The Calm After the Wreckage

When I found out my wife was pregnant with her lover’s baby, I thought I’d lose my mind just like the first time I caught her cheating, smashing up the whole house like a lunatic. Instead, I looked at our antique vase and realized it was far too expensive to break over them. It just wasn't worth it. Later, walking past a bakery, I thought seeing her buying baby supplies with Joseph would ruin my appetite. Yet, to my surprise, the cake I bought tasted better than usual. Before going to bed, that familiar dark urge to swallow a handful of sleeping pills crept up on me again. I thought I was about to lose my mind and take the most drastic measures to get back at that despicable couple when my therapist sent a message, reminding me once more to go outside and get some fresh air. So, I headed south to soak in the sun and feel the ocean breeze. For twenty-seven whole days, I didn’t think about them once. That was until my wife, Sarah, called. “There are three days left in our divorce waiting period. Don’t forget to come back so we can finalize the paperwork. “Don’t worry, Daniel. This is just temporary. After I have the baby, we’ll remarry. You know you’re the only one I love.” Only after her reminder did I remember the divorce was even a thing. This time, though, I was exhausted. I didn’t want to play their games anymore. So, with the ocean breeze on my face, I said almost without thinking, “How about this time, we end it for good?” Chapter 1 “Joseph said that if I didn’t get a divorce and have this baby, he’d kill himself. You know how crazy he can be. I don’t have a choice. He’s the father, after all–” The voice on the other end of the phone stopped abruptly after I said the words “end it for good.” Sarah York paused for a long while, as if she hadn’t heard me clearly, before she asked, “Dan, what did you just say? What do you mean by ending it for good?” I picked up a seashell and rubbed it in my palm as I replied, “Is it that hard to understand, Sarah? What I mean is: once we’re divorced, it’s over between us. There’ll be no ‘after the baby’ and no remarrying.” “Why?” Her tone immediately shifted. “Are you speaking out of anger again? Didn’t I promise you? As soon as I give birth and settle things with Joseph, I’ll cut all ties with him immediately. I’ll come back, we’ll remarry, and we’ll live happily ever after… Dan, can’t you just trust me one last time?” I had, in fact, trusted her. At our wedding, when she said she would love me for the rest of her life, I trusted her. When my grandmother and I emptied our savings to support her startup, and she said she would make sure we lived a good life, I trusted her. When I was battling depression and attempted suicide, and she promised she would break things off with Joseph Greer, I trusted her then, too. Yet every single time, reality would prove me otherwise, just like right now. Barely ten minutes after hanging up the phone, Joseph posted on his feed. [As soon as that ex agreed to the divorce, she rushed over with a diamond ring to propose. Baby, your mommy loves us so much!] Attached was a maternity photo of Sarah, with Joseph’s hand on her baby bump, a sickeningly tender look in his eyes. If this were in the past, I probably would’ve raged like a madman, cursing them with the vilest words imaginable. However, right now, my heart was calm. I even liked the post and left a comment. [Wishing you two a lifetime of happiness.] After all, we ran in the same social circles and shared plenty of mutual friends. The moment I posted that comment, several friends who knew the truth immediately came to my defense. Before long, my phone buzzed again, with Sarah’s name lighting up the screen. “Dan, did you see Joseph’s post?” Without waiting for my answer, she rushed to explain, “Joseph didn’t mean anything by that post. He wasn’t trying to make you mad. He’s just… He hasn’t been very emotionally stable lately. “You know how expectant fathers can be sensitive and overthink. I was just afraid he might do something drastic, which is why I bought the ring to calm him down.” Only after laying all that groundwork did she soften her tone to get to her real point. “The doctor stressed over and over that the baby needs their father around at birth. Dan, please delete that comment and like. Don’t lower yourself to his level.” She’d rather beg me to delete my comment than tell Joseph to take down that sickening post. However, I didn’t answer, nor did I delete it. In the end, Sarah was the first to yield under the silence. She let out a sigh, pulling out that same old line I was sick of hearing. “Please don’t be upset, alright? I’ve sent Benji to pick up your favorite takeout, and he’ll bring it over to you in a bit. Be good and wait just a little longer… Once the baby is born, all of this will be in the past, and we’ll go right back to the way we were before, okay?” Listening