Chapter 2
When I woke up again, I was in the hospital.
The blinding whiteness and the pungent smell of disinfectant made me instinctively frown.
The room was quiet, but Ryan, William, and Charles were all there.
They loomed over me like silent mountains, trapping me on this tiny hospital bed, and their eyes were filled with shock, wild joy, guilt, and a nauseating sense of getting me back.
"Wendy..." William's voice trembled, hoarse and shaky. His eyes were glued to my face behind the mask. "Your face... your voice... What happened to you in that fire?"
Charles suddenly rushed to my bedside. My little brother, who never missed a chance to mock me before, now had bloodshot eyes, his voice cracking as he demanded, "Why didn't you tell us you were alive?
"Do you have any idea what these five years have been like for us?"
"Shut up!" Ryan shoved him aside, his gaze glued to my belly, and then flickering anxiously toward the door.
He'd clearly already figured out Anna existed, and he cut straight to the heart of it: "Who's the father of that girl?"
Every question they asked felt like a dull knife, cutting open wounds that had long since healed.
Without warning, memories of that fire five years ago crashed into my mind: suffocating smoke, blistering heat, and their silhouettes as they ran right past me, not even looking back, all for Sophia Stone.
William's desperate yell still rang in my ears. "Wendy, you've always been tough. Just hold on a little longer!"
That meant leaving me to die on my own.
Ryan's eyes that used to say 'I love you' were now cold and unyielding. "Sorry. Her life is my debt to the Grant family."
Turned out, twenty years of being childhood friends couldn't compare to the so-called debt he felt he owed Sophia.
And Charles, my little brother I'd only just gotten back, took the last half-bottle of water that could've kept me alive and handed it to Sophia, who grew up with him, never even glancing my way.
Those memories and voices, mixed with the way they were acting all concerned now, all came together like a gut punch, sharp enough to leave me breathless.
I stared right back at them, my voice rough as sandpaper, forcing out every word, slow and harsh.
I said, "I held on, just like you all wished."
Their faces drained of color, breath catching in their throats.
"My life and my child are none of your business," I spat.
I kept going, my tone icy with hatred. "The day you chose to leave me behind, we stopped being family. We're just strangers now."
Ryan locked his gaze on me, pain practically spilling out of his eyes.
He said, "Wendy, you think we wanted to abandon you? That beam snapped right above your head, and the whole hallway was coming down. Sophia's side was the only shot we had. It was the only way!"
His voice was thick with desperate pleading, like he needed me to believe it wasn't a choice, just something destined.
I stared back at him, cold and silent.
Yeah, the only way.
But what they didn't know was, the door to that escape route was locked up by Sophia herself after she lured me in.
The air in the room was so thick.
Charles slumped into a chair, mumbling under his breath. William squeezed his eyes shut, pain etched across his face. Ryan, though, looked like he was about to explode.
He suddenly stepped forward, reaching for my hand but stopping short, afraid I'd push him away.
He stammered, barely making sense, "Wendy, can we start over? Let me make it right. I'll give you everything I have..."
They really thought that just saying sorry and offering to make it up could erase all the scars that fire left behind.
Just then, Charles suddenly jerked his head up, his eyes nearly crazed as he glared at me, blurting out whatever came to mind without a filter.
He said, "You were the one who hid! Who have you been with these past five years? After a fire like that... Did you hook up with some random guy to help you?"
He was trying to mask the overwhelming panic inside him, spitting out those nasty words just to justify abandoning me back then.