sweaty you could hardly hold your chopsticks.” “I remember graduation day, you held me and promised to give me the best life, to make me the happiest bride in the world.” “All these years, you remembered I don’t eat cilantro, you remembered I have a sensitive stomach and need warm soup, you remembered all my little quirks… I always thought you cherished me, that you held me in the very center of your heart.” I looked up at him, and the dam finally broke. “But today, Nick… today I can’t feel your love at all.” Six years of memories swirled between us. Nick’s eyes reddened, and a single tear traced a path down his cheek. “But Chloe,” he whispered, his voice cracking, “Vanessa needs me right now.” She needs me. Those three words shattered the last vestiges of hope I had. I looked at him and, through my tears, I smiled. “Then go to her.” He stared, clearly not expecting that. But he didn't argue. He just turned and left the room. The next day, as I was packing my things to leave, I ran into Nick in the hallway. He didn’t see me. His entire world was focused on the girl beside him. She wore a hospital gown, her face pale, and he was half-supporting, half-cradling her, as if she were a frightened little bird. So this was the woman who had made him abandon me at the altar.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "394320", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel