Chapter 2

"I fell. Anyway, my period just started—can you step out for a bit?" I said without emotion.

Nicholas froze for a moment before I pushed him out the door.

“What’s there to cry about just because your period came?” he muttered.

Leaning against the door, I slid to the floor, utterly drained.

I didn’t understand.

Three years ago, Nicholas would have made me hot chocolate, and prepared heating pads and hot water bottles without being asked.

Now, he complained that I was being dramatic.

How could a coma turn him into someone I hardly recognized?

The next morning, I spoke to my landlord and arranged to move into a small studio apartment.

Nicholas and I had shared this place, but with me ending the lease early, the two thousand dollar rent would now fall entirely on him.

Not that it mattered—I'd been the one paying the rent all along.

After packing my belongings, I was about to head out when I overheard hushed voices outside.

“Stop it! Why are you here so early today?”

“I wanted to bring you breakfast. Why are you being so mean?”

“What if my girlfriend sees us?”

"So, she’s your girlfriend? If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was your mom. Doesn’t staring at that lifeless face every day drive you crazy?"

I had reached my limit. I slammed the door hard and turned to face their stunned expressions with a smile.

"Ordering delivery this early?" I asked lightly.

The woman’s smile froze awkwardly on her face.

I glanced at her briefly. I had already looked into her background yesterday.

Pearl Maddon.

A streamer on a platform called TikTok. Her specialty was disguising herself as people in marginalized professions to conduct so-called "social experiments."

She must have pretended to be deaf and mute to record my reaction as content for her videos.

But her carelessness caused her to crash into me, ruining the footage and likely making it unusable for editing.

That explained why there had been no new updates yesterday.

Still, I couldn’t figure out how she had gotten involved with Nicholas.

I decided to take the lead.

“Oh, aren’t you the... deaf-mute lady from yesterday?”

She froze, visibly flustered. She nodded as she turned her gaze toward Nicholas.

He cleared his throat.

“The delivery’s here. You can leave now.”

I stopped Pearl from leaving.

“What’s the rush?”

I pulled out my phone and brought up the hospital payment records.

“I forgot to ask you for compensation yesterday. I don’t have health insurance, and the hospital bills drained half of my savings. I almost went bankrupt. So, what do you think we should do about that?”

“She’s deaf and mute—don’t be so aggressive,” Nicholas interjected instinctively.

“You’re helping her?”

I chewed on the words, smiling coldly. “Fine. Then you can pay for her.”

Nicholas assumed I was mocking him, and his anger flared.

“What are you implying? Do you think I’m broke? Don’t forget—I took care of you for a while too.”

I hadn’t forgotten.

At that moment, a deep sorrow welled up within me.

Yes, Nicholas had supported me, before he became comatose.

But I had handled every household matter.

When his mother had a stroke and was hospitalized, I had to take care of her, clean and change her, and also feed her every night.

The next day, I had dark circles under my eyes while washing their clothes and preparing their meals.

And in the end, it seemed like my care for him had been worthless.

“Well, you can pay for her then.”

I took a deep breath and repeated calmly, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you—every one of your bank cards is under my control, and there’s not a single penny left in them.”

Nicholas’s anger exploded as he slapped me across the face.

I staggered and fell to the ground.

The pain on my face, the scrape on my wrist, and the look of disdain on his face—

It felt like ants crawling through my veins, slowly gnawing at my bones, tunneling into my heart.

It shattered the last shred of affection I had for Nicholas.