It was the night of the annual company gala, and it all started because the new intern, Alex, accidentally ate a peanut and broke out in a single hive. For that, my fiancée, Sarah, decided the appropriate response was to shove me—a man with a life-threatening pollen allergy—into a ten-thousand-acre sea of wildflowers. The moment the pollen hit my face, my lungs seized. The air turned to fire. I grabbed Sarah’s arm, my fingers digging into her skin as I forced the words through my clenched teeth. “Sarah, you know I’m severely allergic. How could you do this?!” She just sneered, prying my fingers off one by one. “And you knew Alex was allergic to peanuts, so why did you let him eat them? Hurts when it’s your own skin, doesn’t it? A little late for that. Tonight, I’m going to teach you a lesson on behalf of Alex, you power-tripping bastard.” Just before she pushed me from the helicopter, she looked down at me with eyes as cold as ice. “You told Alex he just needed to be more careful, right?” she said. “Let’s see how careful you can be trying to walk out of this.” 1 I hit the ground hard, tumbling uncontrollably down a steep, flower-covered slope. Sharp rocks tore at my skin, ripping open bloody gashes with every rotation. I don’t know how long I fell, but I finally slammed to a stop against a large boulder, my body screaming in protest. It felt like I’d been torn apart. A sharp, drilling pain shot up from my right ankle. Worse, the thick, cloying scent of pollen was everywhere. I took two ragged breaths and immediately exploded into a fit of violent sneezes, tears streaming from my eyes. From above, Sarah’s voice echoed, cold and distant. “Have you learned your lesson yet? If you have, then crawl through this field, find Alex, and beg for his forgiveness. Then I’ll let you go.” I clutched my nose and throat, shaking my head frantically. A second later, a walkie-talkie thudded onto the ground beside me. The helicopter turned and flew away without a backward glance. Alex’s voice crackled through the speaker, dripping with fake concern. “Sarah, maybe we should stop? He looks like he’s really suffering. I can totally empathize with how awful allergies are.” Sarah’s reply was soft and tender, but not for me. “You’re too kind, Alex. That’s why he thinks he can walk all over you. He’s hurt you so much. Today, he gets what he deserves.” Her voice hardened as she addressed me. “Stop the act, Leo. Come over here and apologize to Alex, and our wedding next month can still happen.” A sharp pain, entirely separate from the physical agony, pierced my chest. She really expected me to crawl to him. But the burning in my sinuses was unbearable, forcing me to swallow my pride. “Sarah,” I rasped, my voice already thick and nasal. “You said you’d love me forever… You can’t do this to me… please.” The only response was the sound of Alex’s soft, deliberate breathing on the other end. Hearing it, I couldn't hold back any longer. I dropped to my knees and retched, vomiting until my stomach was empty, my eyes swimming in tears. When there was nothing left to throw up, I just doubled over in a fit of violent, body-wracking coughs. The last time my allergies were this bad was in college. My ex-girlfriend at the time had gone into a full-blown panic, mobilizing the city's top specialists in the middle of the night to treat me. The memory was a bitter joke now, a cruel echo in this nightmare. “How long are you going to keep up this charade?” Sarah’s voice crackled again. “It seems you won’t back down without a little extra persuasion!” I gasped for air, tilting my head back to look at the sky, tears tracing paths through the grime on my face. “I… did nothing wrong!” I cried out. “Sarah, please, just let me come up. Don’t you remember? You promised you would never, ever break my heart.” I could feel the silence on the other end of the walkie-talkie, a sudden, tense freeze. But after three seconds, Sarah gave her order. “Do it. Make sure the drop is precise.” Her words had barely faded when a black swarm of drones appeared in the sky. They hovered directly over me, and then the hatches on their undersides opened, releasing a suffocating, kaleidoscopic cloud of fine powder. I threw my arms up to shield my face, but it was useless. The powder was too fine, too pervasive. It wormed its way under my collar and cuffs, coating