Once Gone, Love Never Returns

Every time Enrique Morrison and Vanessa Sanford made love, he never used protection. "I don't like feeling restrained," he would say, brushing off her concerns. Later, Vanessa was pregnant. From that moment on, Enrique refused to touch her, claiming he didn't want to risk harming the baby. Yet time and time again, Vanessa found lipstick stains on his collar, scratch marks trailing down his neck. For the sake of the child, she swallowed her pain and endured it all. But she never expected that on the day she went into labor, Enrique would use all the hospital's blood supply—for another woman, a college student. "Get the defibrillator! Increase the voltage!" "The patient is hemorrhaging! The blood bank's Type A supply was just transferred out!" The intern nurse's hands were drenched in blood, her voice trembling. The operating room was filled with the thick scent of blood. She had never seen so much blood before. At that moment, a thought flashed through her mind. Who would take an entire blood bank's supply all at once? Lying on the hospital bed, Vanessa's face was pale, her lips cracked. Her vision had already begun to blur."Enrique..." "What?" "Enrique..." This time, the intern nurse heard it clearly. The barely-breathing woman was calling out for Enrique. The most powerful business tycoon in Houston—Enrique. The doctor was on the verge of collapse. He misdialed the number three times before finally getting it right. Frantically, he pleaded into the phone,"Mr. Morrison, your wife is hemorrhaging. The blood bank is empty. Please, I beg you, come see her one last time!" On the other end of the line, the man's voice carried a cruel indifference. His tone was cold and detached."She's not dead yet? Call me when she is." The line then went dead. Vanessa's eyes lost all their light. "Enrique... do you despise me that much? "Even now, you refuse to see me?" she wondered inside, overwhelmed by despair. The heart monitor let out a long, flat tone—the final note of her existence. In a daze, Vanessa felt her soul separate from her body. A frail, lifeless figure lay on the hospital bed. She felt utterly exhausted. Only twenty-seven, yet she had bled to death during the labor. She had loved Enrique to the point of obsession. As the only daughter of the prestigious Sanford family, she should have lived a life of luxury. But in order to marry Enrique, she had sacrificed everything—herself and her family. This was how she ended up. Vanessa slowly closed her eyes. If she had another chance, she would never make the same mistakes again.