After the Gas Explosion, My Husband Only Saved Her

Two years ago, my best friend and I both married into the Cruise Family. I married the elder brother, an emergency doctor and she married the younger brother, a police officer.

The day I found out I was pregnant, my husband hadn't returned from work yet, but he invited his childhood friend, Lily James, over for dinner to celebrate.

As I went back to the bedroom to take some medicine, there was a gas explosion in the kitchen. Flames engulfed the entire room.

My best friend had gone out to buy groceries and narrowly escaped. I was locked in the room by Lily and pounded on the door, desperately calling for help. I inhaled too much smoke and soon lost my voice, while blood began to seep from beneath me.

At that moment, my husband came home from work, but the first thing he did was rush out with Lily in his arms. Hearing the commotion, I used my last bit of strength to call him.

On the other end, the phone rang with a mechanical voice, no one picked up. Just before I lost consciousness, he finally answered, but instead of concern, he yelled angrily, "How could you be so careless with cooking? How could you leave Lily alone at home? Do you know how close she came to getting hurt? I'm on my way back to the hospital, we'll talk when I get back!"

He hung up and I was left utterly powerless. In the end, it was my best friend, returning from the grocery store, who saved my life, though she lost a leg in the process.

As I was wheeled into the operating room, she immediately called her husband and demanded justice for Lily.

But her husband harshly rebuked her instead, "If it weren't for your friend, would Lily have gotten hurt? You two ran off quickly enough, maybe you're the ones plotting murder! I'm heading to the hospital now. Don't waste my time!" he said.

——

After the surgery, we both decided to file for divorce. When I opened my eyes, I borrowed her phone and sent a message to Jacob, telling him I wanted a divorce.

I thought it would be another case of no one answering, but the phone rang just once.

Jacob's furious voice erupted immediately as he said, "Alana, I've called you dozens of times, did you not see? What's this about a divorce? Do you realize what you've done is unforgivable? How dare you mention divorce to me?"

He kept yelling, "Lily is a guest and you left her alone at home, with the gas in the kitchen still on! If I had been a minute later, she'd be dead! I've put up with your jealousy and tantrums, but today you nearly caused a fatal accident, do you understand that?"

"I don't care where you are right now, but you'd better get to the hospital and apologize to Lily! Otherwise, don't bother coming back home! I've been far too lenient with you!" he was furious.

I was stunned by his words and didn't even have time to respond. My best friend couldn't take it anymore and grabbed the phone from me, shouting back at him, "Jacob, you're not even a man! The universe doesn't think you deserve to be a father! Do you even know the truth? Do you know how the fire started?"

"Lily this, Lily that, why don't you two brothers just stay with her from now on and leave us alone!" She ended the call abruptly.

Tears streamed down my face. Seven years of my life, two years of marriage and five years of dating, were worth less than a few words from Lily during the fire.

When she entered the house earlier today, she was even carrying gifts for me, knowing I was pregnant. Her delicate face was all smiles as she offered her congratulations to me and Jacob.

For a moment, I had thought I had misunderstood their relationship, that all my doubts were just in my head. I was thinking about apologizing to her in person at the dinner table tonight for the previous misunderstanding.

But in the blink of an eye, she had locked me in the bedroom while I was taking my medicine. She ignored my desperate cries for help. Was that also a misunderstanding?

I had always checked the gas lines in our home every quarter. How could there suddenly be an explosion today? And it was a controlled, small-scale fire at that. I didn't know the exact cause.

The first thing I did when the fire broke out was call Jacob. Normally, his phone was always available to me 24/7, but this time, it showed he was already on a call.

It wasn't until I had given up shouting that I heard Lily calling for help on her phone outside. At that moment, something inside me collapsed.

The smoke began to seep through the cracks in the door. I dampened a towel with the water I had used to take my medicine and covered my nose.

I kept calling Jacob, unwilling to give up. But no matter how many times I had called, his line never disconnected.

Tears blurred my vision and I could feel blood gushing from beneath me. My fingers left horrifying bloodstains on the door as they became raw and bloody.

My strength ebbed away with the oxygen in the room. Just before I passed out, I heard a familiar voice.

Jacob had finally returned. But I no longer had the strength to cry for help.

My weak knocking was drowned by the flames and he rushed into the house only to carry Lily out first.

At that moment, I lost the will to survive. Luckily, my best friend returned just in time to save me.