Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Being the "brother-in-law" was never an easy road.

Forget it. He'd just have to rely on himself.

By the time they reached the hospital, Yates went to collect all sorts of samples. The process dragged on, and it was already late when they finished.

"Vince, let's take Jessy out for dinner tonight-and maybe a walk. She's been cooped up at home for days; it's getting stifling."

"Sure," Vince agreed, thinking it was about time Jessica got some fresh air too. Night fell.

Dawn was breaking in Riverside City.

Timothy opened his eyes and realized he was in a hospital room.

Suddenly, he remembered his phone.

His blood had gotten on Jessy's face he needed to clean it up.

He reached for his phone and only then noticed his upper body was bare-his shirt must've been taken off. Sitting up, he spotted the phone on the bedside table. He grabbed it and lit up the screen.

There, on the screen, was a photo of Jessica. The dried blood had turned black, staining her face in the picture.

He pulled a few tissues from the box, went into the bathroom, and dampened them under the tap. Carefully, he wiped the caked blood from the phone's screen.

Jessica's smiling face emerged again, bright and clear. Timothy's lips curved unconsciously into a faint, wistful smile.

He left the bathroom, flopped onto the hospital bed, and just lay there, staring at Jessica's photo.

sudden urge struck-he wanted to find more photos of her. But as he scrolled through his phone, it hit him: in seven years of marriage, they'd never taken a single picture together. He'd

vanished from Timothy's

marriage license, she'd said she wanted to take

his

enlarged license photo

finally ready to take those wedding photos, she ignored him— wouldn't answer his calls, blocked

then, it hadn't been long since she'd first talked about moving out, but even then, he hadn't realized: she wanted to

it started

she'd wanted out for

apologizing properly, lost his temper,

Now, looking back, he

stability, that supposedly unbreakable

felt as if a power drill were boring straight through his

pictures from Vince's

a photo of Jessica with

Jessica wasn't with him, her smile was so radiant, so

flipped through the nine-photo grid, and his

shot-one of the faces looked oddly

remembered: that was the director Yates

news about him on his phone-the director was currently doing a press tour

that was his name.

bolt upright in

had only

invested in