Chapter 5

Kelsie shrieked, a high-pitched, piercing sound that echoed through the hospital lobby. She clutched her cheek, her eyes welling up with dramatic tears. "Oh my god! My baby! She hit me! She's trying to hurt my baby!" She crumpled slightly, leaning heavily into Elliott, who had instantly recoiled from my outburst.

"Aria!" Elliott roared, his face contorted in a mask of pure fury. He grabbed my arm, his grip bruisingly tight, and shoved me away. The force of it sent me stumbling back, my injured ankle protesting with a fresh wave of agony. I nearly fell again, catching myself on a nearby chair. "What is wrong with you?" he yelled, his voice vibrating with rage. "Are you insane? She's pregnant! You could have hurt her, hurt our child!"

"She stepped on my medical report!" I screamed back, my voice raw, tears finally breaking free and streaming down my face. "She provoked me! She's been provoking me for weeks, Elliott! You just don't see it because you're too busy having an affair with her!"

Elliott paused, his eyes narrowing. He looked at me, really looked at me, for the first time in what felt like forever. His gaze lingered on my gaunt face, my sunken eyes, the dark circles underneath. The anger in his eyes flickered, replaced by a momentary concern, a shadow of the man he once was. "Medical report?" he mumbled, his voice softer, confused. "Are you sick, Aria?"

A desperate hope, fragile and fleeting, sparked in my chest. Maybe, just maybe, he would finally see. "Yes, Elliott," I said, my voice cracking. "I'm very sick. I've been sick for weeks. That's why I'm here. I came to pick up my diagnosis. I needed you, but you were too busy with her."

Before he could react, Kelsie, who had been watching us with narrowed, calculating eyes, suddenly gasped. "Oh, Elliott, don't listen to her! She's just trying to get your sympathy. She probably just has a cold, or she's faking it! She's always so dramatic. She just wants to ruin our happiness!" Her voice was shrill, laced with panic. "Remember? She just hit me! She could have hurt our baby!" She leaned into him again, rubbing her belly protectively.

Elliott's face hardened once more. The flicker of concern vanished, replaced by a familiar dismissal. He stroked Kelsie's head, his gaze softening. "She's right, Aria," he said, turning back to me, his voice cold again. "You're just being dramatic. Kelsie is pregnant. That's what matters. You need to grow up and stop making everything about yourself."

My heart, already a fractured mess, splintered into a million pieces. He truly believed her. He truly believed I was lying, making it all up for attention. The man I had loved, the man I had married, was gone. Replaced by this cruel, unfeeling stranger.

"Of course," I whispered, a bitter laugh bubbling up from my throat. "The baby. Your perfect, healthy baby. While I'm just the broken, ailing wife. Convenient, isn't it?" The sarcasm felt like acid in my mouth. I couldn't do this anymore. I couldn't fight for a man who had already chosen.

I turned away from them, ignoring their existence, and walked towards the specialist's office. Each step felt heavy, burdened by the weight of my shattered life. The doctor's face was grim as she looked up from the reports I finally retrieved. Her eyes, filled with a profound sadness, met mine.

"Aria," she began, her voice gentle, "the results are in. We've done extensive testing, and it confirms our initial suspicions." She paused, taking a deep breath. "You have a rare, degenerative neurological disorder. It's aggressive. There's no cure."

My world went silent. The sounds of the hospital faded, replaced by a roaring in my ears. No cure.

"What does that mean?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. The words felt foreign on my tongue.

"It means," she said, her voice full of regret, "that your condition will progressively worsen. You'll lose mobility, coordination, eventually all bodily functions. Your life expectancy... it's severely limited. We're talking months, perhaps a year or two at best, depending on how quickly it progresses."

Months. A year or two. My life, the life I had planned, the life I had given up so much for, was being stolen from me. And not by a fall, not by bad luck, but by a disease that had been silently ravaging my body while Elliott was busy with Kelsie.

"Is there any treatment?" I asked, the words hollow.

"We can manage the symptoms," she replied, "slow the progression, but the success rate of any aggressive treatment is... minimal. Near zero. My recommendation is palliative care, to make you as comfortable as possible."

A grim, humorless laugh escaped my lips. Palliative care. For weeks, I had dismissed my symptoms as stress, as a cold. Even Elliott had dismissed them. And Kelsie. Kelsie had known. She had seen my medical reports on the floor, seen the doctor's name, the clinic's letterhead. She had known I was sick. And she had still stomped on my reports, still taunted me, still convinced Elliott I was faking it. She had knowingly kept him away from me, knowing I was dying. The realization was a fresh wave of icy horror.

And Elliott. He had been so blind, so consumed by his "obligation" to Kelsie and his own ambition, that he hadn't noticed his own wife wasting away. He had accused me of being dramatic, of faking it. The guilt that briefly flickered in his eyes when he saw my bleeding knee? It was nothing compared to the monstrous indifference he truly held.

A strange calm settled over me. A profound, unsettling peace. It was over. The fight, the struggle, the longing for a life that was never truly mine. My career was gone, my marriage was a lie, my body was failing. There was nothing left to lose. Nothing left to fight for. The world had dealt its final blow, and I was too tired to even protest.

I walked out of the hospital, the bright afternoon sun blinding me, but I felt nothing. No anger, no sadness, just a vast, echoing emptiness. I walked home, the house still, silent, a monument to a life that no longer existed. The pulled curtains made the living room dim. I yanked them open, letting the harsh sunlight stream in. It stung my eyes, but I didn't flinch.

On the coffee table, the orchid finally gave up, its last brown petal drifting to the floor. Next to it, a framed photo of Elliott and me, smiling, triumphant, after my biggest win. His arm was around my waist, his lips pressed to my temple. A bitter laugh escaped me. How easily he had replaced me, how quickly he had moved on.

I picked up the photo, my fingers tracing the outline of his face. Then, with a sudden, decisive movement, I smashed it against the wall. The glass shattered, the sound sharp and final. Then I started working. All the things we had accumulated together, the matching towels, the shared books, the sentimental trinkets, the clothes he had left behind – I systematically went through them, tossing them into a large garbage bag. Each item was a memory, a lie, a wound. Throwing them away felt like purging a poison from my system. Each piece of trash was a step towards freedom.

By the time the sun began to set, the house felt strangely empty, lighter. My own suitcase, a small, worn carry-on, sat by the door, packed with the few things I still considered truly mine. I had no idea where I was going, or what I would do. Just away. Away from this house, away from the ghosts of a broken life.

A sudden knock on the door made me jump. My heart pounded, a frantic drum against my ribs. Who could it be? My eyes darted to the clock. It was late. Maybe Keagan, checking up on me. No, he would have called. I hesitated, then slowly opened the door.

Elliott. And he was drunk. His hair was disheveled, his eyes bloodshot, his expensive shirt rumpled. He stumbled in, reeking of alcohol, and collapsed onto the sofa, groaning. He didn't even notice the broken photo frame, or the garbage bags, or the packed suitcase by the door. Not at first.

Then, his eyes, hazy and unfocused, landed on the suitcase. He blinked, slowly, as if trying to process what he was seeing. A flicker of something, fear? confusion? pierced through the drunken stupor. "Aria?" he mumbled, his voice thick. "What's that? Are you... leaving?"