Our place was hit by an earthquake. I was crushed by a slab of stone, but my wife, leader of the rescue squad, abandoned me in favor of her true love.

She said, "You're a soldier. You can live with a little injury. Felix can't. He's always been weak, and he needs me."

I was saved, eventually, and I wanted to leave my wife. I agreed to the chip research that would station me in one of the National Science Foundation's bases deep in the mountains.

My leader was elated about my agreeing to this research. He grasped my hand tightly. "Marvelous. With you in our team, Jonathan, this research won't fail! But… you'll be gone for six whole years. Are you sure your partner's fine with it?"

I nodded. "She will be. I'm serving the nation here. She'll understand."

The leader patted my shoulder. "Good to know. The clock is ticking, so you'll only have one month to say your goodbyes. That enough for you?"

I smiled. "More than enough."

Betrayal

I heard my wife, Lorelei Septaria's voice coming from the hospital's backyard garden. "You were shocked, Felix. You should be in bed, not out here. Doctor's orders, remember?" She draped one of her coats over Felix Stringer.

I spent a year's worth of salary on that coat for her, but now she was giving it to another guy. Lorelei was looking at Felix like he was her most precious thing in the world. "You should get back inside. It's windy out here."

Carefully, she held Felix and took him back to his ward. We'd been married for years, but I had never seen so much tenderness and concern in her eyes. It was never for me.

Then it hit me. Every time I was sick, she was never around. The only one who was there for me… was me.

The first time I was hospitalized because of an injury, I asked Lorelei to bring me some food. Impatiently, she answered, "I'm not going to waste my time on useless work like that, Jonathan! You love to be the hero, don't you? I don't see the victims' families here taking care of you."

I thought she was just mad because I got hurt saving people, but now I know she just never loved me.

I wanted to go back into my room, but I ran into Lorelei and Felix. She was holding Felix up, and there was barely any distance between them. He smiled at me. "I heard you got hurt again, Jonathan. Are you alright?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, drop the act. I only delayed your rescue for a short while. You're a soldier. Not like that injury would cost you an arm and a leg."

I was going to ignore them and push myself away, but Lorelei mocked, "Some people are born lowlifes. But I get it. Life is unfair. Felix is a screenwriter. He makes a ton of money with his smarts."

My hands froze. So my wife saw me as nothing but a lowlife? I turned around and fixed my gaze on her. "So you think I'm worthless?"

Lorelei snickered. "But am I wrong? You can't make money with the smarts you have. No, you don't have any smarts at all. Don't try to play the victim with me. You didn't hesitate when you rushed to your death."

I smiled bitterly and watched as my wife went away with another man. "I won't rush to my death again. I will never have that chance again."

When I first met Lorelei, she told me soldiers were the most glorious people. "It's great, you know, soldiers. You guys defend the nation and help it grow stronger every day. Imagine the glory."

We built a lot of chemistry over the span of many missions, and I found myself falling for the bright, bubbly Lorelei. Eventually, I tapped into some favors and got that coat for her. Imported. She happily wore it and checked herself in the mirror.

"I've never worn anything this nice. How do I look? Maybe it's wasted on me."

"No. And you look great. All that matters is that you're happy with it."

We went steady that day. Her boss found out and promoted Lorelei to rescue squad captain. Sure, it wasn't exactly a powerful position, but at least she didn't have to work herself to the bone anymore, and she had more time with me, too.

When she got the news, she squeezed her arms around me in excitement. "I got a promotion! I'm a captain now!"

We were so, so happy.

And then everything changed when he showed up. When she started talking about him.

It was then that I found out my wife loved someone else. Her true love, so to speak.

Felix Stringer was a no-name screenwriter for a production team, and Lorelei's boss wanted to make a movie about rescue squads saving victims of disasters.

The production team sent their screenwriters to them to see what their lives were like and jot down every detail. Felix was one of them, and he was assigned to Lorelei's team.

Lorelei didn't like him that much in the beginning. She said, "We got a new teammate, Jonathan. His name's Felix, and he's a guy from my hometown.

"He's really annoying. The guy's nothing but deadweight."

And then the complaints disappeared.

"He's a funny guy, you know. Always calls me a kitten when I get mad. Oh, it's his birthday today, so I'm skipping dinner.

"Jonathan, you know what Felix did?"

He was starting to bleed into our lives, and he was the person my wife talked about the most. I kept telling her to put some distance between them, but she'd go ballistic every single time.

"Can you stop being paranoid, Jonathan? We're just friends!

"If I wanted to start anything with him, I'd never have married you! How petty are you? I just went out for a bite with him! Not like we did anything!"

…

Eventually, our conversations dwindled, and she stopped talking to me. Even on our anniversary, she was with Felix.

I made a feast that night, waiting for her to come home, but she told me, "He just got to this place. Everything's new and unfamiliar to him, and he's really weak. He needs me."

The same excuse again. That Felix got an injury that ravaged his body, and that he was just a scholar, so he needed more care than some brute.

I thought it was normal, given that they grew up together.

…

And then that fateful day came. I went to her workplace for some exchange program and overheard her talking to her colleagues.

