Liam Novel Her First Love Killed Me, but I Owe an Apology

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My wife's first love kills me without a shred of mercy.

But my wife, a world-class surgeon, doesn't try to save me. Instead, she comforts her first love. He's so ruthless! How could he hurt you this badly?

She even tells the police that I've severely injured her first love, claiming she wants to press charges for attempted murder. Then she points at my body and demands that I get up and apologize to her first love.

"Charles, stop pretending! You just want me to pity you, right? Get up and apologize to Steven!" she yells.

Chapter 1

When I, Charles Jenkins, opened my eyes again, Joanne Anderson was still by Steven Lane's side. Joanne was my wife, and Steven was her first love.

Her face was pale as she hurried to tend to his wounds, her movements frantic and unsteady.

Joanne forced the doctor who was supposed to rush me into the emergency room to stay with Steven.

She was terrified that something bad might happen to him.

Meanwhile, my body lay alone on a hospital bed, abandoned and ignored.

The sight stunned me. I finally snapped out of it when I saw Joanne force down her fear to lean in close and softly comfort Steven.

"He's ruthless! How could Charles hurt you this badly? But don't worry, Steven. I'm here. I'll make sure you're alright!" she said.

Steven had clearly seen me lying motionless on the hospital bed, yet he still put on a frail, frightened act.

He asked her, "Jo, how's Charles? I didn't mean to fight back and get blood on him. Is he going to blame me again?"

Joanne's expression darkened instantly. "Don't worry. He won't die that easily. He's just putting on a show. He's frighteningly convincing. It's a shame he didn't go into acting."

I felt my heart ache sharply.

In Joanne's eyes, everything I did was nothing more than an attempt to frame Steven. I would even pretend to be worse off than him, just to win her sympathy.

The police arrived soon after. When they saw me lying on the bed, covered in blood and completely unattended, they stared at Joanne in disbelief.

"How can you call yourselves doctors?" one of them questioned. "Why hasn't this patient been sent to the emergency room? Don't you know he could die?"

Joanne cast me a cold glance and let out a mocking laugh. "Don't worry. He's not injured at all. He's only lying there, faking it.

"Since you're here, I can't keep pretending I didn't see anything either. Charles has severely injured Steven. If I hadn't arrived in time, he would've killed Steven. I'm pressing charges for attempted murder."

Certain that I wasn't dead, she strode over to my body and kicked the hospital bed viciously. "Hey! That's enough. Stop pretending. Do you really think acting this convincingly will get you out of trouble?

"You nearly killed Steven! There's no way I'm letting you off this time. Get up and apologize to Steven. Maybe then I'll help you get a lighter sentence."

She spoke as if I should spring up at once, overwhelmed with gratitude for her mercy.

Anyone could tell that I was no longer alive.

Already feeling uneasy, the doctors and nurses who had been forced to stay were holding back their anger. Now that they had seen with their own eyes that I was truly deadand that she was still demanding I get up and apologize to Steventhey couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Joanne, Charles isn't pretending this time," someone finally said. "He's really dead."

Joanne bristled the moment someone spoke up for me. "Are you out of your mind?" she snapped. "Can't you tell when someone's acting? If that's the case, you should quit being a doctor and go be a janitor."

Everyone froze when they saw that Joanne, a renowned doctor, still insisted I was faking it. They shook with anger.

The police immediately understood what was going on. One of them let out a heavy breath and reached for his phone to contact the medical examiner.

Joanne lunged forward and snatched the phone away, deleting the contact on the spot. "I told you he's not dead! Why call a medical examiner? I'm not airing my dirty laundry in public! If this blows up, we'll become a laughingstock! I'm not as shameless as he is. I can't afford that kind of humiliation!"

She then turned back to me and slapped my face several times, hard, impatience written all over her face. "Charles, this is my final warning. If you don't get up and apologize to Steven right now, get ready to rot in prison!"

The only response she got was the blood seeping slowly from my wounds.

Joanne froze for a brief second. She felt a terrible premonition creeping up inside her, and she instinctively reached out, about to lift my shirt.

I held my breath, staring at her hand.

If she lifted my shirt, she would see that the blood on my body was not smeared from Steven, nor did it come from a blood pack.

But at that critical moment, Steven let out a faint groan. "Jo, my arm hurts so much. It's so noisy here. I want to go home."

Any hesitation Joanne had vanished instantly, along with the strange unease that had just surfaced.

She rushed back to Steven at once, carefully helping him up. As she passed the police, she made sure to remind them, "If you're here to arrest someone, then hurry up and take the criminal away."

