I Survived Death, But My Wife Chose Her First Love

After surviving a plane crash, my wife promised she would come visit me in the hospital. But by the day I was discharged, I still hadn’t seen her. When I got home, I found a note she had left on the table: “Mason caught a cold. I’m taking care of him. I’ll be back later.” I called my wife, but the one who picked up was her first love’s voice. “Lily is taking a shower. She’ll be back in a bit. Just wait.” Like every time before, whenever I needed my wife, she would always be by her first love’s side. In my wife’s heart, even my life or death didn’t matter as much as one of his colds. This time, I was very calm. I turned around and called my lawyer. It was time to get a divorce. ........ I had just hung up with my lawyer. The empty room was left with only my heavy breathing. I never thought that right after surviving a disaster, I would hear such horrible news. I slumped onto the sofa without turning on the lights, staring quietly at the ceiling above me. Then suddenly, the sound of a key sliding into the lock rang out. The sharp click echoed through the dark, empty room. “Ethan! When did you get back?” My wife, Lily, pushed the door open and walked in, her tone laced with surprise. “Why are you back? Did you finish your checkup?” Lily’s cold, matter-of-fact tone made it sound like I wasn’t her husband of five years, but her mortal enemy. I looked at the face I had once loved so deeply and gave a bitter smile. “What, this is my home. I can’t come back?” After hearing what I said, Lily’s already cold tone actually turned angry. “How dare you talk to me like that? Are you out of your mind?” “Ethan, just because you got hurt on that trip doesn’t mean you can come here and act crazy!” It was just a small argument, but her emotions were instantly ignited. Ever since we got together, I had never snapped back at her even once. I always went along with her on everything, never arguing, never talking back. This seemed to be the first time I had ever asked her something in a harsh tone. While she spoke to me, she kept looking at her phone and sending messages. I didn’t even need to think about it. It had to be Mason. I was honestly furious, and I asked her sharply, “From the plane landing this morning until now, it’s already nighttime!” “You’ve spent the whole day with Mason!” “I barely survived and made it back, and you can’t even spend one day with me?” I stood up and looked at my wife, Lily, the woman I had loved for five years. Even after I said all that, she still kept looking down at her phone in a panic and didn’t look up at me. This time, she didn’t get angry. She just gave a messy explanation. “Mason caught a cold these past few days. He hasn’t been feeling well, so I went to take care of him.” “I was just worried about him.” After hearing that, I almost laughed out loud. I really did laugh from anger. So she hadn’t gone to pick me up because she was busy taking care of Mason’s cold. My plane crashed into the ocean, and I spent two months surviving on a deserted island in the jungle. All I kept thinking was that my wife was waiting for me, and I couldn’t just die like that. I struggled through being surrounded by wild animals and poisonous insects, just so I could see her smile again. But her? She had clearly promised to pick me up, yet she left me, the man who had just come back from the jungle into the real world, and turned around to take care of her cold first love. This was the wife I had loved for five years! Thinking of that, I raised my head and looked at Lily, my eyes locked hard on her. “I’m asking you, Lily. I lived in that jungle for two months, on the edge of death every single day. Do two months of suffering not even compare to Mason having a cold once?” “Who exactly is your husband?” Lily froze, and her panic only got worse. “Ethan, why are you saying that? Mason and I are just friends!” “How can you see me like this? Do you think I’m that kind of person?” Her tone carried fake conviction. Anyone could hear the lie. “Just friends? Would a ‘just friend’ make you shower at his house?” “What’s the point of saying this anymore?” Lily’s voice turned sharp, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. “How dare you talk to me like that, Ethan!” “I’ve been married to you for so many years, and you still doubt me like this. Can’t you trust me a little?” “What exactly are you making such a fuss about!” Because of long-term hunger and lack of nutrition, and now this anger, blood rushed straight to my head. A wave of dizziness hit me, over and over, and I almost couldn’t stand steady. Then a man’s voice rang out. “Lily, why are you standing at the door? Why aren’t you coming in?” I knew exactly who that voice belonged to. Mason. He walked over to the door as naturally as could be and wrapped his arm around my wife. “Lily, how— Ethan, you’re back?” The moment Mason saw me, the smile on his face only grew more smug. My wife’s panic had now reached its peak, but she still didn’t pull away from Mason’s embrace. “Sorry, Ethan. I had a cold and no one could take care of me, so I