Toxic Compassion

Wyatt was still beside Hannah, and he quietly reminded her, "Hannah, the watch..."

"Shut up!" Hannah shoved him away and stared at me, her voice tight with panic. "Where is the ring?! Say something!"

Her earlier smugness was gone, and she had even forgotten about the watch. Only panic remained in her eyes.

I looked at her and suddenly found it a little laughable.

She did not care whether I lived or died, but she cared a lot about a ring. "I sold it..."

Before I could finish, the sales associate screamed. "The watch is missing!"

The store instantly fell into chaos. Before I could react, Wyatt bumped into me with a panicked look on his face. Then, something heavy dropped into my arms.

Wyatt pointed at me and said, "He has the watch. He stole it!"

My eyes widened in disbelief, and I quickly denied it. "It wasn't me. Wyatt shoved it into my arms. Check the security cameras if you don't believe me!"

Wyatt's eyes instantly reddened. "Nathan, how could you accuse me like that? Everyone saw you rush over just now to ask Hannah for money, and you even sold your wedding ring because you were short on cash! But no matter how badly you need money, you can't steal!"

As soon as he finished, the people around us began whispering. I know that they had already decided I was the thief from the way they looked at me.

Hannah's expression cooled little by little. "Nathan, you have disappointed me so much."

She snatched the watch from my arms and handed it back to the sales associate, then pulled Wyatt away. "Wyatt wouldn't lie! Nathan, you should admit it when you've done something wrong. Don't make me look down on you even more!"

She turned to the security guards and said, "Call the police. Someone like him needs to learn a lesson."

Right then, it felt like a piece of me was ripped out. The pain was so sharp that I almost forgot to breathe. Hannah knew me better than anyone after so many years of marriage. She knew that no matter what happened, I would never steal.

But she still believed in Wyatt without a second thought.

The pain in my chest soon spread through my whole body, but I clenched my teeth and barely managed to stay upright.

The police arrived quickly and took me to the station.

As I lay on the cold floor of the holding cell, the pain in my chest grew worse, and my mind started to blur.

In the end, I even thought that dying here might not be so bad. At least then I would not have to think about the cemetery plot anymore.

Early the next morning, I was released. Only when I saw Hannah did I realize she had gotten me out.

"You..." Hannah looked surprised at how haggard I looked, and her expression softened with pity.

Just as she was about to speak, I cut her off numbly. "Why was I released?"

Hannah looked a little uncomfortable. After a while, she said quietly, "The police checked the security footage. Wyatt really did steal the watch."

I kept asking, "Then why wasn't Wyatt brought in?"

"I paid the store back and bailed him out." Hannah's voice dropped even lower. "Wyatt had never seen anything nice before, and he only made one stupid mistake. We should give him a chance to correct himself. We can't ruin his life over this..."

Looking at the way she defended Wyatt, I suddenly found everything so pointless. When I was falsely accused, she wanted the police to teach me a lesson right away. Now that it was Wyatt, she wanted to give him a chance.

Once I stopped laughing at my own mistake, I realized something was wrong. "Where did you get the money to pay his bail?"