Janet's voice seemed like it could be ripped away by the blizzard. "My dad took a bullet for the Graham family, so they took me in to repay him."

Before she turned ten, Janet was bright and clever, always acing her tests. However, after she got beaten up trying to protect Chester from his enemies, she was no longer the same.

Chester made a promise before her dad's grave that he would love her forever. Even when he worked his way up to running the docks, he never thought of leaving Janet behind.

However, when he turned 22, the Graham family set up a marriage for him, and his fiancée wanted Janet gone. Everyone thought they were perfect for each other. They said he should ditch Janet, the ditz, and marry a rich businessman's daughter who was pretty and wealthy.

However, Chester would rather leave Riverton City than give up Janet.

"Do you think he's even more foolish than I am?" Janet's tears froze on her lashes. "He gave up his title as the so-called Ship King just to drift from place to place with me."

The Graham family wanted Chester to learn a lesson, so they left him with no place to turn. To take care of Janet and her health, he had no choice but to fight in secret boxing matches.

Janet's tears would not stop as she shook all over. "If it weren't for me, he wouldn't have had to work so hard. He wouldn't have gotten so badly hurt either."

I could not believe it, and my eyes went wide. "If he loves you that much, why would he want you gone?"

She looked confused, and I could tell that she felt guilty. "Because being with me must be really tough for him."

The guy who used to be super rich from his shipping business fought in those dangerous boxing matches and even carried heavy bags of cement for Janet. Then, one day, Chester's rich ex-girlfriend called while crying, asking him if he regretted any of it.

Chester's hands shook, and his voice did too.

"Seeing her like that, I can't have any regrets... What happened back then was my fault. I was the one who hurt you."

After the call, he got some sleeping pills ready for Janet. However, he just could not see it through and broke the cup of water instead.

I looked at Janet, feeling kind of sad. "Did you get it back then..."

Janet started to sweat. "I didn't get it at first, but Chester was really scary that day."

Chester had too much to drink, and Janet tried to make chicken noodle soup for him but ended up breaking a bowl. He lost it and knocked over the soup. "Janet! Didn't I tell you to stay out of the kitchen? You're always messing things up!"

The hot soup splashed on Janet. She burned her arm pretty badly but just twisted her shirt and said sorry. "Chester, I'm sorry. I'm such a klutz."

She looked up at Chester and held out her hand, trying to make things better. "Do you still have that cold medicine from before? I've got a cold again and want some more."

Chester's feelings suddenly overflowed like a broken dam. "That's not even the right medicine! Why are you still so clueless even after all these years?"

He grabbed Janet, borrowed their neighbor's car, and drove to a quiet place outside of town. There, he left her standing alone in an empty field.

Janet looked lost.

"Chester asked if I did it on purpose. The doctors say there's nothing wrong with my brain, so why am I still clueless?" she said.

I wrapped my arms around her, feeling her pain.

"He just left you there?" I asked.

Janet nodded weakly.

Chester stormed off, but minutes later, he came back. He sped straight to her. He was trying to hit Janet with the car. She fell to the ground. However, the car stopped just inches away from her.

Chester yelled like he was losing his mind, "Janet, why are you so clueless that you can't even dodge a car?!"

However, when he calmed down, he picked her up and put her back in the car. "Let's just forget it. I owe you one. It's my fault," he said.

Janet's tears dropped onto my hands. "I had never heard him sound so hopeless. I wish I could be smart," she whispered.

"I didn't mean to not dodge. But a voice in my head kept telling me that if I were gone, Chester would be happy."

Her voice was different then, no longer sweet and simple, just full of sadness and hopelessness.

"That's not true. You're not clueless," I told her.

I hugged her close. "You've been to so many places on your own. You're brave and amazing."

She tried to smile at me, but her thoughts were all mixed up again.

"Nathalie, you're so nice. Thank you, Nathalie. But at the time, I really wanted Chester to be happy, so I secretly called his fiancée."

Janet pleaded with Rose Collins to come and bring Chester back to Riverton City. As she shared her story, her tears soaked into my arms.

"I had asked him to leave so many times. But he would just pat my head and say that I had grown up with him, so we were stuck together… Inseparable."

Suddenly, Janet grabbed my wrist with amazing strength. "Rose told me he did everything for me!"

To get back into the Graham family's good graces, Chester would have to make up for it big time, like sacrificing one of Janet's legs.

Janet only hesitated for a moment before begging Rose to come to Alavon City in secret without Chester finding out. Janet snuck out that day, ready to have her leg crippled.

Rose was so mad at her that she handed the person responsible for hurting Janet a big, heavy stick. Hitting her leg with the stick did not draw blood or break it right away, but it hurt so much that Janet felt like she was dying.

Janet took hit after hit. It hurt so bad, but Janet sounded proud.

"Thinking of Chester gave me so much courage. I didn't even try to hide."

She closed her eyes, bracing for more hits, but Chester stopped the stick.

"What's going on here?!"

Rose, with her fiery temper, did not hold back. "This silly girl wants to trade her leg to help you come back. I'm just helping her out."

Chester saw Janet, beaten and barely awake, and got really angry. "I never wanted her to sacrifice herself like this!"

He picked up Janet and rushed her to the hospital, while Rose ran off, crying.

"Alright, I know you don't need my help. I guess I was just being silly," Rose said with a sigh.

Chester stood still for a moment, but then he suddenly dropped Janet onto the cold ground and chased after Rose. Snowflakes fell thick and fast that day.

