Kenneth comforted Gigi tenderly, "Don't be afraid. I'm right here."

I continued knocking on the door. As the joints in my fingers turned numb, my knocks became softer and softer.

Finally, someone opened the door. Kenneth stood at the door. His shadow was cast right over my curled-up body. He demanded, "Give Gigi an open apology, and I will let you in."

I leaned against the door frame, lifting my head to look at him. Throughout the last four years of our marriage, his face was the one I adored above all others. It just felt like I could gaze at him forever.

However, now, the sight of his face was making my skin crawl.

"I did not do anything wrong, so I'm not going to apologize," I said.

Then, Gigi's voice came from behind him. She said, "Don't make things difficult for her, Ken. It's fine if she doesn't want to apologize. I'll just bear the brunt of things. I'm fine with it…"

Kenneth crouched down and clamped his hand around my jaw.

"Stop pretending like you're half-dead. According to Gigi, you only have a few scrapes. Who exactly are you putting this show on for by looking so pathetic?"

His tone was cutting and harsh. Clearly, he thought I was acting like I was in pain to vie for his attention and sympathy.

Others came crowding around us.

"Is this woman truly a lunatic?"

"She truly deserves to end up like this."

"Why did she have to come in between a happy couple?"

Kenneth took a few steps back and wrapped his arm around Gigi's shoulders. She buried her face in his chest and smiled.

The doctor in the evacuation center took a glance outside, and his face fell immediately. "The victim is severely injured. She needs immediate medical attention!"

Kenneth furrowed his brows, reaching his hand out to me instinctively. However, Gigi clutched her chest out of the blue and let out a sharp cry. "Ken, my chest hurts so much… I-I can't breathe…"

Kenneth's outstretched hand stiffened. Then, he waved his hand impatiently and instructed, "Just get her inside for now!"

Then, he turned toward the doctor and requested, "Take a look at Gigi first. She has a history of heart disease."

I was carried to a damp and moldy mat in the furthest corner. The doctor threw a glance in my direction before helplessly walking over to Gigi with a medical kit in his hands.

I watched as Kenneth stood next to Gigi, soothing her back with a worried look in his eyes.

He had once caressed me gently with those hands too. However, now that I thought about it, it just felt so ridiculous.

Forty minutes passed, and it was finally my turn. The doctor rolled the leg of my pants up and frowned the moment he saw what was underneath.

Nevertheless, he did nothing more than carelessly wrap a few layers of basic gauze around it. Even the disinfection process was half-done.

"Why did you cross Mr. Scott's darling? We were given orders not to utilize any medical resources on you."

He shook his head helplessly, then turned around to check on other casualties. He never came back to me again.

I lay on the damp and cold mat, enduring the excruciating pain as I drifted in and out of consciousness.

When it was time for food to be distributed in the evening, Gigi walked up to me with a bowl of hot soup in her hands. "You must be hungry. I scooped this out just for you," she said.

I accepted the bowl from her. As the steam hit my face, I noticed a glob of spit floating on the surface of the soup.

When she saw me set the bowl back down, she raised her voice immediately. In a grievous tone, she shrieked, "I was just trying to be nice. Aren't you going to eat the soup I got for you?"

Kenneth strode over, grabbed the bowl, and hurled it to the floor. The broth splattered on the wound on my leg, and the burn caused me to inhale sharply.

"Forget about getting her anything next time. Some people just don't know how to be grateful."

No one else distributed any food to me.

A short distance away, Kenneth removed his down jacket and placed it around Gigi as she curled up in his arms, muttering to him that she was feeling cold. He shot me a look. His gaze settled on the thin jacket I had around me. It was the only thing I had that was keeping me warm.

Nonetheless, he walked over and yanked it off of me.

"Gigi is feeling cold. She'll be borrowing this for the night," he said without any hesitation, leaving no room for protest.

I curled up in the freezing wind. My teeth chattered uncontrollably the entire time.

It was winter back then, too, but everything was different then. Back then, Gigi was still overseas.

Every morning before we left home, he would turn on the car heater ten minutes ahead of time and warm the car up for me. When I caught a cold, he would personally make a trip to the pharmacy for medicine. Whenever I had any cravings, he would get them for me right away.

At the time, I believed he loved me.

Now, I finally realized those were just charitable gestures he conveniently offered to a substitute while the actual person was absent.

The pain in my wounded leg made it impossible for me to fall asleep. So, I dragged myself up to seek out the medical team for some painkillers.