to her empty promises as she painted a picture of a fictitious future, I suddenly laughed. “No.” The evening ocean breeze felt a bit chilly, and my voice carried a trace of coldness to match. “Sarah, what on earth makes you think I’d ever go back to the way we were?” Long ago, when she cheated on me time and time again, when she held her lover in her arms and swore her love to him, we were already past the point of going back. Chapter 2 Three days later, I went home as agreed to grab my documents before heading to the courthouse. When I pushed the door open, I was surprised to see Sarah, who rarely ever came home, standing in the living room. Hearing the noise, she immediately got up and said, her voice trembling with fear, “Where have you been? Benji said he rang the doorbell for half an hour, but no one answered… I was terrified something happened to you.” She was probably remembering the scene from two months ago, when I went mad and popped two whole bottles of sleeping pills. I didn’t answer. I just walked past her toward the study. She followed close behind me, her voice turning raspy. “I feel like you’ve changed. Where have you been this past month? Why didn’t you come home? Do you have any idea… how worried I was about you?” “Worried?” Holding my documents, I pushed away her outstretched hand. “Ms. York, we are no longer close enough for that.” Sarah was stunned. “Are you still angry?” Seeing that I remained completely unmoved, no longer caring about her, no longer jealous, and no longer asking where she went or what she did with Joseph, she suddenly snapped as if she had been stung. “You know Joseph is a lunatic! You know I was forced into this! You know how badly I wanted a baby! Why… Why can’t you just be understanding for once?” I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Forced into it?” I looked at her with pure sarcasm and said, “Sarah, if you hadn’t given him chance after chance, how could things between us come to this?” Some memories were impossible to forget. Joseph was never just some random man who happened to come into our lives. He was a rival Sarah had encountered back when she was first starting her business, and he was an absolute madman. Five years ago, just as Sarah’s drone startup began gaining traction, it was heavily suppressed by the influential Greer family. As the heir to the Greer family, Joseph was ruthless and used any means necessary to get what he wanted. Later, in their life-and-death struggle, he became obsessed with Sarah’s talent and even more intoxicated by her unyielding spirit. To force her to yield, he resorted to the vilest tactics: sending explicit photos, harassing her in public, and even drugging her drink. Back then, Sarah was forced into reporting directly to the police. However, that only made him even crazier. After hitting a wall with Sarah time and time again, Joseph turned his sights on me. To force us into a divorce, he used every dirty trick in the book to target me: spreading rumors everywhere, ruining my job, and sending threat packages… We thought he would only stick to these underhanded schemes until one day, when Sarah rejected him harshly once again. In a fit of rage, he drove his car straight toward me, intending to run me down. At that critical moment, my grandmother pushed me out of the way with all her strength, only to end up lying in a pool of blood herself. From that day on, I became severely depressed. Sarah and I were childhood sweethearts who had both lost our parents at a young age. It was my grandmother who had raised the two of us all on her own, so losing our only remaining kin left Sarah equally consumed by unbearable grief. She stayed at my grandmother’s grave all day and night, holding me tightly as she swore, “Dan, I will get revenge for Grandma.” Later, she actually did it. The Greer family went bankrupt, and Joseph went from a powerful heir to a disgraced outcast. With Sarah’s comfort, I slowly tried to move past the trauma. That was until I unexpectedly walked into the house where a naked Joseph was riding on top of Sarah. I broke down and bolted out of the house, only to be struck down by a speeding truck. With that, I left sterile and permanently lost the chance to become a father. At that exact moment, I finally understood that Sarah and I could truly never go back to the way we were. Chapter 3 “Did you forget how Grandma died? Did you forget how I was ruined… How do you still have the cheek to ask me to be understanding?” To this day, I still couldn’t understand. How could Sarah be so heartless as to fall in love with the killer who caused Grandma’s death and even get pregnant with his baby, a baby we would never have together? Recalling those unbearable memories, Sarah’s face turned pale. With red eyes, her lips trembled as she looked at me. “I’m sorry… Dan, I…” Digging my fingernails into my palms, I closed