\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 9\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll quit smoking. I\u2019ll quit drinking! We can start trying for another baby tonight. We\u2019ll have a child better than Nika!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The next moment, I slapped him across the face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNathaniel, if you ever insult Nika again, I swear I will kill you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nathaniel looked up at me, our faces close.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He searched my eyes desperately, trying to find something, anything, in\u00a0<\/p>\n
vain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In an instant, he looked utterly broken\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cVivi, do you really not love me anymore?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I looked at him with pure disgust.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t see the driverless car accelerating at full speed toward the company entrance until it was too late\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cVivi, look out!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before I could react, a powerful force shoved me aside.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When my mind cleared, I saw Claud lying in a spreading pool of blood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nearby, Nathaniel was also critically injured, his legs crushed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was still trying to reach for me. \u201cVivi\u2026 It hurts\u2026 It hurts so much\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I paid him no mind. I scrambled to Claud\u2019s side instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I screamed his name, voice ragged, beging him to wake up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
0.09%\u00a0<\/p>\n
10:59)\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the man who always knew how to lighten the mood when work overwhelmed me, who learned to massage my temples when family stress gave me migraines, didn\u2019t respond.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t care about the blood. I knelt beside him, repeating his name over\u00a0<\/p>\n
and over.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nathaniel seemed to stop feeling the pain from his shattered legs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He just stared, dazed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The physical pain was nothing compared to the one tearing through his chest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He felt as if he had lost something-something he could never get back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
***\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the accident, I handed Claud\u2019s evidence over to the police.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Their investigation revealed the crash was a hired hit, arranged by Estelle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A now-unhinged Estelle was sentenced to death.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the trial, she still smiled at me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m Nathan\u2019s wife. You\u2019re the other woman! You homewrecker!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nathaniel received a life sentence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He lost both legs and was publicly disgraced by the media coverage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even if he were ever released, he could never paint again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Broke and crippled, he faced the harsh reality that a dignified life might be out of reach, but that was no longer my concern.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before beginning his sentence, he requested to see me one last time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
27.08%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 9\u00a0<\/p>\n
1288 Vouchers\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I saw him again, his eyes were sunken, his cheekbones protruding. In just six months, he had aged two decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The accident had damaged his internal organs. He was often connected to a catheter, and a sour, unpleasant odor clung to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He covered his face with his hands. \u201cVivi, I\u2019m so sorry\u2026 If there\u2019s another life, would you give me a chance to make it right?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Looking at the hollow shell of the man before me, I could picture the living hell his remaining years would be.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At that moment, the weight I had carried for so long finally lifted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I shook my head gently. \u201cNathaniel, don\u2019t drag a mistake into eternity. No matter what comes after this life, my choice is Claud.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I would wait for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As I left, I heard Nathaniel\u2019s broken sobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I felt nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My daughter had been avenged.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t join my daughter as I had once thought I might, because Claud had risked his life saving me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I would live fully, for the sake of my daughter and Claud, to experience the world they could not.\u00a0<\/p>\n
***\u00a0<\/p>\n
Four years later, returning from a trip to Iceland, I went to the long-term care facility where Claud had been.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the room was empty. The man who had been in a coma for four years was gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I searched the entire facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For a full hour, I found nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally, I sank in the hallway and sobbed, overwhelmed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then, a pair of warm arms wrapped around me from behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cVivi, next time I get upset and try to walk away, you have to come after me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I went still.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then I reached for his hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had finally found the one who would always, and only, choose me first.<\/p>\n
Joseph King is an editor and storyteller who ensures every chapter is clear, polished, and engaging for readers.<\/p>\n
Broken Yet Untouched by Mark Twain 9 \u00a0 Chapter 9\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll quit smoking. I\u2019ll quit drinking! We can start trying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bound-to-him-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22849\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}