My Parents Neglected Me Until I Died Novel by yueji

The world was utterly silent.

Quinn Ortega climbed over the fence into the campus. He sta**ered slightly upon landing but quickly steadied himself and headed in a clear direction.

Earlier that day, after swallowing my ashes, Quinn Ortega passed out due to blood loss.

Duncan Shepard took him to the hospital and informed Quinn Ortega’s parents about his condition. In the end, they decided to send him abroad for treatment.

No one noticed that Quinn Ortega had already woken up.

When the nurse finished changing his bandages that evening, Quinn Ortega pulled out the IV, changed back into his clothes, and sneaked out of the hospital with two bottles of alcohol. He took a cab to our old high school.

I couldn’t understand him anymore, so I followed silently.

Quinn Ortega navigated his way into the building and arrived at a classroom door on the third floor. I recognized it as the old music room.

With a loud crash, Quinn Ortega picked up a nearby fire extinguisher and smashed it against the glass. He reached in, unlocked the window, and climbed inside.

The music room looked almost the same as it had before, with no signs of the fire that had once ravaged it. After Quinn Ortega’s accident back then, I’d heard that the Ortega family had paid to renovate the school.

Quinn Ortega circled the piano, his gaze eventually settling by the window.Property © NôvelDrama.Org.

“When I first saw you at the company, I remembered. I’d seen you before, back when I used to play piano here. A few times, I caught you sneaking by, pretending to just pass through, with those startled doe eyes-the same look you gave me at the company later.”

He sat down on the piano bench, lightly touching the keys, a look of regret on his face. “If I had opened the door and invited you in back then, maybe we would’ve met sooner. Maybe none of this would’ve happened.

“This is where my second life began. Now, I’m giving it back to you.”

I didn’t understand what he meant until he suddenly pulled those two bottles of alcohol from his pocket and smashed them on the floor.

Then, he took out a lighter.

No.

I reached for him, but the sparks passed through my hand, igniting the floor in an instant, engulfing Quinn Ortega in flames.

He placed his hands on the piano keys and began to play, as if oblivious to the fire raging around him.

I shook my head.

Saving you back then was my choice. I don’t need your repayment.

“Nicole, in the next life, I’ll find you first and protect you,” Quinn Ortega said, smiling as he played my once-favorite piece-Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto.

Hearing his words, I shook my head again.

If there is a next life, let’s never meet again.

The debt is repaid, the bond is severed.

I closed my eyes, disappearing with him into the searing flames.

– End-