Regret After Losing Love

Today was Saturday and I really wanted to spend some quality time with my boyfriend, so I invited him to play an escape room game. I reckoned we could cultivate our trust in this place. However, imagined my surprise when I saw Bart Jones was not alone. Instead, he brought his "sworn sister", Karen Scott, with him.

Karen was Bart's sworn sister, whom he had taken under his wings six years ago.

"Karen said she had never played this game before, so I brought her along with me. I know you don't mind, right?" Bart smiled. Karen did not say anything. She just smiled at me sweetly, though there was a hint of provocation in her eyes.

I could only swallow my disappointment and entered the game area with them. They entered inside hand in hand while I walked alone behind them.

When we were playing, the building suddenly got on fire. Seeing the fire, the first thing Bart did was to scoop up his precious "sister" and escape through flame. His mind was only filled with his "sister" that he never thought of my well-being and abandoned me.

I was not able to escape the fire. As a result, my whole body got heavily burnt. On the other hand, his good sister, Karen, managed to leave the scene without a single scratch left on her body.

Luckily, the firefighters were able to save me. They managed to drag me out through the thick smoke. Seeing me that was finally saved, Karen sneered and provoked me from the safety of her stretcher, "In my brother’s heart, I’ll always be number one. Guess your life doesn’t mean much for him after all, does it?"

Anger surged inside of me. I struggled to my feet and slapped her hard across the face. "All you ever say is 'brother, brother'! If you’re so desperate to have a kid, I'll help you out!"

——

Then I crumbled and fell into the oblivion.

Then, the next time I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the sterile white ceiling of the hospital room.

The searing pain in my right arm felt like molten lava had scorched my skin, a burning reminder that the fire was not some horrible dream.

My phone rang, but I didn’t even have the strength to roll over and answer it.

A kind nurse next to me pick the phone and hit the speaker button for me.

As soon as she pressed the button, Bart's furious voice lasted from the phone, "Emma Madison, are you crazy? What gave you the right to slap Karen?"

"Sir! The patient has severe second-degree burns and is about to undergo a skin graft,” the young nurse cut in coldly with an indignant manner. “What kind of boyfriend are you?”

“So just because she’s injured, she thinks she can hit people? Put Emma on the phone now!” Bart barked.

"You're crazy!" the nurse snapped back and ended the call.

My chapped lips curled into a bitter smile. It was impossible to save a relationship where even if you were hanging yourself, he would just assume you were playing on the swings.

Then I was wheeled into the operating room in my blue and white hospital gown, prepared for the skin graft on my right arm.

I was all alone, every step of the way.

To pass the time during my recovery, I scrolled through social media and found a post on Karen’s feed. In the picture, she pouted cutely while Bart applied some antiseptics to her face. She had written a caption, “I got slapped by a mean dog. This guy insisted on avenging me. What am I supposed to do without him?”

I took screenshot of her post and saved it then calmly turned off my phone.

I had had enough of this silly drama. I refused to see their public display of affection any longer.