A fierce storm erupts on a mountain peak at 25,561 feet, trapping me in the mountain camp under heavy snow.

My husband, the leader of the mountain excursion squad, ignores my desperate pleas and hands the last oxygen tank to his beloved true love.

"You're a professional climber—you won't die from missing a few breaths," he snaps. "Olivia has always been frail. Without oxygen, she's done for!"

I watch as the two of them lean on each other, making their way down the cliffside, and I fall into complete despair.

He's already forgotten that my body hasn't been able to survive without oxygen at high altitudes since saving him two years ago.

I stood on a mountain that rose 25,561 feet above sea level. The strong gale and the blizzard whipped around me, suffocating me to no end.

Despair had already engulfed me by then. I was ready to embrace death. It was time for my pathetic and ridiculous life to end.

My vision began to blur. Soon, it was completely swallowed up by the stark whiteness that seemed to stretch on endlessly.

"Are you alright? Would you like some fruit? I'll peel it for you."

I was certain that I was dead, yet my vision cleared up at that moment. In fact, I even heard a melodic male voice booming right next to me.

It was such a shame that the man wasn't directing the question at me at all.

My vision sharpened once again. I found myself staring at a simplistic ward belonging to a makeshift hospital located at the base camp of the tallest mountain in the world.

Gerard Frost, my husband, happened to be caressing his best friend, Olivia Hallburg's cheek with his fingers. Worry was written all over his face.

I had been with Gerard for so many years, yet he had never looked at me this way before. For a moment, I spaced out while staring at him.

Olivia sat on the makeshift hospital bed. She was starting to feel better, as proven by her complexion. Still, she feigned illness with a frown.

"My chest still feels a little stuffy. You don't have to worry about me, Ger. But tell me—is Elly okay? We still haven't heard from her after all this time…

"At the end of the day, this is all my fault. I'm the one being such a huge burden to Elly. If not, you'd have been able to save her by now…"

But Gerard didn't seem to care about me at all. If anything, he looked rather impatient instead.

"A mountain of that height is nothing to Elliana. She'd made it to the summit in the past.

"The thing is, she had selfishly stopped me from giving you the oxygen tank when we were in dire danger! To think that she tried to attract my attention with that method! I didn't know that she was that kind of person!

"Olivia, you're too kind-hearted. You're still worried about others despite your condition!"

After Gerard was done speaking, he reached out to tuck a lock of stray hair behind Olivia's ear.

I couldn't believe that Gerard, my husband of seven years, became a jester who was willing to do anything to please his beloved Olivia. He wasn't worried about me at all, despite my condition being unknown, and that he never heard back from me. Instead, he didn't hesitate to blame and complain about me.

All Gerard cared about was Olivia—his fragile darling.

I had spent the past seven years taking care of Gerard and showering him with love and affection. Not only that, but I'd also given him everything I had.

All of my efforts were reduced to nothing but a laughingstock at that moment.

Meanwhile, Gerard kept chatting with Olivia just to lift her spirits. Neither of them brought me up ever again.

…

Someone knocked on the door early the next morning.

The night before, Gerard had stayed up late in favor of chatting with Olivia, so he had already ordered his subordinates not to disturb him early in the morning.

Furious, he went to get the door, only to see two elderly figures standing at the doorway. They… were my parents.

My elderly parents couldn't help shivering from the cold wind while struggling to get their bearings due to the thin air as they stood in the base camp of the snow mountain, which was 17,060 feet above sea level.

"Gerard, has Elly descended the mountain yet? How is she doing?"

"Elly hasn't contacted us for such a long time. I keep having this odd feeling that something's happened to her, so we decided to visit her."

Every time I returned to the base camp after my mountain excursions, I'd call my parents and let them know that I made it back safely thanks to the signal that was available in the camp.

My parents knew the exact date I'd descend the mountain. But they seemed to have predicted my death as well, for they had flooded my WhatsApp with countless calls and messages.

After all, there was a special telepathic bond between parents and their children.

My parents spent the night traveling via train and airplane just to reach the great plateau, where the mountain was located. They did all this in order to verify my safety with their own eyes.

But this time, I could only apologize to them silently. I couldn't bring them the good news they had hoped for ever again.

"Is Elliana alright? Is she doing fine? Gerard, tell me that she's safe and sound!"

Dad gripped Gerard's arm agitatedly, but the latter soon sneered at him.

"That's enough! Elliana has overdone it this time! Is she trying to cause more chaos by summoning you here? Let's see how far this little act of yours can go!

"She's a field medic, for crying out loud! Doesn't she know that she'll just end up harming your health even more by summoning you here? I can't believe that you two are still keeping the act up!"

