He hesitated for only a few seconds—then turned away when Anna called him to go buy her a bag.
In that moment, I made my decision: I would never look back.
By the time I arrived at the hospital, more than three hours had passed since the attack.
I had fainted from the beating, unconscious.
When I woke up, my body was covered in bruises.
My head spun, nausea churning in my stomach.
The doctor explained a few things and left.
Outside, nurses whispered about me, their looks full of disdain.
I knew explanations would be useless. I just stared at the TV on the wall.
At 2 p.m., David finally rushed in.
He was emotional as he said, “Claire, I didn’t know you’d be beaten like this. If I had known, I would have stopped it!”
“Really? You dare say you didn’t see me being attacked?”
Our eyes had locked while I was being beaten.
Now he came running, pretending to care—who was he fooling?
“I did see it, but Anna told me it was just to scare you. She didn’t say they’d actually hurt you!”
“To scare me? So you planned this together?”
I stared at him in disbelief.
Had they set me up from the very moment I walked into that mall?
Realizing he’d said too much, David tried to cover his tracks.
“She’s still outside. Anna wanted to come see you. She’s not as bad as you think.”
“And? You came here just to tell me that?”
On the surface, I looked calm, but inside, I was shaken.
Did he even understand what he was saying?
David pressed on. “Of course not. What I want to say is—can’t you and Anna just coexist peacefully?”
“Anna is easy to please. Just buy her something she likes, and she’s happy.”
My face hardened as I asked, word by word, “What exactly are you trying to say?”
The man I had shared my bed with suddenly felt like a stranger.
It was as if, after seven years, I was meeting him for the first time.
“My point is—you’ll always be my wife. She’ll just be my girlfriend.
Since you can’t have children, once she gives birth, I’ll let the child call you Mom.”
I stared at David in utter disbelief.
Had I fallen into some nightmare?
I was his wife, Anna was his girlfriend—and he thought two women sharing a husband was acceptable?
If this ever went public, it would cause a storm of outrage.
Three years ago, after a checkup, the doctor told me I had fertility issues—so severe that I might never conceive.
My first thought back then was divorce.
I didn’t want to trap David in a childless marriage.