He Married Her In Front Of Me

Chapter 3

Ryan stopped mid-motion and walked out without looking back.

I was slumped against the back of the door, clutching my throbbing stomach, when a message from Lily popped up on my phone.

Lily: Hannah, are you two getting a divorce? Don't be mad, okay?

Lily: What happened between Ryan and me last night was just a moment of weakness, I swear. We've grown up together since we were kids. We know where the line is. We'd never mess up your marriage.

Lily: I mean, who'd even willingly do something like that? It's so gross I'd puke my guts out if it was anyone else, right?

To prove her innocence, she sent a video.

In the clip, Ryan was helping Lily clean up the underwear stained by her period.

"Damn, Lily, why are you not at all like a girl? I want to throw up!"

"Whose fault do you think that is? If you hadn't gone wild on me last night, would I be bleeding this bad? You dare call me a freak? I'll kick your ass!"

His face was twisted in pure disgust, but he still didn't drop that underwear.

The second the video ended, my head spun.

Every scene stabbed through my heart like a blade, the pain churning through my insides.

I bolted for the bathroom, dry heaving uncontrollably.

As far as I knew, Ryan had an almost obsessive germaphobia when it came to this kind of stuff.

Once, I accidentally leaked a tiny bit on the mattress. He marched straight to the guest room to sleep in the middle of the night.

And the next day, he threw out the entire mattress.

Tears blurred my vision. I didn't sleep all night.

When dawn broke, Ryan got up surprisingly early, and even made breakfast, something he never did.

I stepped out of the bedroom just in time to hear Lily ask him something.

"Did you smooth things over with her? If you two actually get divorced, I'll be the bad guy here."

"Smooth things over? Please, she's just throwing a dramatic little fit because she's horny. Even if I begged her to divorce me, she wouldn't dare."

"Then just yank the covers over her head to calm her down, duh? That's your whole move, isn't it?"

Ryan snickered and stuffed a piece of shredded chicken into her mouth. "Not interested. One look at her current body makes me lose my appetite. Eat your food and mind your own damn business."

Lily burst out laughing at that.

My breath caught in shaky gasps, and sharp, stabbing pains rippled through my stomach, one after the other.

So this was the man I'd chosen to marry, even if it meant burning bridges with my own parents.

I spun on my heel and marched back to the bedroom, the last faint flicker of hesitation in my chest snuffed out completely.

I'd just packed my bag and was getting ready to head to the hospital when Ryan called out to me out of nowhere.

"Babe, I made breakfast just for you. Come get a bite."

The so-called special breakfast he'd made just for me was a plate of steaming shrimp and egg frittata sitting on the table.

He'd forgotten, though. I was deathly allergic to shrimp.

"I'm not eating that."

When he saw how ashen my face was, he grabbed a coat from the side and strode over to me in three quick steps.

"It's freezing out. Why aren't you wearing more? Where are you heading? I'll drive you."

Lily was propped up behind him, legs crossed, clucking her tongue loud enough for both of us to hear, as she drank in the whole show, like she was laughing at how full of crap Ryan was, all bark and no bite.

Ryan glanced back over his shoulder, tilted his chin up, and made a "watch this" face at her.

Staring at their little back-and-forth, all I felt was a bitter, aching weight settling in my chest. "I'm going to the hospital."

Only when he heard the word "hospital" did his expression sober up, just barely.

"The hospital? What's wrong? Is the baby giving you trouble..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Lily yelled from behind him, "Ryan, I'm heading home. Drive me!"

"Drive you my ass. I'm busy right now. Can't you see Hannah's sick and needs to go to the hospital?"

That's what he said, anyway. But the second I went to get in the car, he shouted over to Lily, "Lily, get in. I'll drop you off on the way."

We were heading in totally opposite directions, but he had the audacity to spin it as a quick detour on my route.

Lily cackled and tossed a few playful insults his way as she sauntered over to the passenger door.

Her eyes flicked to the Lily's Exclusive Seat sticker on the headrest, and the look in her eyes was crystal clear. She wanted me to get out of the seat.

I'd had all I could take. "Lily, I'm still married to Ryan. This car doesn't belong to you yet."

"But Ryan promised this is my exclusive seat. Ugh, this is such a hassle... Ryan, you tell her. Who gets to sit up front?"

She spoke like she was completely in the right, arms crossed over her chest as she snapped a mock-threatening gesture like she was going to gouge his eyes out if he didn't pick her side.

"You wouldn't ditch your childhood best friend just because you've got a wife now, right? Don't make me lose all respect for you."

Ryan laughed. "Am I that kind of person?"

He turned to look at me. "Babe, go sit in the back, yeah? It's just a seat. Think of it as apologizing to Lily for that slap you gave her yesterday."

It felt like someone had stomped my heart into a mangled pulp, the pain so searing I couldn't even straighten up.

I swallowed back the bitter taste flooding my throat and climbed into the back seat.

Lily plopped down in the passenger seat with a giddy, smug grin, and she and Ryan bickered and joked nonstop the entire ride.

Once the car rolled to a stop outside Lily's apartment, she said her shower was broken and ordered Ryan to come fix it.

Ryan hesitated for half a second before turning to me. "Babe, head in to the hospital first, yeah? I'll be right there. C'mon, when have I ever skipped one of your prenatal appointments? You and the baby are the most important things in the world to me."

He tapped a quick $2,000 transfer to my phone right after that, then followed Lily through her front door without so much as a second glance back.

I'd barely stepped through the hospital entrance when my feet slipped out from under me hard, and I hit the ground with a dull thud. Warm blood gushed down between my legs.

Panicked doctors and nurses rushed me straight into the operating room.

Even as the anesthetic flooded my veins, he still hadn't shown up.

I didn't know how much time passed before I heard the doctor's urgent voice cutting through the fog in my brain.

"Where's the next of kin? The patient is hemorrhaging badly, we might have to remove her uterus. Someone get him here to sign the consent form now! Where is the family?! This is a life-threatening emergency! Someone call the family right now!"

The OR descended into total chaos. A nurse grabbed my phone and called Ryan over and over again, until the screen showed 99+ missed calls to him.

Not a single one was answered.

With the doctors deadlocked over what to do next, I summoned the last dregs of strength I had left and signed the form myself.

After that, I slipped into complete unconsciousness.