Yesterday’s Vow

Chapter 1

It was the 999th time I touched Ethan.

Even just brushing against the back of his hand.

And like always, he absolutely lost it.

“Audrey, is it physically impossible for you not to touch a man?”

He wanted to make damn sure I remembered the “cleanliness” agreement we signed right after getting married.

So, ignoring my begging, he threw me into the pool full of disinfectant and made me stay there for two hours.

It was the butler, James, who saw how bad I looked and secretly pulled me out.

As I stumbled past the study, dripping and miserable, I heard his voice from inside, tight and controlled:

“Sophia, I’ve already disinfected myself, and I threw Audrey in to disinfect too.”

“I told you, every single part of me belongs only to you.”

“No other woman can touch me…”

Through the crack in the door, I saw Ethan, totally lost in his own world, holding a pair of black silk stockings like they were sacred.

That’s when it hit me.

The real reason he punished me like that today?

Because his precious hands had just been touched by his stepmother, Sophia.

The stinging pain burning all over my skin seemed to shoot straight into my chest.

I choked back the tears and called my dad.

“Dad, I’m ready for a divorce.”

“I want to come home to you and Mom.”

1

Dad sounded surprised at first, then thrilled.

“Audrey, are you really ready to leave Ethan?”

I looked down at my red, irritated skin, feeling the itch that felt like a million bugs crawling on me, and nodded, even though he couldn’t see.

“Yeah, Dad, I am.”

What choice did I have?

The night we got married, my dream of a romantic wedding night ended with me signing that ridiculous cleanliness agreement.

He said he needed time to get comfortable with physical touch.

He said before that happened, I couldn’t touch him.

His therapist said the same thing, told me to give him time to overcome his fear of women.

I thought, because he actually married me, I must be different.

I thought I was the exception, the only one.

But I spent five whole years trying, and I never even got to hold his hand.

The only woman who could get close to him, from day one, was always his stepmother, Sophia.

I used to think she was special just because of who she was – his father’s wife, only five years older than him.

But tonight, I finally got it.

It wasn’t about her title.

I just lost to her, Sophia, the person.

“I told you from the start, honey,” Dad began, “Men only behave when they’re six feet under.”

“There’s no such thing as a guy who can resist temptation, it just means he doesn’t love you.”

“You just wouldn’t believe me…”

Mom yelled something in the background, cutting Dad off.

He quickly changed his tone to soothe me.

“Sweetheart, it’s good you’ve finally seen the light.”

“Dad will sort everything out for you to come overseas right away!”

I couldn’t help but let out a shaky laugh, but the tears wouldn’t stop falling.

I didn’t want them to worry, so I quickly hung up and rushed to the bathroom to soak in a medicated bath.

But I ran right into Ethan, his face flushed.

His hands, usually so elegant, were rubbed raw from scrubbing with disinfectant.

But underneath the sharp chemical smell, there was this faint, earthy scent that made my stomach turn.

A flicker of panic crossed his eyes.

Then his gaze swept over my clothes clinging to my wet skin, and his expression immediately turned angry.

“Audrey! Didn’t I tell you to soak for two full hours?”

“Who said you could get out?”

“Are you deliberately showing up looking like this?”

“Trying to tempt me again?”

Furious, he yelled for James.

“I told you to watch her!” he roared. “Not one second less! Is this how you follow my orders?”

James froze, terrified by Ethan’s icy rage, barely able to speak.

“Sir, Mrs. Hayes is allergic to the disinfectant.”

“If she stays in any longer, I’m afraid…”

Only then did Ethan seem to notice how abnormally red my skin was, already starting to swell.

He looked away, his lips pressed into a thin, cold line.

“So sensitive.”

“Maybe now you’ll think twice before touching me again.”

“Next time, it won’t just be two hours!”

The stinging was everywhere, relentless, but I managed a small smile.

“Don’t worry,” I said softly.

“There won’t be a next time.”

It’s over between us.

Hearing my agreement, Ethan’s tightly knitted brow slowly relaxed.

He walked straight into the bathroom, completely ignoring the fact that I, shivering and in pain, also needed to use it.

James knew he was in trouble with Ethan and quickly ushered me downstairs to the staff bathroom.

The medicated bath was out of the question now.

All I could do was try to rinse off the disinfectant with warm water.

The warm water felt good sliding over my skin, but no matter how much I rinsed, I couldn’t wash away the sharp, disgusting smell.

Or the humiliation of being a fool for five years.

I took some allergy medicine, but later that night, I developed a high fever.

My whole body ached terribly.

In a daze, I dragged myself out of bed, intending to ask Ethan to take me to the hospital.

