Đang tải thông tin quảng bá...
The Wife He Threw Away for Her Best Friend
NovelShort
Hoàn thành
The day I found out I was pregnant, I stood on the balcony and looked at the wildflowers, dead for the seventh time. Just staring at nothing. Owen Sanchez had killed off my "plant that takes care of i...
Chương (4)
第1章
1: 1
The day I found out I was pregnant, I stood on the balcony and looked at the wildflowers, dead for the seventh time.
Just staring at nothing.
Owen Sanchez had killed off my "plant that takes care of itself," while the orchids my best friend gave him, the ones she called "glass flowers," bloomed lush and bright under his hands.
That was when my best friend, the one staying in my home, spoke up:
"Isabella Swanson, I'm pregnant."
"The baby is your husband's."
My pupils shrank. I turned around and stared at her, stunned.
Unhurried, she pointed at the orchids she'd given Owen three years ago. "You know why Owen wanted to move back to your hometown, that little county where it's spring all year round?"
"It wasn't because he loves you. It's because the climate in Northport can't keep this orchid alive."
……
I looked at the bright, lush orchids, calm on the surface, everything churning inside.
Just then the lock turned from the outside, and Owen came in carrying vegetables and fruit.
Narelle Pruitt acted more like the lady of the house than I did, greeting him with a bright smile.
"Owen, long day? Sit down, give me the groceries, I'll cook for you two."
Owen handed the groceries to Narelle without a second thought, set down his shoulder bag, and only then noticed me.
He blinked. "Isabella? You're back? Why didn't you tell me? I'd have come to the airport to get you."
The pregnancy report crumpled in my hand.
I said, calmly, "Owen, my wildflowers died again."
Under my hard stare, Owen walked over and pulled me gently into a hug.
"I was wrong, honey. From now on I'll—"
I cut him off.
"There's no from now on. Let's get divorced."
The air around us dropped to freezing in an instant, nothing left but the sound of us breathing.
Owen went rigid, then his face twisted into something absurd.
"You want to divorce me over one dead plant?"
"Yes. Over one 'dead plant'!"
The sound of chopping in the kitchen stopped.
Narelle came out, all anxious concern, wounded tears falling.
"Don't fight, please don't fight. I'm the one who failed to look after your flowers. I'm sorry, Isabella—"
"What does it have to do with her? You're the one who's so busy and still insisted on keeping that stupid plant! If you can't take care of it, why keep it at all?!"
I stared into Owen's eyes and remembered the year we were eighteen, the way Owen had sworn to me.
"Isabella, I know you love flowers. Someday I'll plant you fields and fields of wildflowers! Even if I die, I'll have the flowers you love planted on my grave!"
I'd quickly covered his mouth. "Don't talk about dying. I want you to live, and live well!"
I laughed at myself.
The twenty-eight-year-old Isabella could love the eighteen-year-old Owen, and could love someone else at twenty-eight, but never again the twenty-eight-year-old Owen!
Because he wasn't worth it!
I threw the crumpled report into the trash.
And walked out, slamming the door.
Not long after I left, I got a text from Narelle:
*Isabella, Owen agreed to give me my rightful place.*【】
*I wanted to make it up to you, but Owen absolutely refused. He insists on transferring your apartment into my name.*【】
*Says it's security for me and the baby.*【】
*Isabella, thank you so much for training him these ten years. I'm very happy with the result.*【】
She waved at me from my own balcony, beaming.
I swayed on my feet.
In the haze of it, the Narelle who'd once thrown herself in front of me, shouting at those vicious thugs, "Come at me if you dare!"—that Narelle slowly twisted into something monstrous…
How was she any different now from those thugs?
Owen's call came through, his voice full of weariness.
"Isabella, can you please stop making a scene?"
"I'm really tired. I come home every day and still have to fight over these petty little things. Have you ever once thought about me?"
I said nothing.
His tone softened. "I admit it, I was wrong about this. But I didn't do it on purpose!"
"That time you were away on business, I'd had too much to drink at a work thing, and when I got home I thought it was you, so I—"
Three months ago, Narelle had fled her abusive home and begged me to take her in.
It was urgent, and I was away on a business trip, so I told her where we hid the spare key.
But even if what Owen said was true, Narelle had been sober the whole time, hadn't she?
If it wasn't something they both wanted, how could it have happened at all?
"Enough. Tomorrow, two in the afternoon, the county clerk's office."
第2章
2: 2
I called my college roommate, Mila Dickerson, and asked her to book me an abortion appointment.
She was startled. "Isabella, you were fine when you went home this afternoon, weren't you?"
"Did that bastard do something to you?"
Then she murmured, "But we all saw how good he was to you. Back then he didn't even care about his own life..."
