Dale reached out and touched Grace's cheek as if she were a fragile doll.
"Dale, if you had come a little later, I would have had to have my leg amputated."
Grace hugged Dale, her tone tinged with a hint of grievance, and her tears burst out.
Dale gently patted Grace's back, afraid of scaring her.
I thought Dale didn't know how to take care of people, so I kept giving in, hoping to warm his heart with time.
And I went on for seven years.
Seven years ago, when we had just gotten married, I had a stomachache and felt extremely uncomfortable.
He could drive to the nearby 24-hour pharmacy and buy me painkillers in just ten minutes, but he blamed me for being stupid and not knowing what I couldn't eat.
I endured the pain until dawn. Dale said it was the best for me because I could remember the lesson clearly.
But what was he doing now? He was carefully examining each kind of medicine and asking the doctor if there would be any lingering effects on Grace's leg.
I felt my heart being ripped apart, and it hurt like hell.
"Grace, your leg is fine. If something happens again, you must call me immediately. Hear me? I don't want to lose you again."
I watched Dale tightly holding Grace's delicate hand. They really looked like a loving couple.
Watching them, I almost forgot that our marriage was initiated by Dale.
Dale and I were college classmates, and everyone knew I had loved him for many years.
That day was my birthday. I didn't expect to receive Dale's blessings at the end of my birthday.
But he got drunk because Grace got engaged to another man.
His voice on the phone trembled a bit. Years of secret love prompted me to go to the bridge in the middle of the night to find him. I was afraid that something might happen to him.
"Marry me. I know you have always liked me."
Dale's words caused great mood swings in my heart. I knew that I could never stop loving him.
The joy filled my mind. For me, Dale's affection was like a belated birthday gift.
Although I knew that he only wanted to use me to get over the shadow of losing Grace, I didn't care.
Everyone's heart could be warmed. I believed Dale would one day see how good I was to him.
Everything between us seemed to go smoothly, but after that day, I never saw Dale again.
He deliberately avoided me, I knew. Because someone had tampered with the survival map of the wilderness survival training in the freshman year of me and Jerry Watts.