When the blizzard hit, Keith Jennings’s dream girl Karen Duncan was stranded at the airport. To rescue her, he abandoned me—Madeline Rogers—alone at the hospital. They spent fifteen days together during the blizzard, while I was trapped in the hospital corridor for fifteen days, wishing I were dead. When Keith found me, I had already fallen into a coma, clutching a terminal illness report in my hand. He knelt before my bed, saying he deserved to die, but he had discovered that he loved that woman, never me. To ease his guilt, he transferred all his assets to me, then left with Karen. But what he didn’t know was that the terminal illness report was actually his. When Keith came to pick me up, the snow outside the hospital was already falling heavily. The test results were about to come out, and we should have grabbed the report and headed straight home. I glanced at the unusually heavy sky, wanting to remind Keith to drive slowly later, but Keith’s attention wasn’t on me at all. After taking a phone call, he became distracted. It wasn’t until I gently shook his arm to get his attention, only to be impatiently brushed off, that I realized why he was so distracted—because he was still on the phone with Karen. Karen was Keith’s first love and childhood sweetheart. Five years ago, Karen suddenly broke up with Keith, forced herself to go abroad, and left without saying goodbye. Although he had told me countless times over the past five years that he hated Karen, the joy in his eyes the moment he answered her call couldn’t fool me—someone who had lived with him day and night for five years. An inexplicable unease began to grow in my heart. This unease intensified when I saw the blizzard warning on the hospital’s news broadcast. “Blizzard warning! Blizzard warning! Citizens, please do not linger outside, return home immediately! Please do not linger outside, return home immediately!” As if responding to this warning, Karen’s scream came through the phone: “Keith, I’m scared!” Keith, who had been staring into the distance, immediately responded: “I’m here! What happened?” Karen said: “Keith, the blizzard is here, I can’t see the road ahead clearly. It looks like they might close the roads, I can’t get back, what should I do? Keith, I’m so scared, I regret everything so much… I just wanted to come back to see you, but before I could even see you, am I going to die in this natural disaster? I don’t want this…” By the end, Karen was sobbing uncontrollably. Even after five years, she still knew exactly how to manipulate Keith. With just a few simple words, she instantly shattered Keith’s resentment toward her, making him willing to abandon even me—his wife of five years. She couldn’t see Keith’s condition, but I could see it clearly. As she cried, Keith’s eyes grew redder and redder. He was going to leave, he was going to abandon me. I grabbed Keith’s sleeve and forced a smile: “Keith, the test results are out, let’s go home.” Keith and I had always gotten along well after marriage. Although he didn’t love me deeply, he had never refused me before. This time, however, he unhesitatingly, almost cruelly, pried open my fingers one by one from his sleeve. He said: “Sorry, Karen’s situation is very dangerous right now. She always travels with a lot of luggage, and if I bring you along, there definitely won’t be enough room in the car. I’ll go find her first, then come back for you, okay?” Keith seemed to be discussing it with me, but his tone left no room for doubt. I took several deep breaths, finally managing to steady my trembling voice. I said: “Keith, it’s a blizzard, what am I supposed to do? Don’t abandon me, please? I’m scared too.” Before I could finish, Keith impatiently interrupted me. “Her area is too dangerous and there’s traffic, but at least you have a large building here for shelter.” After saying this, he lifted his foot to walk outside. I murmured to myself: “Is her luggage more important than my life?” Keith paused for a moment, but in the end only said sorry to me. I think I already knew the answer.
