After My Death, She Saw His True Colors

Isabella’s childhood friend, Damian, lost his memory.

He forgot everyone except her.

Isabella couldn’t resist Samantha’s, Damian’s mother, begging and began to take care of him with all her heart.

But my health was getting worse and worse and I was on the verge of death. Obviously, I was the one who needed to be taken care of.

Later, I died on the operating table in the hospital.

When Isabella found out, she went crazy.

—

My wife, Isabella, didn’t come back on my 28th birthday.

I called her several times, but no one answered.

Her colleague said that she left the company before she got off work and she didn’t even punch in her card.

I thought my wife had left work early to prepare a surprise for me.

After all, she was a person who attached great importance to rituals. She would deliberately take leave to prepare for me on every birthday.

But I didn’t receive her call until 23:56 in the evening.

The voice on the other end of the phone was very tired and lonely.

“Honey, Damian had a car accident. It was quite serious; he didn’t even recognize his family members when he woke up.”

When I heard the name Damian, my heart skipped a beat.

I was not only surprised that he had an accident but more worried about Isabella.

You know, Isabella and him had had a friendship since they were young and they were each other’s first love in college.

It was only later that they separated due to some misunderstandings that she got together with me.

“Honey, do you remember what day it is today?”

I tried hard to get even the slightest care.

“What day?” Isabella heard the sound of the key unlocking the door and her tone was calm. “I’m sleeping in the house on Brosling tonight. By the way, I asked for half a month’s leave to take care of him. It’s late, go to bed.”

When I heard the busy tone coming from the phone, I felt a sharp pain in my heart.

Watching the time on the phone screen change from 23:59 to 00:00, I turned my head to look at the dishes on the table that had been heated twice.

I took a picture of the scene on the desk and sent it to her WhatsApp, adding a sentence: [Today is my birthday.]

There was no reply for a long time.

But Isabella had just entered the room. She was a germaphobe and could not go to bed without washing.

And she always kept her phone with her, so how could she not see the message I sent?

Did she not know how to reply?

Maybe, after all, she didn’t even explain. She really forgot my birthday.

Lying on the bed, looking at the ceiling and feeling the burning pain in my stomach, I was not sleepy at all.

My eyes fell on the wedding photo hanging on the wall at the end of the bed and I wrapped myself in the quilt to feel the breath of my wife.

I wanted to convince myself that I wasn’t overthinking, but she was often absent-minded recently.

The subtle changes began when Damian came back from abroad last month.

At that time, Isabella said that she was going to attend a high school reunion and it rained lightly that night.

I quickly forgot about the work in my hands and drove to pick her up.

As soon as the car stopped at the door of the hotel, I saw Damian holding an umbrella for her considerately and took out a tissue from his belt to help her wipe her wet forehead.

Isabella’s smile at that time was not fake; she was shy and happy from the inside out.

When she saw my car, the smile on her face froze for a moment. On the way back, she deliberately explained, “Husband, don’t think too much, we are just good friends now.”

Good friends?

But she had clearly begun to favor this so-called good friend.

Isabella hadn’t been home for two days.

I went to the hospital.

I wanted to see how Damian was doing.

Through the glass window of the ward, Damian was lazily leaning on the pillow in his hospital gown.

Isabella was peeling an orange for him.

She carefully and attentively peeled the white layer on the flesh very cleanly, but I felt my breath stop for a moment.

Isabella always hated citrus fruits and she hated the smell when peeling the skin.

I hadn’t eaten oranges for many years because of her preference.

But now, she fed him one at a time, gentle and considerate, like a different person.

“Damian, is it sweet?”

“As long as you feed it, it’s sweet.”

“The doctor said you need to take more vitamins. Come on, take another bite.”

“It’s so strange. It’s the same one, but I can’t eat it as well as you do.”

“Silly, I’ll feed you more and you’ll recover quickly.”

Damian smiled and even raised his hand to lightly scratch Isabella’s nose.

Isabella’s eyebrows were a little shy and she didn’t seem to feel anything wrong with his touch.

I was so angry that I pushed open the door of the ward.

Two people looked at me at the same time. I strode in, pulled Isabella away and raised my hand to punch Damian in the face.

Isabella’s face turned pale and she exclaimed, “Damian!”

When she saw blood oozing from the corner of Damian’s mouth, Isabella turned around and pushed me hard.

“He’s a patient. Kevin, how could you do that to him?!”

I sneered, “Patient? I thought he was very healthy.”

“Damian had lost his memory due to a head injury, so I came to take care of him. Kevin, I didn’t expect you to be so petty!”

Her eyes, as if she were looking at a stranger, stabbed my heart fiercely.

I was already going crazy but suddenly calmed down.

“Amnesia? Lost his memory but he only remembers you? But I am your husband.”

Damian looked at me blankly at first, but when he heard the word “husband”, he reacted suddenly.

I saw him holding Isabella back in his arms, his face full of horror.

“No, I am your husband. Isabella, you can’t be with others.”

Isabella turned around and patted his back soothingly.

“Okay, okay, don’t get excited. Damian, I’m here, always here.”

I stepped back several steps after hearing the voice, feeling like a clown.

When I left the ward, I turned my head uncontrollably to look at the bed, thinking, one last look, just one last look.

But she didn’t mean to look back, but patiently treated the small wound at the corner of his lip.

Damian even leaned over and kissed her cheek.

She didn’t dodge.

Tears streaked across the corners of my eyes and I rudely raised the back of my hand to wipe them away.

The good things in the past were all bullshit.

That was it, let it be.

