Chapter 3

Vivian said as long as I still remembered the grudge from three years ago, I would come back and kill her.

The only solution the Comments offered was to make me forget her completely.

That same night, Julian took me back to the facility.

The director read through my treatment history from the past three years and, for the first time, refused.

"She has already received prolonged, excessive treatment."

"Any more high-intensity ECT or pharmacological intervention could cause permanent memory loss and language deterioration."

"In severe cases, she may not even recognize her own family."

Julian was silent for a long time.

In the end, he picked up the pen and signed his name on the High-Risk Treatment Consent Form.

"Memory can come back over time."

"Vivian only has one life."

Ethan, a doctor, knew perfectly well there was no medical indication for treatment, and still signed off in the signed off on the medical recommendation.

Caleb held me, begging through his tears.

"Be good one last time."

"When the treatment is done, I swear I'll take you home."

Only Sebastian didn't agree right away.

He blocked the door to the treatment room, and for the first time his voice carried real anger.

"We've already destroyed three years of her life."

"This can't go on."

I thought that maybe this time, at last, he was going to choose me.

Then Vivian's call came through.

She sobbed into the phone.

"If Elise forgets Sebastian, won't she hate me even more?"

Then she swallowed the sleeping pills she had hidden in advance.

Not a lethal dose. But enough to strip all four of them of any remaining reason.

Sebastian was silent for a long time, then walked over to me.

He slid the ring off my finger.

"Just forget the hatred."

"Even if you forget me, I'll make you fall in love with me all over again."

Then he lifted me himself onto the treatment bed, and the cold restraint straps closed around my wrists and ankles.

Before the treatment began, I handed Ethan the photograph my mother had left me.

"Keep it safe for me."

"Don't lose it."

When the current hit, my body arched violently.

The pain tore through my skull. I wanted to scream stop, but only broken sobs came out of my throat.

Through the glass, I could see my three brothers and Sebastian standing outside.

Caleb was crying with a hand over his mouth.

Ethan turned his face away.

Julian's fists were clenched white.

Sebastian raised his hand several times, as if to shove the treatment room door open.

But messages kept coming from Vivian.

【The Comments are fading.】

【Just hold on a little longer.】

【Elise won't hate me for much longer.】

Not one of them hit the stop button.

When it was over, I woke up in the hospital bed.

Ethan held the photograph in front of me.

"Elise, do you know who this is?"

I stared at the woman in the picture for a long time.

Her smile was very gentle.

I couldn't remember who she was.

In the end, all I could do was shake my head, lost.

Caleb broke down sobbing on the spot.

Sebastian took my hand again.

"What about me?"

"Do you remember me?"

I flinched, pulled my hand back, and hid both behind me.

"Doctor."

"I'll cooperate with the treatment."

His face went white in an instant.

They had wanted me to forget the hatred for Vivian.

What they erased instead was every trace of the fact that I had ever loved them.

Even so, Vivian said the Comments hadn't disappeared entirely.

Julian decided to keep me in for further observation.

When the lights went out in the ward, I lay on the cold bed.

The last day of the countdown appeared before my eyes.

【Life Countdown: 1 Day.】