had to ask Lily for help.” “Hope you don’t mind, Ethan!” Lily didn’t know what to say either. She just buried her head in Mason’s chest. And he wore a smug smile, like he was showing me off. Mason even lifted the bag in his hand on purpose. I could clearly see a box of condoms on top. They hadn’t known I was back at first, and now it was obvious what they had planned to do. Looks like during the two months I was surviving on that deserted island, they must have been fooling around in my house countless times. I looked at Lily, her cheeks red, not daring to meet my eyes, and my heart completely shattered. At our wedding, she had also blushed like this and not dared to look at me. But back then, it was shyness and excitement. Now, all that was left was panic. I had given Lily everything I had. Back when the company she had built with everything she owned was on the verge of bankruptcy, and all the remaining assets had been taken by Mason, the man she used to date, it was me who saved her. For her, I flew to a small island to livestream my survival on a deserted island. By repeatedly risking my life and constantly grabbing attention, I earned money. Then I turned around and put every cent I had earned into her company. I pulled her company back from the edge of bankruptcy. In the end, with my support, her company kept thriving, and we got married naturally. She said she hated Mason to death, and that if she ever saw him again, she would make him regret it. But when Mason, having spent all his money, stood in front of Lily and begged her for a loan in a low voice, she threw her arms around him.And that day just happened to be the day I came back with my team after surviving. That time, I had been attacked by a wild animal in the jungle and was seriously injured. The team had no choice but to end the livestream early and bring me back to Harbor City. In the hospital, I used the last bit of consciousness I had to call Lily. What I got in return was her perfunctory excuse, along with the sound of her breathing that she couldn’t even hide. “Ethan, I’ve got... something going on here. Wait... I’ll come see you later.” After saying that, she hung up in a hurry. That wait lasted a full week. Until I was healed and discharged, Lily still hadn’t shown up at the hospital even once. During that week, I called Lily nonstop every day. I needed her. I needed my lover to stand by my side. I needed her comfort. But all she said was that she was busy, that the company had things going on, and she couldn’t even say what those things were. Until that day, my assistant came running back in a panic and told me he had seen my wife and Mason walking arm in arm into a hotel with his own eyes. But even then, I still kept a sliver of ridiculous hope for her. I hoped she would change her mind. I hoped she would realize she had done something wrong. I hoped she would fall in love with me again. But even now, Lily was still leaning against Mason’s chest. She kept getting worse and worse, and in the end she even started showing off like this. How ridiculous. I had actually hoped for a person who had broken her promise. What was even more ridiculous was that I had only realized it now. Lily finally looked up at me and said, “Are you really going to make us stand here?” She took Mason’s hand, shut the door, and walked straight toward the sofa. I blocked the doorway, but Mason shoved me aside in one move. After surviving two months of hunger, how could I possibly be a match for Mason? I could only watch as the two of them sat down on my sofa with total ease, just like a real couple. It seemed like Mason was the real owner of this house, and I was just an outsider. Looking at the two of them, all sweet and intimate, sadness, anger, and heartbreak surged through me all at once. A wave of pain started from my waist and both arms and spread across my entire body in an instant. Those were the wounds the wild animals had left me during my two months in the jungle. I collapsed straight onto the floor. Hearing the thud, Lily instantly stood up. She only stood next to the sofa. It was just a few steps to where I was, but she didn’t come. She just stood there. Her eyes were cold, and there was even a trace of contempt. “What exactly are you doing? Are you trying to use self-pity to get my attention now?” I struggled to say, “A wild animal clawed my waist in the jungle. It still hasn’t fully healed.” Lily’s eyes carried a hint of amusement. “You already went to the hospital and got checked. What could possibly be wrong?” “Stop trying to trick me with such cheap acting, okay?” My voice was so weak from the pain. “Lily, I really hurt...” She seemed to see that I was truly in agony, and she walked toward me. Just as my wife had just stood up, Mason’s smug, sinister smile was exposed behind her. “Cough, cough, cough!” Right as my wife was about to reach me, Mason started coughing. Lily immediately rushed back to him, leaving me on the floor again. “Mason, are you okay? Why are you coughing again?” Mason smiled and waved a hand at her. “I’m fine, I’m fine. You should still go check on Ethan