Chapter 1

On my wife's birthday, we went skiing on the snowy peaks, only to be struck by a devastating avalanche.

My wife's first love and I were trapped under the snow at the same time.

Exhausted, she only had the strength to pull one person out and leave the other behind to wait for rescue.

She said, "Austin has congenital heart disease. He won't last long out here."

"As soon as we get down the mountain, I'll send search and rescue for you right away."

I grabbed her jacket, sobbing, begging her not to leave me.

Instead, she peeled my fingers off one by one, breaking them as she told me to stop throwing a tantrum.

What she didn't know was that avalanches don't just happen once.

I died on that snowy mountain. On my wife's birthday.

After the avalanche, she walked away with her first love, telling me to stay put and wait for rescue. She left me behind, all alone in the freezing snow.

I watched with my own eyes as Chloe and Austin supported each other, walking away.

I saw the unmistakable triumph in Austin's eyes, and the sheer coldness in Chloe's. It pierced my heart.

Buried under the heavy snow, crushed and suffocating, I felt the bitter cold and isolation. Despair and terror swallowed me whole.

I tried to encourage myself again and again, doing everything I could to stay calm and conserve my energy, holding onto the hope that rescue would come so I could live.

There was too much I couldn't let go of. I didn't want to die like this. My parents, my friends, the patients who trusted me—even the cold, indifferent Chloe—became my reasons to survive.

Fate, however, had other plans. That terrifying avalanche wasn't a one-time event...

Buried beneath the crushing snowpack, my breath slowly faded away.

Today was Chloe's birthday. One of her biggest passions in life was skiing.

As a cardiothoracic surgeon, I was always swamped with work and rarely had time to spend with her.

To celebrate her birthday this time, I used up an entire year's worth of vacation days.

I thought this would be a sweet getaway just for the two of us, but I never expected Austin to tag along.

Austin suffered from congenital heart disease; he wasn't supposed to engage in strenuous activities like this.

I assumed he wouldn't come, yet there he was.

Even though Chloe's relationship with Austin bothered me deeply, I didn't want to ruin the mood on such a special day.

Despite his poor health, Austin was a natural skier with extensive, professional knowledge of the sport. Because of that, he and Chloe chatted happily the entire way up, completely shutting me out.

Once we reached the summit, the temperature was much higher than expected. Before long, dull, thudding booms echoed in the distance.

Due to my lack of experience, I didn't realize those sounds were warning signs of an imminent avalanche.

By the time we noticed cracks spreading across the snow, the avalanche was already upon us.

Austin and I had the worst luck; we were buried relatively deep.

Chloe had run fast and was only lightly covered. She used every ounce of her strength to claw her way out.

With her energy depleted, she could only carry one person down. Both Austin and I looked up at her with desperate hope.

I wasn't just Chloe's husband; I was also her mother's primary attending physician. I genuinely believed she would choose to save me.

Instead, Chloe's gaze shifted back and forth between Austin and me.

"Julian, Austin has a congenital heart condition. He won't survive long in these conditions."

"I'll take Austin down first. You're strong and healthy. Just stay here and wait for rescue. The second we reach the bottom, I'll alert the search and rescue team to come get you."

I stared at her in agony, unable to utter a single sound. I gripped her ski jacket tightly, shaking my head. How could she discard me so easily?

Chloe looked down at me with pure indifference. She pried my fingers away, snapping them one by one, abandoning me without hesitation.

She threw out a cold, "Stop making a scene," hauled Austin to his feet, and walked away.

"Chloe, don't go..."

As if deaf to my cries, neither of them looked back. They just left.

I waited in the freezing silence. I waited until I died, and no rescue ever came.