I have porphyria. I can't be exposed to sunlight. Even a moment under harsh rays causes my skin to blister and decay. For our three-year anniversary, Julian custom-ordered an umbrella for me. It was coated in black vinyl on the inside and painted with a constellation of stars. Until his first love, Chloe, moved back from Europe. During a hurricane warning on our island vacation, Julian abandoned me in a limestone cave. Half an hour later, he texted me: "The sun's out. I left your umbrella on the beach up ahead. There's no shade. Do you see it?" "Chloe is right. If I don't force you out of your comfort zone, you'll never have the courage to face the sun." I ran out, fighting through agonizing pain, and finally reached the umbrella. When I opened it, I realized the black vinyl canopy had been slashed with dozens of holes. The blazing July sun instantly pierced through the ribs of the umbrella. My skin rapidly flushed, blistered, decayed, and began to bleed. Fighting off dizziness, I dialed Julian's number. Over the phone, I heard Chloe's delicate, mocking laugh. "Oh my god, did she actually go out and grab that shredded piece of trash?" "I bet Julian that if I ruined the umbrella and left it in the sun, you'd still cling to it like a lifeline." Julian chuckled softly in agreement. "Let her be. A little sunburn never killed anyone." I looked down at my blistering, weeping arm. When you place your life in the hands of someone who doesn't love you, even breathing feels like a sin. I didn't want this starry umbrella anymore. ... I flagged down a taxi. The driver took one look at my condition and waved me off. "No, no way. I'm not taking you. You're going to get blood all over my seats." I pulled a few soaked hundred-dollar bills from my pocket and shoved them directly into his hand. "Triple the fare." "Take me to Ocean Avenue." He hesitated, but eventually unlocked the doors. Still, the disgust in his eyes was completely unfiltered. The moment I pushed open the front door of my house, my mom was sitting on the sofa, mending a shirt. Clatter. The sewing scissors dropped from her hands, hitting the floor. "Maya!" She practically crawled toward me, her legs giving out when she saw my bloody, ruined skin. She collapsed onto the floor. "My Maya... my baby..." "How did this happen?!" Sobbing, she scrambled to grab the first-aid kit. She used saline to flush my wounds. She carefully used scissors to cut away the fabric of my clothes that had fused with my decaying flesh. Every piece of fabric she peeled away took large chunks of dead skin with it. I bit down on the bedsheet as hard as I could. I didn't make a single sound. But my mom's hands were shaking so badly she could barely hold a cotton swab. With bloodshot eyes, she pulled out her phone and immediately called Julian. "Julian Vance." "How the hell were you taking care of Maya?!" "Do you have any idea she almost burned to death out there?!" The other end of the line was silent for a second. When Julian spoke, his voice was perfectly calm. It even carried a trace of exasperated superiority. "Mrs. Hayes." "The doctors have told us for years that her condition is mostly psychological." "You can't keep coddling her." "Chloe was just trying to help her desensitize. She had good intentions." "I made sure to leave her near a shaded area. She's the one who ran out into the sun and got a little burned." "Just put some aloe on it. Stop being so dramatic." My mom was trembling with rage. Tears smashed against her phone screen. "A little burned?" "Her flesh is literally rotting off her body!" "You are a monster, Julian!" Julian's tone immediately darkened. "Mrs. Hayes." "I only call you that out of respect for the three years Maya and I have been together." "If you're going to be unreasonable and hysterical, then we have nothing left to talk about." He hung up. Because of the extensive burns, I rapidly developed an acute infection. I fell into a feverish shock. In my delirium, I could feel my mother constantly wiping me down with cold towels to break the fever. I could feel her tears constantly dropping onto my face. In the early hours of the morning, the fever woke me up. My phone screen was glowing on the nightstand. I had a new text from Julian. "Your mom called and screamed at me." "You went running to her to complain again, didn't you?" "Did you put ointment on your sunburn?" "Stop throwing a tantrum." "I'm doing this so you can live like a normal person." "Chloe threw a bonfire party on the beach tonight. There's no sun." "Come over here, apologize to her, and we can put this whole thing behind us." Apologize. He actually wanted me to apologize to the person who almost killed me. Numbly, I opened Instagram. A minute ago, Chloe had posted a photo dump. In the pictures, the sun was setting. Julian had draped his custom-tailored trench coat over Chloe's shoulders and was looking down, carefully adjusting the collar to keep her warm. They were gazing deeply into each other's eyes. The caption read: "He said the ocean breeze is too cold for a girl to handle." In the comments, one of Julian's frat brothers teased him: "Bro, you're playing favorites! The rest of us are freezing out here." Julian replied: "Obviously. If I don't protect her, who will?" I stared at that reply. Slowly, I raised my uninjured left hand. I reached for the silver star necklace around my neck—the one Julian had clasped on me himself. I yanked it hard. Snap. The chain broke, the silver links slicing through the blisters on my collarbone. I threw it into the trash can, right on top of the bloody, ruined gauze. The next day at noon, the doorbell rang downstairs. Julian punched in the passcode and strode inside. He was carrying a cheap, generic tube of burn cream he had clearly just grabbed from a corner drugstore. When he saw me wrapped in gauze from head to toe, he frowned. A flash of disgust crossed his eyes. "Your mom really overreacts to everything." "You just peeled a little skin. Why are you wrapped up like a mummy?" He walked over to the bed and reached out to ruffle my hair. I turned my head away, dodging his hand. His hand froze in mid-air. His expression instantly darkened. "Maya." "There's a limit to how long I'll put up with this attitude." "Chloe's methods might have been a bit direct, but she did it to shock you out of your shell. Not only are you ungrateful, but you actually had your mother call and scream at me." He tossed the cheap burn cream onto the nightstand. It landed with a soft smack. "You are coming to the beach party tonight." "Chloe just moved back. She