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My Boyfriend Pulled the Plug on Me
NovelMaster
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During a car crash three years ago, I shielded my boyfriend, Ethan, and my best friend, Vivian. That crash left me in a vegetative state. Fortunately, they stayed by my side and took care of me. Three...
章節（4）
第1章
During a car crash three years ago, I shielded my boyfriend, Ethan, and my best friend, Vivian. That crash left me in a vegetative state.
Fortunately, they stayed by my side and took care of me.
Three years later, I finally woke up.
But through my blurry vision, I heard Ethan say:
"Chloe, I know you're in pain. Letting go might be the best thing for you."
I opened my eyes in disbelief. He was actually pulling the oxygen mask off my face.
Before I could even make a sound, the door pushed open. My dad walked in.
"Ethan, aren't you and Vivian supposed to get your marriage license at City Hall today? Leave Chloe to me."
I never expected that after fighting through the darkness for three years, surviving on pure willpower, the reward waiting for me would be everyone wanting me dead.
"Chloe? You're... you're awake?"
Ethan's hand trembled violently as he pulled away from my face. That was when I noticed Vivian and my parents were also in the room.
So, they had all agreed to give up on me?
After a three-year coma, every inch of my body ached with unspeakable pain.
But none of it compared to the agony in my heart right now.
I opened my mouth, but my throat was so dry I couldn't make a sound.
Vivian grabbed my hands, her own shaking violently. Then, she let go and slapped herself hard across the face.
"Chloe, I'm so sorry."
"Ethan and I... we got together. We thought... we thought you..."
Thought I would never wake up, right?
"Chloe, don't blame Vivian. I was the one who fell in love first. I confessed to her."
"She didn't want to accept it at first. If you want to blame someone, blame me."
Ethan gently touched Vivian's cheek, his voice filled with protective tenderness.
"Enough, Chloe. Can you stop making a scene?"
My mom stepped in, shielding the two of them like a protective lioness.
"If Ethan and Vivian hadn't taken care of you these past three years, you'd be dead by now."
"For your sake, one of them went to medical school for neurology, and the other became a physical therapist. I gave them my blessing to be together."
My mom stood in front of them, defensive.
But I hadn't even done anything. I had just opened my eyes. Was that "making a scene"?
Tears slipped silently from the corners of my eyes.
I never imagined that after fighting so hard in the dark for three years, this was the reality awaiting my return.
"Mom, it's not Chloe's fault," Vivian said, stepping out from behind my mother.
Her face was wet with tears, and she looked at Ethan with deep reluctance.
My breath caught. She called her "Mom" so naturally, as if she had done it thousands of times.
In these three years, Ethan had become her fiancé, and my mother had become hers too?
"Now that she's awake, everything should go back to the way it was. I'm sorry, Ethan."
"You should marry Chloe. I'm stepping down."
Her voice was choked and slow. Even I felt a pang of pity listening to her.
"No! I don't agree. Vivian, you're the one I love now."
Ethan refused instantly. He grabbed Vivian's wrist, refusing to let go, his eyes turning red.
Vivian fell to her knees in front of him.
"Please, Ethan. We already owe Chloe too much. If it weren't for us, she wouldn't have ended up in a coma."
"Just marry her."
Ethan looked at me, tears in his eyes, as if he were making the most heartbreaking sacrifice of his life.
"Fine. I'll marry her."
They decided everything among themselves. Not a single person asked me what I wanted.
My heart felt completely numb. My breathing turned shallow and rapid, and the heart monitor suddenly began to beep frantically.
As the medical staff rushed in and wheeled me away, I couldn't see if they followed. All I knew was that by the time all the tests were done, the waiting area outside was completely empty.
The doctor sighed and wheeled me back.
Outside my room, just as she was about to open the door, we heard my parents' voices from inside.
"Why did Chloe have to wake up now? The medical bills from these past three years have left us drowned in debt."
"The future rehab costs are going to be astronomical. Honey, I just..."
"It's not your fault."
My dad seemed to be comforting my mom, or maybe himself. After a long silence, he spoke again.
"Why couldn't she have just passed away peacefully? It would have been better for everyone."
The doctor's hand froze on the doorknob. She looked at me with deep sympathy.
A suffocating feeling choked my throat. My chest heaved, but I couldn't catch my breath.
"Is rehab really that expensive?" I whispered.
She looked at me gently. "I actually have a slot for an experimental clinical trial for coma recovery. It's in the UK. The technology is still in its early stages, but it's completely free. Do you want to go?"
第2章
A long time later, the doctor pushed the door open.
My parents, faces stained with tears, were still comforting Vivian.
"Vivian, dear, we know you have a good heart. But Chloe is in no state to be a proper wife to Ethan anyway."
"I'll talk to her. You and Ethan should still go get your marriage license."
