Chapter 3
I strolled back into the living room, poured myself a glass of water, and called the building management.
"Hi, is this the security desk? I'm in A-1302. There are three strangers making a scene at my door, and it's really messing with my day. Can you send someone up to deal with it?"
After I hung up, I kicked back on the couch, listening to the yelling getting louder outside. Inside, I was totally unfazed.
Soon enough, I heard security yelling at them, and the elevator doors sliding open and shut.
The noise outside finally died down.
I knew this peace wouldn't last.
Knowing them, there was no way they'd give up that easily.
Sure enough, half an hour later, my phone started blowing up with calls from unknown numbers.
I was so fed up, I just set my phone to send all unknown calls straight to voicemail.
Another half hour later, my WhatsApp started blowing up with friend requests.
One of them had Sophia's profile picture, and the request said: [Whitney, please, can we meet? I really need to talk to you. I have something important to tell you. It's about what really happened with Yael's car accident.]
She knew the truth about the car accident.
I already know the truth.
But I still hit accept.
Let's see what new tricks my dear sister had up her sleeve this time.
Sophia's message popped up almost instantly.
[Whitney. You finally replied. I'm so scared.]
She followed it up with a string of crying emojis.
I didn't reply. I just stared at the screen in silence.
She was getting anxious and quickly sent a voice message. When I played it, her voice was shaky and tearful, with my mom's voice scolding her in the background.
"Whitney, I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have messed around with Yael like that, and I definitely shouldn't have pushed him to come see me right after you two got married.
"I really know I was wrong. Mom and Linda are forcing me to reach out to you. They said you're the only one who can save Yael now."
[So what exactly do they want me to do to 'save' him?] I finally typed back, my fingers icy calm on the keyboard, not a hint of emotion.
[The doctors said the nerves in his legs are badly damaged. He might never walk again. But there's this cutting-edge treatment abroad, and the success rate is super high. It's insanely expensive, over 900 thousand.]
Over 900 thousand.
That number was exactly the same as what I'd heard in my previous life.
That 900 thousand felt like a mountain crushing me. I worked around the clock, hustling every odd job I could find, burning myself out just to scrape together enough cash.
But after all that, Yael's legs didn't get any better. In fact, things got even worse because of a post-surgery infection.
It was only later that I learned the so-called "latest treatment" was nothing but a scam. That foreign hospital was a total fraud, and Linda had picked it up from some random tip she heard somewhere.
And just like that, my 900 thousand disappeared into thin air.
[Linda sold the house and hit up every relative she could, but she only managed to scrape together a little over 300 thousand. There's still a 600-thousand-dollar gap.
[She said if you're willing to say you and Yael are still basically engaged, and agree to shoulder some of the responsibility, she'll try to get a loan. The bank might approve it since you two are pretty much about to get married.]
Sophia's message was full of cautious probing, like she was testing the waters with me.
I could practically picture her huddled up with my mom and Linda, all of them nervously staring at their phones, waiting for my reply.
They were scheming hard.
They wanted me to step up, use my credit and future commitment to secure the loan. If Yael got better, everyone would be happy, and maybe I'd even get a few words of praise.
But if things went south, that massive debt would just land right on me, the ever-devoted fiancée.
They didn't even bother to come up with a new story to trick me.
I typed out slowly. [Sophia, do you take me for a fool?]
Dead silence on her end.
After a long pause, Sophia finally messaged: [Whitney, what do you mean?]
[What I'm saying is, whether Yael ends up paralyzed or how much his treatment costs, that's got nothing to do with me.
[Instead of wasting your energy plotting against me, maybe you should pray to whatever higher power you believe in and hope he can at least take care of himself for the rest of his life.]
After sending that, I blocked and deleted her.
This time, I didn't hesitate at all.
I knew my cold rejection had completely infuriated them.
That night, I spotted posts on local forums and Twitter, all calling me out.
The headline was eye-catching and disturbing. [Modern-Day Cheater. Fiancé Critically Injured in Crash, Greedy Girlfriend Ditches Him for a Richer Catch and Disappears.]
In one post, a user claiming to be Yael's cousin shared a tearful, heart-wrenching story, painting me as the villain in this "tragic" tale.