I was hit with a sudden, searing case of acute pancreatitis. But when I got to the hospital, the doctor refused to see me. All because my husband was an ER doctor there. He’d given orders that no one was to treat me. Last time, I made one phone call, and he was there in an instant. But in his absence, his one true love got into a car accident. She died at the scene. He blamed me for all of it. On my mother’s birthday, he drugged my entire family. He took a scalpel to me, stabbing me over and over. “Does it hurt? Victoria was in more pain. If it weren’t for you, she never would have been out there in my place.” “You killed Victoria. I’m going to make your whole family join her in death!” I opened my eyes, and I was back. Back on the day I drank myself into pancreatitis for his sake. This time, my husband ran straight to Victoria, without a moment’s hesitation. He thought he’d made the right choice. But in the end, he was the one on his knees, begging me to come back. … The sharp, stabbing pain in my abdomen jolted me awake. Rain was lashing against the window. A glance at the clock confirmed it. I was reborn. Reborn on the day I drank so much that I gave myself acute pancreatitis. It’s an agonizing, life-threatening illness. Realizing the attack had just begun, I grabbed my car keys and drove to the nearest top-tier hospital. At this hour, only the ER was open. The doctor on duty looked up at my name, frowned, and called out, “Aria?” It was none other than my husband’s college roommate and colleague, Dr. Luke Carter. I didn’t have time for pleasantries. Clutching my stomach, I rasped, “Luke, I drank a lot today. I think it’s pancreatitis. You have to admit me, now.” Having lived this once before, I knew the most critical thing was to get admitted and start an IV. But to my shock, Luke tossed my ID aside, his tone hostile. “Can’t do it.” I was floored. “What do you mean?” “Stop pretending. Jason already told me. You’re not sick.” The disdain on Luke’s face was palpable. “You and Jason are married now. You should trust him. Pulling these kinds of cheap tricks is pathetic.” I knew he’d misunderstood. “Luke, I’m not acting. I really have pancreatitis. Run some tests if you don’t believe me.” His frown deepened. “What do you think this hospital is? A playground? Do you think medical resources are for you to waste? Get out of here. Don’t hold up the other patients.” As he spoke, a line of five or six people had formed behind me. Hearing his words, they started to murmur, their glares like daggers. “If you’re faking, you shouldn’t be in line.” “What is wrong with young people these days? Too much money and nowhere to spend it?” I knew it was pointless. Luke wasn’t going to help me. Amidst the chorus of accusations, I clutched my stomach and stumbled out. Just as I reached the door, Luke’s voice stopped me. “Aria, you know about the incident with Jason and that patient a few days ago, right? Our department head is transferring out. That position was supposed to be his.” His face was a mask of cold warning. “If you want what’s best for Jason, stop embarrassing him here.” I wanted to argue, to defend myself. But another wave of excruciating pain sent a cold sweat down my back. For a pancreatitis patient, every minute without treatment is another minute closer to death. I didn’t say a word. I just pushed the door open and left. Luke was usually a gentle person, but he was always hostile towards me. He still believed I was the other woman who had broken up Jason and Victoria. He thought I’d used some underhanded tactic to steal Jason, to tear apart a match made in heaven. Outside the exam room, it felt like someone was taking a knife to my insides. In my last life, the pancreatitis had hit at this exact same time. Then, I had called my husband, Jason, who was on duty. He had come home immediately to take me to the hospital. But because he left, his first love, Victoria, had gone out to pick up a patient in his place. She’d gotten into an accident on the way and died instantly. Later, Jason found out that Victoria, before she died, had slept with the hospital director to get his disciplinary action revoked. The next day, the hospital did indeed drop the complaint against him. And with her dying breaths, Victoria had been calling his name. That day, Jason locked himself in his room and chain-smoked two packs of cigarettes. When he finally emerged, he seemed back to normal. He smiled and talked to me, drove me to and from work, and cooked me dinner. I thought he had moved on. I thought he had finally realized that as a married man, he shouldn't be grieving his ex-girlfriend so intensely. But on my mother’s birthday, he volunteered to cook. He poisoned every dish. He tied me to a chair and stabbed me over and over with a scalpel. Blood pooled on the floor around me. I begged him to spare my family. But Jason’s eyes were red with rage. “If I spare them, will that bring Victoria back? You deserve to die, Aria. Why did you have to drink so much that day? Did you know Victoria’s car was going to crash?” I wanted to scream that I wasn’t a psychic, that I had no way of knowing what would happen to her. The reason I had drunk so much was because the patient’s family who had complained about Jason was friends with my boss. Jason was up for a promotion to department head, and this complaint would have ruined everything. I couldn’t bear to see his hard work go to waste. I had pulled strings with my boss, arranged a dinner with the family, and drank three bottles of hard liquor before they finally agreed to withdraw the complaint in front of me. Tears streamed down my face as I tried to tell him. But Jason was beyond listening. He shoved the scalpel into my mouth, twisting it violently. “It’s all your fault, you and your damn mouth! If you hadn’t drunk so much, Victoria would still be alive! Your