Chapter 1

When Caelan Sullivan got home, I was packing for the camping trip.

I had loved hiking since I was young, and Caelan knew that.

I begged him for a long time to let me join this trip, and he finally agreed.

But just before we were supposed to leave, he changed his mind.

With a disgusted look, he said, “You’re a cripple. Why do you want to climb a mountain? Why do you always do things that embarrass me?”

Then, he walked off without looking back.

Something I had been excited about for six months fell through just because he said it was “embarrassing”.

Caelan kicked the stuff on the floor and said irritably, “You do nothing but sit around all day. Can’t you at least clean up the house? It’s a mess!”

He threw a jewelry box at me. “It’s for you. Isabel helped me pick it out. Open it.”

The red velvet box looked exquisite, but I had seen it in Isabel Turner’s post before.

It was a selfie of her wearing a necklace worth millions of dollars.

Behind her, Caelan was smiling as he paid for it.

I remembered the caption. [The CEO asked me to help him pick out a necklace, and then he gave it to me. What’s that supposed to mean?]

Other people eagerly responded.

[What else could it mean? It was obviously meant for you!]

[He’s being straightforward! The cold CEO is being direct!]

I recognized the necklace.

The valuable one was the one Isabel took, and the box I had only contained a freebie.

“Thanks, but I don’t like it.”

I closed the box and threw it in the trash can.

Caelan got angry when he saw me do this.

“Isabel picked it out for you because she meant well! Don’t be so ungrateful!

“Pick it up right now! Do you hear me?!”

I stood still and did not move.

To my surprise, Caelan walked over, shoved me hard, and yelled, “Nellie, you stupid cripple! Stop acting like you can’t hear me!

“I’m giving you a way out, but you won’t take it! Why are you acting so high and mighty?!”

Caelan pushed me hard, and I lost my balance. I stumbled back a few steps and hit my lower back on the corner of the table.

I groaned and fell to the floor. I shook from the pain.

When Caelan saw this, he panicked and quickly came over to help me.

He apologized, “I went too far earlier. Don’t take it to heart.”

So, he knew that calling me a cripple was too much.

I got this leg injury while trying to save Caelan during a camping trip when he fell into a ravine.

At first, he was grateful and always avoided mentioning my leg injury.

But then, Isabel showed up.

She was the first to call me “Miss Cripple”.

Caelan did not scold her. Instead, he laughed with her.

After that, he often called me a cripple to insult me.

Caelan wanted to pick me up and take me to the hospital, but just then, his phone rang.