The more Gerard spoke, the more agitated he grew. He dug out the missing people's list from his pocket before slapping it onto Dad's hand.

"Just look at the list! She's chosen to go missing on purpose!

"Did she call you here just to continue the act with her? There are many injured patients in the base camp, so I have no time to play attention-seeking games with her right now!"

After that, Gerard pulled out his phone and sent a voice message to me. A trace of mockery could be heard in his glacial voice.

"Elliana Stone, I'll have you know that I have no time to play your stupid game! There are so many injured and dying people in the base camp right now! I don't have time to take care of your parents!

"Look at Olivia! She might be sickly, but she knows better than to waste resources! Not only does she not require me to take care of her, but she's also taken the initiative to take care of the other patients! Now look at yourself!

"I seriously have no time to play house with you, Elliana! You'd better get out here if you were sensible enough! At least I'd give you a chance to speak with me then! If you keep this up, you'll soon understand the consequences!"

Once Gerard was done letting loose of his anger at his phone, he cut between my parents, completely disregarding their feelings at the moment. All he cared about was helping other people in the base camp.

But my poor parents were on the verge of breaking down.

"Gerard, you and Elly have been together for so many years! How could you talk to her like that? Aren't you even the slightest bit worried about her now that she's gone missing?"

Dad moved to grab Gerard's arm, only to get shaken off by the latter. He ended up hitting on a table's corner. Pain flared and he bent over in agony.

"You're her husband! Heck, you're the leader of the mountain-climbing squad! Are you not planning to save her?"

Gerard merely tuned out my parents' wails and accusations. Instead, he turned on his heel and left the tent. To him, this was probably just a part of the act.

I could only watch as my parents gripped the missing people's list tightly. They sobbed as they clutched their chests. Mom's rough hand kept caressing my name, which was completely stained by her tears.

Unfortunately, my soul was bound to Gerard. I couldn't even hug my parents at all. All I could do was watch the tent disappear inch and inch before my eyes.

I knew that it was impossible to ensnare the heart of someone who didn't love me at all. But I never expected that Gerard would be this ruthless to my parents.

Since he never loved me, it was only natural for him to disrespect my parents.

A mixture of remorse, sorrow, and rage kept swirling in my soul. It turned out that I could still feel pain even though I was now a spirit.

As soon as Gerard left the tent, he headed toward the campsite of the makeshift hospital. Once he lifted the hospital's tent flap, his gaze was pinned on Olivia right away, who stood amid the crowd.

She balanced a tray of medical equipment as she weaved in between medical cots. The thing was, she'd placed the scalpel and the forceps in the makeshift sterile room without even wearing any gloves.

The sight of the weak and exhausted Olivia doing her best to help everyone out struck Gerard right in his heart.

He completely ignored the fact that Olivia had zero medical knowledge as well as the way the other medics kept shooting exasperated looks at her. Soon, he was quick to lend a helping hand to everyone in the makeshift hospital as well.

Thanks to Gerard's help, Olivia didn't make any mistakes after that. Finally, the patients stopped glowering at them.

The next shift change occurred during lunchtime. Gerard and Olivia got to take a breather when the next batch of people began helping out in the makeshift hospital.

They opted not to visit the cafeteria. Instead, they sat on a hill that overlooked the entire snow mountain with their lunch sitting on their lap.

While the majestic snow mountain practically covered the sky, rays of sunlight still shimmered through the gaps in the summit, soon bathing the pair with their glow.

Gerard and Olivia chatted while having lunch at a leisurely pace. At the same time, they admired the breathtaking scenery happily.

I watched as the pair started to saddle up against each other. Right now, I felt as though my soul was getting ripped into pieces because of the intense pain I was feeling.

Suddenly, Olivia purposefully passed a half-eaten meatball to Gerard's lips.

The tips of his ears reddened instantly. A pregnant pause later, he shot Olivia a look.

In return, Olivia gave Gerard an encouraging and cheeky look. Embarrassed, he could only chomp down on the half-eaten meatball.

Gerard was a severe clean freak who especially hated eating with others. He'd even throw out the food that I had tasted when I was cooking.

I never ate from the dishes he did. In fact, I never even used the same glassware he did.

It turned out that Gerard wasn't a clean freak at all. He just treated the woman he loved differently from the woman he didn't.

At the moment, Gerard's cheeks were heavily flushed. He was so embarrassed that he could barely utter a word. Instead, he just lowered his head and continued eating.

But Olivia acted as though nothing had happened. She continued the conversation with a straight face.

"By the way, Ger, is there any news about Elly yet?"

Gerard's embarrassment dissipated instantly. He frowned in return.

