I got a napkin to wrap my thigh with. While bearing the pain, I drove myself to the hospital.

At the hospital, the doctor reminded me not to get my wound wet and avoid any strenuous activity.

My phone buzzed. Hansel had called.

I answered the call and was immediately greeted with anger. He ordered me, "I don't care where you are right now. Head to the therapy room and apologize to Giselle! She's in shock because of you!"

I followed his instructions and walked to the door of the therapy room, but the hospital director stopped me. He sounded concerned.

"Ms. Colby, looking at your current state, I recommend hospitalization. Once the visa is approved, we will fly abroad to get you treated. Your depression has started to manifest with physical symptoms."

I wanted to agree with him, but I somehow could not utter a word. I gaped.

The door to the therapy room was suddenly flung open. Hansel's irritated voice filled the room.

"Who's going to receive treatment abroad? I'm certainly not leaving! Melissa Colby, how dare you make decisions for me? And why are you still here? Come with me to apologize to Giselle!"

With that, he dragged me away violently. I lost my balance and fell to the floor. I landed right next to Giselle's foot.

My wound that had just been bandaged started oozing blood. Compared to the physical wound, my feelings hurt even more.

I couldn't help but recall how Hansel used to defend me against others in the past. He promised me that I'd never have to apologize to anyone with him around.

But now, he was forcing me to apologize to the perpetrator. With my head hung low, I pressed a hand on my chest as I gasped for air.

"What are you doing, Mel! I don't blame you at all. Get up, now."

Giselle pretended to help me up while exposing a huge part of her skin planted with love bites—her way of asserting her dominance.

I immediately backed off when I saw the gleam of a pair of scissors she had been hiding. Pressing myself into the corner, I wrapped my arms around my knees. I was trembling.

The world around me fell silent.

Giselle pouted, looking pitiable, but her words to Hansel were lost to me.

Then a shadow loomed over me. Hansel reached down to pull me up, but I resisted. I pushed hard against the wall.

His face twisted with rage as he shouted something I couldn't make out.

Only when he walked away, hand in hand with Giselle, did his words finally reach me.

"Melissa, I guess you're the one who's sick! You'd better reflect on your actions. Meet me again when you're finally willing to apologize!"

Oh, had he finally realized the truth? I had been the one with depression, not him.

I had been taking care of a patient who was faking his depression, just for him to end up cheating on me with his psychologist.

"Melissa! Melissa!" Colin rushed into the room. His concerned voice jolted me back to reality.

He kindly arranged for me to be hospitalized.

…

A familiar figure came into my view in the hospital corridor. It was the driver who crashed into me five years ago in a drunk-driving incident, causing me to lose my pregnancy that came after eight rounds of IVF.

I could recognize that guy even if he turned into ashes. My messy mind cleared up in an instant. I furtively followed him to the stairs.

A familiar female voice rang out.

"I've paid you five million dollars! Don't be greedy. Aren't you scared I might call the cops on you?"

"Great! Do that! Giselle Pellington, you were the one who paid me to run over that pregnant lady. I still keep the recording as evidence. You'll be implicated too if you call the cops on me!"

Blood rushed through my veins. I lost my balance, and my body rammed against the door. Fearing they might see me, I stumbled my way back to my patient room.

A sharp pain tore through my heart.

I had always thought that my unborn child was simply unlucky to have been caught in the car accident. But I never expected that the accident wasn't just a coincidence. It had been intentional.

My unborn child… was murdered by Giselle Pellington!

I wondered if Hansel knew the truth.

The door to my room flung open. Hansel rushed in and grabbed my hand nervously.

"Mel, why are you being hospitalized all of a sudden?"

I raised my eyes to meet his worried gaze.

Then, I asked him with much difficulty, "How did our baby die?"

His eyes dimmed. Feeling bad, he hugged me. He then comforted me in a hoarse but gentle voice, "Mel, it's all in the past. We'll have another child."

I pushed him away and repeated my question coldly. "How did our baby die?"

"Mel, it was a car accident. It wasn't your fault. Stop blaming yourself. Okay?"

He sounded like he was very concerned about me. Pain was written in his eyes. He did not shun my gaze.

Based on my understanding of Hansel over the years, he did not lie to me.

I cried my heart out, feeling rather relieved that he wasn't in on it.