my eyes numbly. “I’m tired. Let’s go to the courthouse.” When the clerk handed over that official divorce certificate, I froze for a moment. Suddenly, I remembered the day we got legally married. Back then, Sarah was as happy as a kid, getting our photos taken again and again just to make sure we looked our absolute best. It had only been a few years, yet it felt like a lifetime ago. By the time I snapped out of it, we were already standing outside the courthouse. “Dan, let me drive you back.” Sarah grabbed my arm, leading me into the car before I could refuse. Silence filled the ride. When the car pulled up to my apartment building, she followed me upstairs. The key turned in the lock, and the moment the door opened, a figure jumped out from the master bedroom. Joseph was throwing himself straight at Sarah. “Babe, surprise!” Sarah’s expression changed instantly, and she shoved him away. “Why are you here? Dan, I didn’t give him the code. I don’t know why he’s here either!” she frantically tried to explain to me. Only then did Joseph notice me. His face betrayed no attempt to hide the sneer on his face. “You’re divorced, yet you’re still going home with your ex-wife? Daniel, you really are as pathetic and cheap as ever!” “Joseph, haven’t you made enough of a scene? You don’t belong here. Get the hell out!” Sarah barked at him. Joseph was stunned. “Sarah, how could you yell at me like this?” I ignored them both and walked straight toward the bedroom, wanting nothing more than to pack my things and leave as soon as possible. However, the moment I pushed the bedroom door open, my blood ran cold. The Doberman that Joseph had brought along was rolling around in a pile of gray powder—my grandmother’s ash—and chewing on a silver watch. That was my grandmother’s ashes and the heirloom she left for me! “No!” I charged forward, throwing myself at the dog to wrench the watch from its jaws. Startled, the Doberman barked and sank its razor-sharp teeth deep into my arm, ripping off a whole piece of flesh. A sharp pain shot through me, and I sank to my knees. “Daniel!” Sarah rushed in. Seeing the scene before her, her face turned terrifyingly white. In a panic, she snatched a heavy vase off the table and smashed it against the rabid Doberman. With a dull thud, the dog let go and slumped limply to the ground. “Dan… Dan, how are you feeling?” She threw herself toward me, her hands trembling as she tried to touch my bleeding arm. “Get away! Get away from me, all of you!” I shoved her back, desperately trying to gather the blood-soaked ashes on the floor into my chest like a madman. However, as the blood mixed with the dust, I couldn’t scoop them up no matter how hard I tried. “This was our grandma! How could you… How could you let someone do this to her?” Tears streamed down my face as my entire body shook from the pain, and I said, “We’re divorced! Why won’t you just let me go?” Sarah froze. “Don’t do this… Dan, come on. Let’s go to the hospital, okay?” She dropped to the ground and pulled me tightly into her arms. Her choked voice was filled with remorse. “I’m sorry, Dan… I’ll have someone fix the watch for you. You’re hurt. Let’s go to the hospital and get you treated first, alright?” The agony in my wrist had spread throughout my entire body. Powerless to resist, I let her hold me as we sprinted out of the room. Meanwhile, Joseph watched the whole scene with eyes full of malice. “Sarah!” He stood in front of the door, grabbing a kitchen knife and holding it right against his own neck. He yelled, “Sarah, if you take him to the hospital, I’ll kill myself right now and leave the baby in your belly fatherless!” Sarah looked at me, who was nearly unconscious, and then at Joseph. A conflicted look flashed in her eyes. “Joseph, stop this at once!” With bloodshot eyes, Joseph yelled, “If you walk out that door, I’ll die right in front of you!” The arms around my waist tightened. Just when I thought she was going to abandon me for Joseph yet again, Sarah gritted her teeth and spat out, “Whatever.” After that, she took me straight into the car before dashing to the hospital, running all the red lights along the way. “Dan, stay here. I’ll be right back.” Before her words could settle, she had rushed off. As it turned out, she still couldn’t let go of Joseph. That was why she left so hurriedly. She was in such a hurry that she didn’t even realize she had dropped me off not at the trauma and emergency department but right at the door of the obstetrics and gynecology department. Chapter 4 I watched as she walked away and let out a self-deprecating smile. Then, I walked toward the trauma and emergency department myself. I signed the consent form and had the wound cleaned and sutured up. The process of the needle and thread pulling through flesh was agonizingly slow. Each of the forty-nine stitches felt like a blade carving straight into my