Love and Separation

On our tenth wedding anniversary, I waited for Jasper Haverford in the restaurant for three hours until I got the news that he was going on a temporary business trip.

On my way home, I encountered a viaduct collapse.

As I crawled out with my bloody legs, I saw Jasper fall into a panic.

He squeezed through the chaotic crowd and was running past me towards the girl in front.

"I'm sorry. I'm late." he kissed the girl's forehead gently. " Don't be afraid, I will protect you!"

Then, the girl was carried by him in his arms as he strode away without even noticing me, who was just a few inches away from him.​

The siren of an ambulance whizzed by.

I was carried onto the stretcher in a daze, my mind a little blank.

However, my heart sank when the conversation of the medical personnel reached my ear.

"Rich people nowadays are really going too far! There are so many seriously injured patients here, but he insisted on using this emergency ambulance only for that woman with minor injuries! Isn't this a waste of public resources?" said a nurse.

A doctor said, "Shush, that's Jasper, the richest man in Azureville. Rumors say that he loves his wife so much. Now, we have witnessed it."

"Yeah. You can tell how much he loves his wife by his nervous and pitiful look! I wish my husband could treat me like that," said another doctor.

Hearing that, I felt like something struck my head.

The tremendous pain and suffocation made it hard for me to breathe, and I couldn't suppress the bloody smell in my throat.

I couldn't help but vomit blood.

"Miss, are you okay?" The doctors and the nurses gave me first aid anxiously. "Hold on, we'll be at the hospital soon!"

I barely pulled myself together and tried to open my eyes.

From such a short instance, Jasper growled at the same time, "Doctor, she's feeling unwell! Go over and give her a full body check now!"

"But Mr. Haverford..." before the doctor could finish his words, Jasper grabbed him by the collar with threat. "They are all injured, so why do you treat them differently? If anything happens to her, will you bear the consequences?"

His unreasonable yet fierce threats made the crowds around me suddenly disperse, and only a nurse named Sophia held my hand.

"Hold on, don't be nervous. Let me call your family and tell them to wait at the hospital first, okay?" she dialed the number tagged with darling on my phone.

A cell phone suddenly rang not far away.

I tried to fix my eyes on the "loving couple".

Standing bent over, Jasper held the girl's hand to his lips. Although he turned his back to me, I could fully imagine his expression.

He must have been so nervous, distressed, and devoted to the one he was so affectionate with.

Meanwhile, his phone was totally ignored after ringing several times.

"Why can't it get through?" Sophia pressed the keyboard on my phone anxiously. "Your husband's phone is switched off now. What an unreliable man at this critical moment!"

I smiled self-mockingly in my heart after hearing her complaints.

In fact, he was nothing but the most unfailing man in the world now.

He was just a few inches away from me and soundly cared for another woman without even spotting any trace of me, though.

He was so preoccupied with carrying his new love into the ambulance and attempting to lure my EMT away for her, manifesting how caring and heartbroken he was towards that girl.

Maybe it was also the manifestation of his inviolable authority and attentive care.

To me, he was indeed so unreliable that he wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

For our ten-year marriage, he chose to be with another woman at such a life-threatening moment.

I asked myself, "Mia Sinclair, can you wake up from the dream where he pretends to love you now?"

Soon, I was pushed into the emergency room.

"Ms. Sinclair." Sophia sounded like weeping. "Besides your husband, can you contact another person, maybe your family? We can't anesthetize you without your family's agreement."

I forced myself to stay sober. "I can sign the paper myself."

As I wrote down my name with trembling hands, I heard the nurse's discussions in a low voice.

"Now you know you have to think twice before getting married. Take Mrs. Haverford as an example. Mr. Haverford just acted like if she was about to die when she just scraped her leg. Meanwhile, the patient in front of us even needs to sign the consent for anesthesia herself..."

The anesthesia took effect, dragging me into the endless darkness.

Subconsciously, I tried to refresh some beautiful moments between Jasper and I but never succeeded.

All I could recall was his impatient censure.

His blames echoed in my mind. "Come on, Mia, are you serious? Do you really want me to wear these ridiculous cuff-links with this suit?

"Mia, why do you always get on my mother's nerves? Can you give her, a middle-aged woman, a break, even for a second?

"Why are you here? I will have a meeting five minutes later and don't have time to eat whatever in that lunchbox you brought here!

"Don't you ever touch my phone from now on, Mia!"

The cracking sound of my phone falling apart suddenly woke me up.

It turned out that dreams were just as desperate as reality.

It turns out that the sorrow had penetrated into my bones.

"You are finally awake, Ms. Sinclair." Sophia adjusted the IV drip and said, "The operation was successful. The steel bar that penetrated your leg has been removed. It will be a little painful after the anesthesia wears off."

"Your phone was seriously broken, and you couldn't contact your husband now. I can help you contact another family of yours to take care of you here," she added.

As soon as she finished speaking, someone argued on the other side of the curtain in the ward.

"Why don't you agree to move to the VIP room? Do you have to live in this ward with others?" Jasper said.

"I... I don't want to be privileged. I'm not the only one who's hurt. It makes me comfortable if I stay in this general ward. Jasper, please don't be mad..." his new love, Evelyn Groves, said in an artificial pity.

"Alright, alright... Evelyn, I can compromise in terms of the ward, but you have to listen to whatever the doctor says, okay?" he said.

He continued, "Your feet have such deep scratches. How can you wear a beautiful dress with scars? I will ask a top team of doctors to evaluate your injuries and treat you."

My mind got blank after hearing their conversation.

Not knowing if it was because of the remaining anesthesia, I had a buzzing sound in my ears, hindering me from hearing whatever Sophia said.

Tears flowed out of control like a dam breaking.

Jasper, you hurt me so much.

The pain from having my legs pierced by steel bars was nothing compared to what I felt at that moment.

When he lifted the veil of my wedding dress and put on the wedding ring for me, he swore, "I will never let you down for my entire life, Mia."

In just ten years, he inflicted the pain of slow slicing on me with his own hands.