But if he hadn't flirted with Giselle, she wouldn't have hurt my baby.

After wiping away my tears, I stared at him in all seriousness.

"That car crash wasn't an accident. Giselle—"

Halfway through my speech, we were distracted by the scream from outside the door.

"Ahh! Save me!"

Giselle held her arm and cried for help in a tearful tone. We spotted a masked man dressed in black. He was running out of the hospital in a panic.

That was the driver who had had a chat with Giselle at the staircase.

She threw herself into Hansel's arms.

He had always been calm and poised. For the first time, he looked panicked. He checked out the wound on her arm with trembling fingers and asked her what exactly had happened.

She cried and sobbed for a while before turning to me. She stammered, "T-That man in black told me… that Mel had hired him. I don't believe him! Mel would never do that!"

Hansel turned to me with a somber expression. He bellowed at me, "Melissa, that's enough! I've told you many times that Giselle is my psychologist and my savior! Without her, I would have died of depression!

"Why do you have to find trouble with her? Do you want me dead? Try hurting Giselle again, and you're going to get it!"

It was utterly ridiculous for Hansel to assume I was at fault based on Giselle's accusation.

But in truth, Giselle was the murderer of my child!

My five years of sacrifice for Hansel and 20 years of love for him could not hold up to Giselle's crocodile tears.

I was shaking in anger, and my breathing was shallow. I pointed a finger at Giselle. I spoke with great difficulty as though it required all of my energy. "Hansel Saddler, the woman who is standing next to you now is the murderer of our child! She was behind that car accident!"

Giselle instantly teared up. Her voice sounded pitiable.

"Mel, how could you pin the blame on me? I know you resent me for taking Hansel from you, but I'm his psychologist! It's my duty to treat him.

"If you really dislike me, I'll get the hospital to switch him to another psychologist…"

Hansel's expression fell. He pulled Giselle into a hug. "You're not at fault."

Then, he looked down at me.

"Melissa, I'm so disappointed in you. I can't believe you'd be so unhinged as to do this to Giselle! Did you think I'd believe you? Giselle is not as evil as you are!

"I think it's time to teach you a lesson."

I saw the smug smile Giselle flashed at me when she turned around.

Hansel seemed like a stranger to me at that moment. The version of Hansel who had unconditional trust in me was long gone.

My phone buzzed again. This time, it was the cemetery worker who had called.

"Ms. Colby, I'm sorry to inform you that we have to move your child's gravesite for exceptional reasons. We will compensate you doubly for the move."

I was so close to losing my sanity. Hansel's words flashed across my mind.

I yelled into my phone, "You can't! How could you move my child's grave! I bought that site for my baby. You have no right to move him around!"

The gravesite was picked out carefully by Hansel and me.

He had never been a believer, but he spent a few days at the church praying for our unborn child.

Therefore, I could not believe that he would seek justice for Giselle by moving our child's gravesite.

So, this was the punishment he had been talking about.

"Ms. Colby, we are very sorry." The cemetery worker hung up before I could protest.

I removed the IV tubes attached to my hand and left the hospital in a hurry. At the cemetery, I felt cold from head to toe when the chilly winds swept through the grounds.

To my dismay, I spotted Giselle from afar. She was holding an urn. The sight made my heart twist in pain.

I ran to her, trying to wrestle the urn away from her, only to be shoved to the ground by Hansel.

"What are you trying to do to Giselle again?"

Giselle hid behind Hansel and smirked at me while toying with the urn in her hand. I watched in despair as some ashes fell out of the urn and onto the ground.

Scrambling up from the ground, I yelled at her with rage-filled eyes. "No! Give me back that urn!"

Looking down at me, Hansel said coldly, "Can you see your mistakes now?"

I fell to the ground and begged them when the ashes wouldn't stop falling out of my child's urn.

"I was wrong. Sorry, Giselle. Sorry, Hansel. I'm sorry. I will never do that again. Please give me back that urn, I beg of you…"

Hansel probably felt bad to see me in that sorry state. He bent over and helped me up.

"I'm glad you understand your mistakes. Don't repeat them again."

He turned around to take the urn from Giselle, but at that moment, she gasped.

She had dropped the urn onto the ground. The ashes of my child scattered all across the ground.