heart. Finally, the doctor administered a rabies vaccine and told the nurse to help me over to a bed to rest. However, the moment I stepped into the ward, an intense wave of dizziness washed over me, and everything went dark. In my dream, there was no Joseph, no infidelity, and no death. There was only a scene of our family of four, living happily together. My grandmother and Sarah were gathered around a doll-like little girl, smiling as they called out to me, “Dan, come quickly! Look, our little daughter, Ella, is smiling at you!” I reached out my hand, but right as my fingertips were about to touch the child’s cheek, the dream shattered. Instead, a suppressed, heartbreaking cry echoed in my ears. Straining to open my eyes, I saw Sarah sitting by the bedside, her hair in disarray and her eyes bloodshot. “Dan, you’re awake…” Her voice was raspy, and her eyes darted away, refusing to meet my gaze. “What happened?” I moved my hand, wanting to push myself up into a sitting position, only to realize that I couldn’t lift my injured right arm at all. At that moment, an ominous foreboding spread in my chest. “My hand…” My voice trembled as I asked, “Why can’t I move it?” Sarah could no longer hold back her crying. She bowed her head, resting her forehead against the back of my hand, her shoulders shaking. “I’m sorry, Dan. I’m so sorry… It’s all my fault. I failed to protect you…” As if I hadn’t heard her, I simply raised my left hand in disbelief. I squeezed it hard, hammering at my right arm and even pinching it until it bled, but it was useless. I felt no sensation in my right arm. “It’s crippled, isn’t it?” The sudden, terrible news left me feeling as though I couldn’t breathe. “Tell me! Is my hand crippled?” Hearing the noise, the attending physician rushed in, his face full of remorse. “Mr. Bailey, I am so sorry… This is a severe mistake on our hospital’s part. “The rabies vaccine you received was maliciously swapped out by someone, causing irreversible damage to the nerves in your right arm. We are investigating this incident thoroughly and will hold those responsible accountable…” The rest of the doctor’s words buzzed in my ears. Beside me, Sarah held me tightly, repeating over and over again, “I will find the best doctors… I will cure you… Dan, trust me one more time…” However, I couldn’t process a single word. The only thing in my mind was the hope that my grandmother and mother had placed in me. “Dan, you must become the most exceptional painter.” I could never pick up a paintbrush again. “Sarah.” I interrupted her choked confession, staring at that face I had once loved deeply, and asked, “Joseph did this, didn’t he? Because his dog died because of me, he wanted to cripple my hand to get back at me, right?” Sarah’s shoulders shook, and she buried her head further into her chest. That look of despair and evasion silently confirmed my suspicions. “I’m sorry, Dan. I… I didn't know he would go to such insane lengths. I had no idea…” I pulled my left hand out of her sweaty grip, inch by inch, refusing to look at her any longer. “I’m calling the police,” I said through gritted teeth. “He’s taken a human life and destroyed my entire future. This time, it ought to be enough to put him behind bars, shouldn’t it?” Sarah snapped her head up, all color drained from her face. “No, Daniel, you can’t call the police.” “Why?” I stared at her in disappointment. “The dog is dead, and Joseph took it quite harshly too. If I hadn’t noticed in time yesterday, he really would have slit his wrists to end his life! If we call the police and trigger him right now, I’m afraid he might–” “Then what about me?” I finally snapped. “You have both destroyed my life! Who is going to care if I can’t take it anymore?” She opened her mouth, but all that remained were eyes filled with struggle and pleading. Exhaustion weighed heavily on every fiber of my being. I closed my eyes, refusing to look at that heartbreaking face of hers. “Get out. Don’t ever let me see you again.” Sarah shook as she said, “Dan–” “I said get out!” A glass of water shattered against her forehead, and blood trickled down. Still, Sarah didn’t budge until her phone began to ring. It was a call from Joseph, and it rang repeatedly. With an unsightly expression, she muted it, right until Joseph’s screams echoed from outside the door. “I’ll go handle this and come right back.” When the door closed, I pulled out my phone and dialed a number. “Dr. Klein, it’s me. There’s something I need your help with.” Two hours later, having finally appeased Joseph, Sarah returned to the ward. However, she found the hospital bed empty. There was only a medical report left sitting on the table. A sense of dread filled her as she rushed forward a few steps and grabbed it in a panic. The moment her eyes landed on the diagnostic conclusion, her eyes widened in shock. As if struck by lightning, she froze in place.