As I made my way past Kenneth and Gigi, I paused. I could hear Gigi cooing from behind the curtains, "Ken, I'd really love a warm drink… But it's so dark outside. I'm scared…"

In an extremely low voice, Kenneth replied, "I'll go get it for you."

He pulled the curtain aside, only to see me standing on the other side. Perhaps my appearance was so ghastly that he flinched and knitted his brows together suddenly as if he had been stung.

Gigi continued cooing from behind the curtains. "Just get Estelle to do it, Ken. She's used to doing these things at home anyway, isn't she?"

Kenneth gulped. After staying silent for a couple of seconds, he instructed in a mechanical tone, "Go get Gigi a cup of warm water."

A continuous shiver ran across my entire body, though I couldn't be sure if it was from the cold or the pain.

Stiffly, I nodded, then I turned around and headed for the door. Following that, I heard the crisp crack of a plastic bottle being crushed behind me, and Kenneth's breathing turned heavy all of a sudden.

I had been compliant. What else was he dissatisfied with?

The pain in my heart and my leg suffocated me. My body gave out, and I fell into the mud behind the shelter.

A passing volunteer caught sight of me and did a quick scan of the area. After doing so, a lecherous grin came across his face as he reached out to grab me.

I scrambled backward in terror. "What are you doing?" I asked.

With one swift move, he grabbed me by my collar, picking me up and dragging me into the shadows. I put up a fierce struggle, clawing frantically at his face with my blood-stained hands that had already gone numb.

He hissed in pain and slapped me across my face.

"Stupid whore! You just have to make this difficult, don't you?"

Somehow, I gathered the strength to jam my fingers right into his eyes, refusing to let go. He screamed in pain and released his hold on me.

"My eyes! You bitch!"

Out of nowhere, Gigi sprinted out from around the corner. She clasped her hands over her mouth and let out a loud gasp when she saw us.

"Oh my goodness, Estelle! It's the middle of the night. What are you doing, hooking up with another man out here instead of being in bed?"

The volunteer pointed his finger at me immediately. "It was her. This bitch came on to me first! She even blinded me after I rejected her!"

A series of hurried footsteps neared as Kenneth rushed over.

He saw me collapsed on the ground and my clothes in a ragged mess while the man towered over me. Instantly, his eyes turned bloodshot. He charged at the volunteer and kicked him away.

"How dare you touch her? I'll kill you!"

The commotion drew a crowd, and people swarmed around us, pointing their accusations at me. "This woman is shameless indeed. She throws herself at a man, gets caught red-handed, then she turns violent!"

Kenneth froze, whirling around and staring straight at me.

"Estelle, did you come out here in the middle of the night just to do such a thing? How cheap are you?"

I looked at him, feeling nothing but a sense of mockery washing over me. "You told me to get water, didn't you?"

As he stared at me, an incomprehensible flicker of emotion flashed across his eyes. Before I could even react, he removed his coat and wrapped it tightly around me before scooping me up into his arms.

Despite my struggles, he strode back into the tent.

"Shut up, all of you! She is my wife. I will rip out the tongues of those who dare utter another word!" he yelled at the people outside.

Thereafter, he turned around and tossed me onto the mat.

"Stay right here. Don't you dare go anywhere else. Do not give her any medications without my permission!"

I couldn't help but let out a mocking chuckle.

His bias toward Gigi was clearly etched right into his very being. Yet, he was now acting like he cared a whole lot about me.

The infected wound on my leg worsened. The swelling on my calf was so severe that even a light touch felt excruciatingly painful. A slow fever crept up on me, and my consciousness slowly slipped away as I slumped against the wall in the corner.

I thought I saw Kenneth. He stroked my face gently, but he looked right through me, as if he were looking at someone else entirely.

Right after that, the expression on his face twisted, and our surroundings transformed into a cemetery. He shoved me into a pit in the ground and began shoveling dirt all over me.

I startled awake in fright, drenched in cold sweat. I could not stay here any longer.

At the crack of dawn, a transport vehicle for the wounded arrived at the evacuation center. I made my way up to the vehicle, dragging my leg behind me, only for Kenneth to intercept and stop me in my tracks.

"Still making a fuss, are you?" he questioned with a deep frown on his face. He thought I was still sulking over what happened last night.

"The doctor has taken a look at your injury. It's just an external injury. Don't go taking up space that's meant for those who are severely wounded."

At the same time, Gigi was settled in the best seat in the vehicle. She was heading into the city for psychological counselling because she claimed she'd been plagued by nightmares since the earthquake.