every inch of my exposed skin. Waves of intense itching began to crawl over my body. I scratched frantically, my nails leaving raw tracks on my skin. A furious red rash bloomed, the hives so dense they merged into a single, horrifying mass. “Sarah…” I choked out, my throat closing up. “I’m so sick… I can’t… I can’t breathe.” I instinctively reached a hand out, a ghost of a memory surfacing—a time when she would have appeared at my side in an instant if I was in any distress. I once coughed while walking past a flower shop, and she bought the entire shop the next day and had it converted into a Lego store, just for me. But the woman who once cherished me, who held me in the palm of her hand, wasn’t coming. My heart turned to ice. Dragging my shattered leg, I grabbed the walkie-talkie and forced myself to my feet, trying to limp my way out of the floral prison. A long time passed before her voice returned. “Finally ready to give in?” she asked. “Apologize to Alex over the radio right now, and I’ll send someone to pick you up.” “Never!” I hissed, but the wind tore the word from my lips, scattering it into nothing. She seemed surprised by my defiance. A long pause, then a single word squeezed through her teeth. “Fine. You want to blow this out of proportion? So be it.” The drones immediately descended again, and the rain of pollen became a relentless downpour. I pulled my shirt over my nose, but my lungs were already screaming in rebellion. Pollen got into my eyes, and my eyelids swelled shut, the pain blinding. Suddenly, I started to laugh—a broken, desolate sound. “Sarah,” I gasped between laughs and coughs. “He got a single hive, and for that, you’re torturing me like this. And you’re telling me I’m the one blowing things out of proportion?” 2 For a fleeting moment, a flicker of guilt crossed Sarah’s face. She quickly suppressed it, her tone hardening into pure scorn. “I’m teaching you how to be a decent human being, a better boss! You’ve become a stranger to me, Leo. Don’t think that just because you’re at the top now, you can forget where you came from. Have you forgotten what it was like to be the one fetching coffee and making copies?” Her voice trembled with righteous anger. “When you used to cry about the pressure, I was the one who held you, who comforted you. I never thought you’d become the very thing you used to hate.” Forget where I came from? Impossible. Her words were like a blade, tearing open old wounds. Right out of college, I started at a tiny firm. I spent my days chasing clients under a scorching sun and my nights rewriting proposals until my hair fell out in clumps. Sarah was my colleague back then. She saw my struggle and would often help with small tasks. Later, when we started our own company, I landed our first major client by letting them pour so much liquor down my throat I ended up in the hospital with a bleeding stomach. When we were on the verge of bankruptcy, I secretly used the dowry money my parents had saved for me to keep the company afloat, telling Sarah it was an early payment from a client so she wouldn't feel the pressure. The only reason I was so demanding now was because I knew, better than anyone, that we couldn’t afford to fail. And her? She reaped the benefits of my hard work, while my dedication, my sacrifice, was twisted into something ugly she called “authoritarian.” So this was the love I had earned with my blood, sweat, and youth. Fine. Let my heart die completely. Then it can’t hurt anymore. “Leo! Do you have to push people to their breaking point to be satisfied?” she screamed, her voice shaking. “Why do you always have to fixate on one tiny mistake? Why do you always have to make a mountain out of a molehill? Alex is young! It’s normal for him to mess up! Did you have to hold a grudge and secretly retaliate against him?!” I looked from Alex’s smug, triumphant smirk to Sarah’s furious face. Seeing my silence, she mistook it for surrender. Her voice softened slightly. “Leo, we still love each other. I just want you to apologize to Alex. It’s that simple. Your allergic reaction is getting serious. You need a hospital. Please, just be good and listen to me.” I stared up at her and spit on the ground. “In your dreams,” I snarled. Her expression hardened instantly. “It seems the punishment wasn’t severe enough.” She barked an order at one of the