He Proposed to Her, I Warn My Younger Self

Chapter 3

When I woke up, I was already lying in the intensive care unit.

The doctor came in for his rounds and looked at me for a long time before he finally couldn't help letting out a sigh. "Ms. Wright, the glass cut into your face during the accident, and it's going to be very difficult to stitch everything back together, so you need to prepare yourself for that."

In the mirror, the right side of my face was wrapped in thick bandages, with nasty, jagged wounds peeking out from the edges.

I stood there staring at my reflection for what felt like forever, feeling as if a knife had been stabbed into my chest and twisted around, leaving everything inside me bloody and torn apart.

Then, the door burst open, and Hugo stumbled in, with a bandage on his forehead and more bandages wrapped around his arm.

The moment he saw my face, he froze right where he was, and the guilt on his face was so obvious that he couldn't hide it. "Addie, are you blaming me?"

He sat down by the bed and tried to take my hand, but I pulled away.

"I'm sorry, I really never thought it would come to this. It all happened so fast back there," he said, his voice stiff and awkward.

"What good does it do to say all that now?" I could feel my eyes slowly turning red.

He fell silent, and the room stayed quiet for a very long time, with nothing but the beeping of the heart monitor breaking the silence.

Then he let out a sigh and slowly started to speak, "I'll break things off with Loria, and after that, we'll try to make it work."

He gently wiped the tears from my face, his touch careful and soft. "Next month is our ten-year anniversary, and I just so happen to have an art exhibition that day."

He took my hand in his, and this time, I didn't pull away. "When that day comes, I'm going to stand up and tell everyone about us."

There was such sincerity in his eyes, just like the boy from ten years ago who swore he'd give me the whole world, and I kept falling for it, time after time.

"Okay," I said with a nod.

Over the next month, Hugo really did change.

He pushed aside all his work to stay with me, changed my dressings himself, and clumsily tried to learn how to cook for me. Neither of us mentioned Loria. It almost felt like we had gone back to the way we used to be, back when it was just the two of us.

I started looking forward to our anniversary, and I even bought myself a beautiful new dress.

I thought to myself, maybe this time, it was real. After everything we went through, after nearly losing each other, he finally understood who really mattered.

*****

On the day of our anniversary, a lot of reporters and big names from the art world showed up.

I put on my long dress and waited backstage, my heart racing like crazy.

Then all the spotlight fell on Hugo as he stood up there.

After thanking a long list of people, he spoke in a serious voice, "Today, there's one more very important thing I need to do."

My heart leaped into my throat as he looked out at the crowd, his eyes all crinkled up with a smile, and then he said, "Loria, come on up."

The smile froze right on my face while Loria walked up in a gorgeous dress, looking all shy as their eyes met.

Then, Hugo took her hand and suddenly dropped to one knee. "Before I met you, my life was black and white, but you gave me color, you gave me inspiration, and you gave me the courage to love someone again."

He pulled a ring out of his pocket and asked, "Lori, will you marry me?"

The whole place exploded with applause and cheers, with flashes going off everywhere and everyone holding up their phones to capture this romantic moment, while I was stuck backstage, feeling like the biggest joke in the world after I had been with him through ten years of ups and downs, only to end up as nothing more than the side piece who wasn't even fit to be seen in public.

I didn't even know how I got out of there, and I stumbled down the street in my fancy dress while everyone who passed by gave me these weird looks.

When I finally got home, I took off my high heels and walked barefoot into the bathroom, where I looked at myself in the mirror, all scarred and broken, and all I felt was endless despair.

I picked up a razor blade and dragged it across my wrist, and as the blood began to flow out, I actually felt a strange kind of relief settle over me.

I typed out the whole story of these past ten years, bit by bit, from falling in love with Hugo to being betrayed, from hoping we would be together forever to completely losing all hope.

After I finished the very last sentence, I hit send, then covered my face with both hands and finally let myself cry, unable to hold it in any longer.

The person on the other end stayed quiet for a long time too, and in the end, they sent me back just one message. They wrote: I promise I'll get back at him for you.