LOVING HER TOO LATE

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 3

Savannah’s POV

Sanatorium machines produced a distant hum as quiet settled into the hallway. My hands remained motionless above the door handle while I stood still.

Entering the room would reveal what I had observed countless times before. The manner Ethan checked out her. His voice became gentle exclusively when he spoke to her. She never needed to request protection because his presence naturally transformed into her shield.

Silly. Ethan pointed out that her bone marrow transplant took place three months ago.

His snort changed into warm, teasing. I imagined him playing with her hair while his eyes held something that I'd only ever wished to see from him.

"This is just a routine test today," he told her. The experience has been top-notch up to this point, right?

A gentle sigh accompanied by a sniffle was detected. "What if it failed once more?"

I squeezed my eyes close. I shouldn't be here, listening. The situation was such that I couldn't bring myself to walk away from both of them.

"Then we’ll preserve attempting," he stated. I know that you will never let anything become manifest to me.

I swallowed as a lump formed in my throat. His voice carried both strength and promise as it continued. The same words he spoke to me before fell short of meaning when he said them again. Those words lacked their full meaning when he spoke to me.

I had given him my complete affection. I willingly gave him my heart along with my loyalty and my entire love. He treated me solely as a duty he should fulfill when I returned to him.

"I recognize you will. "It’s simply..." Lily hesitated. If I remain the imperfect vase, I cannot stand by your side.

Silence stretched among them. Typically, Ethan would step in to soothe her by showering her with his love.

Not this time.

My breath stuck. Would he inform her? Did he finally speak the words that would spare me from this suffering? My grip on the doorknob tightened.

"Lily," his voice turned into low, measured. "I’m married."

My heart slammed towards my ribs.

Lily let out a choked sob. You had no reason to do that thing for me! You must’ve—"

Her tears became evident without checking her face. Her voice broke as the sharpness of her pain filled the space with a dense and overwhelming presence.

He explained that I knew his reasons.

Yes, I knew why. Her existence was always the center of my life within his world. Saving her, defend her. My existence served solely as a mechanism for her survival.

Her life benefited from my blood. A curse to me.

I were healthy. She hadn’t. Eventually, I became their salvation during the moment it required my intervention. My parents had taken all necessary steps to make it happen.

Ethan never had a choice.

But I had. I foolishly chose him as my husband under the false belief that marriage would make him belong to me. That I might be enough.

I had been incorrect.

His voice softened again when he said, "I told you." You can't let anything happen to you.

The same promise. The same devotion. Just not for me.

Lily must have thrown herself into his arms because I next heard his deep exhale which only came when he held something delicate.

Or someone.

My feet moved before I realized it. I moved backward in one step, then took another. My body understood the truth that my heart stubbornly rejected—I didn’t belong here.

I entered a short message stating my location at the clinic. Come out while you can.

I waited but was confident he wouldn't come tearing out. He in no way did.

The complete finality of the situation became clear to me as I walked away. I lost before facing any threat to fight.

Throughout every story it remains true that the villain never achieves victory. The villain in their fairytale had a predestined ending that determined this outcome.

After the prince defeated the dragon, the princess received her happy ending.

The story I never intended for me to be a part of it.