Devouring Love in the Raging Fire

Five years ago, Ivana Millian accompanied Ernest Gilmore through the collapse after being abandoned by his 'favorite woman.'

To save his 'favorite woman,' Ernest locked Ivana in a freezer. She survived but lost a toe.

Later, Ernest compensated Ivana with four toes, kneeling on the ground and begging her to come back, "Even if you cut off my entire leg, I would still willingly endure it!"

***

"You stay inside! I waited for you for so long, now you'll stay inside just as long!" Ernest shouted at her.

In July's heat, Ivana wore thin clothes in the freezer at minus twenty-two degrees Celsius. Within seconds, her lips turned purple from the cold.

"Ernest, I didn't mean to! I swear, the traffic was bad! Punish me in some other way, please?" Ivana kept jumping up and down while pleading with Ernest.

He shouted, "Punish you another way? On Valentine's Day, you made me wait for five full minutes in public. Do I spoil you too much?"

"No, no, it's not like that." Ivana anxiously slapped the freezer door, shivering from the cold. The extreme temperature made every part of her body ache unbearably.

"Ernest, there's a phone call," someone said. Ernest took the call and his eyes lit up suddenly, "I have something to do. Let her out in five minutes!"

"Ernest! Ernest!" Ivana banged on the freezer door with all her might, shouting.

A man scolded her, "What are you yelling for! Ernest said five minutes before you can come out!"

"It's too … too cold, really. Can't you let me out, please?" Ivana begged.

"A few minutes won't freeze you to death. Maybe you'll learn your lesson! In all of San Diego, nobody dares to keep Ernest waiting!" the man named Dominic Spikes, answered.

Ivana, freezing, searched her memory and found a discarded freezer coat in a corner. She wrapped it tightly around herself. It helped a little, but she was still cold. Especially her feet, which ached as if being sliced by knives.

Ivana could barely stand, "Dom … Dominic, can you open the door, please? I'll buy you food, wine, or bake you a cake."

"Stop shouting! I'm losing at cards! One more word from you and I'll keep you in for another five minutes!" he shouted.

Ivana pleaded, "Dominic, isn't this too much? Won't Ernest get angry?"

He said coldly, "Ernest's real girlfriend is back now. Do you think he still cares about you? Didn't you see how fast he left just now?"

Ivana's phone was outside, so she had no idea how much time had passed. She just kept wrapping herself in the thin freezer coat, jumping to stay warm. She silently counted in her head. …2, 3…1125, 1126…

Eventually, Ivana had no strength left. She couldn't bang the door or shout anymore. The half-bucket of butter in the corner was gone.

Her feet had nearly lost all feeling and her fingers had turned from white to blue, now beginning to show hints of black.

Moments before losing consciousness, Ivana vaguely heard voices outside, "Bro, there's no sound anymore."

"Close enough, open the door," Dominic said.

The other man asked, "Why are you looking at me?"

Dominic said, "I don't have the key."

"I don't have it either!" the other man panicked.

Dominic also panicked, "Shit, call Ernest right now! He has the key!"

"Hurry, hurry!"

"He's not answering! Ernest isn't picking up!"

"Let me try!"

"Ernest's phone is off!"

"Call 911, now! If someone dies, it'll be a disaster!"

***

When Ivana woke up, the hospital's bright fluorescent lights stung her eyes. Her hands and feet were wrapped in thick bandages and a sharp pain came from her right foot.

The nurse saw her awake and went to call the doctor, "Ivana Millian, twenty-seven years old, she's lucky to be alive. She was in a freezer for over an hour. Her right foot is frostbitten, the pinky toe necrotic and amputated. The rest is saved, but you need to recover. You'll have to stay in the hospital for observation for two months."