Drunk on Regret

I stared at the scene before, tears welling up in my eyes. Finally, I ran out.

As I rushed to the hospital, I called everyone I could think of. When I reached the last person on my list, I hesitated. It was my mentor, who had been furious about my decision to abandon my research and had not spoken to me since.

I did not know if she had changed her number, but thinking of my critically ill mother, I gritted my teeth and dialed it anyway.

"So, you actually remember my number?" Her familiar voice came through, and I immediately broke down.

"Professor Brown, could you help me find a cardiac specialist? My mom's condition is critical, and Marcus, he..."

"I can try to contact someone for you, but I can't guarantee anything."

After tearfully thanking Professor Brown, I rushed to the hospital. But by then, it was too late.

"I'm very sorry, Ms. Bennett. Your mother's condition deteriorated too suddenly... We did everything we could."

My legs gave out, and I collapsed to the floor. "How could this happen? My mom's condition was stable. How could it suddenly get worse?"

I walked to the morgue to see my mom, feeling all the life drained out of me. Her face still showed traces of pain. Had she been in agony when it happened?

My heart ached terribly, but I still managed to complete all the necessary paperwork with the hospital staff's guidance. As I watched my mom get cremated, tears finally fell.

The two most important people in my life were both gone now. I returned home carrying my mom's urn, finally giving up on Marcus completely.

"Professor Brown, I'm willing to join the medical research project next month."

Just as I was replying to Professor Brown's message, I heard a woman's laughter coming from inside the house. I hurried over and found Marcus playing with Hannah in our pool!

"Marcus, what are you doing?"

While I was dealing with everything alone, my husband was here fooling around with Hannah in our home, completely ignoring my mom!

When he saw me, his expression became unnatural. "Hannah's pregnant. I'm just keeping her company. Besides, your mother's illness isn't going to kill her anytime soon."

As he spoke, he noticed the urn in my hands. "What's that?"

"What else could it be? It's just a prop to scare you." Hannah scooped up pool water and splashed it at me.

I instinctively dodged but could only block some of the water.

"Hannah, stop! This isn't a prop! This is my mom's urn!"

"What urn? You're just jealous that I'm playing with Mark. Fine, I won't play with him today, okay?"

She climbed out of the pool and tried to grab my arm. Without thinking, I pulled away.

Hannah let herself fall to the ground, her eyes turning red. "Claire, if you have a problem with me, just say so. Why did you have to push me?"

Marcus noticed her scraped knee and flew into a rage. "Claire, you've gone too far! How could you treat a pregnant woman like this?"

I tried explaining, but it only made Marcus angrier.

"Another urn story, Claire? If you're going to lie, at least make it believable! Since you insist this is an urn..."

He grabbed my mom's urn and smashed it on the ground. "Let's see what's really in here!"

The broken shards mixed with pool water, washing away the ashes. I fell to my knees, frantically trying to save what remained of the ashes, but there was nothing left.

"Mom, how could this happen?" I broke down sobbing. My grief seemed to catch Marcus off guard.

That was when Hannah, still sitting on the ground, spoke up with feigned hurt. "Claire, you don't need to put on such a show just to avoid apologizing to me. Your mother has professional caregivers watching her. How could she suddenly die?"

Marcus snapped back to attention, looking at me with even more disgust. "Claire, you're getting more unreasonable by the day! Hannah, let's go. If she wants to put on a show, let her do it by herself!"

…

Over the next few days, I handled my mom's funeral alone. All our mutual friends tactfully avoided asking about Marcus' whereabouts. He had angrily told off everyone who called asking about my mom's death.

As if to spite me, he posted intimate photos with Hannah all over social media.

Twenty-five days before I was supposed to leave for the research program, I was walking in a daze and did not notice a car speeding toward me. After getting hit, I acted on my survival instincts and immediately called Marcus for help.

"Claire, you've got some nerve calling me. Are you still playing this game? Was it fun making all my friends attend a fake funeral?"

Even now, he did not believe my mom had died.

I had no strength to explain further and only managed to rasp, "Help... Help me, Marcus. I've been in an accident..."

That familiar warm flow came again, and a terrible thought crossed my mind.

"What? I'm coming right over. Where are you?"

Marcus was about to get up when he heard Hannah's pitiful voice. "Mark, Claire wouldn't be calling on purpose to stop you from taking me to my prenatal appointment, would she?"

Marcus paused, his voice clearly laced with anger. "Claire, stop this nonsense!"

…

When I woke up again, I was greeted by a nurse with a regretful expression. "Ms. Bennett, I'm sorry. We couldn't save your baby."

Even though I had sensed it, I was still devastated.

I had supported Marcus from obscurity to his current success, but it meant nothing compared to Hannah's single complaint. My mom had spent all her savings to support him, only to have him smash her urn, thinking it was a joke. Even our unborn child never got the chance to be born.

Looking at Marcus' various affectionate photos with Hannah, I called my lawyer, Nathan Brooks. "I need you to draft a divorce agreement."