I watched as the spots in the vehicle got taken up one by one. With everything I had, I lunged toward the vehicle.

This wretched state I was in was identical to that moment in my previous life when I cried and begged for my life after Kenneth pushed me into a pit to be buried alive. I pleaded with him with everything I had at the time, yet he refused to even spare me a glance.

Now, when my leg was rotting away, he actually told me not to take up space meant for those who were severely wounded.

In the chaotic scramble, someone stepped on my injured leg. I let out a scream of pain, collapsing to the ground as if this body was no longer mine.

The dressing around my wound was torn away, leaving my wound fully exposed. Pus and blood blended together around the lacerated tissue, through which a whiteness of bone was faintly visible.

Finally, someone took notice and shouted, "Get her up here now! She can't afford to wait any longer!"

Upon arriving at the hospital, the doctor pulled back the gauze. A dead silence fell over the emergency room for a brief moment.

"The wound is severely infected. She needs surgical debridement immediately. If we wait a few more hours, she will lose this leg of hers."

I lost consciousness. When I came to, the first thing I did was look down at my legs. Both my legs were still intact. Silent tears streamed down my face.

Then, I heard the sound of people talking in the corridor. Someone said, "Mr. Scott, regarding your wife's emergency procedure—we need a family member's signature in order to proceed with the subsequent treatment plan…"

"Just hand it to me," Kenneth said. His voice carried a tinge of weariness.

All of a sudden, Gigi screamed hysterically, "Ken, I'd rather be dead! My hand is going to be permanently scarred. How am I ever supposed to go back to dancing?"

Kenneth dropped the pen immediately. "Doctor, the signature will have to wait. I need to go check on Gigi for now."

His hurried footsteps faded rapidly into the distance.

Half an hour later, the door to my hospital ward was pushed open. Gigi entered with a man's coat in her hands. She came up to my bed, and her eyes were overflowing with provocation.

"Oh, Estelle. You're awake now. Ken's absolutely spent after caring for me earlier, so he went to buy some chowder. I just came to get a coat for him."

She pulled out a piece of paper from her bag and let out a cry of surprise. That was the marriage certificate that belonged to Kenneth and me.

"I'm sorry. Ken said it was bad luck for him to hold onto this certificate, so he simply stuffed it into my bag yesterday. It was an eyesore to me, so I brought it with me so I could throw it into the trash."

She chucked the marriage certificate onto my blanket, then reached out a finger and pressed it against the bandage around my wounded leg.

I sprang right up in bed, sweat forming on my forehead instantly.

"You have nothing to compete against me with, Estelle. You are just a cheap substitute that can be tossed away at any time," she whispered with an evil smirk on her face.

I cried out in pain.

The sound of footsteps came from the other side of the door.

Gigi's face fell, and she stuffed the marriage certificate under my pillow immediately. Then, she pulled her hands back. The expression on her face was instantly replaced with a look of remorse as her eyes glistened with tears.

"I'm sorry, Estelle. I didn't mean to touch your wound!"

However, she couldn't conceal the slight smile playing on her lips at all.

Kenneth pushed the door open and walked in. He glanced at me, furrowing his brows. "What's with all that screaming when you're already done with your surgery?"

I did not say a word.

My gaze settled on the calendar hanging on the wall. It was April 17th, our fourth wedding anniversary.

All of a sudden, Gigi exclaimed and gave Kenneth's sleeve a tug. "Ken, is it my birthday today? I almost forgot about it!"

He smiled, pulling out an exquisite-looking gift box from his pocket.

The moment I caught sight of the box, my heart wrenched. The earrings he gave me for our first anniversary were made by the same brand.

He opened the box, revealing a necklace within. He turned around and put it around Gigi's neck. Gigi threw herself into his arms, giggling sweetly and coquettishly. "How did you know I wanted this, Ken?"

Kenneth directed his gaze toward me and answered in a flat voice, "I know it's our anniversary today, but Gigi's feelings are more important. Anniversaries happen every year. It doesn't make any difference if we skip this one."

As it turned out, he had not forgotten. It was just that he didn't care.

I smiled. We would no longer have any anniversaries in the future anyway. As it happened, I no longer cared for them anymore either.

That worked out pretty well.

On that same night, I removed the wedding band from my finger. In my previous life, I kept it on even when I was being buried alive. Even when I was buried chest-deep in the soil, I still wondered if he would come and save me.

I would not do the same in this life.

I placed the ring and marriage certificate on the bedside table, using them to hold down a slip of paper underneath.