The Day My Slow Brain Finally Felt Heartbreak Chapter 08
I paused while watching the traffic flowing through the streets of Paris outside the shop.
I paused my hands, stopping the trimming of the roses.
My gaze drifted past the flower stand, landing on the elegant picture frame resting on the checkout counter.
The photo was taken by the coast in Marseille.
David Harrison was wrapping his arms around me from behind, his chin resting gently against the top of my
head.
The ocean breeze ruffled our hair. My eyes were crinkled into happy crescents, and the way he looked at me
was unbearably gentle.
A sweet, involuntary smile tugged at the corners of my lips.
I reached out and softly caressed the frame.
Back then, as I lay on that freezing operating table, my vital signs slipping away inch by inch.
Listening to Nathan’s frantic, comforting murmurs to Joy through the nurse’s phone.
Hearing him say “let her lie in the hallway for a while.”
Even though I had already checked out of our relationship, even though I knew about their betrayal.
Hearing those words with my own ears still caused my heart to spasm in violent, excruciating waves.
It hurt so badly that I truly believed I was going to die that night.
Luckily, David arrived just in time.
2
He snatched the surgical consent form and violently dragged me back from the brink of death.
David Harrison.
When I was diagnosed with delayed response syndrome at the age of five, my parents dumped me at the
gates of an orphanage.
Because of my slow reactions, I became the target for every single bully in the facility.
They stole my food. They shoved mud into my mouth.
I was so slow that even my crying was delayed by a beat.
Until I turned seven.
That was the year David was brought in.
Word was he was the young heir of an incredibly wealthy family who had run away from home because he
couldn’t stand his stepmother’s abuse.
He wore expensive clothes that had gone dirty and wrinkled, and his eyes were wary like a lone wolf’s.
New kids were always subjected to the brutal rules of the orphanage’s resident bullies.
A group of them pinned him into the muddy water, beating him mercilessly.
I hid behind a tree, walked over with agonizing slowness, and blankly offered him the half-eaten bun I had hidden away.
He didn’t take it. He only glared at me with pure venom.
But the very next day, when those same bullies tried to steal my food again.
David charged forward.
He fought those older kids like a rabid dog, refusing to let go even when his face was covered in blood.
He didn’t stop until every single one of them was beaten into submission.
Wiping the blood from his mouth, he stood firmly in front of me.
“Hey! None of you touch Valerie!”
“From now on, she’s under my protection!”
Gradually, he became the undisputed leader among us.
Nobody ever dared to lay a single finger on me again.
He would patiently wait for me to finish my meals, and he would hold my hand, walking with me at my
agonizingly slow pace.
He was the only person in that entire orphanage I ever willingly let close.
But it wasn’t long before his family tracked him down.
The director and the other kids said his family was astronomically wealthy, and they were taking him abroad
to inherit the empire.
The day he left.
David held me in a suffocating embrace.
The young boy’s eyes were blood-red, but his voice was unyielding.
“Valerie, wait for me!”
“I’ll come back for you! No matter how far, I’ll find you!”
“I’ll find the best doctors in the world, and I’ll cure your delay!”
As the memories flooded back, a warm moisture pricked my eyes.
He actually did it.
For the past three years, he took me to see the absolute best neurologists across the globe.
He accompanied me through physical therapy, practicing speech patterns with me day in and day out.
With boundless patience and infinite love, he slowly nurtured my withered soul back to life.
Thank god it wasn’t too late.
I had finally reunited with my true love.
