Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
Nora waking up gave her the perfect excuse to walk away. It was the best time to leave.
Wyatt met her simmering gaze, and his face fell. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that today. But if you bring up divorce again, I’ll drag you to Cardova and register a marriage certificate instead.”
Yunice froze. Cardova was the only country in the world that explicitly forbade divorce.
Watching him storm off toward the bedroom, Yunice felt her temper flare. What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Did he think he was some kind of dictator just because he had power? Was he planning to take multiple wives?
Was he hoping for some twisted fairytale where she’d be the mistress while Nora became the legal wife?
With a loud smack, Yunice threw the book in her hand aside and stormed after him.
Elianna wanted to follow and eavesdrop, but Yunice slammed the door shut behind her.
Elianna flinched, “Jeez, she’s got a temper!”
Yunice marched straight up to Wyatt. “What the hell do you want?”
Wyatt fired right back. “What do you want? You believe everything anyone else says, but not a single word from me. You won’t even ask me about it. You just make up your mind and declare me guilty. Wow, you must be really impressive!”
Yunice snapped. “You didn’t go see Nora? You didn’t know she was awake?”
Wyatt scoffed, “I knew. So what? I didn’t go.”
Yunice laughed coldly, “You didn’t go see her?”
He sneered. “Aren’t you the one threatening to divorce me? But now here you are, getting jealous and yelling like you actually love me or something.”
Yunice was speechless.
Wyatt scowled and rolled the wedding ring on his finger, grinding it with the other hand.
After a long silence, he finally muttered to Yunice, who was now sitting there quietly with a storm in her eyes. “I didn’t go see Nora. Believe it or don’t.”
Then he stood up, clearly agitated, grumbling as he walked off. “Every time she comes up, we fight. What the hell did I do to deserve this?”
He kicked a chair out of the way and disappeared into the bathroom.
The sound of running water started soon after.
Yunice sat outside, pressing her fingers to her temples in frustration.
The situation didn’t have other cool options like that. It wasn’t worth it. Why?
The moment Nora woke up, she jumped to give up her place-as if she was the guilty one.
With that thought, Yunice opened her eyes. No-she couldn’t just assume things. Even if they were going to get divorced, it had to be on her terms, with full clarity. She wasn’t going to slink away quietly, branded as the third party.
The night Nora regained consciousness, no one in the house slept peacefully. Yunice lay on the edge of the bed, her back to Wyatt, her small frame occupying barely a corner. Wyatt’s phone buzzed nonstop; it sounded like someone was bombarding him with messages. Yunice kept her eyes closed, pretending to sleep, but her mind was filled with restless images. After a while, she heard Wyatt sit up.
Then, a few seconds later, his voice came from behind her. “It’s just a group chat,” he said.
Yunice opened her eyes. “Nora posted something in her Moments. Everyone in the old friend group is talking about it.”
She couldn’t help turning around, confused as to why he was telling her this. If he’d kept it to himself, she wouldn’t have known at all. Wyatt tossed her his phone. “See for yourself.”
Yunice frowned. Her pride told her not to look, but her curiosity eventually won. It was a chat group of Wyatt’s friends-Yunice wasn’t a part of it. Someone named Bale had posted a screenshot: a photo Nora had just posted.
She lay in a hospital bed, oxygen tubes still on her face, smiling weakly at the camera while flashing a peace sign. Her caption read: “…I can see the world again, but I’m not happy…”
Bale didn’t say a word after posting the image, but the silent members in the group lit up like firecrackers. “Nora’s awake?” “Holy crap, she really is! That’s a medical miracle!” “I heard only patients with a deep obsession even have a chance of waking up from something like that…” Someone posted a drooping emoji. Another followed with a dust-covered, haggard one.
Then five minutes passed with no one saying anything. Finally, a new message popped up-from Maine. She didn’t say anything either. Just tagged Wyatt.
Yunice felt a tight squeeze in her chest. No one had said anything pointed, but anyone who knew the story could tell-they were trying to test Wyatt’s reaction to Nora waking up. They kept posting to make sure he’d see it. When he didn’t respond, someone finally tagged him outright. If he kept ignoring it, it would look deliberate.