She was my wife, yet she couldn't wait for the police to take my body away.

For a moment, everyone felt the absurdity of it.

I, on the other hand, gave a bitter smile. In her eyes, I would never matter more than Steven.

Maybe dying was for the best. I would never have to endure her blatant bias again.

Even so, my heart still ached unbearably.

Chapter 2

Joanne supported Steven all the way to a private residence.

Steven grabbed her arm and asked softly, "Jo, if Charles finds out you brought me here, he's going to be mad at you again."

Joanne's heart ached at how considerate Steven was toward her. Her voice trembled as she said, "Steven, I promised you I'd give us a home. I paid for this place myself. It has nothing to do with him.

"Besides, so what if he finds out? He doesn't even have the right to be angry. Even if we slept together in front of him, he wouldn't dare protest. The moment I mention getting a divorce, he would beg me for forgiveness!"

I never imagined that in front of Steven, Joanne would speak of me with such contempt.

Steven put on a look of relief. But the greed hidden in his gaze deepened as he looked at the house, and the smile on his face grew brighter. "That's good, then."

I looked at the house as well and felt a deep sense of desolation settle in my chest. I had scrimped on food and clothing, giving Joanne the best I could afford, taking on the mortgage payments alone.

Yet behind my back, she had bought a private residence outright.

She carefully helped Steven into the master bedroom and even offered to cook for him.

I had never seen her this attentive before. At home, she always waited for me to come back from work. No matter how exhausted I was, I still forced myself to cook for her.

On the rare occasions when I was sick, I had to beg her before she would step into the kitchen, and even then, all she made was a plate of overcooked instant pasta.

I used to think she simply didn't know how to cook. I never pushed her; instead, I kept making excuses for her.

Only now did I know that she had always known how to cookshe just never wanted to do it for me.

Joanne didn't find it troublesome at all as she set a table laden with dishes.

Whatever Steven wanted to eat, she immediately scooped up a spoonful and fed it to him.

She felt nothing wrong about it. In fact, she was secretly pleased.

After the meal, Joanne even offered to bathe him.

Steven put on an act again, saying, "Jo, you're Charles' wife. How could I let you bathe me?"

Joanne frowned at once. "If it weren't for circumstances forcing my hand, I wouldn't have married a piece of trash like him. Being around him every day makes me want to throw up. Steven, you know the one I love is you. Don't turn me down, okay?"

Steven responded with a soft hum.

Joanne couldn't hide her delight. Smiling, she led him into the bathroom, helped him undress, and bathed him.

I didn't follow them, but even without seeing it, I knew exactly what would happen inside. I had always been in the way before. Now that I was dead, they could finally be alone.

In the stillness of the night, desire had free rein. There was no better moment to betray me.

Sure enough, not long after, ambiguous sounds drifted out from inside.

I shut my eyes and wanted to hide on the balcony for some peace, but I couldn't move too far away from Joanne. I was forced to listen to those obscene sounds.

The pain in my chest dulled into numbness.

It wasn't until midnight that the two of them finally came out.

Steven looked clean and proper. If not for the flush on his face and the satisfied look in his eyes, no one would've guessed what he had done.

Joanne, on the other hand, looked disheveled. Her lips were swollen, she walked with difficulty, and there was a heavy, unmistakable scent about her.

I had never seen her like this.

If it were before, I would've been overwhelmed with excitement.

But now, thinking about what they had just done and how she had catered to Steven, I only felt sick.

Chapter 3

Joanne and I met through an arranged matchmaking. Back then, she was radiant and beautiful, and I fell for her at first sight.

She didn't like me, yet she still agreed to be with me.

I knew I wasn't worthy of her, so after we got married, I poured all my effort into being the husband she deserved.

No matter how cold she was toward me, I kept believing that she would be moved and truly fall in love with me one day.

Then, Steven appeared. That was when I learned that Joanne had agreed to marry me only because she couldn't withstand her family's pressure.

He kept showing up around Joanne, and one day, my patience finally snapped. I wanted to warn him to stay away from my wife.

But Steven always managed to injure himself on purpose right before Joanne appeared, framing me every time.

Joanne wouldn't even spare me a glance. She had eyes only for Steven as she walked straight to his side, soothing him softly.

She would turn cold, glaring at me as if I were her enemy. "Charles, I never thought someone who appears so upright could be this twisted deep down. If I hadn't arrived in time, were you planning to kill him?"

