Chapter 1

My best friend and I married into the Sutherland family at the same time, and we even conceived at almost the same time.

I married the older son, who was an expert surgeon, while she married his younger brother, who was the most handsome police officer around.

On our first wedding anniversary, I got into a severe car crash on our way back from collecting our prenatal checkup reports at the hospital.

My best friend dodged the bullet because she was buying us milk tea.

However, I bled profusely from my lower body and ended up lying in a pool of blood at the scene, my face pale with fright.

Trembling, I took out my phone and called my husband for help, but he rejected my call three times before finally answering it.

His tone was full of impatience as he snapped, "Can you stop making trouble out of nothing? Weren't you just fine when you had your prenatal checkup just a while ago? Medical resources aren't yours to waste!

"Hannie cut her hand while changing out a water pipe at home. I still have to bandage it for her, so don't bother me!"

In the end, it was my best friend, who was returning with milk teas in hand, who saved my life.

She called her husband right there in the street, crying and demanding that the perpetrator pay with his life.

Instead, she was met with a cold reprimand. "Do you know the consequences of making a false police report? I still need to help Hannie switch out her water pipe, so stop wasting my time already!"

The passersby who had gathered around to look were so frightened by my terrible state that they did not dare to come forward.

My best friend, who was eight months pregnant, dragged me to the hospital by herself—walking the entire three miles there.

As a result, she also lost her unborn child.

She even volunteered for the blood transfusion I needed after her own surgery.

After opening my eyes, I gazed at her pale face. The two of us exchanged looks and smiled bitterly at each other.

"I want to file for divorce, Iris," I told her.

"Me too," she replied.

After I woke up and made up my mind, I immediately sent my husband, Jack Sutherland, a message informing him that I was going to divorce him.

As a result, he actually called me back, a stark contrast to when I had needed to call him three times before he picked up on the day of the accident.

When I answered the call, his furious curses sounded in my ears. "Are you going to divorce me just because I didn't condone your nonsense, Yvonne Jandor? The child was still fine in the morning, so how did you have a miscarriage after I hung up the phone? Are you trying to play me for a fool?

"I go to work every day to save lives, not to play house with you! It's just a coincidence that my patient today happens to be Hannie!

"Can you learn some common sense? She accidentally cut her wrist, which may end up bleeding profusely if proper measures aren't taken! There's a life on the line!

"My child and the subject of divorce aren't bargaining chips for you to threaten me with, either! Stop playing the spurned wife and trying to gain my favor through despicable means!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately hung up the phone without waiting for me to speak.

The hand in which I was holding my phone was still connected to an IV drip. At the moment, it was sagging weakly next to my ear.

We had been in love for three years and married for one. We even had a baby that had almost been born.

I never expected all of it to be ruined at the hands of his first love, Hannah Chandler!

When we met by chance at the hospital, she told me that she would call a taxi for me, seeing as it was inconvenient for me to get around while pregnant.

I had not thought much of it and even thanked her for her kindness.

However, the taxi that had been driving smoothly suddenly made a sharp turn, causing me, in the back seat, to be hit head-on by an oncoming truck.

The driver, who suffered some superficial injuries, abandoned his car on the spot and fled the scene, leaving me lying in a pool of blood in the middle of the road.

I had never been so scared before.

I was afraid of death but even more fearful of losing my child.

I finally managed to call my husband, crying and trembling, but he hung up on me three times.

In the past, he would answer my calls even while working because he knew that I was pregnant and would fear that something had happened to me.

However, when something really happened to me that day, all I received was a cold text message that said, "I'm working at the clinic, so don't bother me."

Before I left the hospital, I glanced at the screen displaying a list of registered patients, so I naturally knew that his current patient was Hannah.

As tears blurred my vision, I called him again, unwilling to leave things as they were.

He finally answered my call.

I could feel the cramps and soul-crushing pain coming from my abdomen. I barely had the strength left to speak. "I got into a car crash at the intersection just outside of the hospital, dear… Please come save me quickly. Our child can't hold on much longer…"

As I spoke, I could even feel blood gushing out of my body.