parents are scum for raising a daughter like you! Your whole family can go to hell with her!” My body convulsed with pain, tears mixing with the blood from my open wounds. Finally, when he had tortured me enough, he threw the scalpel aside. He took out a lighter and set the whole house on fire. “Victoria, I’m coming to be with you.” Looking into his love-struck eyes, I realized how foolish I had been. I had known it even as I was drinking myself sick. The reason the usually gentle Jason had gotten into a fight with a patient was because Victoria had been rude to them, and they had insulted her. When Jason found out, he had lost it and beaten the person up. A more violent spasm of pain shattered my thoughts. My stomach hurt so much I could barely stand. Time was life. I couldn’t stay here any longer. I forced myself to the entrance, hoping to catch a cab to another hospital. But the rain was coming down in sheets now, hailstones the size of pigeon eggs hammering against the glass. The sound was terrifying. It was the middle of the night, and with the storm, after ten minutes of waiting on my phone, not a single car had accepted my ride request. I had no choice but to drag myself to the nurses’ station and ask if there were any other doctors on duty. The nurse’s smile vanished the moment she saw my face. She waved me away like a beggar. “No, all the doctors are busy.” “But I saw two doctors in their rooms and no one…” I started, but her cold glare cut me off. I swallowed my words and pleaded, “I’m in a lot of pain. If there are no doctors in the ER, can you call a specialist from one of the wards for a consult?” “No,” she said, her voice laced with disgust. “I told you to stop acting. Dr. Evans already gave instructions. No one is to treat you.” From Luke’s attitude earlier, I knew. Jason must have been reborn, too. That’s why I hadn’t contacted him. But I never thought he would be so cruel, so utterly ruthless as to order the entire hospital not to treat me. Jason was a brilliant doctor, the protégé of the ER department head. If he hadn’t defended Victoria, he would have been the most likely candidate for the next department head. So everyone here listened to him. The pain was getting worse. I bent over, trying to inch my way back to the entrance to try my luck again. But after just a few steps, I heard two nurses laughing. “So that’s Dr. Evans’ little homewrecker. She’s not even that pretty.” “Of course not. I heard she drugged him to get him to prescribe her company’s meds, and he had no choice but to marry her.” “She’s a great actress, though. She really looks like she has pancreatitis.” They weren’t even trying to be quiet. Every word reached my ears. It was only then that I realized how toxic my reputation was in this hospital. Jason and I had indeed met here. I was a pharmaceutical rep, and he was a doctor. At first, I had tried to use him to get my foot in the door. But then, government policies changed, and the market shifted. I lost my job. It was only after that that Jason and I actually started seeing each other. When we met, he and Victoria had already broken up. I never understood why everyone called me the other woman. But I didn’t have time to dwell on that now. This disease progressed rapidly. If I didn’t get treatment soon, I would actually die. I managed to collapse into a chair, my body wracked with tremors. I was hunched over, unable to stand up at all. My entire back was a mess of numbness and pain. A thought, cold and terrifying, crept into my mind. If this continues, am I going to die? Just then, an older woman noticed something was wrong. She gave me a gentle nudge. “Young lady, are you alright?” I looked up. My pale, ghostly face made her jump back. I was completely limp now. I slid from the chair and crumpled to the floor. “Oh my god!” she shrieked. “Doctor! Doctor, help! Someone’s collapsed over here!” Her piercing cry brought Jason and Victoria, who had just walked in, running over with a pile of things, thinking there was an emergency. Until they saw my face. Jason stopped. He dispersed the onlookers and then looked down at me. “Aria, have you had enough?” I looked up at him. He had a smile on his face, the smile of someone who has narrowly escaped disaster. It was just as I thought. Jason had gone to save Victoria. She stood beside him, looking shy and demure. The chemistry between them was so thick it warmed the air. It made sense. Victoria had never gotten over Jason, and he had come to her rescue at a critical moment. Of course their feelings would have deepened. I wanted to spit a sarcastic retort. But in the face of my own mortality, I had to swallow all my pride. I reached out, my fingers brushing the hem of his white coat. “Jason, I have persistent upper abdominal pain, it’s radiating to my back, and I feel nauseous. Please, just admit me.” I thought he would agree. After all, he knew my condition was real. But he just scoffed. “Aria, you’ve memorized your lines well. Too bad no one gets sick by the textbook.” I couldn’t believe it. “You think I’m faking?” “Even if you’re not, you drank yourself into this state on purpose. It’s not serious.” He was dismissive. “Aria, we doctors hate people like you who abuse their bodies. I’m teaching you a lesson this time, so you’ll learn the consequences of not taking care of yourself. But don’t worry, I won’t let you die.” His words plunged me into despair. Jason. I really am seriously ill. I tried to get up, to find some way to save myself. But the pain had sapped all my strength. I lay on the floor like a beached fish. The pain spread from my abdomen to my heart, then through my nerves. Finally, it tore me apart. Jason had been about to leave with Victoria. But my struggling on the floor caught his attention. He turned back, about to approach me.
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