From His Wife to Chief Medical Officer

One month before we were supposed to move back to Boston, my husband Sebastian quietly changed our job applications.

His best friend Nate called to talk some sense into him.

"You secretly accepted the position at Stanford Medical Center just because Lilith Valentine is in Palo Alto? Sebastian, are you out of your mind? Your wife Audrey already has the Chief Medical Officer offer from Avalon Biopharma in Boston. Weren't you two supposed to go back to the East Coast together?"

"Didn't you both spend all those years in the Harvard MD-PhD program so you could finally crack that rare disease target the foundations couldn't touch?"

Sebastian shook his head.

"Audrey loves me. Once she knows my decision, she'll come with me to California."

"Lilith is all alone out there. She needs me. Avalon will always have opportunities. But Lilith only has me."

I stood outside our apartment door. Ice spread through my chest. I turned and walked away without a sound.

If he wanted to chase his so-called love, then I would continue down my own path.

One month later, my plane landed at Logan International Airport. His call came through, frantic.

"Audrey, are you in California yet?"

I stared at the bare oaks outside the terminal, Boston's late-autumn wind cutting through them. A storm churned inside me.

"I've been here for a while."

***

I stopped in front of the glass doors at Avalon Biopharma's campus. The conversation I'd overheard a month ago was still fresh in my mind.

Nate Miller's voice came through again.

"Sebastian, are you really sure about this? At least tell Audrey in person. What if she genuinely doesn't know you pulled the applications..."

Sebastian shook his head.

"She's talked about that Avalon position for years. She's more invested in it than anyone. There's no way she doesn't know I withdrew our joint application."

"And if I tell her face to face, she'll blow up. You know her temper. Why deal with that?"

Nate didn't understand.

"You know she'll be furious, and you're still doing it behind her back?"

Sebastian sighed.

"I don't have a choice. Lilith is out there alone, struggling with severe anxiety. I can't leave her like that."

A smug certainty tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Audrey gave up Johns Hopkins for me once. She'll do it again. She'll listen."

His words landed light as air.

As if my sacrifices were simply expected.

Nate's voice carried a thread of doubt.

"You're not still hung up on Lilith, are you?"

Sebastian paused. He didn't answer right away.

Then, his voice came out, slow and reluctant.

"I have no resistance to her. None."

"And Audrey? What is she to you?"

I wanted to ask that too.

Sebastian exhaled a deep breath.

"She's the most suitable wife."

Suitable.

Not the love of his life.

Not destiny.

He didn't say it outright, but anyone listening understood.

Nate's brows pulled tight.

"Sebastian, you can't have it both ways. Don't end up losing everything."

Sebastian's smile was confident.

"Nate, my friend, that's where you're wrong."

"A man has to be a little greedy. Otherwise, what's the point of living?"

He lit a Marlboro, utterly content.

"Audrey's always been level-headed. She only cares about clinical research. Jealousy, drama—she won't stoop to any of that."

"Lilith is the kind of woman who needs protection. She relies on me. Needs me. With her, I finally feel like a real man."

A satisfied grin crossed his face.

"A man has needs. Different needs."

"And your dream? The one you two shared—cracking that target? No regrets?"

Sebastian's brow furrowed.

"If I can't even protect a woman, what's the point of talking about some drug target?"

"Life is full of regrets. But Lilith—I don't want any regrets with her."

Nate shook his head. He didn't say anything more.

I turned in silence and walked home.

I remembered when I first met Sebastian. It was at a medical conference in Boston.

He was on stage giving a presentation. The last slide read:

"Someday, I hope to bring our research to the bedside—to save the ones who can't afford to wait."

Back then, there was light in his eyes.