There was no response from the other end for quite a while, but I could faintly hear Hannah's coquettish laughter through the phone. The ten seconds I waited felt as long as a century.

Jack finally said, "I still have to help Hannie bandage her wound. It's my duty as a doctor to save lives and treat wounds, so can you please stop causing trouble for no reason?"

He hung up immediately after he finished speaking. It was as though he were terrified of me bothering him.

Since when did something as trivial as bandaging a cut require the personal attention of a surgeon?

The severe pain my body was in seemed to numb, and a bitter smile appeared on my face.

Tears slid down my face and mixed in with the blood on the ground.

The moment I lost the will to live, my best friend, Iris Sharlow, dropped her milk tea and ran to me.

She glanced at Jack's message displayed on my phone and immediately sent him a voice message cursing him out.

"A person like you doesn't deserve to be a father! Fuck you! I hope you and your bitch of a first love stay together for the rest of your lives! Don't you ever appear in front of Yvie again!"

My best friend saved me, but she lost her own child because of that.

Chapter 2

At the moment, Iris was sitting beside my hospital bed. She had just undergone surgery and had not even properly recovered from it yet.

Her face was pale with fright, and her lips were trembling.

Her tears fell onto my hand as self-blame overwhelmed her.

"I'm sorry," she said remorsefully. "If only I hadn't been such a glutton… It's all my fault. I should have been with you."

She felt sorry for me, but my heart ached for her even more. Just as I was about to speak, her policeman husband, Harvey Sutherland, called to interrogate her.

"Did you yell at my brother just now? What the heck is wrong with you? As a doctor, it's not like he can choose his patients! Can you stop letting that brainless best friend of yours brainwash you?

"You're both even claiming that you had a miscarriage—how laughable! Do you know how far along your pregnancies are? You're still trying to fake a miscarriage like others do when the two of you probably wouldn't suffer one even if you ran an 800-meter race right now!

"If not for the fact that I'm currently busy helping Hannie switch out her water pipe, I would've gone over to teach you two a lesson in person! Divorce isn't something you can just casually bring up! If you want a divorce, then fine! We'll see who chickens out first!"

He abruptly hung up the call.

Iris stared at her phone screen for a long time, lost in a daze.

I looked at her frail appearance and said, "Forget it. Perhaps the gods felt that we were not suited to be married to each other. You just went through induced labor and even gave me so much blood. You should get a good rest. Your health is what's important right now."

Tears slid down her face, soaking into the hospital gown she was wearing.

The two of us hugged each other and cried, our suppressed emotions finally reaching breaking point.

Our insistence on clinging onto our love seemed to have turned into a sharp arrow that pierced straight through our hearts.

If I thought about it carefully, this outcome had been determined since we decided to marry the Sutherland brothers.

Jack had specifically chosen to hold our wedding on Hannah's birthday. His sullen displeasure had been evident.

Even our marriage to Jack and Harvey had been a bargaining chip they used to try and provoke Hannah into returning to them, so who were they to speak of sincerity now?

It was also absurd that Iris and I allowed them to pull the wool over our eyes.

We actually believed that Hannah was nothing but an ordinary childhood friend to them.

We even obediently did as they asked when posting our wedding photos on Facebook, making sure that only Hannah could see them.

We had been in the same hospital as Jack since the accident, but he was unwilling to even spare the effort to look us up in the hospital's registration system and verify our claims.

If his trust were weighed on a scale, it would be so obviously tilted in favor of Hannah.

Perhaps in his eyes, I had never been worth the effort.

However, I understood that reasoning far too late, and the price I had paid for it was too great.

I lay on my hospital bed, scrolling through my Facebook timeline.

As expected, Hannah had posted on her Facebook again, showing off her victory like a gold medalist.

She had posted a photo of her, Jack, and Harvey, followed by a photo of an intact water pipe and a wrist carefully wrapped with gauze tied into a bow.

The caption read, "Thank you, my childhood friends! Friendship truly does outlast love! It's another addition to my special memories!"

I took a deep breath, then turned and motioned for Iris to take a look at the post, too.