security guards with her. “Bring me the package. I’ll teach him a lesson myself.” A cold dread washed over me. This wasn’t over. My eyes fell on the bracelet on my wrist, on the small charm attached to it. An idea sparked. But my fingers hovered over it, hesitating. It’s been so many years. She’s probably forgotten all about me. After I broke things off so decisively, how could I have the nerve to ask her to save me now? For all I know, she hates me. She might even wish I was dead. While I hesitated, the guard returned, carrying a bucket of red powder. I instinctively tried to scramble away. “Scared now?” Sarah mocked, a cruel satisfaction dancing in her eyes. “Weren’t you so defiant just a minute ago? So sure you’d done nothing wrong?” She nodded to the guard. “Pry his mouth open. Let’s see how he likes the taste of chili.” Goosebumps erupted on my skin. Spicy food was my kryptonite. “Let go of me! Sarah, are you insane?!” 3 I thrashed wildly, but the severe allergic reaction had drained all my strength. “You’re going to regret this!” I choked out. “The only one with regrets here will be you, Leo. I swear I will make you break today!” Pure terror seized me. Like a drowning man grabbing for a lifeline, I slammed my thumb down on the button hidden in the charm. The next second, my jaw was forced open, and a torrent of bright red chili powder was poured into my mouth. A strangled gasp was all I could manage. The spice was an explosion of agony. Combined with the allergic reaction, I couldn’t breathe at all. My tongue, my gums, my throat—all on fire. Tears streamed from my eyes. Seeing my torment, Sarah’s brow furrowed. “Are you going to apologize or not?” I was on my knees, coughing so hard it felt like I was trying to turn myself inside out. But I refused to say a word. Her eyes flashed with fury, and she grabbed another handful of the powder. Alex quickly intervened, placing a hand on her arm in a show of gentle restraint. “Sarah, I don’t think he can handle spice. Maybe we should stop.” He paused, then added, “Why don’t we just rub it on his cuts instead? Just a small punishment.” Sarah looked at him, her expression softening into adoration. “You’re too gentle, Alex. You never hold a grudge.” She turned back to me, her face a mask of impatience. “Since Alex is pleading for you, we’ll do it his way!” With that, she viciously smeared the chili powder into the deepest gash on my leg. “Aaaargh!” A scream of pure, unadulterated agony ripped from my throat, echoing across the vast, silent field of flowers. She didn't stop there. She ground the powder into every single cut, every abrasion on my body. The combination of stinging and burning was like being flayed alive with a blade dipped in acid. My body convulsed, and the world began to fade to black. “Sarah… I think I’m dying…” I finally begged, the words tearing through my raw throat. “Please… let me go.” It was then that Alex tugged on Sarah’s sleeve again. “Sarah, I have some allergy pills here. Maybe if we give them to him, he’ll feel better.” Sarah’s eyes flickered toward my barely conscious form. She snorted. “See how good Alex is to you? Unbelievable. Fine. Give him the pills. I’m not done with him yet.” A guard roughly grabbed my chin and forced a pill into my mouth. A few minutes later, the suffocating tightness in my chest eased slightly. Seeing that I was conscious again, Sarah’s expression grew even colder. “Drag him over here. Make him kneel and apologize to Alex.” The guards hauled me by my arms and dropped me in front of Alex. A heavy hand pushed down on my shoulders while a knee slammed into the back of my legs, trying to force them to buckle. Looking at Alex's triumphant face, I found a new surge of strength. “Alex! Sarah! I will make you pay for this!” Alex tilted my chin up with his fingers. “Just apologize, Leo. I really hate seeing you like this.” His smile was dazzling, but his fingers were digging into my jaw, the pain sharp and tearing. Just as my vision was blacking out, the roar of engines suddenly split the air. A convoy of black SUVs was speeding toward us, screeching to a halt just a few feet away. The moment I saw the lead license plate, the last thread of tension in my body snapped. She really came. Sarah’s brow furrowed in annoyance. “What the hell is this?”
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