Keith left. He said he’d come back for me, but I knew he never would. As long as Karen gave him even the slightest reason to stay, he’d forget all about his legal wife trapped in this hospital. Just like that, he abandoned me in this cold, sterile place. After he left, I didn’t want to stay trapped in the hospital by the blizzard. But the storm was so fierce that I barely made it to the entrance before nearly getting knocked down by the overwhelming snow. The ground was a blanket of white, with snow piled thick everywhere. There were no pedestrians on the roads, let alone any vehicles. The bone-chilling wind whipped snow against my face, snapping me out of the illusion of our five-year marriage. I’d been fooling myself this whole time. Five years ago, I fell for Keith at first sight. Keith showed no interest in my pursuit, yet one day he suddenly proposed to me. Overwhelmed by joy, I didn’t think twice before accepting his completely unromantic proposal. Only later did I learn that Keith proposed to me the same day Karen announced her new relationship abroad. His proposal and our relationship were only made public to one person—Karen. After that, he never updated his Instagram again. But he’d previously posted countless photos of his daily life with Karen. Seeing those intimate details, I couldn’t help but envy Karen. She had experienced a vibrant Keith who loved her deeply, while I had nothing. Back then, I thought it didn’t matter. I was too naive. I always believed that once Keith and I were married, he and Karen would be impossible. I just hoped we could build a good life together. Only today did I suddenly realize I was Karen’s replacement—someone he could discard at any moment. The blizzard was affecting cell service, making the signal extremely unstable. In the last moment before losing signal completely, I received a photo from Karen. Ironically, my legal husband was holding another woman’s hands, his face full of concern as he warmed them for her. The love Keith couldn’t hide on his face—I’d never received even a fraction of it in five years. Below the photo was Karen’s caption: [Running into an ex-boyfriend on such a snowy day could be considered romantic.] My hands were already numb with cold, but I masochistically stared at that photo over and over again. Tears froze on my cheeks before they could even fall. A security guard was shouting at the entrance, urging me to come inside: “The blizzard is coming! Please enter the building immediately and don’t linger outside. The hospital will do everything possible to ensure everyone’s safety!” I stood dazed at the hospital entrance, feeling like my life had turned completely gray. With so many people trapped in the hospital, I wasn’t sure I could survive. I looked down at the medical reports in my hand. One was Keith’s, one was mine. We’d come to the hospital for our annual physical exams—we both took our health seriously. Now these two reports told different stories: one showed late-stage stomach cancer, the other showed perfect health. I clutched these two medical reports tightly. No matter what, I had to survive. I set this goal for myself, but when the blizzard actually cut off all roads and the entire city was under emergency warning, I could clearly feel how fast my heart was racing. I knew all too well that I might actually die here. I wanted to live. I had to live. The hospital’s big screen was broadcasting emergency blizzard warnings, and the footage cut to the airport. Under the heavy snowfall, a man held a woman tightly in his arms, shielding her from every flake of snow and wind. The two were struggling to make their way into the airport terminal. The scene left everyone stunned. In such extreme weather, in a life-or-death crisis, the ugliness of human nature was on full display. Whether longtime friends or loving couples, people would abandon each other to save their own lives, just to reach shelter first. But the man and woman on screen were different. Love in the face of extreme crisis seemed even more precious amid the absurdity of human nature. People around me pointed at the couple on screen, marveling that they must be lovers who truly loved each other. The reporter used them as a positive example, urging everyone not to abandon their humanity just to survive. That image stayed on screen for a long, long time. Someone took out their phone to capture this beautiful scene, saying they wanted it to inspire them through the difficult days ahead. I kept staring at that image. This picture, set against pure white, cut through me like a blade, making me struggle to breathe. The man on screen was my husband. He was carefully protecting the person he loved, while the world praised their great love. I had become a complete joke. He probably never even thought about me facing the threat of death here. I laughed bitterly at myself. People around me thought I was crazy and moved away from me. A wild, terrible idea began growing in my mind. I made a crazy decision. If I died in this blizzard, I’d accept my fate. But if I was lucky enough to survive, I would never let Keith have another moment of peace.
