Chapter 1

After I was paralyzed in the car accident, my wife grew colder and colder toward me.

She nitpicked everything, lost patience with me, and was always texting other people on her phone.

One time she went to pick up my medicine and forgot to bring her phone.

I glanced at the screen, which was still on.

The other person was a man saved in her contacts as "Regret."

The two of them were chatting away, their words getting more and more flirty and explicit.

When she came back to the ward, she tossed the medicine on the table.

"I've got something to do. I'm heading out for a bit."

"Ava will come take care of you."

I asked, "Why do you always have your best friend look after me?"

She didn't answer. She just turned coldly and left.

Soon the two friends' conversation drifted in from outside the ward.

"Brooklyn, you're always going behind Rupert's back to see your first love."

"Is that fair to him?"

"He got hit and ended up like this saving you..."

Faced with Ava's question,

Brooklyn said indifferently, "He's already paralyzed. His life's over."

"I have to think about the rest of mine."

"I've taken care of that nuisance this long."

"I've done more than my share."

Ava was quiet for a moment, then asked, "You keep asking me to take care of him."

"Aren't you afraid we'll fall for each other over time?"

Brooklyn laughed.

"You like this cripple?"

"He's all yours, then."

...

Brooklyn's words came down like a heavy hammer, striking a crack into my heart.

Back then, when that speeding truck came at us,

she was the one who should have been left paralyzed.

But I saved her at the cost of my own body.

I took the hit instead, trading my paralysis for her safety.

I thought that with what we felt for each other,

no matter which of us it happened to,

neither of us would ever abandon the other.

But I never expected this.

It had barely been any time at all.

And she already saw me as a nuisance.

She couldn't wait to hand me off to someone else.

Not long after,

the two friends finished talking.

Ava pushed open the ward door.

She was a bit shorter than Brooklyn, but her proportions were just right.

Add to that her fair skin and her good nature,

and she was the prettiest of all Brooklyn's friends.

She came over to my bedside and made a face at me.

When she saw me smile,

she gave the thermos in her hand a little shake.

"Guess what I brought you?"

"Chicken soup?"

"Nope. I made you seafood chowder, just for you."

I couldn't move my arms or legs.

So she wrapped her arms around me and helped me sit up.

We were pressed so close together

that the sweet scent of her kept drifting into my nose.

"It's a little hot. Let me blow on it for you."

She gently blew on the spoonful of chowder.

Then she brought the cooled chowder to my mouth.

After I swallowed,

she asked me eagerly, "Is it good?"

I nodded.

"Hehe, it's my first time making it."

"I was worried you wouldn't like it."

After I finished the chowder,

she brought over a basin of water like before and skillfully wiped my body down with a towel.

The whole time, I didn't say a word.

She seemed to sense that something was weighing on me,

because she kept telling me jokes.

When she saw I still wasn't laughing,

she finally couldn't help asking, "Rupert, what's wrong with you today?"

I stared straight at the towel in her hand.

A bitter smile slowly spread across my face.

"This is something she should be doing."

"You're a single girl."

"If people found out you were wiping down a man's body,"

"it would ruin your reputation."

"Don't bother."

"You should go."

Such a wonderful girl.

I didn't want a little idle gossip to destroy her.

And yet,

sweet, beautiful Ava kept wiping my body down, not caring in the least.

"People's mouths are their own. If they want to gossip, there's nothing I can do about it."

"I'm willing to help you wipe you down. That's all."