Julian had called me exactly twice after I was rushed to the hospital. I had not picked up.
To be fair, he was probably distracted. Lily had been putting on an Oscar-worthy performance, crying about how sad she was and threatening to hurt herself. Naturally, Julian did not have the bandwidth to care about whether his wife was alive or dead.
It took a full week for Lily's 'condition' to stabilize enough for Julian to finally go home.

He walked in, tossed his coat on the floor like he owned the place, and shouted toward the living room out of habit.
"Why isn't dinner ready yet?!"
The house answered with a cold, heavy silence.
Julian frowned. The vibe was off. He checked the living room, then the bedroom. He did a full sweep of the apartment before his brain finally caught up with reality: No one was there.
I was gone.
He yanked out his phone and dialed my number. Straight to voicemail.

"Damn it," Julian cursed, assuming I was throwing another tantrum. He decided he did not have the patience to deal with me and went out drinking with his buddies instead.
After a few days of living in a drunken stupor, he still had not heard a peep from me. That was when reality crashed the party in the form of a panicked phone call from his office.
"Mr. Vance, we have a problem. A massive bug in the software. The tech team has been trying to patch it for days, but they're stuck. Can you ask Ms. Lane to take a look?"
Technically, I was a partner. The staff always called me Ms. Lane out of respect.

However, hearing 'Ms. Lane'–at this very moment–grated on Julian's nerves like nails on a chalkboard.
"Are the people in the tech group just a bunch of freeloaders?" he snapped. "You can't even fix a tiny bug?"
The subordinate stammered on the other end. "It... Well, it's the software Ms. Lane designed. Her architecture is very advanced, sir. That's why the company is so popular, but it also means..."
"Alright, alright, cut the crap!"
Julian hung up, annoyed. He hesitated for a second, then tried calling me again. Still off.
He was starting to get agitated. He scrolled through his contacts, looking for any of my friends, only to realize he did not have a single number.
He froze. It was not just friends. Aside from my cell number, he realized he had absolutely no way of finding me.
Panic started to claw at his throat. He ran to his car and sped to the hospital. He tracked down the doctor who had been on duty that night.
"I'm asking about Elena," Julian demanded. "What's her condition?"
The doctor typed on his computer, looking confused. "Sorry, I don't have a patient named Elena registered here. Are you sure you got the name right?"
Julian's face turned a shade of purple. "Are you kidding me? You think I'd forget my own wife's name?"
Just then, a young nurse, the one who had been there when I was admitted, walked by. She saw Julian, and her expression twisted into pure disgust.
"You're looking for Elena?" she asked, her voice dripping with ice.
"Yes! Where is she?"
The nurse did not even blink.
"Dead. Massive hemorrhage. She flatlined right here. DOA."
Julian stumbled back like he had been punched. The blood drained from his face.
"Impossible..." he whispered. "She was fine! She was healthy! How could she... How could she be dead? And if she is, why is there no record?"
The nurse glared at him, remembering exactly how much pain I had been in while he was nowhere to be found.
"Because when she was rushed into the ER, she had no family with her. No one to pay the fees. We tried to contact you, Mr. Vance. However, you were too busy holding your little homewrecker's hand while she cried about her fake depression."
She took a step closer. "Since no one brought an ID to register her, Elena wasn't entered into the system. That's why you can't find her."
Julian looked like he had been hit by a truck. "That's impossible! Impossible! And what do you mean 'fake depression'? Lily has severe clinical depression! It's serious!"
"Please," the nurse scoffed. "She bribed the doctor for that diagnosis. There is absolutely nothing wrong with her. If you don't believe me, go pull her records."
She did not wait for a response. She just turned on her heel and walked away.