The sound of the door opening interrupted them. Ethan instinctively walked toward me, but he hesitated when he passed Vivian.
Only after she nodded did he take over my wheelchair from the nurse.
"Chloe, your parents didn't mean it that way. Don't worry, I will still marry you."
His knuckles turned white from gripping the wheelchair. I could tell how much force he was using.
"No need..."
I started to speak slowly, but Vivian cut me off. She threw herself onto her knees in front of me.
She looked just as beautiful as she did three years ago, only more mature and alluring now.
Meanwhile, my reflection in the window was skeletal, sallow, and practically dead.
"Chloe, I know I ruined everything. You don't have to reject him. I can really step aside."
"I just want your forgiveness. Please?"
"We grew up together. After my parents passed away, you were the one who took care of me. I can't lose you."
She wept against my knees. I looked up. Ethan was staring at me, his eyes cold and hard.
"I said I would marry you. We'll go back to how things were. Just do it so she doesn't feel so guilty. Just..."
"I don't forgive you," I said, cutting Ethan off.
Vivian's crying stopped instantly. One of her hands instinctively rested on her stomach.
"I understand."
Before we could process what that gesture meant, Vivian turned and ran out of the room.
Ethan's face darkened. He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him.
"Chloe! Vivian literally got down on her knees to beg for your forgiveness! What more do you want?"
"She gave up her own dreams to study physical therapy just to take care of you these past three years."
"Yes, we fell in love. But she's willing to step aside, and I'm willing to marry you. When are you going to stop throwing this tantrum!"
I looked at his familiar face. It was still handsome.
To them, these three years were a painful, agonizing trial. But to me, it felt like I had just taken a long nap.
I woke up to find my best friend and my boyfriend together.
How was I supposed to just forgive that?
My jaw burned from his grip. Ethan seemed to realize what he was doing and let go, his voice cracking.
"Chloe, I wish I was the one in that wheelchair right now."
"Anything would be better than being tortured by you like this."
My body couldn't stop shaking. I felt like a criminal, standing trial under the accusations of Ethan and my parents.
The interrogation only stopped when Ethan's phone buzzed with a Snapchat notification.
He glanced at his phone, and his grip suddenly tightened around my wrist.
"Chloe! Do you have any idea what you've done? Vivian just went to get an abortion!"
"Now my baby is gone. Are you happy now?"
My eyes widened in disbelief. They even had a baby?
It had only been three years. They weren't just getting a marriage license; they were sleeping together.
Yet, they showed absolutely no remorse in front of me.
A sudden wave of nausea hit me. I felt like throwing up, but neither of them noticed.
"Chloe, if you keep acting like this, I don't think I can bring myself to marry you anymore."
With that, Ethan rushed out with my frantic parents to find Vivian, leaving me completely alone in the cold room.
They had abandoned me. Again.
I wiggled my fingers, looked at the nurse who came in for rounds, and whispered:
"Please tell Dr. Carter. I want to go to that clinical trial in the UK."
"The sooner, the better."
第3章
By the time they brought Vivian back, Dr. Carter had already given me the exact date.
I was leaving in a month.
Vivian's face was paper-white, with tear tracks drying on her cheeks.
Ethan claimed that Vivian's body was too weak after the abortion, so he put her in my comfortable private room bed, moving me to the stiff, uncomfortable pull-out cot beside it.
My body was already aching all over, and after the bed swap, I couldn't sleep at all, night after night.
They were too busy fussing over Vivian to care about me, even letting a male orderly give me my sponge baths.
"Mom, please... can you ask for a female nurse?"
Losing my privacy made me forget my pride. I cried and begged my mother, but she remained silent, carefully feeding Vivian chicken soup spoonful by spoonful.
Ethan looked at me with a cold, detached expression.
"To medical professionals, gender doesn't matter."
"Besides, look at yourself. Do you really think anyone is looking at you like that?"
My body froze. I couldn't say another word.
After the orderly left, I took my cracked, old phone from before the accident and tried to follow physical therapy videos. The shattered screen often sliced my fingertips.
Without professional safety gear, my body was quickly covered in dark bruises from falling.
"Chloe, are you really that desperate to marry me?"
Ethan sneered as he tucked Vivian back into bed, turning to mock me. "Vivian already told me your self-rehab routine is completely wrong. Stop hurting yourself just to make us feel guilty. It's pathetic."
Vivian always offered "advice" whenever I practiced, but her words did nothing but ruin my rhythm.
I paused my movements and spoke softly.
"Ethan, I told you. I have no intention of marrying you. I just want my dignity back."
"That's all."
At first, he had felt a sliver of guilt toward me. But every time he instinctively tried to help, Vivian would look at him with such devastating heartbreak, threatening to discharge herself or move rooms.
So now, all he felt for me was pure annoyance.
"Vivian is discharged today. You're coming home too."