I was trapped in the hospital due to the snowstorm, living in absolute misery. I wasn’t a patient or a family member of one—people like me who were just there for checkups had to stay in the hospital corridors. The lucky ones managed to snag a few offices to stay in, but I definitely wasn’t one of them. Before I could even step through a door, I’d get shoved aside by the people behind me. My legs weren’t in great shape. One Christmas when Keith and I went mountain climbing together, we unexpectedly encountered a mudslide. Keith got hit and not only developed a high fever but could barely walk independently. I gritted my teeth and carried him on my shoulders, dragging him down the mountain step by step. The descent wasn’t smooth—we encountered several more mudslides. Under such difficult circumstances, I finally managed to get Keith to the foot of the mountain where rescue arrived. That’s when I collapsed. When I woke up, Keith was sitting by my bed with red eyes. That’s when I learned that both my legs had suffered nearly irreversible damage. Keith held me in his arms, tears streaming down his face as he choked out a promise to treat me well for the rest of his life. I was overjoyed then, feeling that everything I’d done for him had meaning. But his promise now seems completely unreliable. Karen only needs a few words to make him rush headlong into anything for her. Because of my leg problems, I gave up competing with others for those few available offices. I huddled alone in the hospital corridor, stuck with a defective down jacket that others had rejected, and a blanket so thin it was practically useless. But none of that mattered—I was determined to survive. During those days when the blizzard raged, the hospital’s heating system was partially damaged by the storm. Some patient rooms didn’t even have adequate heating. People got into fights over warm spots, and I got caught in the crossfire. When a middle-aged man’s wildly swinging fist hit my temple, I saw stars. The weakness I’d accumulated over days exploded in that instant. I collapsed to the ground without warning, unable even to get back up. That’s when the hospital’s big screen, which had been dark for days, suddenly lit up. During disasters, the government’s top priority is calming the anxious hearts of people in shelters to prevent civil unrest. So once again, I saw Keith and Karen under the banner of “model couple.” This time it wasn’t just a silhouette. Keith and Karen worked together, giving speeches at the airport disaster zone, urging people to stay calm and care for each other. It was actually quite effective. Both of their appeals were inspiring, making everyone believe this wasn’t the end of the world and that they could survive. People stopped being negative and stopped fighting over supplies. Keith and Karen’s speech was recorded and played on loop on the hospital’s big screen, deeply moving the people here too. I lay there on the ground, feeling like my head was about to explode. I watched that speech play over and over until everyone had calmed down. I watched Keith and Karen’s tightly clasped hands during their speech, while I couldn’t muster any strength in my body—even getting up was a luxury. I lay on the ground and closed my eyes for a very long time. Blood flowed from my nose and mouth, freezing on my face in the extreme cold. When I opened my eyes again, I saw the man who had accidentally hurt me. He had calmed down and noticed the stomach cancer report in my hand, letting out a gasp. He hurriedly helped me up while apologizing. People around us discussed my stomach cancer report, their eyes full of sympathy. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, I really didn’t know you… I’m truly sorry for hurting you. Look, just like that couple on TV said, I’ll take care of you for the rest of this period. I won’t let anything happen to you during this snowstorm!” he said. I sat on the ground, wiped the blood that hadn’t yet frozen on my face, then took back the stomach cancer report from his hand. Bloody fingerprints remained on the paper, looking shocking. He gasped again and apologized even more profusely. I gave him an embarrassed smile. “Thank you.” He patted his chest and promised he wouldn’t let anything happen to me. Thanks to that middle-aged man’s care and protection, I survived the next five most difficult days of supply shortages. Healthy people always have some compassion for the dying, so no one objected too much to me occupying a front-row spot near the heating. The blizzard lasted a full fifteen days. Fortunately, after fifteen days, it finally stopped. The government quickly resumed operations and began directing post-disaster reconstruction. The day cell service was restored, I received Keith’s first message to me in fifteen days, along with Karen’s “kind regards.” Keith: [Sorry, my phone had no signal before. Are you still at the hospital? I’m dropping Karen off at home and will come pick you up right away.] Karen: [Are you still alive? If you are, that’s a bit troublesome, but it shouldn’t be a big problem.] By now, I could no longer muster even a trace of anger toward either of them. I just glanced at their messages indifferently and didn’t reply. Of course Keith had to come see me. Only when he came could my plan continue.
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