Chapter 3

When I came to again, everything in front of me was blinding white.

Mom and Dad stood at the edge of the bed, their eyes rimmed red.

I blinked, my voice coming out rough.

"What happened to me?"

Mom heard me and came over, taking my hand.

"The doctor said there's a mass on your kidney. You couldn't handle the strain of intense emotion, so you passed out."

My hand went to the small of my back.

No wonder I'd felt so worn down all through the wedding planning, no appetite either.

I'd thought it was just exhaustion.

I closed my eyes for a moment.

"Where's Anne?"

At the mention of her name, Dad's face went cold.

"Hmph. Probably just about wrapped up the wedding ceremony by now."

He handed me his phone. A wedding video was playing on the screen.

Under a sky full of drifting petals, Jackson was down on one knee, sliding the ring onto Anne's finger with a look of solemn devotion.

Back when we were mapping out the ceremony, I'd suggested a petal drop. She took one look at the price and waved it off.

"Terrible value for the money. Be rational. Don't pay for a moment's feeling."

Now Jackson tossed it out offhand, and she'd added it without blinking.

"Why is he the groom now?"

Dad couldn't hold it in and swore.

"Anne said the whole ceremony was already booked, no refunds."

"Jackson said since she'd never been married, they might as well have some fun with it."

By the end, he let out a sigh.

"She never had you in her heart at all!"

I lay there and felt my heartbeat climbing faster and faster. It was rage.

The door to the room swung open.

Anne and Jackson walked in, one after the other.

Before a single word was spoken, a payment slip was already being held out to me.

"I settled the exam fee on my way over."

"Four-oh-six total. Remember to transfer me two-thirty in a bit."

I lifted my eyes to her, trying to find some trace of who she used to be.

"Anne, I'm sick."

Her hand kept tapping the calculator. She didn't even glance up.

"I know. Since kidney health is connected to married life, that's exactly why I'm willing to cover half."

"Everything after this, the exams, the surgery, the recovery, all of it, we split fifty-fifty."

"Don't hire a nurse after the surgery. Have your mom take care of you. And don't buy too many supplements. Just enough to get by."

Beside me, Dad was breathing hard, the veins standing out on his arm.

I braced against the bed and pushed myself up to sit.

"Are we going to live like this for the rest of our lives?"

Jackson's gaze bored straight into me, the ring still sitting steady on his finger.

"Being sick isn't an excuse to go weak on us."

"A man is supposed to carry the weight of the household together with his wife……"

I cut him off.

"I don't want to hear you. I want to hear Anne."

She finished the budget list and sent it to my phone.

"Jack's right. You can't just keep leaning on me forever."

I opened it and looked.

Every figure scraped the very bottom of what things could cost. Even the price of each strip of gauze had been split cleanly in two.

I unpinned Anne's chat from the top of my contacts, pressed the phone dark, and let myself sink back against the bed.

"Never mind. I'll cover all of it myself from now on."

Her hand paused. Surprise flickered in her eyes.

But she didn't refuse.

"If you think that's reasonable, then I have no objection."

Dad finally couldn't take it. He pointed at her and roared.

"Anne, are you even human?"

Mom stood up. Even-tempered as she always was, this time she was genuinely furious.

"When I handed my son over to you, you stood in front of us and swore you'd protect him for the rest of his life!"

Anne pressed her red lips together, her voice thick with impatience.

"Jack already said it, times have changed, and the way a husband and wife treat each other has to change too."

"Stop trying to hold me down with your old-fashioned ways."

She grabbed Jackson by the wrist, turned, and pushed out the door.

I pressed the call button at the head of the bed.

A nurse came in.

I braced myself against the wall and got out of bed.

"Can you book me for surgery right away?"