"You can take your time with rehab. Start thinking about your parents for once."
He looked down, carefully helping Vivian put on her coat and shoes. I silently wrapped my cardigan around myself, letting the cold draft of the AC make my stiff joints throb.
After a bumpy ride, we finally arrived home.
My mom opened the door, her face lighting up when she saw Vivian and Ethan. But when she looked down at me, a flash of disgust crossed her eyes.
"You both went through medical issues. Why do you look so filthy and neglected?"
Isn't the answer obvious?
Vivian was pampered and taken care of, while I, a newly awakened coma patient, was forced to fend for myself.
Maybe out of a lingering speck of guilt, Ethan spoke up quietly.
"Don't blame Chloe, Mrs. Bennett. Let's get inside. Vivian is still weak."
Hearing that Vivian was weak, my mom immediately ushered her in, handing her a warm cup of ginger tea.
I looked around the apartment, feeling completely disoriented.
The wall where my academic certificates used to hang was now covered with Vivian and Ethan's engagement photos.
My carefully nurtured plants on the balcony had been replaced by wedding decorations.
The fruit bowl on the table was filled with Vivian's favorites, and even my old bedroom was cluttered with her things.
This was no longer my home.
I completely gave up. My home, my boyfriend, my parents—they all belonged to Vivian now.
"Ethan, I can forgive Vivian. I can forgive you too."
"But I have one last request. I want you two to take me to the amusement park we were supposed to visit before the crash."
I had two days left before my flight to the UK.
This was my final wish.
第4章
Under Vivian's persuasion, we set off for the amusement park early the next morning.
In the car, I stared out the window. Three years ago, on a sunny day just like this, we were driving to the park when a drunk driver swerved into our lane. To keep them from getting hit, I had steered hard to the right.
Before I lost consciousness, Ethan and Vivian had risked their lives to drag me out of the burning car.
Back then, Ethan had sobbed, "Chloe, I'll do whatever it takes to save you. Please, don't leave me."
But somewhere along the way, he had taken a detour.
We arrived at the park.
Ethan pushed my wheelchair in silence. Perhaps he was remembering that day too.
I pulled up the itinerary I had made three years ago.
"Let's just follow this."
Though I couldn't go on most of the rides, the classic photo spots were still there.
I wrote on a wooden wishing plaque: [I wish for Chloe's complete recovery and health.]
It took me almost ten minutes just to scribble those few words with my shaky hands.
"This stuff is fake anyway. Aren't you asking for too much?"
Ethan snatched it away impatiently, but he froze when he read the words. He hung it on the tree in silence.
"That boyfriend is so dedicated. His girlfriend is sick, and he still brought her out to have fun."
Passersby whispered. Hearing this, Vivian's eyes instantly welled with tears.
Ethan immediately forgot about me and turned all his attention to comforting her.
They didn't notice when my eyes fell on a dangling plaque nearby. The handwriting belonged to Vivian:
[Chloe, we came to the amusement park for you. Please bless Ethan and Vivian so we can be together forever.]
A sharp pain pierced my heart.
So, I was the only one who hadn't actually been to this park.
This trip for three had always been my own lonely solo show.
I took out a pen and quietly scribbled a few words on the back of their plaque.
The next few spots were strictly for couples. Without me saying a word, Ethan naturally bypassed them.
I lost all interest.
The place I had sacrificed so much to visit was actually so incredibly boring.
Finally, we reached the last stop.
It was a couple's photo booth. Just as Ethan was about to walk past, a staff member came over holding a printed photo.
"Mr. Hayes! Happy wedding!
"You mentioned last time that you were marrying Miss Miller soon. Here's a little wedding gift from me."
Ethan awkwardly took the photo. The smiles on their faces in the picture were blinding.
They were so familiar with the staff. Who knew how many times they had been here without me?
I let out a bitter laugh. "Let's go. I want to go home."
"Chloe, that's enough!"
Vivian snatched the photo and ripped it to shreds.
"I know you just want to make me feel guilty! Yes, Ethan and I came here before. I was wrong! I'm a terrible person, okay?"
"But you had been in a coma for two years! Everyone said you were never waking up!"
"I already agreed to back out. Why won't you just let us go?"
She cried hysterically, looking as if she might faint. Ethan immediately wrapped his arms around her, turning to yell at me.
"So this was your plan all along? You knew we had been here, and you dragged us back just to guilt-trip me into marrying you faster?"
"Chloe, I never realized you could be so manipulative and cruel."
"I honestly regret saving you. Why couldn't you have just died in that hospital?"
My heart seized violently. A wave of agonizing physical pain shot through my limbs.
But he had already carried Vivian away, leaving me entirely alone in the crowd.
Tears streamed down my face.
I pulled out my phone and dialed Dr. Carter's number.
"Please send me to the UK."