Love Manipulated by Fate

Upon returning from a business trip, I found that Vernon Stewart, my childhood sweetheart, who had vowed to marry no one but me, had fallen into a coma after a car accident.

Later, he miraculously woke up, but it was as if he had become a completely different person.

He fell madly in love with my rival and grew to despise me.

Heartbroken, I burned the wedding invitation and dress, granting him his freedom.

Yet, he collapsed before me, telling me he was dying.

1

I received the news of Vernon's car accident and subsequent coma while I was in Italy for an exhibition.

I canceled all my plans and collaborations, rushing back overnight.

As soon as I got off the plane, without even brushing my hair or washing my face, I hurried to the hospital.

Pushing open the door to his room, I saw him holding Alice Hussain's hand.

His chapped lips slowly formed the word "darling."

The doctor told me Vernon had created a medical miracle.

He regained consciousness less than a day after being judged to be in a vegetative state.

They conducted a comprehensive examination, and all his indicators were returning to normal.

However, some memories were jumbled, and his understanding of relationships was skewed.

For instance, he claimed he had never been engaged, and that he liked Alice.

Such notions were utterly absurd.

Everyone in our circle knew that Vernon was aloof and difficult to approach, except when it came to me.

In high school, when Alice pursued him and badmouthed me in front of him, he coldly told her to shut up, frightening her into tears.

During our years in college, Alice was relentless. At a class reunion, emboldened by alcohol, she threw herself into his arms, asking why she wasn't as good as me.

He lifted his eyelids and pushed her away, saying, "How could you compare to Rachel?"

But now, Alice was feeding him lemonade spoon by spoon, and he gazed at her with deep affection.

The scene was tranquil and picturesque, like a work of art.

2

I coughed awkwardly.

"Who let you in?"

Vernon frowned, snatching the teacup from Alice's hand and smashing it to the ground with a loud crash.

The water was scalding, splashing onto my swollen feet from days of travel, turning them red.

"Rachel, are you okay?"

Alice feigned concern, but I could see the smugness and mockery in her eyes.

"Alice, I'll take care of Vernon. You should leave."

I stepped over the broken porcelain, calmly asking her to go.

Vernon was ill, his mind not functioning properly.

But I was his fiancée.

We had known each other for over twenty years and had been together for six.

No one could replace the place we held in each other's hearts.

I believed that as long as I stayed by his side, given time, he would remember our past.

Alice looked at Vernon with hesitation.

Vernon gently patted her hand in reassurance and turned to me with eyes as cold as ice.

"Rachel Hopkins, I don't know what went wrong before, but I'm certain I've always liked Alice. There's no way I could have been engaged to you. I need to correct this mistake today. Let's call off the engagement."

Those last words struck my heart heavily.

I recalled the night Vernon proposed to me.

The sound of waves, fireworks filling the sky.

His eyes glimmered with gold as he said, "Rachel, marry me. Let's be together forever."

The expression on his face as he slipped the ring onto my finger was so earnest.

I kissed his lips, tasting a hint of saltiness.

He rarely cried, but that day his tears wouldn't stop.

"Rachel, when people are too happy, they really do cry."

Yet now, the man who once cried for me, who playfully begged me not to leave at the airport before my trip, easily dismissed our bond.

The ring pressed painfully into my palm.

I shouldn't be angry.

Why should I argue with a patient?

But I felt as if I was about to boil over.

"Vernon, do you know what you're saying?" "Of course." "Are you sure you don't want me to take care of you?"

"That's absurd. I have Alice."

His resolute demeanor pierced me.

I casually removed the ring and tossed it beside his bed.

"Fine. When you remember, come find me."

3

Returning to our house, I was completely drained.

I lay on the sofa, unwilling to move.

Vernon had bought the house, and as for every piece of furniture, every decoration, we had chosen together.

I stared blankly at the wedding photo that nearly covered an entire wall of the living room, my eyes stinging.

The Vernon in that photo, gazing at me tenderly, was the person I had known for twenty years.

The one in the hospital room, how could that be him?

From as far back as I could remember, Vernon was a part of my life.

Our parents were all in business and left us in the care of nannies.

The nannies loved to chat in the garden, leaving us to play together, inseparable every day.

Whenever someone asked him who his best friend was, he would always smile and say, "Of course, it's Rachel."

In elementary school, when bullies pulled my pigtails and wrote on my clothes, Vernon found out and fought them in the sandbox until his nose bled.

He said, "As long as I'm here, no one will bully Rachel."

When I was fourteen, my parents were caught in a landslide and died while inspecting a factory.

I stood on the steps of the crematorium, holding their ashes, feeling homeless and utterly lost.

I had no home, having no idea how to live.

Vernon held my shoulders and said, "Rachel, you still have me. I'll be your family."

Later, relatives and shareholders who wanted to take advantage of my family's property came knocking, creating a scene at my parents' grave.

Vernon charged out with a kitchen knife, terrifying them. "Come on, I'm not an adult yet, even if I kill someone, I don't care."

The Stewart family expanded their overseas business in those years, becoming powerful.