first.” “He’s like this all the time. It’s okay, I’ll pour you a glass of hot water first.” Just like every time before, whenever I needed Lily, Mason would always find some excuse to call her away. I had never once received any care from her. Even though she was only two steps away from me, Lily still refused to come to my side. She still refused to ask me—her husband—what was wrong. She wouldn’t even call an ambulance for me. Looking at Lily, who was busy pouring water for Mason and had abandoned me, I finally gave up. Using the last bit of consciousness I had, I called my lawyer. “Come to my house right now, and call me an ambulance.” “Bring the divorce papers.” After saying that, I completely blacked out.Lily didn’t know I had passed out. She kept taking care of Mason while cursing at me. It wasn’t until my lawyer arrived that I was carried onto the ambulance. Lily and Mason even shut the door after sending me off, without coming with me to the hospital. My lawyer told me all of this. My body hurt, but it wasn’t serious. The doctor told me I was in no danger of dying, but I still needed to stay in the hospital for observation for a while. That’s true. How could physical pain compare to the pain of having my heart broken? My lawyer said to me, “I wasn’t planning to draft the divorce papers. I was going to try to talk you out of it and tell you not to divorce your wife, but after what happened today, there really’s no way I can avoid it.” I had always treated my team very well, and they all respected me. I often took my wife and employees out to eat together. In their eyes, we had always been a model couple, deeply in love. But only I knew that Lily had probably never loved me at all. Lily and I were college classmates. The first time I saw her, I was completely hooked. But back in college, Mason and Lily were together, and the whole school saw them as the perfect golden couple. Back then, the company the Lils’ family owned was nowhere near as powerful as it was now, but they were still considered wealthy. But because of Mason’s deliberate sabotage, and because Lily was just a fresh college student who didn’t understand anything yet, the family company was pushed to the edge of bankruptcy, and Mason ran off with all of the family’s assets. In the end, they had to borrow money from me. Back then, I really loved her. I looked at Lily’s tears and her shimmering eyes, and at that moment, whatever she asked for, I was willing to agree to. I had just graduated too, and my livestreams were starting to take off. I had originally planned to develop slowly according to my own plan, but Lily had spoken, and I had to make it happen. So I decided to take a huge gamble. I used all the money I had to buy wilderness livestream equipment, and I trained for three months in survival skills. I decided to do a deserted-island survival livestream, on a deserted island with only me, a crazy nonstop broadcast. To attract traffic, I handed over the money from gifts to the operations team as soon as I got it, and kept provoking wild animals in every possible way, constantly risking my life in the jungle. I kept dancing on the edge of death. The closest I ever came to dying was when I did the Three-Step Song and Dance right next to a sleeping lynx. But I accidentally stepped on the lynx’s tail, and we ended up fighting. At the closest moment, its teeth were only a few millimeters away from my carotid artery. By using such a crazy and novel livestreaming style, I attracted countless viewers and made a sum of money I had once never dared imagine. It was with that money, plus my fan base, that the Lils’ company survived. And through my constant pursuit, Lily finally agreed to marry me. For Lily, I was willing to give up everything. During that time, we were like any ordinary newlyweds, sweet and happy. I once naively believed that life could stay like that forever. Until Mason appeared again. From the moment he showed up, I never got my wife’s love again. Or maybe my wife had already stopped loving me long ago. My livestream style meant I got hurt all the time. Every time I came back to the hospital, something would always happen to Mason. Either he had a cold or he was depressed and trying to kill himself. And Lily would never hesitate to leave me and rush over to him. I could only lie alone in the hospital staring at the ceiling, imagining what it would be like to have my wife by my side. But she didn’t care. She only cared about how much money I made from each livestream and how much profit I brought to the company. As for my body, it had already been scarred beyond recognition, and she never once mentioned it. But when Mason got a cold, she would circle around him nonstop, fussing over him and asking if he was okay. I gave a bitter laugh. I was so stupid, really. I only wanted to use how good I was to replace Mason’s place in her heart. But it seemed I had never once entered her heart at all. I was completely in despair. I looked at the divorce papers the lawyer had placed by my bedside and called Lily. “Come to the hospital tomorrow. I need to talk to you.”