But he brushed me off, saying he had urgent business to deal with, and pushed past me out the door.

I stumbled, losing my balance, and bumped against the study door.

The door, always kept locked tight, swung open.

I stood there in the entrance to his secret inner sanctum, burning up, my vision blurry.

Countless photos of Sophia hit me like a physical blow, shattering the last remnants of my self-deception.

There were pictures of her from years ago, looking graceful in elegant dresses, all the way to recent ones showing her mature, seductive charm.

Every single photo was carefully framed.

Locked in glass cabinets were things she’d used: lipsticks, pearl earrings she’d worn, a half-finished glass of rose tea, the dried rim still marked with a faint lip print.

He’d even kept lingerie she’d worn, carefully preserved.

But the most glaring thing was the open diary on his desk.

[Sophia wore the black stockings I gave her today. She smiled and asked if they looked good. I almost lost my mind.]

[I touched Sophia’s hand today when I passed her a glass of water. The warmth of her fingertips drove me crazy…]

[Why did she have to be Dad’s wife? I want to kill him. I want to lock Sophia in the basement where only I can look at her…]

[Audrey touched my hand again. Disgusting! Only Sophia is allowed to touch me!]

The words felt like venomous snakes slithering into my eyes, making me want to claw them out.

I bit down hard on my lip, tasting blood in my mouth.

So, this was Ethan’s “cleanliness” issue.

He wasn’t disgusted by touch.

He was just disgusted by my touch.

Sophia could link arms with him whenever she wanted.

She could intimately adjust his tie.

She could even… get him worked up just by letting him hold her stockings.

But me?

Just touching the back of his hand was a crime.

My stomach churned, and I stumbled into the bathroom, dry heaving.

When I looked up, the woman in the mirror had a ghostly pale face and eyes swollen red like a demon’s.

I used to be vibrant, full of life.

Now, look what loving this man had reduced me to.

My heart felt like ashes.

I called an Uber and went to the hospital.

And in the emergency room, I ran into Ethan and Sophia.

2

I saw Ethan carrying Sophia like a princess, rushing into an ER bay.

Three or four doctors trailed behind them, making it look like they were responding to a major trauma case.

Sophia was curled up in his arms, looking pale, biting her lip and whimpering softly.

“Ethan, my stomach hurts so much…”

Ethan’s expression was tight with a level of concern I’d never seen him show before.

He snapped at the doctors:

“She drank something cold, now she has severe abdominal pain! Run tests immediately!”

The doctors scrambled, bringing over a wheelchair.

But Ethan refused to put her down, sitting in the chair himself with Sophia still cradled in his arms.

Nurses nearby started whispering.

“Wow, that guy really spoils his wife.”

“I wish my husband was like that. Where do you find a guy like that?”

Hearing them, Sophia snuggled closer, pressing her face against Ethan’s collarbone, looking for all the world like a deeply devoted couple.

Ethan’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and a faint smile played on his lips, one he couldn’t quite hide.

I couldn’t help a bitter smirk.

Envy?

If they only knew his actual wife wasn’t allowed to touch a single hair on his head, would they still be envious?

I looked away, trying to steady myself, and spoke to a nurse.

“Excuse me, could you get a doctor for me? I have a high fever, I need…”

Before I could finish, Ethan suddenly whipped his head around, his gaze sharp as a knife stabbing into me.

“Audrey?”

His voice was ice cold, his eyes filled with annoyance.

“Are you serious? You followed me all the way to the hospital?”

I froze for a second, then laughed weakly.

“You’re imagining things. I’m just here because I’m sick.”

I held up the thermometer I was clutching.

He frowned, his eyes glancing at my arms and neck where the rash was clearly worse.

A strange look flickered in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by disgust.

“Stop playing the victim. It was just two hours in disinfectant. Do you really need to put on such a show?”

I clenched my fists so hard my nails dug into my palms, but I barely felt the pain.

“Yeah, you’re right,” I said lightly.

“I’m faking it.”

“After all, a disgusting woman like me, who commits a crime just by touching you, doesn’t deserve to actually be sick, right?”

He seemed taken aback that I wasn’t acting like my usual self.

Normally, no matter how much he pushed me away, I’d bounce back like nothing happened, talking carefully, like some indestructible cockroach, dreaming of the day I could help him overcome his issues so we could be a normal couple.

Ethan stared, then his face darkened. He started to say something, but Sophia whimpered from his arms.

“Ethan, is Audrey sick? You should go be with her, don’t worry about me…”

Ethan immediately turned his attention back to her, his voice instantly becoming incredibly gentle.

