After my wife, Simone Inman, gets into a car accident, I examine her as her doctor and discover that she has a malignant brain tumor. Afraid that she will be devastated, I plan to tell her later. So, I hide the medical report in my bag.

But when she happens to see it, she mistakenly thinks it is my diagnosis instead.

One day, when I arrive at her office, I overhear her talking to her best friend, Mindy Fox.

She says, "My husband has no talent, no looks, only money. And now, he even has a tumor in his brain… If Shawn hadn't gone abroad back then, I would never have married him. I'm so unlucky! But good thing I never agreed to have children with him. Once he dies, all his money will be mine."

Later on, she claims she has amnesia after the car accident and cannot remember who I am. She even treats her male secretary, Shawn Erskine, as her husband and blatantly brings him into our home.

I smile scathingly and say, "Let's get a divorce, Simone."

I stood outside Simone Inman's office door, listening closely to the phone conversation between her and her best friend, Mindy Fox.

I could barely breathe, and my whole body trembled uncontrollably. Not only did she believe that I had a brain tumor, but she was also disgusted and held nothing but disdain for me.

I almost pushed the door open and demanded to know why she was so cruel to me.

However, just then, she called her first love, Shawn Erskine, who was also her secretary. The gentle tone she used when speaking to him caused me to freeze.

She said, "Shawn, have you left yet? I'll come pick you up later. We'll go to that restaurant we love. Don't worry. I'm feeling much better now. You're the one who cares about me the most. You showed concern after hearing that I was in a car accident, unlike someone else who doesn't care at all.

"Oh, how I regret my choice back then."

I lowered my head and looked at the bone broth I had carefully simmered for hours. My heart sank with heavy disappointment.

Sure enough, I regretted it too.

When I saw her hang up, I hurried away. As I passed by the trash can downstairs, I threw the whole can of bone broth into it.

I hadn't gone far when I received a message from Simone.

She texted, "I'm in a meeting. I'll be home late."

I turned off my phone screen, feeling like a complete joke.

It had been pouring the entire way when I rushed over to Simone's office. In my rush to bring her the broth, I hadn't realized that half my body was drenched. As soon as I got home, I came down with a high fever.

After taking some medicine, I fell asleep on the couch until Simone's displeased voice woke me up.

She grumbled, "I called you so many times. Why didn't you answer? Is your phone just for decoration? Why are you so tardy every single time?"

I opened my eyes weakly and finally saw the missed calls notification flashing on my phone screen.

"My head hurts. So, I decided to sleep for a while," I said lethargically.

"Headaches are normal in your case," Simone blurted without thinking.

Suddenly, she seemed to realize she had a slip of tongue and hurriedly added, "It's because you keep overthinking everything. It's no wonder that your brain would hurt."

She probably thought this was the onslaught of my brain cancer symptoms.

Seeing that I said nothing, she nudged me to scoot over to one side of the couch to make room for her.

Then, she casually tugged at her collar as she spoke to me. "I had dinner with a client tonight and heard something that made a lot of sense. He had a friend whose husband was diagnosed with cancer.

"That friend gave up treatment because he didn't want his wife and family to be burdened in the future. Besides, there's no cure for cancer anyway."

I froze.

I had thought she didn't really mean the things she said to Mindy on the phone. Never had I expected that she was serious about it.

By reading between the lines, I understood that she didn't want me to live.

I managed to force out a bitter smile while saying, "I agree. When one person gets cancer, the whole family suffers."

A trace of excitement flashed through her eyes as she responded, "Really? You think so too?"

I nodded and thought, "Yeah. If you give up treatment, I'll save a huge amount of money."

Early the next morning, I called the hospital and calmly requested a long leave of absence. "I need to deal with some things that are going on at home lately."

On the other end of the line, Philip Urban hesitated for a moment before carefully asking, "Heath, you know about the results of your wife's medical examination, right? You're a doctor too. You should try convincing her to go to the hospital and undergo treatment."

My lips curled up into something that looked like a smile but wasn't really one.

I replied, "I already tried. She said cancer is incurable, so she won't have it treated."

