Devouring Love in the Raging FireChapter 1
Five years ago, Ivana Millian accompanied Ernest Gilmore through the collapse after being abandoned by his 'favorite woman.'
To save his 'favorite woman,' Ernest locked Ivana in a freezer. She survived but lost a toe.
Later, Ernest compensated Ivana with four toes, kneeling on the ground and begging her to come back, "Even if you cut off my entire leg, I would still willingly endure it!"
***
"You stay inside! I waited for you for so long, now you'll stay inside just as long!" Ernest shouted at her.
In July's heat, Ivana wore thin clothes in the freezer at minus twenty-two degrees Celsius. Within seconds, her lips turned purple from the cold.
"Ernest, I didn't mean to! I swear, the traffic was bad! Punish me in some other way, please?" Ivana kept jumping up and down while pleading with Ernest.
He shouted, "Punish you another way? On Valentine's Day, you made me wait for five full minutes in public. Do I spoil you too much?"
"No, no, it's not like that." Ivana anxiously slapped the freezer door, shivering from the cold. The extreme temperature made every part of her body ache unbearably.
"Ernest, there's a phone call," someone said. Ernest took the call and his eyes lit up suddenly, "I have something to do. Let her out in five minutes!"
"Ernest! Ernest!" Ivana banged on the freezer door with all her might, shouting.
A man scolded her, "What are you yelling for! Ernest said five minutes before you can come out!"
"It's too … too cold, really. Can't you let me out, please?" Ivana begged.
"A few minutes won't freeze you to death. Maybe you'll learn your lesson! In all of San Diego, nobody dares to keep Ernest waiting!" the man named Dominic Spikes, answered.
Ivana, freezing, searched her memory and found a discarded freezer coat in a corner. She wrapped it tightly around herself. It helped a little, but she was still cold. Especially her feet, which ached as if being sliced by knives.
Ivana could barely stand, "Dom … Dominic, can you open the door, please? I'll buy you food, wine, or bake you a cake."
"Stop shouting! I'm losing at cards! One more word from you and I'll keep you in for another five minutes!" he shouted.
Ivana pleaded, "Dominic, isn't this too much? Won't Ernest get angry?"
He said coldly, "Ernest's real girlfriend is back now. Do you think he still cares about you? Didn't you see how fast he left just now?"