His Love Stayed Silent Until Death

Mercy had loved Bradley Cornell for a long time. Bradley came from a powerful and wealthy family, and he was supposed to marry another woman he loved. On the wedding day, that woman ran away with another man, leaving Bradley embarrassed in front of everyone. To stop the scandal from spreading, Mercy stepped forward and agreed to marry Bradley. She had admired him quietly for years, so even though the marriage started suddenly, she hoped that if she stayed by his side and treated him well, he might slowly come to love her. But the marriage never became warm. Bradley treated Mercy politely but without affection. He spent most of his time working and rarely came home early. When he did come home, he acted distant. Mercy felt more like a stranger living in his house than his wife. Still, Mercy stayed loyal. She waited for him every night and tried to take care of everything for him. She believed that one day he would notice her efforts.

Three years after my death, my wife’s first love was hanging onto life by a thread, and only my system could save him. To force me to show up, she cut off my father’s medical payments. My sick mother was forced to beg her out in the summer heat until she collapsed. She even threw my beloved little sister into a bonfire to be eaten up by the flames. As she waited for me to show up, apologize to her, and use the system to save her first love, my sister finally stopped hiding the truth. “He died three years ago! Three years ago, he traded his life so you would survive that car crash!”

Sometimes our feelings cannot speak, but our actions did. We express it through actions, but what if that someone you love does not feel the same way? Are you still going to pursue your feelings? even though you didn't meet his/her standards? Do you ever experience this so-called unspoken love? Are you strong enough to say those three words even if that someone rejects you?

This story is about love. Not the lovey dovey type you see in the movies. This is the toxic type. The unhealthy and obsessive type of love. The one you can’t let go of no matter how hard you try. Because when she loves, she loves with a passion that borders the line of death and destruction. The type of love she lives and breathes for. His love pushes all boundaries, usually the bad ones. He would kill anyone who touches her. That love that consumes their souls each time they touch, feeling their bodies break as they crave for one another more and more like a drug an addict cannot resist. How far are they willing to go to keep to each other?

Ever since my wife, Allison Strong, gives birth to our son, Noel Russell, she becomes unable to speak. The doctors say it is likely a psychological issue. For three whole years, she does not say a single word to me. Even when there's a gas leak in the house, she simply waits for me to discover it myself. When Noel cries from hunger, she never tries to comfort him. After my company goes bankrupt, I don't even have time to grieve. I spend my days delivering packages to support the family while taking my wife to see psychologists and specialists. One day, I am dead tired after working from morning until night. As I back my car into the garage, I fail to notice that Allison has left three-year-old Noel to play behind the vehicle. The moment I feel the car roll over something, my gut tells me something is very wrong. Noel's cries last only a few moments before he falls silent. My legs nearly give out beneath me. Forcing myself to stay upright, I scoop up Noel and rush him to the hospital with my hands trembling uncontrollably. Meanwhile, Allison stands silently somewhere to the side. Just like always, she says nothing. Her expression remains absolutely unfazed. Though she is the one who has given birth to Noel, everything seems completely unrelated to her. I have a mental breakdown. Grabbing her by the shoulders, I shake her desperately and yell, "You saw what was happening, why didn't you warn me? Why did you let him play there? What kind of psychological problem do you have that you can just stand by and watch your own son die? "Are you trying to destroy me, Allison?" I scream hysterically, but she still does not open her mouth or make a sound. Despair engulfs me. Three years of complete silence from her crushes me. Just when I am about to give up, Allison pushes through the crowd and softly speaks her first words in three years. They are quiet, but I hear them clearly. "Clarence..." Clarence Welch is the name of her first love. Only then do I realize that her psychological issue is with Noel and me.

At my coming-of-age ceremony, I confessed my feelings to Uncle Daniel, who wasn't blood-related to me. Yet, he sent me overseas to study. Later on, I was diagnosed with brain cancer. The headaches were brutal. Left without a choice, I turned to him for help. Yet, his first love accused me of being wasted abroad. Said I got into stuff. Claimed my pain were just withdrawals. He believed her and dragged me back home. He locked me up in the family's abandoned villa atop the mountains, guards watching me around the clock. With treatment delayed, my headaches grew worse. It was a complete nightmare. One night, I couldn't take it anymore. I quietly slipped out of the window and jumped. One year after my death, he finally remembers me.