The Husband She Erased

As I followed Sarah around, I watched as she personally cleaned the blood off Gabriel's car before destroying the dashcam footage.

I couldn't help but smile bitterly. I'd never let Sarah lift a single finger in our home. In fact, I treated her like royalty and even hand-washed her laundry myself. Because of this, watching her do so much for Gabriel made me feel like an utter fool.

After she destroyed the evidence, she even taught Gabriel how to give false testimony. She guaranteed that she'd be able to get him off the hook even if he were to become the prime suspect in the case.

I desperately wanted to tell the police that Gabriel was the perpetrator. But I could only watch helplessly as the woman I loved helped my murderer cover his tracks.

Once everything was cleaned up, Sarah patted Gabriel's hand reassuringly. "Everything's settled. If the police ever come knocking on your door, you just need to tell them exactly what I told you to say. I promise you'll be okay."

Gabriel stared at her face with a loving expression before reaching out to caress her cheek.

"I don't know what I'd do without you, Sarah," he said.

Blushing profusely, she replied in an affectionate manner, "I'd do anything for you, Gabriel."

"How do I compare to your husband then?" he asked as he gauged her reaction.

Her face contorted in disdain. "He's nothing compared to you. You're the most important person in my life."

She continued, "He called me earlier, but he didn't say a word after I answered the call. I have no clue what he was trying to do. He's not assertive and stammers whenever he talks. I couldn't be bothered to wait, so I just hung up on him."

Despite knowing that Sarah didn't love me, her comments still made me feel incredibly heartbroken. We'd been married for years, yet she didn't seem to care about me at all. On the other hand, Gabriel had only been back for a month, and she'd already forgotten about how he'd abandoned her in the past. He'd managed to win her over without even trying.

Gabriel's lips curved up into a small smirk. After receiving a satisfactory answer, his mood seemed to have improved.

He casually plucked a flower out of the vase beside him and presented it to her. "I still remember your birthday, although we'd been apart all these years. This is for you, Sarah. In my opinion, you're more beautiful than this flower."

His phony demeanor made me feel sick. If he'd actually remembered Sarah's birthday, he wouldn't have just given her a flower from a vase. But to my dismay, Sarah actually believed in his lies.

Cupping a hand over her mouth, she cried, "I didn't even realize that it was my birthday today. I can't believe you still remember."

As a well-known lawyer, Sarah had countless cases to deal with every single day. As a result, she was so busy that she could hardly keep track of time.

Every year on her birthday, I'd pick out her gift in advance before getting her flowers and a cake to celebrate the occasion. Yet, every time she came home and saw what I'd prepared, she'd dismiss my efforts and claim that I had too much free time on my hands. Then, she'd return to her room.

Despite feeling incredibly disappointed, I was convinced that I'd be able to win her over eventually. I never imagined that a wildflower from Gabriel could move her to tears when none of my painstaking efforts managed to do so.

All of a sudden, Sarah's expression stiffened, and she seemed to have remembered something. Subsequently, she took out her phone and checked our chat.

The messages she'd received were the last texts I sent her before I died. One of the texts was a photo of the cake and the bouquet I bought for her birthday. I'd gotten her a bouquet of her favorite flowers—peonies. On top of that, I'd even gotten her the cake she said she wanted to try.

"I prepared a surprise for you, Sarah," my last text to her read.

As I stared at the phone screen, I gradually began to recall what had happened right before I died.

After texting Sarah, I was just about to head home with the cake and the bouquet when a car came speeding in my direction. The next thing I knew, my body was hurled into the air before it crashed back onto the ground. By the time I regained consciousness, I was covered in my own blood and unable to move.

I used up what was left of my energy to call Sarah. I tried to tell her what happened, but I couldn't make a single sound.

"I'm busy—stop bothering me," her emotionless voice spat from the other end of the line.

The last of my life slipped away as my phone screen slowly faded to black. By the time I woke up again, I'd already become a spirit that was following her around.