“She’s nobody important. Don’t pay any attention to her. It’s her own fault for acting up.”

Nobody important.

Right. Five years of marriage, and in his eyes, I was just an inconvenient decoration.

A prop to hide his unspeakable feelings for Sophia.

A nurse saw me swaying and quickly grabbed my arm.

“Ms. Hayes, are you okay? You need treatment right away!”

I let the nurse guide me toward a different examination room.

Behind me, Ethan called out coldly:

“Audrey, if it’s nothing serious, stop pretending. Go home and make some soup for Sophia. Dad’s out of town, and she barely ate today.”

I stopped walking but didn’t turn around.

All those cooking skills I’d worked so hard to learn for him… just became a tool for him to please the woman he really loved.

He thought I was disgusting, right?

How could he possibly eat food I made? Wasn’t he afraid I’d poison him?

My thoughts were a jumbled mess as a doctor started an IV drip for me.

Suddenly, Ethan was standing beside me, frowning deeply.

“Audrey, what the hell is wrong with you today? First, you break the agreement and touch me, then you refuse to disinfect properly, and now you’re bribing doctors to give you saline just so you don’t have to make soup for Sophia?”

The IV bag was right there, hanging in front of his face, but he clearly hadn’t even read the label.

My eyelids felt heavy. I didn’t have the energy to argue with him.

Sophia hovered nearby, tugging at his sleeve.

“Ethan, if Audrey doesn’t want to, don’t force her. It’s okay, I don’t need to eat…”

But her stomach betrayed her with a loud growl.

The next second, Ethan yanked the IV needle right out of my hand.

Ignoring the nurse’s shouts and my struggles, he dragged me out of the hospital.

3

Ethan shoved me roughly into the car.

My wrist throbbed where the needle had been ripped out, tiny beads of blood forming a thin red line on the back of my hand.

“Ethan, I’m sick! I need medical attention!”

He scoffed, starting the engine.

“Stop pretending. It was just some disinfectant. How bad could it be? Sophia’s not feeling well right now. As my wife, shouldn’t you do your part?”

Wife?

Hearing that word from his lips felt like the ultimate joke.

What kind of wife was I?

Just a tool, a smokescreen for his twisted obsession with Sophia.

The car sped down the road, the scenery blurring past the windows as my consciousness started to fade.

…

When I came to again, I was standing in the kitchen.

Someone had shoved a knife into my hand.

“Hurry up,” Ethan ordered, standing nearby, watching me with cold eyes. “Sophia’s stomach is sensitive. Make that chicken soup you always make for me when my stomach’s upset.”

My body felt like it was on fire.

The rash on my arms had spread to my neck, itching and burning.

But he acted like he didn’t even see it.

“I don’t know how,” I said.

I put the knife down. My voice was quiet but firm.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed. He grabbed my wrist, his grip so tight I thought he’d crush the bone.

“Audrey, are you determined to defy me today?”

I winced in pain but forced myself to look up at him.

“Ethan, if you care about her so much, why don’t you make it for her yourself?”

“Aren’t you the one who hates me touching you? What happened? Suddenly I’m not disgusting anymore?”

His face changed drastically. He flung my hand away.

“What are you talking about?”

He was clearly rubbing his own hand compulsively where I might have brushed against him, yet desperately trying to hide it.

Pretending he wasn’t disgusted by me, just so I’d cook for his beloved Sophia.

“Ethan, is it almost ready? My stomach really hurts…” Sophia’s weak voice drifted in from the living room.

Ethan immediately abandoned me and rushed out.

“Sophia, just hold on a little longer, the soup will be ready soon.”

I stood there, staring at my red, swollen wrist, and suddenly started to laugh.

So, he could be gentle.

Just not with me.

I took a deep breath, pulled out my phone, and called my dad again.

“Dad, book me the first flight out of here.”

There was a pause on the other end, then Dad said, “Okay. I’ll arrange it right now.”

After hanging up, I turned and walked out of the kitchen.

I saw Ethan kneeling beside the sofa, carefully helping Sophia sip some water.

His long fingers gently wiped her mouth, his eyes filled with a tenderness he’d never once shown me.

I walked straight towards the front door.

But Ethan suddenly called out, “Stop! Where’s the soup? You mentioned booking a flight – are you trying to run away just to avoid making soup?”

I didn’t look back.

“Make it yourself. I’m done waiting on you.”

He shot up from the sofa and lunged towards me, grabbing my arm.

“Audrey! What the hell has gotten into you?!”

The fever made me weak. His sudden pull made me stumble.

Everything went black, and I pitched forward, hitting the floor hard.

