Her friends laughed, their voices echoing in the cold air. I reached for the coat to shield my body, but Serena was quicker, draping it over Isaiah with a tenderness that stung.
Isaiah, glancing at me, said, "I heard you gave him a lot of your blood recently, and he ended up in the hospital. What if he gets cold without a coat?"
"What does it have to do with me?" I replied, my voice tight. "I only feel sorry for Isaiah."
Isaiah placed a hand on her belly, and her laugh rang out, hollow and mocking.
Serena walked past me, Isaiah in tow. As they passed, she leaned in close and whispered a cold threat, "Don’t forget the marriage contract you signed in the Netherlands. Unless we both agree, you’ll never leave me."
The bitter wind whipped against my bare skin, but it was nothing compared to the chill gnawing at my heart. She slammed the car door shut, sending a puff of gray smoke into the air.
Her friends, noticing the blue-black bruises on my lips from the cold, shouted at me. "Anthony, come on. You’ve tolerated Serena’s infidelities ten times already. What’s a little cold wind to you?"
"Serena’s already made it public. Now, the whole country knows your nickname—Green-haired Turtle."
I closed my eyes, blocking them out.
An hour earlier, I had been lying in a hospital bed, worried about Serena after her last miscarriage. She’d suffered severe bleeding, and I’d been forced to give her a blood transfusion, nearly losing my life in the process.
But now, my heart had been shattered in a way I never imagined. I had rushed out of the hospital, despite the nurse’s pleas, after hearing from Serena's friends, "Anthony, Serena’s been drinking all day, and no one can stop her."
I thought she was drowning her sorrows over the loss of our child. Instead, she was celebrating the pregnancy of the man she truly loved. The heavy bleeding she claimed was just a ploy to appease Isaiah.
One of her friends, unable to watch any longer, offered me a coat. "Sorry, Anthony," she said softly, her voice thick with regret. "We couldn’t do anything. Serena was willing to sacrifice everything to be with you. How has it come to this?"
Her eyes were filled with disappointment and sympathy, and I felt a wave of numbness wash over me. Of all the people who had pursued me, Serena had always been the one I wanted to stay farthest from. She was bold, persistent, and impulsive. Her love, intense and unwavering, was a double-edged sword. She had loved me completely, but one day, that love would be the weapon that destroyed me.
And that day had arrived.
It had been a car accident, smoke and flames enveloping the wreckage. She had rushed to the scene, desperate, her hands shaking as she tried to pull me out.
My legs were trapped under the mangled car, and the vehicle could explode at any moment. "You can’t save me," I told her, pushing her away. "Go now, or you’ll die with me."
But she refused to leave. "If I die, I’ll let my sisters bury us together. I’ll tell everyone I committed suicide with you."
I looked at her tear-streaked face, her makeup long gone, her hair a mess, surrounded by black smoke. A pang of softness struck my heart, and I shook my head. "Maybe sincerity is always changing," I muttered to myself.
I adjusted my clothes and began walking home, the night thick with winter’s bite. Faint headlights appeared ahead, illuminating the road as though they were guiding me, worried for me. My steps grew slower, more erratic, and soon my vision blurred. The cold darkness consumed me, and I collapsed into the snow.
