This Time, I Let Him Fall

I cut off my husband's legs with my own hands. Three years earlier, I had lost the use of mine saving him. During our three years of marriage, he let everyone humiliate me.

He even told me to my face that he had never asked me to save him. That night, the love I had carried for him since I was young finally ran out.

I slipped sleeping pills into his milk and, once he was unconscious, gave him back everything he had given me. I fell asleep holding him as he screamed in agony.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back before the accident. Chapter 1 "You have to hand it to Aaron. He's spent three years with a useless cripple." "You don't get it, man.

Maybe Aaron has some kind of kink. Maybe in bed she…" He gave a lewd snicker. "If you ask me, Evelyn Miller is the scheming one.

She used her ruined legs to tie Aaron down for life." Laughter spilled out of the hotel's private dining room. I stood outside the door, fists clenched.

When the laughter finally died down, Aaron Barrett's low voice came from inside. "That's enough." Someone feigned surprise. "No way.

You didn't actually fall in love with the cripple, did you?" After a long silence, I heard Aaron say, "Of course not." "I mean, I don't have some weird fetish.

Having to look at a cripple every day gets exhausting. If it weren't for what happened three years ago…" "Evelyn?

What are you doing here?" The door opened, and every eye in the room turned toward me. Some were mocking, some pitying. Not one person looked surprised.

For a moment, my husband, Aaron Barrett, looked panicked and guilty. He strode toward me, his voice full of reproach. "Don't you know what condition you're in?

What are you doing all the way out here?" I met his eyes from my wheelchair and silently held up my phone. "You told me to come." An hour earlier, Aaron had texted me that he was drunk and needed me to pick him up.

Aaron wheeled me into the room, closed his eyes, and sighed. "You guys happy now?" The man who had just mocked me raised a hand with a grin. "Sorry, Evelyn. We were only joking.

We wanted to see how much you cared about Aaron." He said they had used Aaron's phone to send the text. They just wanted proof that I loved him.

None of them bothered to hide the contempt in their voices. I looked at Aaron in confusion.

He seemed to have known all along. "I didn't know you'd actually come." Reading the question on my face, he rubbed between his brows in exasperation. "Think about it.

Even if I was drunk, I could've taken a rideshare or had a friend drive me home. What could you possibly do by coming here?" I followed his gaze to my legs. What could I do?

Apparently, I could panic the moment I got his message, push my wheelchair out the door, scramble to find a car that could fit a folding wheelchair, struggle to transfer myself into the seat, and then ask the driver to stow my wheelchair in the trunk.

Looking back, I really had been a fool. I had rushed over just to become their joke. "Since you're fine, I'll go home." I lowered my head and started wheeling myself out.

Someone stuck out a foot to block my path. "Don't leave so soon, Evelyn. You can't come all this way and not have a drink." Someone held a glass of liquor in front of me.

I was allergic to alcohol. I looked at Aaron again. Once again, he chose to remain silent. As the whole room watched, eager for a show, I quietly took the glass. "That's our Evelyn.

I knew you'd—shit!" He cried out when I threw the drink in his face. "What the hell are you doing, you cripple?" "Ah!" I switched my wheelchair to power mode and drove straight over the foot blocking my way.

Chapter 2 Curses followed me down the hall. I ignored them and thoughtfully shut the private room's door behind me.

Aaron chased after me and launched straight into a tirade. "Evelyn Miller, you've gone too far.

Those men are my friends." He reached for me, but I blocked his hand. "They're your friends, but I'm your wife.

You know how to defend your friends, yet you stand by while they humiliate your wife?" Aaron pressed his lips together.

It was what he always did when he knew he was wrong but refused to admit it. All at once, the whole thing felt pointless. I wheeled myself toward the exit.

He did not catch up again until I reached the front door. "They got a little carried away," he said. "But what they said was true." The verbal fart Aaron had just squeezed out wasn't worth listening to.

I rubbed hard at my damp eyes and did my best to keep my voice calm. "Let's get a divorce." Aaron froze. His refusal came out without hesitation. "No.

I can't divorce you." I stared at him, confused. "Why?" I had heard him say with my own ears that he did not love me. Before tonight, I could still lie to myself.

His friends might not have been eager to accept me, but Aaron loved me, and that was enough. Only after hearing those words for myself did I understand how ridiculous I had been.

The night air was chilly. Aaron took off his jacket and draped it over my legs. "I was wrong. What I said in there was drunken bullshit. Don't believe it.

Either way, we're not getting divorced. Be good." Aaron's minty scent surrounded me. In the end, I could not hold back my tears.

He took hold of my wheelchair and pushed me along the crowded street. "I'll take you home." He moved slowly through the city at night. Something must have been on his mind.

He was so distracted that he did not notice a pothole ahead. I warned him. After a quick apology, he fell silent again.

I parted my lips. "I need you to understand that if taking care of me is too much, or if you don't love me, we can get divorced." I had loved Aaron for ten years, but that did not mean I would cling to him no matter what.

His voice tightened with displeasure. "I told you, we're not getting divorced, Evie." I closed my eyes and said nothing more as memories of the past rose through my mind.

Three years earlier, the instant a concrete ceiling panel fell in the lab, I had instinctively shoved Aaron aside. I saved him. The slab struck me instead, and I lost consciousness.

I had planned to confess my feelings that day, to finally give those seven years of unspoken love an answer.

When I woke from the coma, the first thing I saw was Aaron's bloodshot eyes. "Evelyn Miller, do you have a death wish?