Yunice hesitated before handing the phone back to Wyatt. At the end of the day, she was just a bystander. She couldn’t make choices for anyone. Wyatt took the phone with one hand-and with the other, pulled Yunice, who had been curled up on the edge of the bed, straight into his arms. Because of their positioning, she had no choice but to rest her head on his shoulder-and that let her see his phone screen too.
With one hand, Wyatt typed out a single word in the chat: “Congratulations.”
Yunice’s eyes flickered with surprise. That single word said everything about where he stood. It carried distance. It wasn’t something you’d say to your girlfriend.
After he hit send, the chat went dead-like the entire group had lost connection. Then a voice message popped up from Maine, full of rage: “Wyatt, say that again!” But it cut off halfway through-like someone had stopped her mid-sentence. Another message followed: “Thank you.”
Yunice froze when she saw the sender’s name: Nora. So Nora was in the group chat. That meant she’d seen everything their mutual friends had said-and Wyatt’s cold reply too? Even from outside the screen, Yunice felt the secondhand embarrassment and pain. Wyatt had been merciless; polite, but barely.
He looked down at her lashes and said, “What? You think stringing her along would’ve been better?”
Yunice hadn’t said a word. She had just…empathized. Empathized with a woman who had loved too deeply. Nora had been willing to die for Wyatt. Yunice could never match that kind of love.
Right then, Yunice’s phone buzzed. She glanced at it-and immediately shot upright. Wyatt had added her to the group chat. New members were always highlighted. And to make it worse, Wyatt had tagged Nora directly: “This is my wife, Yunice.”
Her brain went blank. It felt like her entire body had been thrown into a fire.
Maine’s voice cut through the air like a siren. “Wyatt, you bastard!”
Nora lay in the hospital bed, surrounded by flowers, their mutual friends crowding the room. When she woke up, the first person she saw was Maine. Maine had been overjoyed, quickly spreading the news. All their old friends came to visit-except Wyatt. Everyone could see the disappointment in Nora’s eyes. That’s why they’d tried to nudge him in the group chat, hoping he’d respond. But it had backfired, leaving Nora even more humiliated.
Watching the light fade from Nora’s eyes, Amyra finally whispered, “Nora… Wyatt got married a year ago.”
Bale frowned and glanced at Amyra, but ultimately stayed silent.
No one else spoke up either.
That was the reality. They’d done what they could to help-to push Wyatt for an answer. And Wyatt had made it clear, he was leaving the past behind.
Truth be told, none of them really cared who Wyatt ended up marrying. His choice was their stance, too. The only reason they even showed up today was to ease their own conscience.
Before long, someone changed the subject and tried to lift the mood. “Nora, what did the doctor say? How long until you’re fully recovered?”
“Yeah, get better soon. You’ve got a second chance now. Maybe you’ll even go back to work…”
But they stopped mid-sentence, faces stiffening. Nora used to work at Huaxin. After her accident, the department had been dissolved.
The more they talked, the more awkward things became. The atmosphere turned so uncomfortable that each of them began making excuses to leave, mumbling about letting her rest as they quietly filed out.
In the end, only Maine remained.
Her eyes were red and swollen like walnuts. “They never meant to help you! What kind of friends are those?!”
Nora lay motionless in bed, her pale face so eerily similar to Yunice’s, dim and expressionless. “Don’t blame them. They can’t change how Wyatt feels. After three years, they still came to see me-that’s already more than I could ask for.”
But Maine wasn’t angry about that. Her voice cracked with helpless fury. “You’re really okay with letting Yunice steal Wyatt from you?”
Nora spoke quietly. “Even if I’m not okay with it… what can I do? Beg Wyatt to look at me again?”
Maine looked down at the group chat, eyes burning. Yunice’s name in that list was a stab to the heart. “Who does she think she is?”
Then, more bitterly, she muttered, “I don’t even think it’s Wyatt who wants to keep his distance. I bet it’s Yunice clinging to him, making him do it!”
“They’ve been married a year. Why didn’t she show up in the group before? Why now, right when you wake up, just to rub it in your face?”