To help her first love, Simon Ahern, win the sprint championship, my girlfriend, Cecelia Holt, deliberately locked me in the basement the night before the competition.

She looked at me icily and said grimly, "How many times have you beaten him? So what if I give the championship to him?"

Later, she even broke my legs to help him steal the national team selection spot.

I desperately asked Cecelia why she treated me like this; I was her boyfriend after all.

However, she retorted, "He accompanied me through the three years of depression. I must fulfill this wish for him."

However, she had no idea that with my legs gone, I was no different from someone who had lost their life.

When I stopped loving her, she knelt before me and begged me to give her another chance.

Before the last glimmer of light vanished from my sight, I stumbled toward the door and pleaded, even disregarding my manly pride and kneeling.

"Cecelia! Cecelia, you can't treat me like this! You know how important this competition is to me! My mom is relying on the prize money for treatment!"

At that moment, I disregarded my dignity or my reputation, only hoping Cecelia would be kind and let me out.

My mother still lay in a hospital bed in a coma. The doctor said this week was the last chance. If we could not raise the money for the surgery, we would have to give up on her treatment.

This was like a bolt from the blue to me. I grew up without a father. It was my mother who raised me by working hard as a street vendor. How could I not save her?

Originally, I was confident I could win this competition. Unexpectedly, my girlfriend, Cecelia Holt, tricked me out and locked me in this dim basement just an hour ago.

She did all this just to prevent me from competing tomorrow and make me give up first place for her first love, Simon Ahern.

I know she always looked down on me; her being with me was merely a way for my sprinting glory to satisfy her vanity, but I never imagined she could be so heartless.

Cecelia knew my mother's situation, yet she still sneered as she raised the knife in her hand and walked toward me step by step.

The blade of the knife reflected the moonlight. My hair stood on end. "What are you gonna do?"

Her tone was flat. "Spence, I know you treat me better than anyone else. You'd do anything for me, wouldn't you? You've been a champion since you were a kid. You don't understand how Simon feels. He's worked so hard, and he's been injured so many times. Can't you let him have this just for once?"

I froze. Simon was pitiful because of his training injuries; did I deserve all my old injuries?

I could not help but retort, "You're willing to ruin my future for him? What about my mother? She's been so good to you. How can you bear to see her get hurt?"

Cecelia's expression faltered for a moment, but she quickly regained her ruthlessness. "I've checked your mother's illness; it's not that serious at all. Don't play the victim!"

Hearing this, I lost all control of my emotions. "What nonsense are you spouting? My mother's in a vegetative state! She's practically on her deathbed! How can you say that with a clear conscience?"

In all the years we dated, I never yelled at her, and she immediately stopped.

My mother's condition seemed to have awakened the last shred of her sanity. Just when I thought things were turning around, her phone rang suddenly. Simon complained irritably, "Cecelia, I didn't see your message. I'm still training. Am I stupid? I've trained so hard, but I still can't beat Spencer Hudson..."

Cecelia's softening heart hardened again, her eyes filled with ferocity, as if I were her most heinous enemy. "Focus on your training. I promise you'll be the champion tomorrow."

After the call ended, I realized what was happening and desperately crawled backward. "No... Cecelia! No!"

Before I could finish, a sharp knife was already plunged into my thigh.

Cecelia's face was splattered with blood, making her look particularly gruesome. "Spencer, I'm sorry, but you can only blame yourself for getting in Simon's way!"

The blood blurred my vision, and the intense pain nearly made me faint. However, my despair tortured me even more as I wondered, 'Oh no, I'm doomed. What about my mother in the hospital? What about all my years of hard work? What should I do?'

Countless questions instantly surrounded me. I lay on the ground, screaming in pain. Cecelia was frightened by my appearance.

I looked at her with bloodshot eyes, squeezing out one word through my teeth. "Why?"

Clang.

As the dagger in her hand fell to the ground, she quickly ran over and hugged me tightly. "I'm sorry. Sorry, Spence. I know I’m being too selfish, but it was thanks to him that I had someone to lean on during my three years of depression. Otherwise... Otherwise, I wouldn't have survived!"

My lips moved, wanting to say something. Eventually, I forced out a miserable smile. "But what do I owe you? Why hurt me and my mom? You clearly know what this all meant to me!"