I stared at the wound on my hand in shock and tried to explain. "I didn't do anything. He fell on his own"

Besides, Steven wouldn't be injured at all. I was always the one who got hurt.

But Joanne couldn't be bothered to listen.

In her eyes, Steven was kind and harmless. He couldn't possibly frame me.

Naturally, all the blame fell on me.

She slapped me in anger and roared, "How could you blame someone else after doing wrong? Charles, you've really shown me who you are. Marrying someone as petty and vicious as you was pure damnation! Hurry up and apologize to him!"

I didn't want to apologize. And I wanted even less for Steven to ruin the fragile relationship I had painstakingly built with Joanne.

I never expected that apologizing would only make Steven more relentless.

Every day, he put on the same show, pretending I'd somehow hurt him. Bit by bit, he destroyed everything I had struggled to build with Joanne.

She completely lost trust in me and even warned me outright, "Stay out of my business with Steven. If you dare interfere again, I'll divorce you."

Later, when I discovered the truth behind Steven getting close to Joanne, he stabbed me with a knife.

It was the same routine.

When Joanne arrived, Steven shoved the knife into my hand and dragged it lightly across his own body a few times.

She couldn't see the gaping wounds in my body or the blood pouring out of me.

She held Steven in despair, helping him stop the bleeding while calling for an ambulance.

It was the medical staff who noticed me and tried to rush me into surgery, only to be stopped by Joanne.

"He tried to murder someone! Why bother saving him?" she yelled.

Fortunately, passersby also called for an ambulance.

That was how I ended up being taken to the hospital.

When Joanne saw me being wheeled toward the emergency room, she immediately stopped them. "What are you doing? He's hurt Steven so badly! He's only lost a little blood, so why bother treating him? Get over here! If anything bad happens to Steven, I'll hold all of you accountable!"

The doctors hesitated. "But"

Joanne kicked my gurney into the corner and said, "I'm his wife. I know he's faking it. Hurry up and treat Steven. If you waste time and delay treating him, I'll report you to the hospital director!"

As she turned to leave, I used my last bit of consciousness to beg her, "I'm not faking it Save me"

She only cast me a cold glance and walked away.

All I could do was wait for death in despair.

Chapter 4

Joanne got up early to cook for Steven.

But Steven had no appetite. He said worriedly, "Jo, maybe we should go get Charles. My injuries aren't serious. If he ends up with a criminal record, it'll destroy his life. And if you two have children in the future, their lives would be ruined too."

He wasn't worried about me at all. He was just afraid Joanne would discover the truth.

Joanne sneered. "He deserves whatever consequences he gets! Steven, don't worry. I'll never have children with him. I've been taking precautions all these years."

No wonder she never became pregnant after five years of marriage.

I had even suspected something was wrong with me and gone to the hospital for tests. I never imagined that all these years, she had secretly been preventing pregnancy, afraid of carrying my child.

Joanne even took leave to bring Steven out to relax.

They hadn't been out long when my best friend, Frank Jensen, called.

"Joanne, my friend is dead, and you're off taking your lover out for fun? Don't you have any decency?"

Joanne's expression darkened as she snapped back, "You of all people should know what kind of person Charles is! If he's so determined to die, he should just get it over with and stop getting in the way of Steven and me."

Frank fumed, "You shameless woman! I"

Joanne hung up the phone.

Steven, ever good at reading the room, pulled her into his arms and asked gently, "Jo, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Her anger vanished the moment she faced Steven.

Joanne wanted to go on a short vacation with Steven, but the hospital director, Jasper Henderson, called. This forced her to abandon the plan.

"Joanne, you have 30 minutes. Get back to the hospital now!" Jasper ordered.

Confused, she rushed back.

Steven felt uneasy and followed her.

Inside the morgue were not only Jasper, but also police officers and a medical examiner.

Believing she understood the situation, Joanne said impatiently, "Did Charles stir up something again? It hasn't even been that long, and it's already unraveling. Are you here to gather evidence against him for attempted murder?"

A police officer replied flatly, "Mr. Jenkins is really dead."

Annoyed, Joanne scoffed. "What kind of joke is this? Didn't I already say he was faking it?"

"Well, the medical examiner needs to perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death now. If you don't believe it, stay and watch."

Joanne laughed. "Fine! I'd like to see how long he can keep pretending."

Steven tugged at her arm, panic flashing across his face. "Jo, we mustn't let them do an autopsy. What if they hurt Charles?"

"He deserves it!" Joanne personally pulled back the white sheet covering my body, completely ignoring how pale my face already was.

"Hurry up!" she urged the medical examiner.