Chapter 7

Icy seawater rushed over her nose and mouth while Yvonne flailed helplessly. She could swim, but her body had no strength left.

She began to sink. Air was replaced by water, and the light from above grew faint and farther away.

Suffocation dulled her consciousness, and she stopped struggling.

Maybe this was better, to die here and disappear into the depths. In the next life, she would be a small fish which was free from memory and the weight of it all.

But why was Jason’s voice echoing in her mind?

He was saying, “Yvonne, I love you. Let’s never be apart. Not in this life, not in the next.”

***

Yvonne never expected to open her eyes again. But when she did, she found herself strapped to a hospital bed.

If it were not for the absence of electroshock equipment, she would have thought she had been dragged back to the psychiatric hospital.

She was tied down for three days. During those three days, no one came to see her except the nurses who dropped off meals and medications. They ignored her entirely and never answered any of her questions.

She was on the edge of a breakdown when the door finally creaked open. It was Hannah’s husband, Zach Scott.

His eyes were filled with loathing and hatred when they landed on Yvonne. He walked straight up to her and slapped her across the face.

“Yvonne, how dare you come back?”

She bit down on her lip and said nothing.

“Jason loved you so much. Hannah treated you like family… Why did you kill her? Why didn’t you die?! Why did Jason save you from the sea?!”

Zach was like an unhinged beast, and Yvonne’s face swelled from the slap while she stared blankly into the air.

After a long while. Zach eventually calmed down and looked at Yvonne coldly.

“Cindy has been diagnosed with aplastic anemia. She needs a bone marrow transplant, and you’re a match.”

Yvonne seemed to have realized something and lifted her head in disbelief.

Zach sneered. “Jason’s already agreed to it. They’re extracting your marrow this afternoon. Yvonne, you owe him this.

“You probably don’t even know this, but Cindy saved Jason from the fire. She’s the one he owes his life to. They will never be apart.”

Yvonne’s voice cracked, and she sounded like a wind-up doll. “The fire... You mean five years ago…”

“Yes. Five years ago. Unlike you, she has a heart.”

But something inside Yvonne shattered. No… That could not be true. She was the one who had run into the flames and saved Jason!

“I want to see Jason. Let me see him!”

Zach scoffed. “He doesn’t want to see you ever again. You’re on your own now.”

“Wait! Zach, please! I can’t…”

He did not even spare her another glance. He strode toward the door and commanded coldly, “Prep her for the transplant.”

The nurse stepped forward and tried to restrain Yvonne. Tears streamed down her face while she begged, “No, please! I can’t. I have ALS. I have a neurological disorder!”

No one cared, only a detached voice responded, “Miss Xander, please cooperate. Mr. Fender said this is what you owe him.”

She froze. She stopped resisting and let the anesthetic needle slip into her body.

Tears ran silently down her face, and her expression was blank.

‘No, Jason. I don’t owe you anything,’ she thought.

The marrow extraction procedure was excruciating, it felt like her soul was being ripped from her body. She heard her own screams echoing throughout the operating room.

The damage to her nerves was irreversible. She was left paralyzed from the waist down and would never be able to walk again.

Jason still did not show. Only Zach came. He spared her a glance and spat out coldly, “Tough luck. You deserved it.”