Chapter 3
A week later, as promised, Marcus took me to the hospital to have my uterus removed. I was numb and completely devastated.
Then came the screech of tires, the crunch of twisted metal, and a burst of fire that lit up the sky.
When I opened my eyes, the airbags were already deployed.
Through the heavy smoke, I saw Marcus trapped in the damaged driver’s seat, blood flowing from a cut on his forehead.
My injuries were minor, and I was able to get out of the wreckage on my
own.
Standing outside the flaming car, I watched as his body was soaked in blood and a deep gash slashed across his face. The fire roared louder and louder behind him.
I was so happy at the thought that he was going to die, and I would finally be free.
I prayed that he would just die there. But in the end, I still saved him.
I couldn’t be as cold–blooded as they were, treating life like something disposable.
Glass shards cut my arms, and scalding metal burned my palms. Still, inch by inch, I dragged him out of the car.
For the first time, Marcus looked at me with confusion in his eyes. He didn’t understand why I had come back for him after escaping.
0.009
07.04
y
Something about it felt familiar to him, but he couldn’t pinpoint it.
We barely got ten meters away before the car exploded behind us.
The blast knocked us to the ground, and Marcus used the last of his strength to shield me with his body, taking the full force of the explosion.
He was rushed to the ICU with severe burns and remained unconscious for three days.
While he lay there, his mother had me kneeling outside his hospital room. She slapped me across the face in front of passing strangers, her voice shrill with rage as she screamed, “You bitch! If anything happens to my son. I’ll murder you!”
I didn’t say a word. If Marcus hadn’t shielded me at the final minute, I’d be lying in that hospital bed.
In some twisted way, I was grateful for the accident because it had saved my uterus.
If Marcus hadn’t demanded to see me the moment he woke up, his mother might’ve left me kneeling until I died.
When I entered his room, I saw his body was covered in gauze. His face had been stitched 17 times, from chin to brow, and his hair was burned off. That once–attractive face had become scary and disgusting.
The stench of antiseptic and rotting flesh hung heavy in the air.
I stood by the bed, looking at his body wrapped in bandages like a
mummy.
The one visible eye was bloodshot, fixed on the ceiling.
When he heard me enter, he instinctively turned away and covered his face.
30.90%
07.04
“I’m sorry, Emily,” he said.
I didn’t know what he was apologizing for–for forcing the surgery. For leaving me on my knees for three days?
But I knew I wasn’t the first person he asked for. The moment he woke up, he was desperate to explain to Nina why he hadn’t replied to her
messages.
When she arrived and saw his unrecognizable face, she screamed in fear and vomited in disgust.
Marcus broke everything in the room that night out of rage, and Nina never returned. She just texted him, saying she didn’t intend to react that way and that she was traveling overseas for a business trip and wouldn’t be able to visit him.
I poured him a glass of water and smiled softly. “Don’t worry. Your mother has already hired a great plastic surgeon. They said there won’t be any scarring.”
Suddenly, he grabbed my wrist tightly and almost crushed it. “Do you think I’m disgusting?” he asked.
I slowly reach up and caress his scarred cheek. “You became this way because of me, so I don’t have the right to think you’re disgusting. You’ll always be the same person to me.”
It was all lies. I was disgusted inside. But I couldn’t leave him, so I lied to make life more bearable.
6 39%
