Married to a Man Who Loved Someone Else

Chapter 4

Hazel pushed herself upright and stepped out of the hospital ward, craving nothing more than a quiet corner to catch her breath.

She never expected to round the corner and come face to face with Liora.

Her first instinct was to slip away and pretend she hadn’t spotted the other girl, but Liora stepped toward her on her own before she could move.

The girl standing before her was nothing like the fragile, pitiful version she’d put on around Christian; there was no softness left in her features at all.

Every line of her face blazed with unmasked provocation, laced with cold, unapologetic arrogance.

"So you’re Christian’s wife?" Liora drawled, scanning Hazel from head to toe with a tone thick with disdain.

A sharp, searing pain jolted through her unhealed wound, and Hazel forced herself to give a small, stiff nod.

In an instant, Liora let out a sharp, mocking laugh that dripped with sarcasm.

"No wonder Christian agreed to marry you without a second thought. Your face… you bear a striking resemblance to me, easily seven or eight parts the same."

Her tone shifted abruptly, a flash of blatant triumph flashing in her eyes as she leaned in slightly.

"But let me make one thing clear , a stand-in is always just a stand-in. You’ll never worm your way into Christian’s heart. I’ve been gone for three whole years, but he sent me countless messages the entire time. We never lost contact, not once."

She took one menacing step closer, dropping her voice to a low, cutting murmur that stabbed straight to Hazel’s core with every single word.

"If it weren’t for the unspoken troubles keeping us apart, you would never be the one by his side right now. He only loves me."

Hazel’s nails dug deep into the flesh of her palms, and the sharp pain anchored her to clarity, keeping her from crumbling on the spot.

She knew exactly how to handle manipulative girls like this; without a second of hesitation, she lifted her hand and slapped Liora hard across the cheek.

"It seems you’ve forgotten, Miss Liora," Hazel said coldly, her voice steady despite the ache in her chest. "For the past three years, I’ve been the one in his bed, the one he holds and kisses. That means far more than your empty, worthless declarations of love, doesn’t it?"

Liora clapped a hand over her stinging cheek, her eyes flooding with redness in the blink of an eye.

Just then, the sound of familiar, heavy footsteps echoed from the far end of the corridor.

Christian was approaching.

His eyes, usually calm and composed, were now blazing with unbridled fury.

Liora’s face shifted instantly, her fake tears welling up at once as she scrambled behind Christian, her voice cracking with sobs.

"Christian, I only wanted to say hello to her," she whimpered, pressing her face into his arm. "I had no idea she’d be so cruel to me… she hit me for no reason at all, out of nowhere."

Christian’s gaze darkened dangerously, and he slowly lifted one hand.

It was the same slender, elegant hand Hazel had adored for years, the hand she’d once thought belonged only to her , and now it was raised directly toward her own face.

But the slap never came.

Christian stared at her, a flicker of tangled, unreadable emotion crossing his eyes before it vanished.

"Are you finished causing a scene?" he snapped at Hazel, his voice cold and sharp.

"Liora isn’t like other women. I won’t tolerate you treating her this way. Don’t you ever do this again."

Over the years, countless women had tried to cling to Christian , it was only natural, given how successful and strikingly handsome he was.

Hazel had pushed away dozens of these women for him, standing up for him without a second thought every single time.

But Christian had never scolded her for it back then; he’d only ever pulled her close and asked if her hands hurt from the scuffles.

Now, for the exact same thing, he was taking someone else’s side against her.

Christian curled his fingers around Liora’s hand and turned to walk away, not sparing Hazel another glance.

"Wait," Hazel called out, pouring every last ounce of her strength into the single word.

She fumbled in the pocket of her hospital gown and pulled out the divorce papers she’d prepared days earlier, her fingers trembling violently as she clutched them.

Her lips quivered, and the question that had haunted her for three long years, repeating in her head a thousand times over, was poised to burst out.

"Christian," she whispered, her voice breaking. "In these three years… did you ever, not even for one single second, truly love me?"

But the words died on her tongue, swallowed by a thick, suffocating silence that left her chest hollow.

In the end, all that slipped past her lips was a lifeless, heart-shattered statement, empty of all hope.

"Sign this," she muttered, holding out the papers.

Christian shot the papers a cold, dismissive glance, not even bothering to reach out and take them from her hand.

"What is that?" he asked without looking at her, his full focus fixed on Liora tucked safely in his embrace, not granting Hazel even a sliver of his attention.

"It’s a pre-surgery hospital form," Hazel lied smoothly, her voice flat. "It needs a family member’s signature."

It was the first time she had ever lied to him, and the words tasted bitter on her tongue.

Christian walked over with a blank, indifferent expression, picked up a nearby pen, and signed his name neatly and quickly in the family member signature line.

He didn’t glance at the contents of the papers even once.

Because he didn’t care. Not at all.

Hazel stood frozen, watching their retreating figures as she squeezed the signed divorce papers tightly in her fist, the paper crinkling against her palm.

She tilted her head back toward the ceiling, whispering softly to herself, her voice finally free of the pain that had bound her for years.

"Christian. We’re done. I’m going back to being the bold, unapologetic Hazel I used to be."