She took out her phone. Two minutes later, she laughed scornfully.

"I'm surprised that they don't find a romantic relationship between three people stifling," she commented. "What a special memory indeed."

"After we divorce them, they'll probably have to have their bed custom-made, won't they?" I added.

Not only did Hannah post the photos on Facebook, but she also posted the same update on other social media platforms.

The comment sections were full of people drooling with envy.

"I'd be on cloud nine if I had even one childhood friend like that, but you actually have two!"

"Please teach me how to be born into a life like yours! I've never done anything bad, so I'd like to be reborn into a great life like that next time, please!"

As I read through all the comments, I felt a dull ache in my heart, but I could not find my voice.

After a while, I finally said, "It has nothing to do with us anymore. I'll find a lawyer to draw up the divorce agreement right now."

I had a copy of the agreement printed out and delivered to the hospital, then asked a nurse to help me bring it to Jack's office.

I then sent another copy to Harvey's department on Iris' behalf.

The delivery status showed that Jack and Harvey had both received their deliveries, but we did not hear anything from them for a whole day after that.

I never thought that after four years of being in a relationship, we would not even receive a reply for wanting to break up.

The bitterness in my heart grew as the sky gradually darkened.

I was the first to lose my patience and call Jack.

He seemed to be busy, as the phone rang for a long time before he finally answered the call.

Before I could speak, he asked impatiently, "What is it? How dare you call me when I haven't even settled the previous score with you? Why did you send a divorce agreement to my office? Are you trying to make sure the entire world knows that you're jealous and making a mountain out of a molehill?"

I sighed again when I heard this.

I had asked a nurse to help me deliver the agreement. If he had just asked her about my situation, he would have known that I was hospitalized due to having gone through surge

Just as I was about to talk about the divorce, I heard Hannah's coquettish voice coming through the receiver. "The lipstick you gave me last time was so pretty, Jack! I like it very much. Can you give me another one?"

He hurriedly put his hand over the receiver.

I sneered coldly. "No wonder you haven't even had the time to sign the divorce agreement. It turns out that you were busy. I won't disturb you then."

Just as I was about to hang up, he anxiously said, "You're not letting this go, are you? I was just afraid that you'd overthink it! Harvey's here, too!

"He was helping Hannie fix her water pipe, remember? She just invited us to her house for dinner to thank us for our help. Are you done being constantly paranoid?

"Hannah lives alone, but she's still capable of changing a water pipe on her own. On the other hand, why are you calling me for every little thing? I'm already exhausted from work every day, so can you be a bit more mature?

"Now you're requesting for a divorce, and you've even gotten your best friend involved! How exactly has my brother even offended you?"

The more Jack spoke, the more intense he became, and his voice also took on an angry tone.

At that moment, Hannah laughed and said comfortingly, "Don't be angry anymore. Women can be emotionally sensitive due to hormones from pregnancy. I'm independent precisely because I have nobody to rely on. Otherwise, I'd also have liked to be a pampered maiden!"

Her gentle voice sounded grating to my ears.

However, Jack did not seem to consider my feelings at all. He gently told her, "Send me a message the next time you encounter any problems, and I'll rush over as soon as possible. We've known each other for such a long time, so don't let the opinions of outsiders affect you!"

When I heard him say this, tears poured from my eyes, and I immediately hung up the call.

I never thought that after being together for four years and almost giving birth to his child, I would be nothing but an outsider in his eyes!

The self-mockery in my heart overwhelmed my reason. I covered my mouth and cried bitterly.

Iris noticed that I wasn't feeling good and hurriedly exclaimed, "Don't waste your tears on scum like that! I've already sent Harvey a message saying that I'm divorcing him as soon as I'm almost recovered!"

Chapter 3

Iris and I were hospitalized for two weeks, but we did not once receive a call from Jack or Harvey.

Nobody sent any messages asking where the two of us pregnant women were or why we were not going home.

Our already broken hearts sank again and again in the face of their indifferent attitudes. It wasn't until I saw Hannah's new Facebook post that I finally knew why.

She had posted dozens of photos of her, Jack, and Harvey. They looked so happy together, and the smiles on their faces were a stark contrast to our misery.

