He Believed His Ex More Than He Believed Me Chapter 09
Nolan opened our old text thread.
[Dr. Brooks said I made a little progress today.]
[The sunflower on the balcony has a new leaf.]
[Are you coming home tonight? I’m scared.]
The final message was from the day he removed the barrier. He had answered with two words.
[Don’t depend.]
Nolan turned the phone facedown and bent until his forehead touched the cold railing. Whenever someone passed, he wiped his tears, but his hand only grew wetter.
A month later, I could sit in a wheelchair. Dr. Brooks took me into the hospital garden for some sun.
Nolan stood at a distance holding a light blanket. He did not dare approach, so he gave it to a nurse.
“Would you like this, Ms. Harper?” the nurse asked.
I looked at it and shook my head. “No.”
Beside a flower bed, Nolan’s outstretched hand went rigid. Dr. Brooks began pushing me back inside.
He suddenly spoke, his voice rough. “Could you give me a few minutes?”
“One conversation, Noelle. That’s all.”
I looked at him without emotion. “The last one.”
Nolan moved in front of my wheelchair and sank to the pavement. He reached toward the hem of my dress, then stopped in midair.
“Noelle.”
Tears fell before he managed another word. I watched him quietly.
He swallowed, his voice almost unrecognizable. “I was wrong.”
“I was a coward and a bastard. Vanessa deceived me, and I deceived myself.”
“Hit me, curse me, do anything you want, but let me stay and care for you. I owe you my life.”
I watched his spine bow under the pain. “When that car came toward you three years ago, I pushed you away because I loved you.”
His fingers jerked, and his tears fell faster.
“You cared for me for three years because you believed you owed me,” I continued. “When I left the hospital, you promised to protect me forever.”
“That promise started suffocating you a long time ago, didn’t it?”
Nolan shook his head. “No.”
“It wasn’t only guilt. I…”
“Then why were you tired?”
He froze.
I leaned slightly forward and met his eyes. “Vanessa didn’t trick you into suddenly falling out of love with me.”
“You had resented me for a long time.”
His face slowly lost its color.
“You hated my crying, my inability to leave home, and the way I trapped you there. One ordinary day had become a luxury.”
Nolan gripped the side of my wheelchair until his fingers darkened. “I was exhausted.”
“I never wanted to hurt you.”
“I know.”
I nodded. “So you found a beautiful excuse and called it treatment.”
A breeze crossed the garden, carrying the faint smell of disinfectant. Nolan’s shoulders collapsed.
“You removed the barrier, replaced my medication, and locked the basement door.”
“Vanessa handed you the weapon, but you were the one who pressed it into my chest.”
Nolan looked up sharply, his eyes veined red. “Please don’t say that.”
“I don’t hate you.”
He stared at me as if he had found one dim point of light.
“You disgust me.”
His lips trembled.
I continued with perfect calm. “You didn’t even have the courage to admit you resented me.”
“You needed a fraud with a psychology degree to take the blame.”
“You are a selfish coward who hid behind the image of a devoted man.”
Whatever strength remained in him disappeared.