doesn't have many friends here. If you don't even show up to give her face, everyone's going to think you're petty and jealous." "Be a good girl. Just make an appearance. Don't make things difficult for me." I looked at him quietly. I looked at the man I had loved deeply for three years, the man who used to protect me like I was made of fragile porcelain. The agonizing pain made my entire body tremble with every breath I took. But I used the last bit of my strength to speak, my voice perfectly calm. "Julian. Let's break up." Julian's face turned completely thunderous. His eyes filled with the explosive rage of a man whose absolute authority had just been challenged. "Break up? Maya, are you out of your mind?!" "You're threatening me with a breakup over something this trivial?!" "I told you, I am not going to be your crutch for the rest of your life! If you stay this sensitive and fragile, who the hell is ever going to put up with you?!" "I'm not threatening you..." I weakly tried to back away, but he had already lost his patience. He stepped forward and grabbed my wrist. "Let go... it hurts..." My vision went black from the pain. My legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the floor. Cold sweat instantly soaked through the back of my shirt. But he didn't let go. He stood towering over me, glaring down. "If it hurts, deal with it." "You are going today whether you want to or not. I don't cater to anyone's tantrums." "Even if I have to drag you there, you are going to apologize to Chloe!" I didn't have the strength to fight back. I was forced into a loose, long-sleeved, high-necked sweater. Even though the fabric was loose, every time it brushed against my wounds, my entire body convulsed in agony. On the drive there, I curled up in the passenger seat, my face deathly pale. Julian floored the gas pedal, not bothering to spare me a single glance. The party was held at an open-air restaurant by the beach. It was true that there was no sun. But to set the "mood," the entire venue was flooded with dense, vibrant purple lights. Ultraviolet lights. High-intensity UV blacklights. For someone with porphyria, UV blacklights are no different than standing under the blazing noon sun. They are equally lethal poison. Three years ago, when Julian was pursuing me, he memorized every single medical journal article about my condition. It was impossible that he didn't know this. But he just kept a stony expression, half-dragging me toward the corner with the highest concentration of UV lights, shoving me into a chair. "You sit right here and think about your attitude." "I'm going to cut the cake with Chloe. Maya, you better not cause a scene." He turned and walked away. He didn't hesitate. He didn't look back once. The second my skin absorbed the UV light, the sensation of being branded with a hot iron ripped through my body all over again. I tried to stand up to escape the lights. But Chloe walked over, holding two glasses of red wine. She was wearing a sexy, low-cut slip dress. In her hand, she was holding a blindingly bright UV glow stick. "Hey, Maya." "Aren't you hot wrapped up in all those layers?" She purposefully leaned in close. She pointed the UV glow stick directly at my cheek. The intense UV rays instantly pierced through my silk scarf. My flesh screamed, the agonizing burning sensation tearing through my nerves. "Ugh." I let out a muffled groan of sheer agony. I blindly swung my arm, slapping the lethal glow stick away from my face. "Get away." "Stay the hell away from me!" I barely even pushed her. But Chloe let out an incredibly theatrical, piercing scream. She threw herself backward onto the sand. "Ah!" The wine glasses shattered around her. "My ankle! I twisted my ankle!" Julian, who was walking over with two slices of cake, saw her fall. The color drained from his face. He didn't even care about the cake. He tossed the plates into the sand. He sprinted toward us. To protect Chloe, who was sitting on the ground... He didn't even think. He violently shoved me out of the way. "Maya, are you insane?!" "If you have a problem, take it out on me! What kind of pathetic coward bullies her?!" I still had a high fever and was incredibly weak. When he shoved me with that much force, I completely lost my balance. I fell backward, hard. Right behind me was a row of blazing hot, ground-level UV spotlights. Sizzle. The extreme heat of the bulb melted straight through my pants. The blisters on my calves burst open en masse. Flesh tore. Blood poured out. Blood and pus instantly soaked through the white fabric of my pants. As I slid to the ground, I dragged a horrifying, bloody smear across the floorboards. "It hurts..." I curled into a ball on the ground. Even the air I breathed tasted like copper. My entire body was shaking uncontrollably. The surrounding socialites and rich kids were all staring now in horror. "Oh my god, why is she bleeding so much?!" "It smells like burnt meat. That's disgusting." "Is it some kind of infectious disease? Gross." Chloe hid in Julian's arms, covering her mouth and pretending to be terrified. "Julian, I'm so scared." "Maya looks terrifying." Julian held Chloe tightly against his chest. He finally lowered his head to look at me. But in his eyes, there was nothing but endless disgust and rage. He ripped off his expensive jacket and draped it over Chloe, physically shielding her from the sight of me. As if even looking at me would contaminate her eyes. He stood towering over me, pointing a finger at my blood-soaked body. "There is no sun here." "How long are you going to keep up this pathetic victim act?" "Using this kind of cheap trick because you're jealous?" "Maya, you actually make me sick." "Get the hell out of here before you embarrass yourself any further." Not a single word of concern. Not a single question asking if I was in pain. Around me, everyone was either mocking me or watching like it was a reality show. I clamped my jaw shut. My mouth was flooded with the taste of my own blood. I didn't shed a single tear. Using the very last ounce of strength I had, I gripped the metal leg of a nearby table. Inch by inch, I slowly pulled myself up from the pool of my own blood. I didn't look at him. I didn't say a single word in my own defense. When your heart dies, silence is the only thing left. I just dragged my ruined, bloody right leg behind me. Step by agonizing step. Leaving a long trail of blood, I walked away from the bright, noisy beach.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "574831", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel