A Year of Punishment

In the hospital, the red light outside the operating room went out.

The doctor removed his mask and gestured “OK” to Zann.

Relief washed over him. He ripped off the monitoring device and headed straight for the exit.

Feigning weakness and feeling frantic inwardly, he was desperate to rush back to the apartment to see me.

The moment he stepped out of the hospital doors, a luxurious SUV abruptly pulled up before him.

The car door swung open, and Wanda rushed toward him with tears streaming down her face while clutching a custom-made cake.

“Zanny, you promised to make up a special birthday trip for me! Have you forgotten my ‘depression’ isn’t fully healed yet?”

Her sobs shook her body like a willow in the wind, her frame trembling as if a breeze could knock her over.

Zann frowned deeply. Looking at the pitiable sight of his childhood friend, he was in a tangled mess.

He had indeed made that promise. And her depression had always weighed heavily on him like a heavy stone.

He sighed, bound by “responsibility,” and ultimately nodded.

Wanda immediately broke into a smile and proceeded to carefully help him into the car.

A faint perfume scent filled the cabin, but it stung his senses.

Zann pulled out his phone, intending to text me to say his surgery went well and to tell me not to worry.

Before he could type, however, Wanda suddenly clutched her chest as her face turned pale.

“Zanny… I feel sick. Carsick.”

As she spoke, she collapsed onto him, and the red wine in her hand spilled and splashed directly onto his phone.

“What are you doing!” Zann snapped, pushing her away.

Wanda fell right back into his arms due to the momentum, sobbing even harder.

“I’m sorry, Zanny. I didn’t mean to. I just felt so sick…”

Zann stared at the woman sobbing heartbreakingly in his arms, then glanced at his black screen as his irritation simmered over.

“It’s fine,” he said after taking a deep breath to force himself to calm down.

“It’s not your fault, it’s okay.”

His gaze, however, drifted through the car window, fixed on the distant horizon.

Silently, he repeated my name, “Eve, Eve…”

He reassured himself that he was merely accompanying Wanda on a trip. Upon his return, I’d surely rejoice at his “recovery”.

While he bent down to wipe the wine from his clothes, Wanda deftly swiped his phone from his pocket.

Her fingers danced on the screen, unlocking it in a flash. Her gaze locked on my final message, each word as if written with every drop of blood and every ounce of strength I had was poured into it.

Her lips curved into a cold smile. Without hesitation, she deleted it.

She proceeded to block my number, turn off all notifications, and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

All these were done in merely seconds, yet they had altered everyone’s fate.

The vehicle continued down the road toward the airport, yet Zann felt a hollow emptiness in his chest, as if something vital was quietly slipping away.

Again and again, his hand brushed the phone in his pocket, yet he never found the courage to turn it on and check.

Wanda saw it all, panic flickering in her heart, but she hid it behind chatter and laughter while clinging to him.

That night, she woke screaming from a nightmare and threw herself into his arms.

“I dreamt you left me, Zanny… I was so scared…” she said in a trembling voice.

Zann sighed helplessly, patting her back gently.

“Don’t be afraid, I’m here,” he said softly.

Yet, his gaze drifted through the car window, fixed on the pitch-black night sky.

He silently murmured to himself again, “Eve, what are you doing right now? Do you miss me?”

During the day, Wanda had deliberately planned visits to remote places under the guise of adventure.

No signal, no messages; the poor network reception had rendered Zann’s phone nearly useless.

He tried several times to contact me, yet he failed each time.

Wanda kept brainwashing him, saying, “Neve loves you so much. She must be waiting for you at home. She won’t blame you.”

His resolve was slowly fading as her words temporarily suppressed his doubts.

Without realizing it, he sank deeper into the web of lies Wanda had woven around him.