Betrayed On Our Anniversary, I Quit

Chapter 5

An unknown amount of time slipped by before Anne finally blinked awake on the hospital bed.

The nurse pushed open the door and came in to change her dressing.

Anne strained to push herself up, only for the nurse to gently press her back down.

"Stay down for now, your injuries are really serious. You need to rest properly."

But Anne just shook her head. Glancing at the calendar on her phone, she forced herself upright again.

"Today is my grandma's death anniversary. I have to go every year. I can't miss it..."

Her whole body ached so bad she felt like she was falling apart at the seams. Each step she took sent her stumbling sideways.

The nurse couldn't hold back her urgent call, "But you're pregnant! If you really have to go out, at least have a family member come with you!"

Those words hit Anne like a lightning bolt exploding right inside her skull.

She stared blankly, the words tumbling out of her mouth. "I'm pregnant?"

The nurse immediately handed over her lab report. The word 'pregnancy' stared back at her, printed clear as day on the paper.

Anne's fingers clenched tightly around the report, her lips trembling softly.

She'd just made up her mind to get a divorce, and yet this baby had come quietly, out of nowhere.

She'd had a miscarriage before. The doctor had told her her uterus was damaged, that getting pregnant again would be almost impossible. This baby might be the last one she would ever have.

A sharp pang went through Anne's heart. She lifted a shaking hand and pressed it gently to her lower abdomen, already fiercely protective of the tiny life growing inside her.

Right that second, the hospital room door swung open. Wayne walked in, a faint post-coital flush still pinkening his cheeks.

"Anne," he pulled her into a hug, his voice laced with fake concern, "I only just found out you got in a car crash. I've been going out of my mind with worry."

Anne quickly stuffed the lab report out of sight, then pushed him away, her face completely blank. "Don't touch me. I'm leaving."

"Where do you think you're going?" He lifted an arm to block her path, then he suddenly remembered something. "Oh right, I almost forgot. It's your grandma's death anniversary today."

Before Anne could say a word, he stepped forward and draped his coat over her shoulders.

"I'll drive you there."

Anne knew she could barely walk on her own right now, so she let him take her to the cemetery. But when they pulled up to the grave site, they spotted a woman already standing there.

It was Sasha.

There she stood, right in front of Grandma's grave, a vicious grin splitting her face. One hand gripped a bucket, and she hurled its contents, thick, black, glistening gunk, right onto the cold stone!

A thick, putrid stench crashed over Anne, and every drop of blood in her veins froze solid.

Sasha had dumped actual manure all over her grandma's headstone!

"Sasha, are you out of your goddamn mind?!" Anne lunged forward in a blur, arm flying up to c***k Sasha hard across the face!

"Anne!" Wayne stormed over, his face dark as a thundercloud, and stepped between them to block her, "When are you going to stop this ridiculous scene?!"

"Wayne, can't you see what she just did to my grandma's grave?!" Anne's voice shook so hard it cracked as she stabbed a trembling finger at the filthy, tarnished stone, "She dumped s**t all over my grandma's headstone! How can you stand there and not see it?!"

In an instant, Sasha's eyes glazed over with tears. She dropped her arrogant sneer completely, and her voice came out all wobbly and wronged.

"I heard today was your grandma's memorial anniversary, so I came here without telling Wayne. I just wanted to apologize for the mistakes I made when I was younger, to the old lady… I was going to plant flowers on her grave. Anne, I know you hate me, but I really meant well! This is the best organic fertilizer. It'll make the flowers grow so beautiful… Your grandma would be so happy with it!"

Anne had heard enough. Her eyes blazing red, she lunged and wrapped her hands around Sasha's throat. "Stop spewing your bullshit, you evil, heartless b***h! You did this on purpose! You don't even deserve to say my grandma's name!"

Suddenly, a sharp c***k echoed across the silent cemetery. A brutal backhand connected with Anne's cheek, hard enough to send her reeling.

"You really are beyond saving," Wayne spat, pure disgust dripping from every word, "No wonder people say bastards never fit in with polite society. Anne, you might have built a name for yourself, but you can never change that savage, vulgar trash in your bones!"

Anne shot straight up, arm snapping out to slap Wayne right back as hard as she could. "Wayne! This is what you owe my grandma!"

But right then, a searing, crippling pain exploded behind Anne's temples, and her legs gave out instantly, sending her crumpling to the ground.

She knew immediately it was the brain tumor acting up.

Desperate, she stretched a shaking hand out toward Wayne. "Wayne… get me to a hospital… my head… it hurts so bad…"

Before the words even left her mouth, Sasha wailed from behind them. "Wayne, I-I feel so dizzy… hurry, get me out of here."

Wayne froze for half a heartbeat, then immediately swept Sasha up into his arms without a second thought.

Anne clawed at his leg with every last bit of strength she had left. "Please… take me to the hospital… I have a tumor in my brain…"

But Wayne only scrunched his brow in disgust, and wrenched his leg free from her grip.

"Anne, when did you learn to fake being weak? This isn't like you at all. The woman who just slapped me across the face is the real you."

When Sasha let out a soft, clingy little whimper in his arms, he turned and strode away with her, not even glancing back at the injured Anne lying on the ground.

All of a sudden, a fine, cold drizzle began to drift down from the sky. Anne lay on the ground, and her limbs slowly went numb.

Her mind drifted back to the day her grandma died. It had rained that day too, and Wayne had knelt in front of her grave and knocked his forehead to the ground three times.

He'd sobbed until he could barely speak, his eyes burning with determination as he'd said, "Don't worry, Grandma. I'll take good care of Anne for the rest of her life, I swear it."

Ice-cold rain lashed Anne's face, washing away her tears and the last tiny sliver of hope she'd ever held for Wayne.

She muttered the words under her breath, soft as a sigh, heavy with a bottomless ocean of regret.

"Grandma… I messed up… I don't love him anymore… I'll never love him again…"