The caption read, "Always remember that we're family in all but blood!"

I felt nothing as I gazed at Jack's smiling face in the photo.

Instead, I calmly sent him a message. "I've been discharged from the hospital. See you in court tomorrow! Bring Harvey along."

He immediately called me in response, but I rejected the call and blocked his number.

Iris and I went through the discharge procedures together, after which we finally had the time to report the hit-and-run driver to the police station.

After briefly explaining the events that had occurred that day to the policeman, he frowned deeply and said, "It's been two weeks since then. Why are you only reporting this to the police now? I'm afraid that it's not going to be easy to look into the case anymore."

I could only nod and beg them to help with a smile on my face.

We explained that our husbands had run off with their lovers, and Iris had also suffered a miscarriage because she tried to save me. Therefore, we were only able to report the incident that day because nobody else was available to help report it.

The policeman looked incredibly guilty after listening to our explanation. "I understand now. We'll do our best."

After leaving the police station, Iris and I moved into the house we used to live in together before we married.

We were both extremely weak, so we could only pay a housekeeping service to do some simple cleaning for us.

However, I did not expect Jack to call me using Harvey's phone after I had blocked his number.

I could tell that he was furious from his tone. "Where have you gone? Why is the house in such a mess? What's a pregnant woman like you doing running around outside instead of staying at home?

"Is two weeks not enough time for you to calm down? How long will you keep up this farce? Even if you're angry, don't drag Iris into this! She and Harvey have no quarrel with each other, but you've convinced her to get a divorce as well!

"Why are you such a vicious woman? Can you not stand others living good lives just because you're not doing well yourself?"

Iris, who was next to me, heard everything. She was so angry that she snatched my phone from me and yelled, "You're a family of scumbags! We'd be shooting ourselves in the foot if we didn't divorce the two of you!

"Tell Harvey that he's my bitch if he doesn't show up at the courthouse tomorrow! I'm seeing this divorce through no matter what! Don't worry because Yvie and I will make sure that the defendant's seat is open and waiting for you!"

She hung up immediately after saying her piece, after which the two of us blocked Jack's and Harvey's numbers.

Early the next morning, we rushed to the entrance of the courthouse to wait for them.

We did not expect to encounter Hannah first. Her eyes were red and watery with tears.

She walked up to us in her high heels and said aggrievedly, "I'm sorry. I'm here to apologize on Jack and Harvey's behalf. I know you've misunderstood, but the truth is not what you think.

"The vacation just was a promise we made to each other five years ago that we only now got around to fulfilling because I wasn't around before. I asked them to inform the two of you about it before leaving. I didn't expect them not to send you a message about it…"

Even then, she kept flaunting their long history and the memories only they shared.

Iris' grip on my hand grew tighter and tighter.

I snorted coldly before saying mockingly, "Really? Have you approved of our divorce today then? Do we have your permission, or are you perhaps here to carry out the divorce procedures on their behalf?"

Hannah's phone vibrated faintly.

Something flashed in her eyes, after which she immediately leaped toward us.

Startled, I instinctively reached out to push her away.

She fell butt first to the ground. Her palms started bleeding from scraping against the ground.

I was about to help her up, suspicion written all over my face, when Jack's familiar angry bellow rang out in the distance. "What the hell are you doing, Yvonne? Stop!"

Before I could get a good look at him, he had already rushed in front of me and shoved me hard.

I stumbled into Iris, who was standing behind me.

Only then did Jack notice my flat stomach, and the color instantly drained from his face.

He asked shakily, "Where's the child?"

Harvey was walking over toward us while talking on the phone, so he wasn't paying attention to what was going on in front of him.

"This isn't going to work. I don't have time today," he said urgently. "The station called saying that someone reported a traffic accident that happened two weeks ago, and they suspect foul play! I have to go back and investigate the case!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he finally got a good look at the slender silhouettes of me and Iris, and he froze in place.

His phone slipped out of his hands and clattered to the ground, its screen fracturing into pieces.

"What's going on?" he asked faintly. "What happened, honey?"