Everyone wanted to avoid provoking him, yet they still kept on ranting and causing a scene for quite some time, taking quite a few things before leaving.

I clutched a broken bottle in my trembling hand.

It was him who held my hand, confidently telling me, "Don't be afraid, Rachel, I'm always here."

He kept his word.

He accompanied me to school, ate with me, helped me with homework, and wandered aimlessly with me.

Day after day, through rain or shine.

His stern face would soften only when he looked at me.

Without him, I might have been driven to death by various people at the age of fourteen.

No one could remain indifferent to Vernon.

Perhaps even earlier, my heart had already surrendered to him.

The day I got into college, I finally couldn't resist going further.

Pretending to be nonchalant, I sorted through the drawer filled with love letters accumulated over the years.

I asked, "Vernon, do you think I should find a boyfriend?"

His body stiffened, his fingers turning white as he flipped through the pages, and he looked at me cautiously, "Can't I be the one?"

He cared for me so deeply, loved me so much.

But today, the person in the hospital room was nothing like the Vernon who once had eyes only for me.

4

I barely slept a wink, feeling sorrowful all night.

But despite my sadness, I shouldn't be sulking with Vernon.

In the past, he helped me through so many tough times, and now that he was facing a challenge, how could I just walk away?

Holding his favorite fruits and snacks, I returned to the hospital room.

As I knocked and entered, I felt as if I had been struck by lightning.

Alice was sitting on the edge of the bed, her face full of shyness, as she kissed Vernon's cheek.

Seeing me, she playfully punched Vernon's chest, "It's all your fault, letting me kiss you and getting caught... "

Vernon's gaze was sharp, his expression clearly questioning why I was there to ruin his mood.

My head buzzed, and the fruits in my hand scattered all over the floor.

"Alice, are you out of your mind too? Knowingly being the mistress, do you have no shame?"

Alice's eyes welled up with tears, and she was biting her lip without saying a word.

Vernon looked at her with a face full of heartache, gently wiping her eyes with his fingers, "It's okay, Alice, don't cry, I'm here."

He said he was here.

I thought Vernon would never say those words to anyone else.

Those words were my support to keep going, a testament to the storms we weathered together.

Yet, here he was, saying them so easily to another woman.

His gaze towards me was cold and unfamiliar, "Rachel, you agreed to break off the engagement and then went back on your word. Do you have no shame? How many times do I have to say it for you to understand? I like Alice."

I wanted to grab Vernon's collar and ask him when he would return to normal.

But when I opened my mouth, no sound came out.

The doctor said that with medical treatment in the current stage, it was impossible to determine if Vernon would ever recover.

It was very likely he would remain in this state for the rest of his life.

A state where he didn't love me.

No matter how much I said, to him, it was like talking about nonsense.

The thought of losing Vernon forever made my tears flow uncontrollably.

I frantically wiped them away, "Vernon, for some things, if I wait until you recover to discuss, it might be too late. I ask you to be cautious about your current behavior."

Vernon gave me a strange expression.

Pain, anger, heartbreak, and conflict flashed by, leaving only a long-lasting coldness.

His hand holding Alice's trembled slightly.

His body awkwardly lifted as if he was instinctively wanting to rush over.

But the next second, he wrapped his arm around Alice's waist, pressing her head to his chest, "I'm very cautious. Don't come again. I simply don't love you."

5

I cried in the bathroom for a long time.

My mascara ran, leaving black streaks down my face.

I wiped it over and over, the black smudging into a messy blotch.

Like a pathetic joke.

When I looked up again, Alice was standing behind me with a sinister smile.

She looked at my reflection in the mirror as if admiring her handiwork, boasting, "Rachel, you look really good in your misery. Now, dear Vernon is mine. Even if you go mad with hatred, there's nothing you can do. You might as well be sensible and back off, save yourself the-"

She called him dear Vernon.

Only I could call him that.

Dear Vernon.

"Alice, have some decency!"

A female voice came from the doorway.

Alice's younger sister, Alisa, walked in, pulling out a wet wipe to help me clean up, "After all the years they've been together, don't you feel disgusted with yourself for taking advantage of the situation?"

Alisa was Alice's biological younger sister.

But their personalities were very different.

When she first saw my root carvings in college, she became a fan girl of me.

In the past few years, apart from Vernon, she was the best friend in my life.

Alice had always been unable to outtalk Alisa, glaring at her before strutting away in her high heels.

6

Alisa stayed with me, drinking until midnight.

In a drunken haze, I saw my Vernon again.

On my first birthday after being with him, Vernon gave me a ruby bracelet.

"True love, " he said, "that's the name of this bracelet."

I teased him, saying rubies are the stone of love, and if he took it back, he would be in big trouble.

He silenced my protest with a kiss, "Can't you see? Even in death, I wouldn't regret it. You're the only Rachel in this world."

I understood the deeper meaning behind his words.

After Vernon's father expanded the business overseas, he was always flying around the world, rarely home.

Vernon's mother had an affair with a dance instructor, taking a large sum of money and jewelry, leaving Vernon behind.

Our families were shattered in various ways.

We were each other's only solace.

We were each other's only companion and salvation.