Part 3I Quit the Love Game

Sadie sat beside the bed, absently running a finger over the cover of my medical record.

"Why do you always have to take everything to extremes?" she muttered flatly. "Are you trying to hurt yourself just to get attention?"

She frowned at me with the disapproval of a mother scolding a misbehaving child. "Kermit's situation is very different from yours, Flynn. After he lost his memory, I was all he had left."

She continued wearily, "We grew up together. His parents were often abroad and rarely came home to see him. He was just a lonely child who needed a family, and I became that family."

She paused, her gaze lingering on the gauze wrapped around my wrist.

"He doesn't remember anyone but me. It's been that way since his accident..." She ran her fingers along my IV tube, then turned to stare out the window. "His therapist said a lot of his behavior stems from extreme insecurity."

She frowned at me again, exhaustion etched across her face.

"It's not what you think," she urged. "He's like a little brother to me. You already know that, don't you? You know he's sick. So why are you trying to fight with someone like that?"

She sighed. "Please don't do something like this again, okay? I'm your wife, and I always will be."

She lightly touched the ends of my hair, then quickly withdrew her hand. "I'll make it up to you once Kermit recovers. We'll finally take that honeymoon trip we missed, okay?"

I noticed the tips of her ears turning red. That only happened when she lied.

"So please..." She lowered her voice. "Could you please try to understand me this once?"

I stared blankly at the ceiling.

"He really needs me right now. Just for a little while, okay?"

Her words sounded distant and unreal, as though they came from somewhere far away. They were too hazy to feel real, yet somehow they still forced their way into my mind.

"Mm," I replied, my voice so dry that it didn't sound like my own.

My depression had grown so severe that I no longer had the strength to feel angry. She said so much about wanting me to be patient, promising to make up for my sacrifices, asking me to be considerate of her situation. None of it mattered. Her words felt like dust, utterly inconsequential to me.

I watched her glance at her phone again and again. I watched her repeatedly glance at her phone and unconsciously edge toward the door.

Suddenly, I realized how foolish I had been. For more than three years, I had believed her empty promises.

"You can go now," I said, surprised by how calm my voice sounded.

The relief on Sadie's face hurt.

I hadn't even known my numb heart was still capable of feeling pain.

She stepped closer and reached out to ruffle my hair, but I tilted my head away from her hand.

"Hey!" She froze, then gave me a helpless smile. "Oh, stop sulking. I'll be back soon."

I watched her leave. As soon as she answered her phone, her voice softened into a tenderness she hadn't shown me.

That was when I realized my heart was already dead.

How could it not be?

Every time Sadie chose him over me, she drove the knife deeper. Every time Kermit bragged about it, he twisted the blade. And I had poisoned the wounds myself with the foolish hope that someday, she would come back to me.

Sadie closed the door softly behind her.

It felt like the world's quietest shutter had come down, sealing me away from her.

I closed my eyes and let the darkness swallow me.