Philip fell silent for a long time before sighing wearily. "I… I called her before and asked her to come to the hospital. She flew into a rage and said no one at home had cancer. Then, she also told me not to tell you and said you needed to rest. I don't understand what she meant..."

As I listened, a desolate feeling spread through my heart.

Unlike Philip, I understood exactly what she meant. Simone thought I had cancer and didn't want me to receive any treatment.

I almost laughed out loud, but the cackle caught in my throat and turned into a bitter grunt instead.

"If even the hospital can't convince her, what else can I do?" I said.

After hanging up, I started packing my things.

This place that I had lived in for eight years now felt unbelievably unfamiliar.

I didn't want any of this anymore—this home or Simone.

Halfway through packing, my gaze stopped on the dark green box inside the cabinet. Simone had never allowed me to touch that box.

At this point, I was beyond caring, so to hell with her rules.

When I opened the box, the pain I had mentally prepared myself for still came crashing down and nearly overwhelmed me.

Inside were the 99 things Simone wanted to do with Shawn.

The card on top had a sentence written on it, "I want to have an adorable baby with Shawn."

On the back of the card was her "guilt" toward Shawn.

The paragraph read, "I accidentally got pregnant before. It was all my fault. In this lifetime, I'll only have children with Shawn. Luckily, I miscarried in the end."

I had longed for many years for the arrival of that precious baby into this world… However, I never imagined Simone hated its existence that much.

It turned out she had never forgotten her first love, Shawn, all along. Not only had she hired him as her personal secretary, but she had also made all these promises with him in private.

The only reason she had agreed to be with me was probably for my money.

I wiped away my tears and took a few photos before putting the box back where it belonged.

Suddenly, the electronic lock beeped. I looked through the crack in the doorway and saw Simone entering our home with Shawn right beside her.

She looked excited as she grabbed his hand and said, "Shawn, I think I'm suffering from the aftereffects of the car accident. My head keeps buzzing. Thank goodness you're willing to come take care of me."

I stepped out of the room with a frigid expression, just in time to hear Shawn reply affectionately, "Isn't that my job as your secretary? It's only right for me to take care of you."

As he spoke, he wrapped his arm around Simone naturally without thinking.

Upon seeing me, Shawn was quick to react.

He pretended to look surprised as he stuttered, "O-Oh! You're home, Heath."

As he spoke, he hurriedly distanced himself from Simone. His eyes flashed nervously. She, however, pulled him over to stand behind her protectively.

When she looked at me, she spoke in an accusatory and dissatisfied tone. "You eavesdropped on my call with Shawn last night, didn't you? What do you want, Heath? Shawn took the trouble to come and take care of me. All you do is act suspicious and cause trouble for no reason!"

I frowned. At that moment, the discomfort in my heart hurt far more than the physiological suffering caused by my fever. I suppressed my nausea, but the anger surging rapidly within was close to making me snap at any moment.

I said coldly, "Simone, it's not like I'm dead yet. But you're already in such a hurry to bring him here to 'take care' of you, is that it?"

Shawn had a jeering smile on his face as he leaned closer to Simone. "Heath, you misunderstood us. Simone and I—"

Before he could finish speaking, Simone suddenly clutched her head as if she were in unbearable pain.

Shawn panicked and held her tightly. "Simone, what's wrong? Don't scare me!"

Simone struggled painfully for a moment. With unfocused eyes, she looked at Shawn. Suddenly, she pulled him into a tight embrace.

She called out tenderly, "Honey…"

Then, she turned to look at me with an enraged expression. "Who are you? Why are you in my house? Get out!"

At her current brain cancer stage, memory loss wasn't a likely symptom. Who did she think she was fooling?

I leaned against the doorway and asked, "Shouldn't you take a good look at the wedding photo hanging on the wall before asking who I am?"

She grabbed Shawn and shouted at me, "How would I know when you hung that up? I only love my husband, Shawn!"

After saying that, she even pretended to be in agony. She looked like she was in so much pain that she would start rolling around on the floor at any minute.

