Chapter 2

2.

Mindy's words were like needles stabbing into my heart.

The people who know you best always know exactly where to strike to cause the most pain.

She knew how much losing my leg haunted me, yet she chose to use it as a weapon.

If it weren't for that accident, I would have been competing on the world stage by now.

Mindy and I had met back at the elite sports academy.

She was the darling of the gymnastics team, and I was the most promising sprinter.

We fell for each other hard, but the academy had strict rules against dating.

We had to keep our romance in the shadows, meeting in secret whenever we could.

Because of her training, she was always hungry. I used to climb over the school fence to buy her food.

I remember that night clearly. The moon was bright.

I hopped over the iron gate and caught Mindy as she jumped down.

We hadn't walked more than a few steps when someone hit me from behind.

When the agonizing pain finally woke me, I was lying in a pool of my own blood.

Mindy was there, sobbing so hard she couldn't speak.

She pointed at my leg, her face drenched in tears.

It turned out one of her obsessed fans had figured out our secret.

The guy was unstable and had been waiting for us on that secluded path.

Right in front of Mindy, that monster used an axe to hack off my lower leg.

She had collapsed into my arms, apologizing over and over.

"Zane, I'm so sorry... if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be hurt..."

My career as an athlete ended that night.

After the surgery, she stayed by my bedside, her eyes swollen from crying.

I wanted to scream, but the shock was too deep. Representing my country had been my only dream.

"Zane, I'll never leave you, no matter what," she whispered. "You're all I have."

She quit gymnastics after that. I took over my family's shoe factory.

Together, we turned it into a massive corporation.

Eventually, she told me I should step back and let her handle the stress.

"Once the company is stable, we'll get married," she promised.

I waited ten years for that stability.

The boy who lost his leg and his dream had spent a decade losing his soulmate, too.

Mindy didn't love me anymore, and I shouldn't expect her to stay with a broken man.

It was time to put an end to this chapter of my life.