Chapter 5
1003 Words
Silas woke up in the hospital.
Thick gauze was wrapped around his neck. The anesthetic had probably worn off, and a dull, throbbing pain pulsed through the wound in waves.
The door swung open softly. A nurse walked in, and when she saw he was awake, she smiled and said, "Your wife just left."
As she checked the IV drip, the nurse continued, "Oh, by the way, she came to see you twice while you were unconscious. But she didn't look too good herself. She only stayed a few minutes each time before leaving. Seemed pretty busy."
Silas kept quiet.
The nurse glanced at him, started to say something, then stopped. In the end, she just sighed and left.
Silence settled over the ward again.
Silas stared out the window. He remembered the last thing he saw before losing consciousness: Audrey was running toward him, but Ethan was holding Mia, and the little girl was screaming and crying her heart out. Audrey's footsteps paused. She looked back.
Just that one split second of hesitation.
After that, she kept running toward him. But that moment was already carved into his mind.
It was just like every other choice she had ever made.
It wasn't that she didn't love him. It was just that there was always something more urgent. Something that needed her more. Something that had to come first.
And he was always the one who could wait.
Instead of rushing to find Audrey, he contacted his lawyer first to draft a divorce agreement.
On his third day in the hospital, Audrey came.
She looked even more worn out than before, pale as a ghost, eyes rimmed red.
She carried a thermos in her hand and set it on the bedside table.
"I brought you some soup," she said, her voice rough and hoarse. "Have some while it's hot."
Silas didn't move.
Audrey sat down on the chair beside the bed, clasped her hands together, and lowered her head.
"We caught the kidnappers. They're the family of a man from an old case I worked in. They said I killed their son. This was revenge."
She spoke quietly, like she was giving a work report. "Ethan and Mia were traumatized. Mia has been having nightmares for the past two days. She needs someone to stay with her, so I..."
She trailed off, cutting herself short.
Silas listened in silence, waiting for her to continue.
Audrey looked up at him. Her eyes held guilt, exhaustion, and a deep sense of helplessness.
"Silas, that day I..."
She swallowed hard. "I didn't have a choice. Mia is only six. If something had happened to her, I would never be able to forgive myself for the rest of my life..."
"I know." Silas interrupted her, his voice calm. "You made the right call."
Audrey froze.
"If I were you, I would have chosen Mia too."
Silas continued, looking at her. "So I don't blame you. Audrey, I really don't blame you."
He paused, enunciating each word clearly, then looked away, out the window.
"You can go. Stay with Mia. Take care of whatever you need to take care of. I'm fine here."
Audrey sat there, motionless.
She looked at him, her lips trembling as if she wanted to say something. But in the end, no words came out.
She sat there for about ten minutes, then stood up and said softly, "I'll come see you again later."
Silas listened to her footsteps fade away. Then he slowly sat up and pressed the call button.
When the nurse came in, he asked, "When can I be discharged?"
"We'll monitor you for another day. If everything looks good, you can leave the day after tomorrow."
"What about today?"
The nurse blinked in surprise. "Today? Your bleeding has just stopped. You need to rest."
"I'm fine now," Silas said. "Please help me process the discharge paperwork."
The nurse couldn't talk him out of it, so she went to find the doctor.
One hour later, Silas returned to the apartment and started packing his things.
He walked into the bedroom, opened the closet, and began packing his clothes.
He folded each garment one by one and placed them into his suitcase.
He packed slowly and carefully, like he was performing a ritual.
In the middle of packing, he stopped and looked around the room he had lived in for three years.
On the nightstand still sat a photo of them, taken on their first wedding anniversary.
In the photo, her eyes curved into crescent moons with her smile. He had his arm around Audrey's shoulder, his chin resting on top of her head, his gaze soft and warm.
He walked over, picked up the frame, looked at it for a long moment, then opened the drawer and placed the photo inside.
He closed the drawer. And with it, he locked that whole chapter of his memories away.
Finally, he stood in the middle of the living room and looked around.
This home was large. Spacious. Pristine. Cold. Completely devoid of warmth.
Just like the love Audrey had given him.
At the beginning, it had been passionate and grand, the envy of everyone who saw them.
But peel back that glamorous surface, and underneath was a constant calculation of priorities. Obligations and guilt that had always been placed ahead of him.
He had tried to warm it, only to find he was the one being drained dry in the process.
He took the apartment key out of his bag and set it gently on the coffee table.
The keychain was a gift from Audrey. A tiny little bear hanging from it.
She said it was cute, so he kept it on his keys all this time.
Now, he was giving it back to her.
He cast one last look at this house, pulled his suitcase behind him, and walked out the door.
When the lock clicked shut, it locked all three years of his marriage, his love, his hopes, inside with it.
- Writer