I refused to see her hypocrisy and pushed her away with all my might.

She stepped back two steps, her princess attitude flaring up. "Are you done? I've already apologized to you. Besides, this has always been Simon's dream. What's wrong with me satisfying him?"

At this moment, she finally stopped pretending to be sensible, revealing her true colors.

I lost all hope in her, sneering, "You two are both selfish. A b*tch and a bastard; perfect for each other."

Cecelia had probably never heard such vulgar words before. She widened her eyes. "What nonsense are you spouting? I know you're upset. I'll give you a sum of money to compensate you after he wins the championship. All you want is money, right?"

Her face contained undisguised contempt as she said this.

My disgust reached its peak.

Money. Yeah, money could pay for my mom's surgery, freeing her from the torment of illness, but it should not be exchanged for money in such a humiliating way.

I took a deep breath, looking at the woman I had loved for years, and said, "Cecelia, I don't need your charity, and I don't need a girlfriend like you. Let's break up."

"What?" Cecelia's expression changed drastically. "How dare you break up with me? Do you know what you're saying? I won't agree."

She had always been the one in control in our relationship, and I begged for her love like a dog.

However, it would not be the same starting today. This woman would never hold any place in my heart again.

Seeing my gloomy face, which did not seem like I was joking, she realized I really wanted to break up. Suddenly, she angrily pushed everything in the basement to the floor.

"I'm telling you, I won't agree. This time, I'll take it as you spouting nonsense, but if there's a next time, I won't spare you!"

After venting her anger, she kicked open the door and walked out without even glancing at me.

She left me alone in the cold basement, looking at my wounds, weeping profusely.

I was in my first year of high school when I first met Cecelia.

A girl in a white dress suddenly barged into my life without any warning.

My family was poor, barely making enough to eat. Every day, I would sneak into the classroom to eat some dry bread when they went to the cafeteria.

One day, when I was secretly eating the cold bread in the corner of the classroom as usual, Cecelia appeared. She grabbed my hand and forcibly led me to the cafeteria, ordering me a table full of dishes that I never even dared to dream of before. "Come on, eat! You can't leave if you don't finish!"

I stared at the fairy-like girl blankly and asked, "Why did you help me?"

She smiled brightly. "Because you're worth it!"

From that day on, there was no room in my heart for any other girls.

Later, I learned that she helped me because she had made a bet with her friend on how long it would take to win over the school's handsome, high-achieving but penniless heartthrob.

It turned out that our relationship was based on a bet from the very beginning.

During our relationship, I discovered that there was another more important man in Cecelia's heart. That was her first love, Simon.

Every time Simon lost a competition against me, he would call Cecelia in despair, and she would rush to his side without hesitation.

Even my friends could not stand it and asked me whether Cecelia was my girlfriend or Simon's girlfriend.

I had my doubts about their relationship, but she explained to me many times with a frown, "I became depressed because of exam pressure, and he was the one who helped me through it. I just want to thank him properly."

Because of this bond of shared hardship, Cecelia was incredibly gentle with him. If he had any request, Cecelia would find a way to fulfill it, no matter how unreasonable.

If I even slightly doubted their relationship, Cecelia would frantically tell me they were just good friends.

I could not bear to leave her, so I kept lying to myself. Even when they were being intimate in front of me, I just told myself that they were just friends.

I just never imagined she could be so heartless and ruin my legs to help him win the championship.

Looking at my blood-stained legs, I could not help but cover my face and cry.

I thought of my mother, who had delivered food and washed dishes to raise me. Her once beautiful hands were now covered in frostbite. She was lying in a hospital bed, waiting for me to come home.

However, I could only stay here, watching in despair as my honor was taken away. I might never be able to engage in strenuous activity again.

Out of heartache for my mother's hardships, I had once urged her to remarry.

However, my mother firmly shook her head. She told me that the man she loved most in her life was my father, and she would never love anyone else.

As a child, I did not understand if the power of love could really be so great, capable of making someone give up everything.

I let out a bitter laugh as I felt the excruciating pain in my lower body. I thought, 'Mom, it turns out loving someone really is this painful. But it's too late for regrets. Everything I have... is ruined...'