Chapter 3

I didn't know when I fell asleep.

In my dream, I seemed to return to that year when I was eight.

A depression patient my parents had been treating jumped off a building.

The patient's family believed Mom and Dad had guided the patient to commit suicide.

They wanted to make Mom and Dad experience the pain of losing a loved one too.

So they found my school and kidnapped me.

Wendy saw me being dragged into the car and started crying from fear.

The kidnappers were afraid of being exposed, so they took her too.

After several transfers, we were sold to a mountain village.

The man who bought us was a single man.

He treated me as a woman and treated Wendy like livestock.

When Wendy went out to work in the fields, he would tie me to the bed.

I don't know how long those days lasted.

I finally found a chance to knock him unconscious with something.

But I was too weak—he only passed out for a moment.

Wendy came home just in time and grabbed his legs to hold him back.

I ran to the village entrance and happened to run into Mom and Dad, who'd followed the leads to find me.

But when we went back to save Wendy, her legs were already twisted beyond recognition.

Such a terrifying dream.

This dream had tormented me for ten years.

I woke with a start, my hands trembling as I grabbed my phone to call Wendy.

She hadn't slept either, crying until her voice was hoarse but still trying to comfort me.

"Nina, don't listen to what they said."

"It's not your fault. You're innocent too."

I was silent for a moment before speaking softly:

"Wendy, can I come see you?"

I ran as fast as I could to Wendy's apartment building.

She was struggling to wheel herself out.

I rushed over and pushed her to the small garden in the residential complex.

It was the middle of the night—the complex was empty.

The world was so quiet, there was only us.

I fumbled in my pocket and pressed my bank card with all my savings into her hand.

"I know your aunt and uncle got you the latest prosthetic technology that won't irritate your residual limbs."

She pushed it back with red eyes.

I insisted on tucking it into her pocket.

"Wendy, don't refuse me."

"Our family owes your family. If it weren't for me, you'd still be healthy."

"Just let me make it up to you, even just a little."

I crouched in front of her and gently brushed against her leg.

Ten years ago, when I was thrown out like a broken rag doll, she'd cried as she placed my head on her lap.

She told me everything would be okay.

Now, tears streaming down her face, she tremblingly brushed my teardampened hair away from my face.

"Nina, Nina, everything will get better."

The night was pitch black, but Wendy's eyes always sparkled.

I said nothing.

After we'd both cried silently for a long time, a light turned on.

Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence arrived, their voices trembling:

"You again!"

"Nina, why are you looking for my daughter in the middle of the night?"

Furious, they pulled Wendy in front of them.

Their voices held unbearable pain.

"Wendy! You can ignore the harm she's caused you."

"But do you know that every time you see her, our hearts ache!"

"In our eyes, she's the culprit who turned you into this! We wish she would die!"

"Please don't see her anymore, okay?"

Wendy cried and shook her head.

But I laughed: "Don't worry, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence."

"Today is the last time I'll see Wendy."

Finally, I bent down and whispered in Wendy's ear: "What happened in that village—never speak of it again, even until death."

With that, I turned and left decisively.

Wendy's crying and shouting scattered in the wind.

I walked far away before I dared look back.

My heart felt like it had a huge hole torn in it, whistling with wind.

The bond we'd grown up with, connected like flesh and bone, I'd severed with my own hands.

It hurt so much.

It hurt even more than when the knife sliced across my wrist.