Who told you to interfere?" I opened my mouth and discovered that my throat was painfully hoarse. I wanted to tell him it was all right because I loved him.

Besides, I owed the Barrett family. My parents had died when I was very young. Without the Barretts' help over the years, my life would have been miserable.

I tried to get out of bed and pour myself a glass of water. That was when I realized I could not feel my legs. "I…" The guilt in Aaron's eyes deepened.

He took my hand. "From now on, I'll be your legs. Evelyn Miller, marry me." I admit that happiness overwhelmed me in that moment. "Yes.

Aaron Barrett, I've actually loved you for seven years." Aaron gripped my hand but said nothing. I instinctively ignored the flicker of reluctance in his eyes.

When I woke the next morning, Aaron was already gone. Chapter 3 A glass of milk he had warmed for me sat on the nightstand. [Work has been busy lately.

Don't wait for me to have dinner tonight.] I took a sip. It was sweet. But I had never liked sweetened milk.

There was a clatter outside, followed by a loud greeting. "Morning, Evelyn!" It was Aaron's first cousin. I sighed deeply. Here came trouble.

Miranda Barrett put an affectionate arm around me, though her eyes were full of scorn. "You really do nothing but make trouble for Aaron, don't you?

There were several people at last night's dinner whose support he needs. That little fit of yours made things so much harder for him.

What are you going to do about it, Evelyn?" I looked calmly at Miranda. "You can ask Aaron to divorce me." Once the first rush of happiness wore off, I sometimes sensed Aaron's resignation too.

He always kept me at a polite distance. His friends had not treated me like this from the beginning, either. Deep down, I understood.

They were only saying the things Aaron could not say himself. That was why I had told him more than once that if he had married me only because I saved his life, there was no need.

We could get divorced. But he always refused.

Miranda sneered. "You don't honestly think Aaron refuses to divorce you because he loves you, do you?" She forced me into my wheelchair. I struggled, but it did no good.

What resistance could a cripple put up? She laughed softly in my ear. "Come on.

I'll show you something good." The "show" Miranda had promised turned out to be Aaron on an intimate date with another woman.

Through the window of the restaurant, I watched Aaron brush a stray lock of hair from the woman's forehead. His eyes were practically overflowing with love.

Miranda tipped her chin toward them. "See? That's the woman Aaron loves." I did not understand. "Then why won't he divorce me?" I was not the one clinging to him.

Miranda answered indignantly, "Because you took it upon yourself to save his life and used it to hold him hostage! If he divorced you, what would that make him?

An ungrateful bastard. Don't pretend you're being generous.

You planned this all along, didn't you?" I did not understand why everyone believed I had saved Aaron as part of some scheme. I had only lost the use of my legs.

He had lost his freedom. Was that it? The two people inside were so absorbed in each other that they did not notice me outside the window.

I smiled, wheeled myself closer, and tapped lightly on the glass. Miranda had not expected me to do that. Her face stiffened. "What are you doing?" How funny.

She had brought me here herself, yet she only wanted me to watch in silence and nurse my broken heart. It was too late for her to stop me. The two people inside had seen us. Shock.

Panic. Aaron appeared in front of me moments later. "Evelyn Miller, let me explain." He had no idea how to explain.

Instead, he shot Miranda an accusing look. "Who told you to bring her here?" Miranda pouted. "I feel bad for the woman who should really be part of the family.

You two have been in love for years." I stood frozen. In love for years? Before I planned to confess my feelings, I had cautiously asked Aaron whether he had a girlfriend.

He had said no.

Otherwise, I never would have found the courage. "Evelyn Miller, go home." After scolding Miranda, Aaron immediately called a car for me. "Wait." I raised a hand to stop him. "I'd like to talk to the woman inside." Chapter 4 "Evelyn Miller." Aaron frowned.

He was unhappy with me. I gently took his hand. "You should do as I say. Otherwise, I don't mind shouting about a mistress right here on the street. I'm disabled.

I've had people stare at me for years, so I'm used to being embarrassed. You two will be the only ones humiliated." Aaron's frown deepened.

He must have cared a great deal about the woman inside, because a moment later, he pushed me into the restaurant. "Aaron, is this your wife?

The one who saved you?" The woman seemed to know about me. With her head propped on one hand, she smiled at me. "Hello. I'm Vivian Benson.

Aaron's first love." Like the others, she acted as though she meant me no harm while every word carried malice. "Aaron, why don't you and Miranda sit over there?

I'd like to speak with Ms. Miller." With only a few words, she had taken control. Aaron led Miranda to a nearby table and watched us anxiously. Vivian idly stirred her coffee. "Ms.

Miller, you know that if it weren't for you, I would be Aaron's wife." "I didn't know that," I told her. "I never saw you among his friends.

I had no idea he had a first love." Vivian looked up, a trace of resentment in her eyes. "We kept our relationship secret because of my family.

Aaron said his family would never approve. Miranda was the only one who quietly supported us. We dated in secret for two whole years.

Before the accident, we were ready to tell our families everything.

Unfortunately, you swooped in and took him." No wonder Miranda had hated me so much when she learned I was going to marry Aaron. But how was that my fault?

I had asked him more than once whether he had a girlfriend. He was the one who chose to hide her. After the accident, he was also the one who chose to marry me.

Vivian read my thoughts and gave a quiet laugh. "Are you wondering why he insisted on marrying you?" I looked up at her.

My instincts told me I would not like the answer. "Because he found the diary where you wrote about loving him, Evelyn Miller