All Chapters of The Final Experiment: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

Wave after wave crashed over the sand, turning the wedding dress Aaron Shaw had spent six sleepless months designing into a crumpled, ugly mess. I stared blankly at my phone as one cheerful update after another appeared on my feed. Dad posted a photo of Zara Gomez receiving her award. His caption read: [Congratulations to my daughter on completing her psychology thesis. You make us proud.] Mom posted right after him: [Ten years of hard work has paid off. I can't wait to see Zara's paper shake up the academic world.] Everyone had found the perfect words to celebrate the end of Zara's ten-year experiment on me. Even Aaron, who had refused to post anything about our wedding, wrote a long message congratulating her. In the photo, Zara stood with her arms spread toward the sunrise. Meanwhile, I was only "Test Subject Number One" mentioned in passing in their long posts, spending the entire night waiting on the beach. Saltiness filled my mouth, and I could no longer tell whethe

Chapter 2

I watched as Zara threw the velvet box into the waves. It contained the custom ring Aaron had ordered for me a year earlier, and he had never even let me see it. I lunged into the water on instinct, trying to catch it, but my fingers only brushed one corner before it sank. The last flash of red disappeared beneath the water, shattering whatever was still holding my heart intact. My eyes red, I shoved Zara as hard as I could in a frenzy. "What gives you the right to control my life?!" A powerful blow hit my right shoulder. Then, Aaron rushed forward and scooped Zara into his arms before she could fall. "Enough! Zara was right. Cowardice is the lowest kind of emotion. I won't marry a woman who can't even control her own emotions." He shoved me hard enough to send me crashing into the cold water. Saltwater flooded my throat. I coughed until tears and mucus ran all over my face. Aaron stood over me, his voice cold. "I listened to Zara and coddled you too much. That's how you be

Chapter 3

Aaron glanced at me from the rearview mirror, his frown deepening. "Zara spent all night dealing with your situation and hasn't complained once. Can't you just let her have this? Everything she has done has been for your own good." I closed my eyes against the pain. For my own good? When I was five, they had locked me alone in a pitch-black basement to test my stress response. When I had a fever that would not break, Zara had deliberately kept my parents from answering my calls so she could observe my will to survive in a desperate situation. Everything Zara had 'helped me' with had hurt me repeatedly. To her, all that pain was nothing more than cold data in a research report. The car stopped at the entrance of the amusement park. I climbed out, dragging the huge skirt of my wedding dress behind me. It was covered in sand, mud, and stains. I looked utterly pathetic. Curious stares from strangers hurt me until I wanted to find somewhere to hide. Aaron instinctively start

Chapter 4

When I woke up, Aaron was asleep beside my hospital bed, holding my hand tightly. My slight movement woke him, and he opened his eyes, still groggy. "You're awake. Do you want some warm water?" His exhausted face pulled me back to when I was twelve. That year, I had been in a terrible car accident and suffered thirty-six fractures. The pain had kept me awake for entire nights. At Zara's suggestion, my parents refused to stay overnight because she said it would build my willpower. So, every day, Aaron dragged over a small stool and slept beside my bed. He helped turn me over, gave me water, and even awkwardly wiped me clean. He had looked at me with complete earnestness. "I think they're all wrong. There's nothing wrong with being sensitive. It's how your soul senses the world. I'll always protect that soft part of you." Now, Aaron held a cup of warm water to my lips with a straw already in it, his voice gentle. "It's my fault for what happened earlier today. I didn't thin

Chapter 5

There was chaos the moment I said I was calling off the marriage. Within minutes, my phone could not stop ringing. Dad. Mom. Zara. Aaron… I declined every one of them. Only one number made me hesitate. Grandma. She was the last person in my life that gave me any warmth and light. When I was locked in the basement and shaking with terror, she would open the lock and pull me into her arms, cursing them for what they had done to me. She used to chase Aaron around with her cane too, swatting at him and warning him not to bully me. Later, her health got worse, and she spent her years bedridden. But more than anything, she wanted to see Aaron and me get married before she eventually passed away. But in the end, I had disappointed her too. I bit my lip until it went pale, then forced myself to decline the call. Afterward, I went to the immigration office alone. I had wanted to leave for years, to go abroad and see what life looked like without any of them in it. But when

Chapter 6

Zara stood there holding a small video camera, its lens fixed on me. Her voice was shaking as she said, "Anne, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. I only wanted to show Grandma my research results so she could see how strong you'd become. "But she got too emotional. When she saw you crying alone at the wedding, she suddenly had a heart attack. I hit the call button right away, but... They still couldn't save her. I hope her example can finally teach you how to control your grief when someone you love dies." It felt as if my heart had finally shattered. I lunged at her and tore the camera from her hands, smashing it against the floor with all my strength. "You killed Grandma! Zara, get out of here!" Everyone moved at once to shield her. Dad's face was full of grief and rage. "Anne! Who told you to yell in front of your grandmother? Why are you always so reckless?!" Mom checked Zara frantically, then turned to me. "Your grandmother was already in poor health. How can y

Chapter 7

Five years later. Central District, Harbor City. I walked out of the office after a four-hour merger and acquisition meeting. My assistant, Lisa, hurried after me and handed me an iced Americano. "Your coffee, Anne. Just the way you like it, black with no sugar or milk." I took a sip. The bitterness dispelled my exhaustion immediately as it burst in my mouth. I had not cried in a very long time. Long hours and a fast-paced life had left me little time to sink into my feelings. I learned to solve problems quickly and handle crises as calmly as I could, just like how Zara and Aaron had once wanted. I became strong, independent, and even a little cold. However, none of this had anything to do with them anymore. When I got back to my apartment and opened the door, a tall figure walked up to me immediately. "Anne! You're home!" He was my new boyfriend, Johan Harris. He was a wealthy heir with so much energy that he could be a little loud. If I were to describe him, he would

Chapter 8

Aaron Shaw. That was a name that had been gone from my life for five years, yet it had appeared again without warning. For one second, I could even feel myself forgetting to breathe. Johan, however, looked intrigued. "Aaron Shaw, huh? That sounds kind of familiar." The gallery manager smiled. "Five years ago, Mr. Shaw gave up a successful career as an architect in his home country and became an artist. Most of his work focuses on redemption and regret, and he has even won several international awards. "Ebbing Tide isn't for sale. It's also the only one of his works filled with this much despair and pain." The manager pointed to a small dark red mark near the girl's ankle. "People say he based it on something that happened to him. He had badly hurt a young woman once and watched helplessly as she walked into the sea, but he failed to reach her. He painted this to make sure he never forgot what he did." Johan listened closely, then turned to me. "Anne, don't you think this gu

Chapter 9

Later, I heard that Aaron shut down his studio abroad and moved back home after the dinner. Then, he became the art director on a major project with my company. After that, seeing each other became unavoidable. He never showed emotion the way he had at the dinner party. At work, he was professional and polite. In meetings, he listened carefully to everything I said. During project discussions, he gave fair, professional feedback. Then, on nights when I worked late, he would sometimes leave a cup of hot coffee on my desk without saying anything. No sugar, no milk. It was how I drank my coffee now. Johan got jealous more than once. Every day, he showed up at exactly the same time to pick me up after work, as if staking his claim. Whenever Aaron saw him, he would quietly step back and keep a safe distance. He handled everything so well that I almost started to believe the decade that had passed had really been nothing but a nightmare. Then one day, I overheard two new intern

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