The Diary Of A Dead Wife Novel by Dominic Frost _ Novel





The Diary Of A Dead Wife Chapter 01

In the fifth year of my marriage to Kenneth Mendez, Hayleigh Humphrey, the love of his life, moved back home after her divorce.
His heart went back to her, and he had no idea I was already in the final stages of a terminal illness.
The doctor said that if I went into surgery, my chances of surviving were under ten percent.
So I decided to put my life in Kenneth's hands—he would be my chief surgeon.
***
The day I got my medical report from the hospital happened to be my fifth wedding anniversary with Kenneth.
I spent all afternoon making his favorite meal, but it was freezing cold now, and he still wasn't back.
I couldn't help calling him. The phone rang five times before he finally picked up.
"What is it?" he snapped. "I'm working. I just got assigned an emergency surgery."
So he was prepping for surgery. He couldn't have checked his phone even if he wanted to—not after his hands were sterilized for surgery.
I immediately felt stupid and rushed to apologize. "I'm sorry. I thought—"
"And what exactly did you think?" he cut in, his voice sharp enough to shut me up.
I didn't even know when it started, but talking to Kenneth had become difficult. It felt like we couldn't even have a normal conversation anymore. To think that just a year ago today, we were happily celebrating our anniversary.
I gathered my courage, wanting to remind him that today mattered. Even if he couldn't come home for dinner, we could at least say "happy anniversary" over the phone.
But the very next second, a familiar girl's voice came through the speaker.
It started farther away, then drifted closer, like she had leaned right up beside Kenneth. "Kenny, do you like cream cake?"
Cream cake? So Kenneth was eating cake with Hayleigh?
She continued, "If you're not gonna eat it, I'm totally eating your slice, too."
A sudden uneasiness crawled up my spine. "Kenneth, I—"
I meant to say, "I wanted to tell you something."
But he interrupted me flatly, "Rachel, it's not what you're thinking. Dr. Robbins bought a cake for dinner. Stop overthinking everything. I'm working late tonight, so I'm not coming home."
Then, he hung up. By the time I snapped out of it, my palm was drenched in sticky sweat around my phone.
Kenneth... Hayleigh.
I sat there in a daze, thinking about how those two had once been the perfect couple everyone envied. After Hayleigh went abroad for further studies, I used underhanded tactics to keep Kenneth by my side.
Five years later, after winning her divorce suit abroad, Hayleigh made a grand return and joined Kenneth's hospital. Now, they were colleagues who saw each other at every turn.
Kenneth had been staying late at the hospital frequently. I could sense his growing reluctance to leave that place, just as I could feel him becoming more and more distant from me.
He even started treating every bit of concern I showed as me "checking up on him." But I had never been a jealous woman.
He had a sensitive stomach and frequently forgot to eat when things got busy at the hospital. At 9:00 p.m., I packed the reheated food into a thermal container and drove to the hospital.
Through the glass window of his office, I saw Kenneth sitting with Hayleigh, the two of them studying the same medical file. They were so close that Hayleigh's loose hair brushed against Kenneth's cheek, light and fleeting as a whisper.
Kenneth was a clean freak, and he hated people touching him, but he didn't push her away.
I forced down the strange discomfort rising in my chest and knocked.
When Kenneth saw me, his brows immediately furrowed. "Why are you here?"
Hayleigh smiled gently and greeted me. "Rachel, nice to see you."
"Hi. I brought Kenneth something to eat. I was worried he'd get busy and forget dinner again."
I managed a small smile, but it vanished the moment I spotted a cream cake with "Happy Birthday, Hayls" written on it.
So today wasn't just our wedding anniversary. It was her birthday, too.
"You can put it there." Hayleigh pointed to a space beside the cake, then asked, like she was being considerate, "Rachel, do you want some cake?"
I didn't answer, but Kenneth answered for me, "She doesn't like whipped cream."
Then he looked at me and said, "Rachel, why don't you head home first?"
At that, Hayleigh's lips curved slightly.
For a second, I had this awful illusion—I had somehow interrupted something.
"Kenneth, I need to talk to you about something. Can we talk alone for a minute?" I said, tightening my grip on the report in my purse.
"I don't have time tonight; we'll talk about it when I get back." He frowned. "Rachel, what exactly are you so worried about?"
"I'm not worried."
"Then why the special trip just to keep tabs on me?" His eyes flashed with anger.
I froze. So that was what he thought of me.
I was only here to tell him about my illness and that, according to my doctor, my days were numbered.

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