Chapter 1

On our fifth wedding anniversary, Nash forcefully dragged me, who has a phobia of deep water, to go free diving so he could have a chance encounter with his childhood sweetheart.

When a massive sea creature approached, Nash snatched away my oxygen tank and abandoned me with my foot trapped in coral reef as he escaped with his childhood sweetheart.

After being rescued ashore, I, now a nervous wreck, begged Nash, who loves playing video games, to keep it down. Instead, I was forced to listen to their passionate lovemaking all night in the next room.

Nash blamed me for not being understanding enough, while my own mother advised me to learn to endure silently.

No one knew that on that night, I had already agreed to my advisor's offer to study abroad.

Nash, you'll never be able to catch up to me again.

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My feet were in agonizing pain, with my ankles rubbed raw and bloody from the coral.

I bent over, my trembling hands frantically digging at the coral branches, breaking my nails to no avail.

But in the past, whenever I got even the slightest bump or bruise, Nash had always insisted on bandaging me up.

"Please, Nash, help me!"

I waved my arms desperately, letting out a weak cry for help as salty seawater gushed into my mouth.

With only one lung, I was on the verge of suffocation, grasping at straws as I put my breathing mask back on.

"Nash, I think I'm running low on oxygen in my tank," Zara said in a breathy voice, her fingers suggestively caressing Nash's pecs that bulged through his wetsuit.

Nash gently took Zara's hand.

"Vivienne, why don't you two swap oxygen tanks?"

My face went pale, my bloodstained hands instinctively protecting the oxygen tank on my back.

You can't do this to me! I shook my head frantically.

Fear gradually crept over my heart, like an invisible net, choking me.

Looking at the deep blue seawater surrounding me, the feeling of suffocation was like an unseen hand gripping my throat.

Dizzy and disoriented, I abandoned my attempt to pull my foot free, clutching my mask as I half-sprawled on the coral reef, gasping for air.

Dark currents swirled around me, and small fish darted away in all directions. In the distance, a large, ominous shadow gradually approached.

"What is that monster?! Quick, grab the oxygen tanks! We need to get out of here!"

Nash panicked too, flailing as he swam towards me.

"Why didn't you give them to us earlier?! Are you trying to get us killed?!"

The oxygen tank was roughly yanked off my back. I stumbled, sinking straight down to the ocean floor.

But my foot caught, leaving me suspended upside down.

The sensation of weightlessness, suffocation, and pain assaulted me all at once. I was in absolute agony.

In the last second before losing consciousness completely, I used every ounce of strength I had left to grab onto the edge of Nash's clothing.

A sharp pain shot through my chest, and my body swayed again.

Did he... kick me?

From the corner of my eye, I saw Nash with one arm around Zara, the other clutching the oxygen tank, his fins moving at lightning speed.

I gave Zara a lung, he forced me onto birth control, and now he kicked me? Leaving me to die?