"I'd never have been separated from Felix if he hadn't been forced to serve some program. Jonathan's my husband, but the only guy I love is Felix.

"We have a long history, Felix and I. It goes back more than ten years. Jonathan has nothing on him."

My energy was all taken away from me. It failed me. I couldn't believe someone could fake love. Still, this woman married me, and I had a duty to her. I picked my pieces up, hid my pain, and never talked to anyone about it.

The Earthquake's Aftermath

And then an earthquake hit us. As usual, I was among the first to charge into the disaster to save the people. A landslide came tumbling down, and it was all I could do to protect the girl in my arms.

A tremendously heavy boulder crashed into my back. It was a clean, hard hit. Fortunately, there was a beam acting as a shield that took away most of the slam.

The rolling boulder could barely kill me, but even so, I was crushed between it and the ruins' corner.

I could feel my back and leg screaming in agony. Blood was slowly trickling out of my body. Just when I was about to fade to black, I saw my wife's silhouette.

She went past me and ran toward Felix instead. "Are you alright, Felix? Gosh, there's so much blood here. You must be scared out of your mind. I'll take you somewhere safe."

She was about to leave, but one of the teammates saw me. "Captain, your husband's inside. You need to save him. It's dangerous there."

Lorelei looked at me for a moment. "He'll be fine. He's an experienced soldier."

"But—" Her teammate wanted to say something, but Lorelei was gone, supporting Felix.

My heart died there and then. If she even looked at me for a second longer, she would know I was in dire straits.

She didn't even look at me for a second longer.

…

When I regained my consciousness, what met me were my comrades. They were delighted to see me waking up.

However, when they started talking about my condition, everyone either fell into silence or could barely make a sentence. I had to press them for answers.

I could've regained a normal life if I had been treated in time, but the rescue squad saved another patient instead.

I was saved by another squad that came after, but by then, I was already in shock.

I thought my heart could sink no lower, but I was wrong. I closed my eyes and let my tears run free.

The news meant one thing—I had to retire from the frontlines.

The leaders reprimanded Lorelei while I was hospitalized, and she was suspended from her position. Pushed by pressure, she came to see me once, but when she saw me conscious and alive, she wanted to leave.

"Good, you're awake. That means you're fine. I need to go. Felix needs me."

She left the room even though my leg was wrapped in a cast. After all, her precious Felix needed her more.

Decision

My leader came to see me while I was hospitalized, and he lamented, "You can't work at the frontlines anymore, Jonathan. Not with that body."

I shook my head, smiling. "It's alright. Logistics is important too."

My leader nodded. "Glad to hear the optimism." He took out a file from his suitcase and handed it to me. "This is the state's latest research. It's about microchips. I saved a spot for you. Think about it."

I went through the file carefully and said yes to the offer. My leader grasped my hand, excited. "Marvelous. With you in our team, Jonathan, this research won't fail! But… you'll be gone for six whole years. Are you sure your partner's fine with it?"

I nodded. "She will be. I'm serving the nation here. She'll understand."

The leader patted my shoulder. "Good to know. The clock is ticking, so you'll only have one month to say your goodbyes. That enough for you?"

I nodded, a dry smile curling my lips. "More than enough."

He thought I didn't want to say goodbye to Lorelei, and once again, he lamented, "Sorry to put you through this. You've only been married for a short time, and now you're going into an LDR. Just… get some rest. This can wait until you're out of the hospital."

My leader left, and my doctor came to inform me about my discharge and what to look out for during recovery.

…

On the day of my discharge, I found out Lorelei was defending her actions. She was even putting in formal complaints, too.

"In the face of danger, everyone is equal. You can't punish me just because I chose not to save Jonathan!"

The leaders ignored her tantrum and kicked her out of the room. I just got home, and she was already storming up to me.

"Unbelievable! I saved Felix! I did nothing wrong! They're terminating me just because I didn't save you!"

She shoved me. "Are you blind? I. Am. Not. Happy. At. All! What are you, dead? Get me some water!"

The old me would've patiently cooed at her like she was a child and put in a good word with her leader.

The new me would not do that. I ignored her and kept on packing my stuff. "You can get the water yourself. Not like you don't have arms."

Lorelei rolled her eyes at me and fetched some water. "Felix is sick. No one's there for him, so I'll have to stay around for a couple of days."

"Sure."

She froze. She didn't expect me to agree that easily, so she let up a little. "Stop throwing a tantrum. We're just friends. Besides, you're a soldier. It's your job to care about others first. I'm just helping you out here."

I was still packing my stuff. Coolly, I answered, "Of course."

Only now did Lorelei realize I was packing things up. "Why are you packing up?"

"The seasons are changing. I need to clean the place up."

"Fine. See you around."

I used to fight with her all the time whenever she came up with new excuses to see Felix. She would end the argument by saying that soldiers should put others first.

This time, I couldn't care less about her excuses. Once she was gone, I grabbed the train ticket from the table. It was so obvious, but she didn't even notice it.

Well, she didn't care about anyone or anything besides Felix, let alone me. I put the divorce papers on the table and left the house with my suitcase in tow.

If she cared about Felix so much, I didn't mind giving them the space they needed. I'd just quit this relationship.