Chapter 2

I sat quietly in the back seat the whole way home.

The scenes outside the window kept flashing past. I sat there in a daze as Irene’s words replayed over and over in my mind.

When we reached the front door, the driver dropped me off.

Five years had blurred the home in my memory.

It was not as warm as I had imagined.

The house looked like it had been empty for a long time. Dust covered all the furniture.

The swing I had built for Irene in the garden was nothing but bare wooden planks.

Everything was gone. Even the wedding photo on the wall had been taken down.

I wheeled through the empty living room. All that was left in the bedroom was a bed covered with a dust sheet.

I sighed when I saw this. Tears welled up in my eyes.

Irene and I had been together for about twenty years. We met when we were young and got married soon after.

Dreaming of making it big, we crammed ourselves into a tiny room under a hundred and eight square feet.

We fought and struggled together for years before we finally built a life for ourselves in this city.

After we got married, I bought this house with my first big paycheck.

She said she loved looking at the ocean. This place sat on the lot closest to the sea. The coastline was visible the moment we pulled open the curtains.

Back then, I thought I would be happy with her forever.

For our honeymoon, she said she wanted to watch the sunrise on a snowy mountain. So, I took her there.

But the weather turned bad that day, and a blizzard hit just as we were about to head back down.

I pulled her into a cave that barely sheltered us from the wind and wrapped my coat around her.

The two of us were trapped in that blizzard for seven days with no food or water.

The weight and pressure of the snow were so intense that I could barely breathe.

“Frederick, are we going to die? This is all my fault! I never should’ve dragged you up here,” she said tearfully as she blamed herself.

I patted her reassuringly. To keep her alive, I cut open my palm with a knife and fed her my blood.

My legs went numb from the cold. Every time I was about to pass out, Irene would pinch my wrist to keep me awake.

“Frederick, hang in there! We promised we’d spend our whole lives together. If you die, I don’t want to live either!”

I held on until the rescue team finally arrived. The moment they did, I lost consciousness.

Irene cried like a child. She begged me not to die.

“No matter what it takes, even if I have to trade my own life for yours, I’m keeping you alive.

“Please don’t die on me. Wait for me!

“When you wake up, I’ll still be your wife.”

I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes and curled my fingers into a fist.

When I was discharged from the hospital and grabbed her hand, I could feel her pull away.

I knew she was a germaphobe. With me, though, she had never let it show before.

She had probably long forgotten her promises. Still, she was right. Over the past five years, she had done more than enough for me.

I took out my phone and checked my account balance. The remaining money was enough for me to leave for good.

I might as well let them be together.