A sharp pain exploded on my forehead.

Warm liquid trickled down my temple.

Through blurry vision, I saw Sophia gasp, covering her mouth.

“Ethan, Audrey’s bleeding!”

Ethan’s hand had just touched my shoulder when Sophia suddenly slumped over, limp.

“Sophia!”

He instantly let go of me and turned to catch her.

The last thing I heard before losing consciousness was the sound of his footsteps carrying Sophia away.

And his chilling words: “Leave her. It’s not like she’s going to die.”

4

When I woke up again, I was lying in my own bed.

There was an IV drip attached to the back of my hand.

My entire arm was a canvas of purple and blue bruises, dotted with countless needle marks, like someone had practiced on me over and over.

“You’re awake?”

Ethan stood by the bed, looking down at me with an expression that seemed like pity, almost like he was doing me a favor.

“Finish this IV bag, then go apologize to Sophia.”

“She decided not to press charges, and she even stayed up all night taking care of you.”

I painfully lifted my bruised arm. The needle marks stung sharply, making me gasp.

“She did this? She gave me these shots?”

“Sophia studied pre-med for a bit,” Ethan frowned, adding coldly, “She mixed up a special medication just for you. Otherwise, do you think you’d have woken up this quickly?”

“What’s with that look on your face? Don’t be ungrateful!”

Pre-med?

Sophia dropped out of college before even finishing her first year to marry Ethan’s father. She never even did an internship. How could she possibly know how to mix medications or give injections?

I ripped the IV needle out of my hand abruptly. Blood immediately welled up and trickled down my skin.

“You used me as a guinea pig?!”

“Audrey!”

Ethan snatched up the needle, trying to stick it back into my vein.

“Sophia went to all this trouble to treat you, stayed up all night worrying about you, and this is how you repay her?”

The pain made spots dance before my eyes, but I glared back at him defiantly.

“I’d rather die in a hospital than have this kind of care!”

“You’re being completely unreasonable!”

Ethan’s face turned livid. He threw the needle at my face. It scraped across my cheek, drawing blood instantly.

Then he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

A sharp pain exploded in my chest.

A metallic taste flooded my throat.

Before I could even process it, I coughed up a mouthful of blood onto the white bedsheets.

Ethan paused at the door for a moment, his back to me.

But he didn’t turn around.

He just left.

…

The next time I opened my eyes, the bright white light stung.

The smell of antiseptic told me I was in a hospital.

“Ms. Hayes, you’re finally awake.”

A nurse was adjusting my IV drip. She looked relieved.

“Your butler called 911 just in time. Any later, and the consequences could have been… well, much worse.”

She trailed off, her eyes full of sympathy.

The question forming on my lips died before I could ask it.

Ethan only had eyes for Sophia. Why would he have brought me to the hospital?

The nurse continued in a low voice:

“You had a severe allergic reaction to the disinfectant, treatment was delayed, and then someone gave you unknown injections. It’s honestly a miracle you pulled through.”

I managed a weak, bitter smile.

Less miracle, more just stubborn refusal to die.

The door suddenly opened, and Ethan walked in, looking disheveled. His suit was wrinkled, and he had dark circles under his eyes.

When he saw I was awake, a complicated mix of emotions flickered across his face.

For a split second, I thought I saw guilt.

I quickly shook my head, dismissing the ridiculous thought.

“Audrey, Sophia didn’t realize how serious your condition was. She meant well. Don’t blame her.”

This was the first time in five years of marriage that Ethan had spoken to me with something approaching gentleness.

But it was all for Sophia.

“Sophia feels terrible about what happened, she’s made herself sick with worry. If you’re feeling okay, you should come with me and apologize to her, reassure her.”

So, his kindness came with strings attached.

I just stared at him, suddenly feeling like this man was a terrifying stranger.

“She almost killed me, and you want me to apologize to her?”

“I just told you, she meant well! Now she’s so upset she can barely eat or sleep. What more do you want?”

The nurse’s eyes widened in disbelief, as if she couldn’t trust her own ears.

I slowly pushed myself up in bed. Under Ethan’s expectant gaze, I picked up the water glass from the bedside table and hurled it at him.

“Get out!”

The glass shattered on the floor, fragments scattering everywhere, just like my heart.

Ethan, splattered with water, looked stunned, then furious.

“Audrey, you’ve really lost it! I guess life’s been too easy for you, you just have to cause trouble!”

“Ethan, you’re the one who’s lost it! Don’t think I don’t know…”

He didn’t wait for me to finish.

He stormed out again, slamming the door.

And for the next few days, he didn’t come back.