“Mr. Snider, according to your condition, you must be hospitalized and treated immediately. If you delay any further, the possibility of recovery will be even smaller.”

I looked at the medical report, but there was no ripple in my heart.

My stomach had been bad for many years and I had been relying on medication for treatment. But now, the emotional blow had further deteriorated my condition and it had developed to the middle and late stages.

It was too late, everything was too late and it couldn’t be cured.

Besides, who cared whether it was good or not?

I was an orphan and my first half of life was almost bleak. It was Isabella’s appearance that cured me, but now, even she didn’t want me anymore.

If I died, would she regret it?

As soon as this thought came out, it began to spread uncontrollably.

People often said that what was lost was the best.

Once, Isabella lost Damian, so when he appeared again, she chose him without hesitation.

And now, I was leaving and leaving forever.

Before leaving, I wanted to increase the stakes.

A week later, I met Isabella again.

I saw the surprise flashing in her eyes.

She should be surprised. I was tortured by the pain and lost a lot of weight in just a few days, but I still dressed neatly.

I went to the Civil Affairs Bureau again, this time to get a divorce.

Along the way, the two of us sat in silence in the back seat of the taxi.

The scenery outside the car window was rapidly receding. While waiting for the red light at the intersection, I saw a young couple sharing the same ice cream.

She smiled and smeared the ice cream on his nose and cheeks. He smiled brightly and turned his head to tickle her.

Isabella also saw it. She was silent for a moment and said to the driver, “Stop here.”

Then she got out of the car.

This place was only two hundred meters away from the Civil Affairs Bureau in front.

Watching her walk straight to the ice cream stand in high heels, I knew that she had not forgotten that day.

That was the day to get the marriage certificate.

At that time, we rode a shared bike and navigated all the way to the Civil Affairs Bureau.

We were both very young at that time. I didn’t have a car or a house and even though I didn’t have money to hold a wedding, she was still willing to get the marriage certificate with me first.

After coming out of the Civil Affairs Bureau, I was wrapped in huge joy and picked her up and turned around several times.

She pouted her lips and said, “I want to eat vanilla ice cream!”

I couldn’t wait to pull her to find the nearest stall.

She took a photo in the sun with a cute ice cream ball and smiled happily.

I couldn’t help but shake my head, silly girl, how could you be so satisfied?

I knew how much I owed her when I got the marriage certificate, so in the following years, I worked hard to make money for her to spend, just wanting to give her everything to compensate her.

But later, I had a car and a house and my love for her only increased.

But she fell in love with someone else.

“Here you go.”

Isabella’s voice brought my thoughts back from drifting away.

She handed me the chocolate ice cream and ate a vanilla one herself.

“I remember we had ice cream that day, so let’s have one today, so we can part ways in peace.”

I took it with a bitter smile in the corner of my eyes.

Did she forget that my stomach couldn’t stand any coldness as early as the end of last year?

The temperature was over 30 degrees today and the ice cream melted quickly, with some dripping down her hand.

I habitually searched in my pocket to see if there was a tissue.

Before I found it, I saw a room card fall out of her bag.

For a moment, time seemed to freeze.

Isabella lowered her head slightly to wipe her hands and explained with some stammering, “My classmate came to Lafcaster and this is her room card.”

I was so heartbroken that it seemed that even breathing became difficult.

She was like this and every lie would be seen through at a glance.

I didn’t expect that she had already checked into a hotel with Damian and that was before we even got our divorce certificate.

Why were she in such a hurry?

I didn’t understand. I didn’t do anything wrong. Why did Isabella hurt and betray me so much?

Perhaps because she saw my pale face, a trace of panic flashed through Isabella’s eyes.

“It’s not what you think…”

She even raised her hand to hold my hand to explain, but I used all my strength to push her away.

Her tone was calm.

“Let’s go.”

With that, she walked straight toward the Civil Affairs Bureau.

The formalities were handled very quickly. There were many people queuing at the stall for getting the marriage certificate and every couple’s face was filled with joy.

My stomach began to ache again, but I tried hard to restrain myself, not wanting to let anyone see any clues.

I asked for all the assets under their names to belong to me. When Isabella heard me say this, her face was stunned for a while.

“I know I am sorry for you, but you don’t want to give me a penny?”

I tried to force a smile and said, “Isn’t Damian very rich? You will be better off with him than now.”

When I mentioned him, Isabella’s expression was much looser and softer and she really didn’t care about the distribution of property.

“Okay, then it’s agreed that from now on we will go our separate ways and owe nothing to each other.”

When she came out of the Civil Affairs Bureau, her steps were much lighter and she even turned around and kindly reminded me.

“I don’t think we’ll be in touch in the future. You should find a girlfriend as soon as possible. I haven’t taken good care of you these years. Find someone who’s considerate and takes good care of you.”

My stomach ached suddenly and I smiled bitterly and shook my head. “Go away.”

She noticed my expression and frowned slightly. “What’s wrong with you? Do you have a stomachache?”

I ignored her and stopped a taxi at random and the car drove away.

Through the rearview mirror, I saw Isabella standing there in a daze.

***

After returning home, I took the medicine and finally felt much better.

There were still her clothes and personal belongings in the house. I didn’t know when she would come to get them, but the memories in the house tortured me every time I saw them.

I found a few boxes, put her things away bit by bit and piled them in the empty corner of the living room.

In the next few days, I lived in a daze. The days when I needed to rely on painkillers to maintain sleep at night passed in a flash.

My physical condition was getting worse and worse, but before I died, I still stubbornly wanted to see her again.