Two Brides, One Tragic Twist novel 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."