Chapter 4The Good Girl's Rebellion

I still remember the second year with Dominic.

A severe flu hit the city. 3% mortality rate.

My constitution was weak; I couldn't fight it and was put in mandatory isolation.

Burning up in a fever, I saw Dominic's face hovering before me.

I thought it was a dream.

I held his hand, voice raspy, calling him.

"Dom, I miss you so much."

"Am I never going to see you again?"

I was probably lucid for only a few minutes a day.

Dominic had never cried in front of me.

That day, he howled like a dog.

A thug like him, somehow found a way to volunteer at the hospital.

He rotated from Ward A to C until he saw my name on the isolation list.

I called him an idiot, risking his life to care for a critical patient like me.

But Dominic wouldn't listen. He slipped the silver bangle onto my wrist.

He said, "Chloe, happy birthday."

We were so poor back then.

We would stare at a silver ring in a trinket shop for ages.

I didn't think I'd see the next spring.

But the day Dominic wished me happy birthday...

Cherry blossoms drifted past the isolation ward window.

Later, I learned.

That silver bangle was melted down from Dominic's childhood safety amulet.

Dominic said, "Chloe, my life is tough. I can handle anything."

"You just be responsible for living a peaceful, happy life."

The silver bangle rattled on my wrist for nine years.

It was the mark young Dominic put on me.

I truly thought back then...

That Dominic and I, because of this silver, had our fates melted together.

Peace and joy.

Dominic to me.

Was like this ill-fitting silver bangle.

I gritted my teeth, pulling and tugging until my wrist was red.

Dominic panic-stubbed his cigarette.

He looked at me with bloodshot eyes, roaring.

"Chloe, what do you mean by this?!"

I frowned, eyes brimming with tears I refused to shed.

Didn't Dominic ask me to name a price for ten years of youth?

I named it, but he couldn't bear it.

"Dominic, let's just pretend we..."

"Don't say it!"

He rushed forward to cover my mouth, but Bella tripped him.

Her smile was faint, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Never entangled..."

The sentence fell.

The thoroughly deformed silver bangle was thrown into the fish pond outside the door.

Red ripples disturbed the green water.

Dominic rushed to the pond, ignoring the heavy rain, kneeling on the ground, but couldn't find that glimmer of silver.

Seeing him so frantic, I fought the urge to jump in and find it, my chest aching more and more.

What is this? Does he still have me in his heart?

The ten years with Dominic flashed before my eyes like a lantern show.

Heartache turned to numbness; even breathing was a chore.

Just to repay that "Happy Birthday" from years ago.

Barely worth it.

But Dominic and I, no matter how hard the past is to cut...

Will have no future.

The rain drifted sparsely.

When I walked into the rain, it felt like I lost half my soul.

When Dominic chased after me, he held an umbrella.

He smelled strongly of smoke, but the hand gripping my shoulder allowed no refusal.

"Chloe, I'll drive you."

I didn't turn back, but Bella stepped into a puddle.

Her bangs were wet, sticking to her pale, fragile face. Pitiful.

"Dominic, are you going to leave me here alone?"