My chest twisted again.
I closed my eyes. "Mila, please. I'm asking you."
Without realizing it, I'd walked all the way to the gate of the school Owen and I had gone to together.
The stone lions at the entrance stood there, proud and grave, and for a moment I lost myself.
Years ago, Narelle had waited for me right beside those statues.
At eighteen, I was living out my youth at college.
At eighteen, she'd shown up on my doorstep after an unplanned pregnancy left her abandoned.
"Isabella, you have to help me... I don't have a cent to my name, and I've got nowhere else to go!"
I was a broke student too.
But I gave her every bit of the living money I'd saved anyway.
Even then, we were still a few thousand short for the procedure, and the two of us panicked like ants on a hot pan.
Owen, my boyfriend at the time, didn't think twice before transferring me the rest.
"When she's able to one day, she can pay me back."
Narelle's tears spilled over, and she thanked us again and again.
"You two saved my life. You're like parents to me! I swear I'll pay you back!"
She used the moment to add Owen on his contacts, saying it would make paying him back easier later.
And she stayed on in my dorm, begging me to take her in a little longer.
For that whole stretch, aside from not going to class with us, the three of us were practically inseparable.
I never imagined I was planting such a huge time bomb for myself.
Halfway across campus, someone recognized me.
"Isabella?"
I turned and met a face that was familiar and unfamiliar at once, a tall, good-looking man.
But I couldn't remember who he was.
A smile played at his mouth. "You've probably forgotten me by now. I'm Glen Harding, from the hosting club."
Then it came back to me.
Back then I'd been on good terms with the head of their club.
During recruitment, their club head had stepped out to the bathroom, and I was the one who'd personally brought Glen in.
That crisp, perfectly enunciated speech of his, plus the sharp, handsome face, really did make him a natural for hosting.
I gave Glen a smile. "I remember now. What brings you back to Quaid?"
"I'm building out my company, came to the school to recruit some talent. I remember you do auditing. Any interest in coming to work for us? No constant travel, very stable."
As he spoke, he handed me a business card and mimed a phone at his ear. "If you're interested, give me a call."
"Sure."
After parting ways with Glen, I made my way to the field of wildflowers Owen had planted for me.
Owen knew I loved wildflowers, so he'd planted them just for me.
By rights, no one had that kind of authority.
It was only because the year he won the civilian bravery award and was honored on TV, Quaid University became the talk of Greenfield.
When the school administration asked what he wanted as a reward, he said, "President, you're too kind. I only want to plant an acre of wildflowers for my girlfriend, to prove what we have."
Land on that campus was worth its weight in gold.
But the president gave in, and in front of the media he marked out a patch of ground for the wildflowers.
Not quite an acre.
But not small, either.
第3章
3: 3
Narelle's voice pulled me back to the present.
"Owen! Are you really going to clear this whole plot and plant orchids instead?"
Owen had a shovel in his hands, and one load at a time he was tearing up the flowers he'd once planted himself.
Just like our love.
Petals came up tangled with dirt, the mud and the grime smearing together, uglier under the thin drizzle.
"Plant them. Whatever you like, we'll plant it."
The memory tore into me out of nowhere, and my nose stung.
He'd once said the same thing to me.
That year, Narelle was recovering from an illness in my dorm. She'd lost both her parents, and I couldn't bring myself to send her away.
I worked part-time jobs day and night until I'd finally paid off every cent she owed Owen.
The day I came back to the room, she suddenly threw her arms around me and sobbed.
"Bella, you're my savior, and so is Owen. The one thing I'll never regret in this life is meeting the two of you."
"If only I could stay by your side forever…"
I didn't read anything into it. I chalked it up to the emotional swings after her abortion, and I held her and said softly, "It's okay. It'll all pass."
That night she started crying beside me out of nowhere. When I asked what was wrong, she said the person she liked had turned her down.
I couldn't understand how she'd fallen for someone new so soon.
But I respected her.
Looking back now, the one who turned her down was Owen.
That night, she climbed onto the roof, ready to jump…
Most of the details up there I can't remember.
I only remember telling her not to throw her life away for a man who wasn't worth it, and the bitter little laugh she gave.
"If one day the man beside you needed you to give up your life to save him, would you do it?"
I said nothing.
Owen and I weren't at the point of living or dying for each other.
Owen kept his face blank, but I could feel the flicker of disappointment in him beside me.
We kept talking her down as we edged closer, and then, out of nowhere, her foot slipped and she fell backward.
In that split second she grabbed my sleeve, and the two of us went over almost at once.
My arm screamed with pain, but neither of us dropped. Owen had me in one hand and Narelle in the other.
His jaw was clenched, his lips gone white, the veins standing up on his hands.
