Chapter 3

Just as Tamara hung up, the door was pushed open. "Queenie is not feeling well. Come with me." Jared's face was anxious and panicked as he barged into Tamara's room. Without even waiting for her answer, he grabbed her by the hand and dragged her out. Jared drove like a speeding madman. His grip on the steering wheel was so strong that his knuckles had turned white. It was obvious that he was extremely anxious. Tamara gnawed on her lower lip as she recalled her moments with Jared in the past. Once, at a colleague's birthday party, she found out the hard way that the strawberry cake they ate had some stray pieces of mango in it. The moment the rashes showed up on her arm, Jared had also picked her up and driven her to the nearest hospital at breakneck speed, just like he was doing now. It had just been a tiny rash, but he'd been so worried about her that his eyes had turned red with anxiety. But now, every emotion Jared felt was all for Queenie, and not for her anymore. The bitterness spread in her chest. It wasn't until she saw Queenie lying in her bed that Tamara finally snapped out of her daze. She watched as Jared held on to Queenie's hand with a deathly worried look on his face. Tamara fought to keep the bile down and asked, "What do you want me to do?" "Aren't you a nurse? Have you already forgotten about your occupation?" Jared's sudden accusation pierced right into Tamara's heart. After getting married, Jared forbade her from going to work again because he was "worried about her". He had even resigned on her behalf. Tamara's hand curled slightly as she fought to keep her emotions down. Queenie coughed again, with a hand over her mouth, and Jared's icy face immediately turned concerned again. "It'll be fine. You just need an IV drip." Queenie gave Tamara a brief glance and struggled to free herself from Jared's arms. "Your wife is still here. Don't act so intimate with me." Jared's lips curled upward. He was obviously happy to hear those words coming from her mouth. "What, are you jealous?" They kept looking at each other flirtatiously, and Tamara felt as though she was going to suffocate from it. Just as she was about to leave for a breath of fresh air, Jared grabbed her by the wrist and said, "Hurry up and give her the drip. "Queenie hates going to the hospital and doesn't like the family doctor. Don't tell me that you've forgotten how to treat a patient!" Tamara folded her arms on her chest and dug her nails deeply into her arms until the marks turned red and bloody. Finally, she managed to calm down and insert the IV drip for Queenie. The tip of the needle had only just touched Queenie's skin when she suddenly jerked her hand. The needle punctured through her skin at once, and blood began to trickle out. Queenie's eyes immediately turned red as she kept staring stubbornly at Jared. "Did you purposely get your wife to humiliate me like this?" A pained expression appeared briefly in Jared's eyes. He hurriedly patted her on the back before turning to glare at Tamara with accusatory eyes. "Tamara, apologize to Queenie at once." Tamara was shocked. Back when she had still been working as a nurse, she'd once tried inserting an IV needle into a drunkard's back of the hand. But because he kept struggling, the needle missed the mark twice. The drunkard had then loudly demanded that she apologize to him. Jared chuckled next to them and said, "You're right. An apology is due." He then kicked the drunkard to the ground and said, "But it's you who should be apologizing, not her!" After that incident, Tamara had been very grateful toward him. However, she never thought that the same situation would happen again today, but Jared's attitude toward her would have taken a 180-degree flip. Tamara's heart squeezed in pain. She could only try to defend herself. "It wasn't my fault." Jared's face turned icy at once. "Are you misbehaving again?" "I did nothing wrong," Tamara insisted through gritted teeth, upholding the last of her dignity. Queenie suddenly began coughing her lungs out until her face turned as red as a beetroot. Jared tried to hold her, but she immediately shoved him away. "I know what your wife is trying to say! She's saying that I'm a homewrecker and deserved what I'm getting! "Leave! Take your wife with you and get out of my sight!" Jared's eyes turned dark again. He grabbed Tamara's wrist and warned her in a dangerous voice, "Apologize, now!" The pain in Tamara's chest intensified. She kept recalling Jared's words from back then, when he'd promised her, "My Tamara will never have the need to apologize to anybody." Tamara bit her lip and shut her eyes, shaking her head defiantly. She was counting on Jared to remember the promise he had solemnly made to her last time. She was betting that he would finally believe her for once, and that he would remember what he said. However, Jared's face turned black. Then, he flung her to the ground by her wrist without any care in the world. Tamara hit her head on the corner of the cupboard, and fresh blood spilled down from the corner of her eyes. Jared didn't feel a thing for her. He just threatened her again in an icy voice, "Since you're unwilling to apologize, then I'll get someone else to apologize on your behalf. Don't you think that your dad's getting a little too old now to have to keep cleaning up after your messes?" The physical pain Tamara felt on her head was not as bad as the pain she felt in her chest. She felt blood surging up her throat, but she quickly suppressed it and got to her feet. Then, she took a deep, apologetic bow, her dignity now smashed into smithereens, and said, "I apologize!" Jared finally petted her on the head in satisfaction. "That's a good girl." He then turned to look at Queenie. His eyes were smiling as he looked at her and said, "Since she'd already apologized, let's not stay mad at her anymore, alright?" Then, he turned to Tamara again and yelled, "Go get the aspirin now!" The sudden change in Jared's voice gave Tamara a huge shock. It only amplified the hollow feeling she felt in her chest. Tamara robotically went to fetch the pills and a glass of water for Queenie, as if she were a living zombie with all the life sucked out of her. After Queenie swallowed the pills, her breathing suddenly became ragged, and her face turned a bright tomato red. She grasped Jared's hand and rasped, "The pills—something's wrong with the pills!" Jared's face turned black once again as he sent Tamara flying to the floor with a powerful kick to her stomach. "How dare you poison her! You're such an evil, scheming woman! All because of jealousy?" There was a sharp pain in Tamara's abdomen. She lay on the ground, trying to defend herself, but she saw him beckoning Baxter over with eyes as cold as steel. "Tie her up!" By the time the rope was wrapped around her body, the pain in Tamara's lower abdomen was so excruciating that she could barely even form a cohesive word anymore. It hurt. Everything hurt. It hurt so terribly that her eyes were wet with unshed tears and she couldn't stop herself from shuddering. Just as she was about to yell for help, maybe from Jared, she suddenly caught sight of him slowly undressing Queenie in bed. "Let me be your remedy, Queenie." Tamara thought that the pain finally went away as she watched them rolling in the sheets with each other. Upon closer inspection, she realized that it still hurt. It hurt so badly, like her heart had been mercilessly dug out of her chest. It wasn't until she saw a large pool of blood trickling out from under her that it suddenly struck her. She had been pregnant. However, that tiny life, bearing both her and Jared's blood, had been destroyed before it even had a chance to see the world. The pain just intensified after that, and Tamara gradually began to lose consciousness.