Chapter 2

Every word that came from Greg felt like a sharp thorn, piercing me until I was riddled with holes.

I froze right where I stood, so paralyzed by the sheer agony that I couldn’t even move.

“Luanne, back when Greg caught you and Frank in bed together, you lost the right to fake innocence. How do you still have the nerve to stand here and play the victim?”

“Greg, don’t go easy on her. Since she’s here to make a scene today, you should settle all the old scores and the new ones with her right now. Show her what happens when she crosses you!”

Everyone in the room turned against me. The looks they threw my way made me feel like nothing more than a pile of rotting garbage.

Suddenly, a stream of ice-cold red wine poured down over my head. Greg grabbed me by the throat, his eyes bloodshot.

“Don’t you love drenching people in red wine? Then let’s make sure you get your fill!” he snarled. “Right now, Chloe is my fiancée. As long as I’m around, I won’t allow anyone to hurt her!”

Suddenly deprived of oxygen, I began to struggle out of instinct. With a loud rip, the front of my shirt was torn open. Right across my chest, a dense cluster of pus-filled blisters was oozing a foul, unspeakable stench.

The crowd immediately covered their noses and gasped in shock. Seeing that, Greg’s grip loosened slightly, his eyes flickering with a dark, unreadable emotion.

“You… What happened to you?”

I bit my lip hard, desperately fighting back the tears in my eyes, forcing myself not to cry out loud.

“Oh my gosh, Luanne, you really don’t take care of yourself at all, do you? You’ve let an STD spread all the way to your chest! Just how wild have you been, sleeping around over the past ten years?”

Before I could open my mouth to explain, Chloe shouted out in mock astonishment, “Gross! Her filthiness burns my eyes. I’ve seen trashy people before, but I’ve never seen anyone ruin themselves to this extent. This is sickening.”

Amidst the wave of foul insults, Greg looked at me with disgust and shoved me hard, sending me crashing to the floor. Then, he grabbed a bottle of high-proof liquor from the table and poured it directly over my chest.

“How dare you show up in front of me looking like this? Fine, I’ll play the good guy for once and give you a proper disinfection!”

I clenched my fists tight, tears finally betraying me and bursting from my eyes.

I wanted to say, Greg, do you have any idea? What’s on my chest isn’t a disease. This is the price I paid just to come back and see you because I am truly dead.

As bottle after bottle of strong liquor washed over my wounds until my flesh turned pale and raw, I shivered from the excruciating pain. Yet, the onlookers watching showed no sympathy at all as they continued to mock me.

“Hey, Greg. I heard high-proof alcohol catches fire instantly. Why don’t we try it out on her?”

“Since she’s already rotting away like this, if she actually catches fire, wouldn’t it just burn all those nasty germs away?”

My eyes widened in pure disbelief. I grabbed Greg’s sleeve tightly, shaking my head in a desperate frenzy. His eyes, however, remained dark, making it impossible to read any of the emotions hidden inside.

Seeing this, Chloe pulled out a lighter, handed it over to Greg, and snorted at me.

“Luanne, stop playing pathetic. You should be thrilled that Greg is sterilizing your wounds for you. After all, didn’t you come here today just to get his attention? Well, congratulations, you got what you wanted.”

One by one, Greg pried my fingers away from his sleeve. His voice was so terrifyingly deep that it sent a shiver down my spine.

“Then tell me, what kind of sickness is it? If you can name it, I’ll believe you.”

His tone was identical to the night we broke up. It was the same voice he used when he found me lying in Frank’s arms with my clothes a mess.

“Luanne, as long as you tell me that nothing happened between you and Frank, I will believe you are innocent.”

The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth, and a sense of helpless despair instantly washed over me. In the exact same situation ten years ago, when faced with Greg’s interrogation, I had swallowed the agonizing pain in my chest and forced myself to act like I didn’t care at all.