"I've got you both!"
It was already more than he could hold, but Owen still didn't let go.
Narelle smiled. "Don't waste your strength. You two take care of each other."
As if she'd lost any will to live, she pried her hand out of Owen's grip and dropped straight down…
Thank God the safety cushion did its job.
She didn't die.
Owen was commended. I got an official reprimand.
Housing an outsider in the dorms was a serious violation of school rules.
But our story spread far and wide all the same.
To this day.
Narelle noticed me.
"Bella! I'm so sorry, digging up your favorite flowers. You won't hold it against me, will you?"
Owen looked up at me too. "What are you doing here…?"
Just then, the dean who'd promised us this plot of land for our flowers all those years ago suddenly appeared.
He was as kind as ever. "Well? What brings you two back here?"
"Have the years treated you well? I heard you're married. Any little ones yet?"
My hand went to my stomach without thinking…
Narelle looped her arm through Owen's and spoke up before either of us could. "Sorry, they're about to get divorced. Owen's my husband now."
Owen cared more about face than anything. He pushed Narelle's hand off and laughed awkwardly.
"Dean, Bella and I just aren't right for each other…"
The smile froze on the dean's face, and he gave a helpless shake of his head.
He patted my shoulder and offered me some encouragement. "Bella, let me leave you with this: keep the roots in the ground, and the east wind returns year after year. I hope you make it through this low point in your life."
He excused himself, saying he had a meeting, and walked off alone.
Narelle pointed after him, finally breaking completely. "Owen, what is he trying to say?!"
I didn't want to get tangled up with them, so I left right behind him.
第4章
4: 4
I didn't go home.
I booked a room at a five-star hotel, lay down on the bed, and stared blankly at the ceiling.
Then I fell asleep.
I don't know how long it was before a ringing phone woke me.
"Hello?"
"Isabella, I'll go with you tomorrow to file for the divorce. Fine. But this house of ours has to be signed over to Narelle first, or you can forget about the divorce."
"We both owe her too much. From the very first time she let go of my hand to give the two of us a chance, whatever we had was never going to end well."
"It's almost like fate. The child you couldn't give me, Nell can. Don't you think that's a bond meant to be?"
Something clenched hard in my chest, the pain crawling through every organ.
I gritted my teeth and agreed, spineless as ever.
"Fine. As long as I can get the divorce, the house is yours."
The next day, we finished the divorce paperwork without a hitch.
Narelle was ecstatic, bouncing around and planting kisses all over Owen's face.
Owen came over to me, glowing, gracious as always.
"Isabella, we were married once. If you ever run into trouble down the road, come to me. Whatever I can do, I will."
I looked at him for a long moment, then shook my head.
"I don't think divorced people can be friends. My upbringing doesn't allow me that kind of boundary-less behavior."
I flagged down a cab and left without looking back.
Something lonely flickered across Owen's face, then vanished just as fast.
Before I went into the operating room, I called Glen.
He told me the first two years of the position would be in Northport, and only after that could he transfer back.
Once, for Owen's sake, I had gone with him to his hometown of Northport to build a life there. We stayed three years.
We saved up our first million and got married.
Narelle was my bridesmaid.
She gave us a pot of orchids as a wedding gift.
She wiped her tears as she saw me off. "Owen! You'd better treat my best friend right. If you dare hurt her, I swear I'll make you wish you were dead!"
Then she was gone.
Went back to her hometown and got married.
The night of her wedding, Owen stood out on the balcony at midnight with a cigarette, staring off into the distance.
I crept up behind him and wrapped my arms around his lean waist. He flinched hard.
Then, in that impossibly gentle voice, he said, "Isabella, why don't we go live in your hometown?"
I was so moved.
Thinking back now, the irony is unbearable. He only agreed to go back with me so he could keep one pot of orchids alive.
His real reason was Narelle.
I agreed to Glen's terms. "No problem. A change of place for a while sounds good..."
Coming out of the operating room felt like surfacing from another lifetime.
Then I heard Narelle's laughter, that flirting tone, somewhere near me.
I turned to look. Owen's driver had an arm around her waist, and the two of them walked into the OB-GYN clinic, chatting and laughing.
After they'd gone, I asked the doctor about their relationship.
"And who are you to her? This is patient privacy. I can't disclose it."
Just then a nurse came over with a form. "Dr. Gray, here's Miss Pruitt and Mr. Whitney's IVF paperwork."
Dr. Gray shot her a fierce glare. Realizing she'd said too much, she slunk off.
Later, when Dr. Gray wasn't watching, I snapped a photo of that form and sent it to Owen.
【Congratulations, ex-hubby. You've officially earned yourself a set of horns～】