The unexpected turn of events at the wedding caught Bruce completely off guard. For the first time in his life, he felt utterly out of control.
Just last night, he had been laughing and drinking with friends at a bar, their conversations light and carefree.
“Bruce,” one of them teased, “how did you manage to train Hailey to be so obedient? Teach us your secret.”
“Yeah, I wish I had it as good,” another chimed in. “One at home, one on the side–what a life!”
Bruce had dismissed their comments with a smirk.
“Hailey is like a puppy,” he said, his tone laced with derision. “Throw her a bone, and she’ll hand you her heart. Leave me? She couldn’t survive without me. If I ignore her, she’ll crumble.”
Another friend, a woman, frowned and interjected, “You’ve been together for so many years. You loved her once. If you keep hurting her like this, don’t be surprised if you end up chasing her back from the brink.”
He had laughed it off then, never imagining how prophetic her words would prove to be.
At the moment Hailey walked away, resolute and unyielding, Bruce felt an unfamiliar sensation gnawing at him. Something vital had slipped through his fingers, irretrievably lost. It was as if a void opened inside him, and the only thing it fed on was fear.
Beside him, Kathy’s voice grated against his ears.
“Honey, honey,” she called, as if trying to pull him back.
Her once–endearing tone now felt unbearable. Bruce’s frustration boiled over, and he shoved her aside.
“Who gave you the right to call me that?” he snapped.
Kathy stumbled, tears streaming down her face.
“Honey… What’s wrong?”
His eyes burned with rage as he bellowed, “Only Hailey can call me that! Who do you think you are? You’re nothing! Don’t flatter yourself.”
Without waiting for her response, he turned and rushed home, but the emptiness that greeted him there was suffocating. The vast house, once lively, now felt colder than a tomb.
In the silence, his gaze fell on the coffee table, where two documents lay ominously. One was a divoree agreement. The other, a consent form for organ donation. His name was listed as the recipient.
The realization hit him like a thunderclap.
“So… it was Hailey who donated her kidney to me,” he muttered to himself, his voice trembling. “Not Kathy. She never told me… Why didn’t she tell me?”
He sank to the floor, his legs giving way beneath him. Tears welled up, but the woman who had always comforted him in moments like this was gone, forever.
Memories surged, unrelenting and cruel. He recalled the time he had been bedridden, gravely ill. Hailey had stayed by his side, tending to him day and night. When she disappeared briefly, he had assumed she was heartless, unwilling to care for him anymore.
He couldn’t have been more wrong. She wasn’t avoiding him–she had been lying on an operating table, sacrificing a part of herself for him.
+25 BONUS
Chapter 6
And yet, he had believed Kathy’s vague insinuations, allowing himself to be led astray.
“How blind could I have been?” he whispered, voice cracking. “How stupid?”
His hands shook as he dialed Hailey’s number. The phone ang endlessly, each chime a fresh stab of desperation, until at last, someone picked up.
