The Day I Should've Died
I was ten years old when I lost my hearing saving Adrian Falcone's life.
After that, I couldn't survive without my hearing aids.
He held my hand afterward, his eyes red-rimmed with guilt, and made me a promise in front of his entire family. "Serena Lombardi, I'll protect you with my life," he said. "I'll marry you."
But when I turned eighteen, everything changed. Adrian needed to pass some test set by Daniela Moretti—the daughter of a rival family—and he chose the cruelest way to prove himself. He ripped the hearing aids from my ears in front of everyone and laughed.
"You're just a deaf, useless burden," he said, his voice cold and cutting. "I've been sick of you for years. Honestly? I wish you'd died in that explosion when we were ten and saved me the trouble."
I gripped the rehabilitation report the doctor had just handed me, and my fingers crushed the paper's edges. The diagnosis was precise—my hearing had fully recovered.
That night, I burned my hearing aids and convinced my parents to cut all ties with the Falcone family. 
Adrian Falcone, we're done. Whatever we had, whatever you owed me—it's over now.