Ten Years of Mourning, One Video Call, and a Husband Who Never Left Chapter 02

Ten Years of Mourning, One Video Call, and a Husband Who Never Left Chapter 02

I stood frozen in place, my eyes locked on the two figures walking away side by side.

Five years.

I had endured more than a thousand unbearable days and nights, working five jobs a day just to bury how much I missed him.

And in the end, he hadn’t died at all.

Memories of the past flashed through my mind like scenes from a film reel.

Six years ago, Graham had an accident on his honeymoon. He fell from a cliff and died, and his body was never recovered.

On the day of the funeral, Natalie cried until she fainted several times. When she was taken to the hospital, the doctors found out she was pregnant.

Back then, Jason and I had just graduated from college. We had planned to go overseas together for graduate school and continue our work in physics.

But that sudden tragedy shattered every plan we had.

After Graham died, the person holding the family together was gone.

Jason’s father was so devastated that he suffered a brain hemorrhage. He survived after emergency treatment, but one side of his body was paralyzed, and he needed help eating, drinking, using the bathroom, and handling every basic part of daily life.

Jason’s mother’s health declined sharply after the blow, and Natalie spent every day crying.

Jason had just received his acceptance letter from a prestigious graduate program overseas, but with his family in crisis, he had to stay and hold the household together.

I wanted to stay with him, but he refused to ruin my dreams.

On the day I was supposed to leave, he came to see me off.

“Lily, take my dream with you too. I can’t be the reason you give yours up.”

I looked at his bloodshot eyes. He clearly didn’t want me to go, but even then, he never once tried to tie me down.

My heart softened.

I chose to stay without hesitation.

There was no wedding and no honeymoon. We only set aside a single day to get legally married at the courthouse.

After that, I packed away the dreams I once had and joined a research institute here at home, starting from the very bottom.

During the day, I worked hard at the lab. At night, I came home to take care of Jason’s parents, comfort Natalie, and handle every little chore around the house.

Jason worked himself to the bone and often didn’t come home until midnight.

But no matter how late it was, he would always text me to let me know where he was. When he came home, he would bring me the chicken noodle soup I loved.

Every time he went on a business trip, there was always a gift for me in his suitcase.

Once, after he got drunk, he lay with his head in my lap and cried as he apologized.

“Lily, I’ve put you through so much. I swear I’ll treat you well from now on.”

“In one year, I’ll give you the grandest wedding in the world and make you the happiest bride alive.”

But the very next morning, he told me he wanted to be a husband to both me and Natalie so he could take care of her and the child.

I stood there in shock. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t accept such an absurd arrangement.

I still remembered that it was the first real fight we ever had. I was so furious that I smashed the matching mugs we had bought together on the day we got legally married.

Jason stood there, staring at the glass scattered across the floor for a long time.

After that, he never mentioned being a husband to both of us again.

I thought the matter was over.

But only half a year later, the constant overwork and crushing pressure had completely destroyed his body.

Jason was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

From diagnosis to death, it took only half a month.

On his deathbed, he gripped my hand tightly.

“Lily, please take care of Mom, Dad, and Natalie for me. In the next life, I’ll make it up to you.”

I knelt beside his hospital bed, crying so hard I could barely breathe, and nodded again and again.

After losing both of their sons one after the other, Jason’s parents seemed to go gray overnight.

They were both hospitalized, and even after they were discharged, their health was never the same.

Not long after, Natalie chose to remarry and moved out with the child.

To hold the family together, I quit my job at the research institute.

I worked five jobs a day, leaving before sunrise and coming home late at night.

Every day when I got home, I still had to wipe Jason’s father down, comfort his mother through her endless grief, do the laundry, cook, and clean.

Even though life was hard, I never forgot what Jason had told me before he died.

Every month, I gave Natalie money to help her out. On weekends, I made soup and brought it to her myself.

For five years, I was like a spinning top that could never stop.

Day after day of exhaustion slowly dulled the pain of losing my husband.

Only on the anniversary of his death each year did I dare to stop, stand alone before his headstone, and tell him everything I had been holding inside.

I would cry my heart out, wipe away my tears, and keep moving.

But only now did I realize he had been lying to me from beginning to end.

When I returned home in a daze, I stood in front of Jason’s parents.

By the time I raised my head, tears were already gathering in my eyes.

“Mom, who is Natalie’s new husband? Have you met him?”

Jason’s mother’s expression changed, and she hurried to change the subject.

“Why are you asking that?”

“That’s her business. What does it have to do with you?”

“Lily, don’t tell me you’re jealous that Natalie got to remarry.”

“Let me tell you something. Natalie is beautiful. Of course some man would want her.”

“You’re just average, so stop filling your head with nonsense. Dad and I already treat you like our own daughter.”

“We should just live peacefully as a family.”

I looked at the guilt written all over their faces, and the last bit of affection I had for them shattered completely.

Early the next morning, I went to the county clerk’s office.

The clerk took my marriage certificate and checked it over and over. When she finally looked up again, her expression was a little strange.

“Ma’am, our system shows that you are unmarried.”

“This marriage certificate is fake.”