Upon seeing this, Shawn looked at me and said, "I think Simone's memories are jumbled up because of the car accident. Please, Heath, don't agitate her anymore. Since she only remembers me right now, let me stay and take care of her. You should move out for now."

I turned around and walked back into the bedroom. "No need to say 'please'. I was already planning to move out anyway."

With that, I walked out carrying a small suitcase. I placed the divorce agreement I had prepared that morning on the table.

In a grim voice, I said, "Let's get a divorce, Simone."

The moment I mentioned divorce, Simone's face fell drastically. She grabbed the divorce agreement off the table and tore it to pieces.

Every word she spoke sounded as though it had been forced through clenched teeth. "Divorce? Do you think I'm stupid? You're not my husband, so why should I sign anything? You're just trying to scam me! I'm telling you right now—there's no way I'm falling for it!"

I had already expected she would react heinously, so I no longer spared her any courtesy. "The reason you refuse to divorce me is because you're waiting for me to die so you can take all my assets. Isn't that right?"

Simone's eyes flashed diffidently for a moment. She glared at me viciously. Then, she grabbed my luggage and violently threw it out the door.

She yelled, "What nonsense are you talking about? Get out! Get lost right now!"

Standing beside her, Shawn pretended to look anxious as he grabbed my hand and persuaded me to leave. "Heath, just leave already. Stop provoking Simone. She's already pitiful enough as it is. Show her some mercy."

I let out a cold laugh.

Pitiful? Once she lost me, that was when her existence would truly become pitiful.

After I left, I thought things through again and again before deciding to return to the hospital to resign.

I wasn't running away. It was just that I had finally made up my mind to accept my mentor's invitation to participate in an important overseas medical research project and bring the results back to our home country.

In the past, I couldn't bear to leave Simone, so I kept hesitating. Now, I realized just how important and meaningful this research was. Deep down, I had never truly been able to let it go.

That afternoon, I changed into casual clothes and returned to the hospital.

Philip immediately came over with a worried expression. "Dr. Powell, have you really made your decision? It's such a shame for someone as talented as you to leave."

Philip and I had become doctors at about the same time. We had always been close, so I told him everything about Simone.

After hearing me out, he was so shocked that he couldn't speak for a long time.

In the end, he only managed to force out one sentence. "T-That's absolutely disgusting!"

Suddenly, he squinted slightly and gestured behind me.

I turned around just in time to see Simone and Shawn walking side by side toward us.

Simone sneered and deliberately raised her voice to say, "I already told you that I don't know you. How much longer are you going to fantasize about being my husband? I kicked you out this morning, but you followed me all the way to the hospital. You're so annoying!"

The surrounding patients all turned to look, and murmurs immediately spread through the crowd.

"Huh? Isn't that Dr. Powell? It turns out he's a homewrecker!"

"He looks so educated. I can't believe he'd ruin someone else's marriage."

It sounded like they were talking about me, but Shawn didn't even dare to lift his head.

He held onto Simone's arm tightly and urged, "Didn't you say you were in a lot of pain? Let's hurry and go see the doctor."

I walked over to stand right in front of them to block their path.

My voice was frosty as I said, "Simone, I think you should take a good look at the name written on that brain cancer report."

Simone's head snapped up, and her eyes were bloodshot. "Heath Powell, what does your cancer have to do with me?"

Philip lost his temper at how ridiculous Simone was.

He pointed at Simone and questioned sharply, "Didn't you say you lost your memory? Then, how do you still remember Dr. Powell's name? Cut it out!"

Simone stammered awkwardly before stubbornly arguing, "I have intermittent memory loss!"

I laughed. Then, I unfolded the report and pointed at the name on it.

I spoke each word with extra emphasis. "You haven't forgotten your own name too, have you? Look here. Simone Inman. "

She snatched the report from my hands and stared fixedly at the name written on it. Her face instantly turned deathly pale, and her pupils constricted violently as her body swayed.

Simone shrieked, "N-No… This is impossible! T-This has to be fake! You forged this! You photoshopped it! You're trying to scare me! You're the one who has cancer!"

I crossed my arms and stared at her coolly.

There was a trace of mockery in my tone as I said, "It was always you, Simone."