The Illusion I Loved Is Gone

Yvonne Decker drove like a maniac, and I gripped the door handle nervously. "Yvonne, slow down. I'm not going to die in the next few seconds."

Yvonne was Colleen's aunt, her father's younger sister.

"Don't worry. I'm not like that useless niece of mine, Colleen." For some reason, her voice carried contempt and anger. "You're having such a severe allergic reaction, yet what was she doing? Why didn't she take you to the hospital?"

A wave of bitterness washed over me. "She doesn't have an obligation to take care of me all the time."

"But you had an obligation to serve her when her legs were broken?"

I hung my head in silence.

Colleen and I had grown up together. But in high school, Dad's investments failed. Mom then divorced him and married his business rival. Unable to handle the blow, Dad entrusted me to his best friend and jumped off a building.

That best friend was Colleen's father, Kendrick Decker. So, before high school, I was Colleen's childhood sweetheart. After high school, I became an orphan living in her house.

After Colleen's car accident, her bones healed, but she still couldn't stand up. Kendrick took her to see specialists both domestically and abroad. The diagnosis was always permanent nerve damage with no hope of ever walking again.

Kendrick seemed to have aged ten years overnight, and Colleen went from being a gifted golden girl to an angry disabled person. She lashed out at everyone, even Kendrick.

Eventually, Kendrick gave up and handed Decker Corporation over to his sister, Yvonne, pulling her back from her round-the-world trip.

Colleen found out she was being cast aside and spiraled deeper into rage. I was the only one who stuck by her and held her tight, no matter how many times she screamed at me, hit me, or cursed me.

"Even if the whole world abandons you, I'll stay by your side."

I gave up my degree from one of the country's top universities and moved with her to the perpetually spring-like Southbay. After caring for her for two years, she finally recovered.

She took my hand and stood before Kendrick and Yvonne, declaring, "I was able to recover because of Lucius. I want to be with him forever."

Kendrick wept, unable to hold back his tears. Yvonne simply said, "Remember what you just said."

Colleen re-entered Decker Corporation and once again became the heiress everyone admired. The people who once shunned her now flocked to her again like moths to a flame.

Even Ronald—once her closest companion and fiance—had walked away when she became disabled and left the company. Now, he came crawling back.

All it took was one question. "Coco, didn't you promise to love me forever?"

Colleen let go of my hand and carefully took Ronald's in hers right in front of me. "I never intended to break my word."

Ronald gripped her hand in return, their fingers entwined as he cast a smug, taunting look in my direction.

When we returned home and were alone, Colleen threw herself into my arms again. "Lucius, I can't let it go! I'm only doing this for revenge. I only love you."

In her beautiful eyes, there was a depth of affection that could drown me whole. I had loved her for ten years and grown used to being by her side, respecting her wishes, even when I felt wronged.

Yvonne didn't take me home, but brought me straight to the hospital. The doctor immediately started an IV to treat my allergic reaction.

"You're severely allergic to alcohol, yet you still thought it was a good idea to down hard liquor? Do you have a death wish? A minute later, and we'd be putting you in a drawer. Do you think the morgue has empty slots just waiting for you?"

Yvonne stood beside the bed, arms crossed, watching my face that had puffed up like a balloon while the doctor scolded me. Her expression said it all. She thought I deserved this.

"As his family, why don't you keep an eye on him? What are you standing there for? Get his medication from the pharmacy!"

The night-shift doctor dealing with emergency patients certainly had a fierce temper. Watching the usually untouchable Yvonne getting barked at like a scolded kid made the knot in my chest loosen a little.

When I woke up the next morning, Colleen was sitting beside my bed, her face full of guilt.

"Lucius, you're awake! Last night, I went looking for you, but you were already gone. Why didn't you tell me that you ended up in the hospital? Do you have any idea how worried I was?"