"She almost killed you back on the mountain! Why do you still care about her? Olivia, you're far too kind, and you care about others way too much! You should take care not to get bullied by others!"

Olivia just smiled sheepishly at Gerard. "But isn't this the reason why you fell in love with me in the first place?"

Back then, everyone knew that Olivia was Gerard's first love. They were like a match made in heaven.

But after Olivia studied abroad, she cut off all contact with Gerard. Since then, no one had heard from her ever again. That was when Gerard and I began dating.

Two years ago, Olivia returned to the country and ended up joining Gerard's mountain excursion squad as the weather observer. However, she made an error when compiling the data on the snow mountain's weather forecast, leading to Gerard's squad getting stuck in a dangerous blizzard on the day they decided to tackle the summit.

At that time, the excursion squads belonging to two separate mountaineering clubs Gerard and I were in had embarked on the journey at the same time. The sudden blizzard caused Gerard—who was in the middle of scaling up a ledge—to fall off and lose consciousness on the spot. To make things worse, his oxygen tank was damaged because it was all banged up from the fall.

In order to save Gerard's life, I made a bold decision by giving him my oxygen tank. After strapping the oxygen mask to his face, I began dragging him down the mountain slowly.

In the end, Olivia was fired by Gerard's mountaineering club. As for me, I had suffered from pulmonary edema due to the prolonged lack of oxygen. Because of this condition, I could never climb all the way to the summit as a mountain climber anymore.

Just like that, my dream to tackle the summit once again was crushed.

After that, I made the decision to quit the mountaineering club I was in. Then, I joined Gerard's club as a field medic, primarily working in Camp 3.

But all Gerard noticed was the fact that Olivia had left right before I joined the club. He thought that I was the one who forced her out of the club.

At that moment, Gerard and Olivia slowly covered the distance between them. Their mouths were inching closer to each other as well.

"Ah, Gerard! You're here!" someone shouted, completely ruining the suggestive atmosphere.

Soon, a bunch of people from Gerard's mountaineering club could be seen running toward him from the base camp while hugging something in their arms.

They were quick to tell Gerard their reasons for meeting up with him. Their first reason was to show concern toward him because of the latest incident faced by the incursion, and to reflect on the factors that might have contributed to the incident's occurrence. The second reason was to deliver the things as per my request.

Those things were originally meant to be delivered to me. Now that I had gone missing, the group decided to give them to Gerard instead.

Truth be told, I wanted to give Gerard a surprise after the excursion. After all, our anniversary was coming up in a few days.

The members of the mountaineering club didn't expect to see me missing. The first thing they did see, however, was Gerard and Olivia being intimate on the plateau.

Gerard began inspecting the gift I had prepared for him. It was a watch that he'd had his eye on for a very long time, as well as a love letter that was penned with all my feelings for him.

He didn't hesitate to rip the letter into shreds without bothering to read it. Then, he tossed the pieces as well as the watch into a nearby crevice.

The members of the mountaineering club could no longer stomach Gerard's behavior. One of them quickly stopped him before asking, "Gerard, what the hell are you doing? If you don't like the gifts, I can return them to Elliana! What are we supposed to tell her now that you've tossed her gifts away?"

Gerard merely responded with a sneer, "What are you supposed to tell her, you say? Well, I want her to tell me what she's thinking right now!

"How dare she go missing on me as a field medic during the time the base camp needs her the most! What is she going to tell the patients in return, then?"

Gerard sounded extremely righteous when he criticized me.

But the thing was, he was the one who personally robbed me of my oxygen tank and reduced me to nothing but a corpse. Did he not feel ironic after saying those things?

When the members of the mountaineering club saw the way Gerard was acting, they didn't want to stay there any longer. Instead, they just came up with an excuse of not having lunch yet and left right away.

Meanwhile, Gerard handed a flower over to Olivia.

"Look, Olivia! This is your favorite pink rose! I've never forgotten your favorite flower!"

So… It turned out that pink roses were Olivia's favorite flower.

In the past, I had asked Gerard what his favorite flower was, yet he never gave me an answer. So, I began giving him different types of flowers. Out of all the flowers, he chose to place the pink roses in a vase at home.

Since then, I thought his favorite flower happened to be pink roses. For a long time, I was secretly pleased with my sharp observational skills.

I never expected those pink roses to be Olivia's favorite flower instead.

It turned out that everything I had done for Gerard was nothing but an illusion to him. My soul felt as though it was stabbed by a thousand blades.

How ridiculous. Gerard actually presented the flowers that were meant for him to Olivia, as though he was the one who had bought them for her.

My parents' agony, as well as my despair, were starting to tear my soul apart. Even my corpse was already riddled with injuries.

Now, my soul was immersed in nothing but despair.