Chapter 2
701 Words
By the time I got back, it was already dark outside.
I pushed open the door to my tiny rental apartment.
One bed, one table, barely enough space to turn around without bumping into something.
I'd lived here for three years.
Back then, I thought none of it mattered as long as it was for love. Now, it just felt pathetic.
Three years ago, on that rainy night, Cedric shoved me out of the way and got hit by the car himself.
I still remembered holding his blood-covered body in my arms, feeling like my whole world had collapsed.
After that, he was left in a vegetative state.
And his startup company, which had just begun taking off, drowned in debt after he went down.
The creditors came knocking on my door, and I gritted my teeth and promised I'd pay everything back.
For three whole years, guilt ate away at me day and night. If he hadn't tried to save me, none of this would've happened.
So I worked nonstop, turned down the future my father arranged for me, and cut ties with my family completely.
I thought that as long as I held on, he'd wake up someday. I thought the debts would eventually disappear.
Turns out it was all fake.
I crouched down and pulled a box out from under the bed. Inside were all the medical records, debt papers, and payment receipts from the past three years.
I had never looked at them carefully before.
But now, as I flipped through them page by page, my hands started shaking.
The dates on the medical records didn't match. The amounts on the IOUs had been altered. Some of the signatures weren't even Cedric's handwriting.
The lies were so obvious. Yet somehow, I stayed blind for three years.
Tears splashed onto the papers, smearing the ink. I covered my face and cried so hard my whole body trembled.
We used to love each other so much.
Back in college, he proposed to me in front of the entire department and swore he'd only ever love me. But with one fake accident, he turned me into a complete joke.
My chest tightened harder and harder until I could barely breathe.
Then suddenly, I remembered something. I stumbled toward the drawer beside my bed.
That accident hadn't just turned Cedric into a vegetative state. It also took away my baby. I had been less than two months pregnant.
And after years of stress and pressure, I developed depression. Without medication, I couldn't sleep at all.
The funniest part?
Over the last three years, Gina would occasionally come "comfort" me. I was so touched back then that I practically treated her like family.
Now I realized every visit was just her coming to enjoy my misery.
I swallowed my pills and wiped away my tears.
A man like that wasn't worth another second of heartbreak.
The Cedric I loved in college had died a long time ago.
My phone suddenly rang.
It was Gina.
"Lynna, why aren't you at the hospital? I just stopped by the room and didn't see you."
Her voice sounded full of concern, just like the caring best friend she'd always pretended to be.
"I've been busy working. No time to take care of him. If you've got that much free time, go hire a caretaker. Otherwise, mind your own business." I said calmly.
There was a brief silence on the other end. Then she laughed softly.
"Oh come on, I'm just worried about you. You've worked soooo hard these past three years. My boyfriend saw how exhausted I was and insisted on taking me on vacation to help me relax. So sadly, I can't visit you anymore. Guess that means you'll have to stay there all alone, taking care of your precious comatose husband."
Gina deliberately stressed the words "my boyfriend."
"Oh right, did I tell you? I casually mentioned wanting a gemstone necklace, and he immediately took me shopping. It cost over a million. Seriously, I tried to stop him, but he just wouldn't listen."
I listened to her bragging, but strangely, I didn't feel angry anymore, only amused.
"Are you sure he's actually your boyfriend?"
- Writer
