After seven years of marriage, Zayn adored me like his life itself. Everyone said I was the girl who went from nothing to everything.
But what they didn’t know was that every day, I had to watch him play out his little love affairs right in front of me. He even fell in love with our family doctor and allowed her to use me as a practice subject.
Day after day, I was forced to take endless herbal medicines; needle marks covered my body and the bruises never faded.
When I got the call saying my younger sister was in critical condition, the doctor stopped me from leaving, saying she needed me for the final step of her experiment.
Almost begging, I said, “My sister has a heart condition. Please let me go see her.”
Natalie didn’t even blink. “I’m the doctor here and I say your sister’s faking it.”
In my panic, I turned to Zayn for help. But he only said coldly, “Natalie is a professional. She wouldn’t lie. Stop making things up to get sympathy.”
With my heart completely shattered, I chose to let go.
But then — he fell to his knees, eyes red, begging me to come back.
——
When I got the news that my sister’s heart disease had come back, I was tied to an operating table by Natalie.
Crying, I begged her, “Natalie, please, I’m begging you! Let me go to the hospital—my sister’s having a heart attack!”
Wearing her white coat, Natalie calmly mixed her medicine as if she didn’t hear me at all.
I struggled hard, but the bodyguards she ordered held me down tightly.
“Natalie, you’re a doctor—you know a heart attack can kill someone! I’m begging you, please let me go. When my sister gets better, I’ll come back and be your test subject!”
Natalie turned to look at me, her eyes full of disdain. “Aren’t you already my test subject?”
She sneered, “Besides, your sister’s life is worthless. Even if she dies, what does that have to do with me? If you dare not cooperate, I’ll have Zayn stop paying for her medical bills. Then she’ll die anyway—if not now, soon enough.”
I froze completely, my struggles stopping without me realizing it.
Tears blurred my vision.
Just then, Zayn pushed the door open and walked in.
A faint spark of hope lit up in my eyes. “Zayn, my sister’s heart disease came back, she—”
But he didn’t even lift his eyes. With a tone full of irritation, he cut me off, “It’s just a relapse, not like she’s dying right now. Why are you making such a fuss? Right now, nothing in the world is more important than helping Natalie finish her experiment!”
My heart went cold. I never expected him to say something like that.
Next to him, Natalie set down the vial in her hand and wrapped her arm around Zayn’s neck affectionately.
“Zayn,” she said sweetly, “I already sent someone to check. Her sister didn’t have any heart attack at all. She just made up that story to get sympathy and avoid being my test subject.”
Hearing that, Zayn frowned and looked at me, his tone full of disgust.
“To serve Natalie is a blessing your Quell family could never earn in several lifetimes and yet you dare to lie? Is this how your dead parents taught you to behave?”
A smug look flashed in Natalie’s eyes. “I think she’s too emotional right now. We’d better give her a sedative.”
Zayn nodded in agreement without hesitation.
No matter how hard I cried and begged, they still forced the injection into me. When I woke up again, I found myself still lying on that same operating table.
My phone, lying on the floor, started ringing. I struggled to reach it and pressed “answer.”
A voice came through the line.
“Miss Quell, your sister passed away last night at 10:58 p.m. despite all rescue efforts. You’re her only family, so please come and take her home.”
All the blood in my body seemed to freeze. My throat tightened so much that I couldn’t say a single word.
Thinking about what Zayn and Natalie did yesterday, my chest felt like it had been cut open—sharp pain spreading through me.
Seven years of love and not once did I get his true heart. Then I didn’t want it anymore.
I picked up my phone and sent him a message:
[Zayn, let’s get a divorce.]
