Ex-wife, Keep Your Distance from Me!

My wife, a dedicated physician, lives to save lives.

Yet, after a dire crash nearly took my life, she opted to aid her old flame who had only minor scrapes.

As the clock ticked mercilessly on, I missed my chance for crucial medical intervention, and in utter despair, I breathed my last.

***

Crash—

On the coastal highway, two sedans collided.

My gray sedan was sent careening through the guardrail, and I was ejected through the windshield.

"We need help—fast! Is there a doctor nearby? This is an emergency!"

"Has anyone called 911 yet? When's the ambulance due?"

Through my dazed state, the sounds of frantic running and shouting filled the air.

I managed to open my eyes.

I found myself crumpled at the cliff's edge, my limbs contorted unnaturally.

Several state troopers had gathered around me.

One, clutching his radio, looked increasingly desperate. "Didn't they say there was an emergency doctor here? Where is she?"

"What? She's tending to the Beetle driver? That's ridiculous!"

"The guy in the Beetle is barely scratched! This man is dying—get her over here!"

Four minutes.

Ten minutes.

Half an hour.

The golden hour crucial for saving lives slipped away.

Despite the troopers' persistent calls, the figure in the white coat never appeared.

When the ambulance finally arrived, my body had already grown cold.

"He succumbed to massive blood loss and multiple organ failures," one medic declared.

As they pronounced me dead, my spirit felt strangely unburdened, drifting away—

Not just away, but towards the Beetle that my sedan collided with.

Rather, towards my wife, Jessica.

There she was, by the Beetle, performing CPR on someone!

That emergency doctor mentioned earlier—it was her.

And I knew that someone.

It was Mike Jacobs, her childhood sweetheart, the one she never quite got over.

He had returned from abroad just three months ago.

Since Jessica and I met in college, I only knew about her past with Mike from stories others had shared.

They used to say she chased him everywhere, causing scenes all around town.

She even chose med school to follow him.

It made sense then, her choice at that critical moment.

The hospital room was filled with silence.

Jessica, still in her coat, was taking Mike's blood pressure.

"What happened to the person I hit?" Mike inquired.

Jessica's hand trembled as she adjusted her stethoscope, and then she replied, "It's unclear, things were chaotic."

Mike exhaled, managing a weak smile. "I hope they're okay. Really, you should've checked on them. My car had airbags; I was fine."

Removing her stethoscope, she noted the readings with a steady hand, her voice steadier, "I didn't think it through at that moment. Plus, the ambulance arrived quickly. They're likely okay."

"All good here. Nothing to worry about. Just stay for a few more days of observation, then you can head home."

After dropping that, she turned to leave.

As she took one step out of the room, Mike called after her, "You came straight to me first... was it because—"

"No," Jessica interrupted him firmly.

Turning back, her gaze was complex, filled with unsaid thoughts as she faced Mike. "I'm married, remember?"

Mike gave a rueful chuckle, "That's just on paper, right? I heard things when I got back. No reason to stay in something that's dead."

Indeed, a marriage on paper only.

Initially, she wasn't keen on dating me during our college days.

But money has a voice, and with her father's medical machine company teetering on bankruptcy, her family practically gifted her to me as a last-resort investment.

She's harbored resentment ever since.

Aware of this, I transferred all assets I could to her name after our marriage.

I hoped all of that could show my heart and compensate her somehow.

I believed that time might soften even the stoniest of hearts.

Yet, when faced with a life-or-death decision, she chose to forsake me, her vows, and her professional ethics.