Janet could not move her legs and was left shivering in the snow. It was so cold outside that she could have frozen to death. Slowly, she felt her body turning to ice. However, she did not cry out or try to call for help.

She just lay there quietly, almost frozen solid.

When I heard about that, I could not help but think badly of Chester. "He's such a meanie!"

Janet got really sick with a fever, and even talking was hard for her.

"Nathalie, maybe it would've been better if I'd just died back then?"

That thought scared me, and I did everything to help her calm down. "Don't be silly, Janet! Don't talk like that. Save your energy," I told her.

Janet was so weak that she could not even hear me anymore. She said Chester was usually kind-hearted. He did not want her to lose her legs or leave her in the snow.

He came back quickly after Rose disappeared with a pendant in his pocket. He took Janet to the hospital. The doctor said it would be tough to fix Janet's injured leg, and she might not walk again.

It would cost a lot of money to try.

Chester said he was broke. He wondered if he had to sell his blood to make things right with her.

Janet just trembled as she spoke to me. "After that, he didn't want anything to do with me anymore."

After they left the hospital, Chester would not talk to Janet at all. At night, he would just look at the pendant, his ticket back to the docks. By day, he fought in secret boxing matches, trying to earn whatever he could.

His injuries were getting worse, and Janet was so worried that she did not know what to do next.

Everything changed the day Rose made another call to Chester.

"I'm calling you for the last time today. I'm getting engaged tomorrow. I don't believe you've never cared about me! And how can you just keep living like this? If you don't show up, I'll have to move on for good."

Chester looked deep into Janet's eyes. Then, all of a sudden, he could not take it anymore. He pushed Janet out of the way and ran outside.

By now, Janet's voice was barely a whisper. I had to lean in close to hear her say, "Even then, he was worried I'd try to escape, so he locked the door from the outside."

However, they had both forgotten that something was still cooking on the stove that day. When the soup boiled over, gas filled the house. The fire started so quickly.

Janet, with her injured leg, kept trying to put out the fire with water. However, the smoke was too much, and she fell to the ground, struggling with the locked door. The fire grew wildly and reached Chester's room.

Janet remembered Chester's special pendant. Fighting through the flames, she crawled to his room. She found the pendant, but the fire burned her leg. She fell, and the pendant broke into pieces on the floor.

She sobbed while lying on the ground, trying to pick up the pieces.

"Chester's special pendant can't be broken."

Just then, as Chester came back with the firefighters, he saw Janet with the broken pieces.

Suddenly, Janet, who was in my arms, started shaking hard. She clutched my hand and cried out in pain, "Nathalie, his slap hurt so much. I tried to fix it for him, but he just yelled at me to go away and not to touch his stuff."

I gently patted her back, trying to make her feel better. I told her it was all a dream—there was no fire, and no one was hitting her.

"Janet, nobody's going to hurt you anymore, and the pain is all gone."

However, Janet suddenly started coughing really hard. "He looked so angry. He said I did it on purpose, that I did not want him to go back home. But that's not true. I really wanted him to go home more than anything."

Hence, Janet just nodded quietly.

"I didn't want Chester to go away, I wanted to stay with Chester forever."

However, Chester got really upset. He took Janet from the firefighter and walked away.

When they were alone in a quiet alley, Chester made a phone call, and a stranger showed up. In front of him, Chester took out something sharp. He held Janet's leg and made three marks. Each time, Chester sounded more upset.

"Janet! You chose this at the start. I don't owe you anything, not anymore!"

After the last mark, Janet's clothes were all red. Chester did not look at her again. He just left with the sharp item. He went to the docks with his followers to apologize.

When I heard that, I could not stop my tears from falling. "Janet, so that's how your leg got hurt. You lost so much blood. Did it hurt?"

I did not think Janet could answer as she was too out of it. However, she heard me and reached out to wipe my tears away.

"He asked me the same thing that day. Nathalie, it didn't hurt."

After she said that, she seemed to run out of energy and passed out. I tried to wake her up by shaking her gently, but she stayed asleep.

I hugged her close, praying over and over again. "Please, let this sweet, silly girl have a good life just this once," I whispered in my heart.

In the dead of night, Janet's eyes fluttered open, and she began to weep. I held her even tighter.

"Janet, when the sun comes up, we'll find help! You've got to hang in there, show that jerk he didn't break you!"

She kept shouting out in pain, and I could not help but cry with her. Janet was not the smartest, but she was the toughest. Even when bugs bit her during our two years of adventures, she never cried.

I could not bear to think of how much pain she was in back then...

Janet trembled, blood gushing from her mouth. "It was so hard to earn money before. Chester would give me all the food. He'd pass out from hunger."

Then, she started thinking I was someone else. "Chester, you must be so tired after all these years."

I sobbed and pressed my hand over her mouth. "Don't talk. Just hold on. The snow's about to stop."

However, Janet seemed to see nothing. Confused, she whispered in my ear.

"Don't tell him I'm still dumb and a failure. I've been everywhere, but I still can't forget him." Tears and blood streaked Janet's face.

"If you get better, I won't tell him how much of a failure you are!"

She hugged my neck, her voice barely a whisper. "He made those clay dolls for me—one for him and one for me. We'd never be apart."

She slowly closed her eyes, and blood stained my shirt collar.

"Nathalie... if only I weren't such a fool."

Her eyes shut, and her hands slipped from my neck. Then, there was only silence. All that was left in the howling snowstorm was the sound of my crying.

…

After the snowstorm passed, I made my way down the mountain alone, rushing straight to Riverton City. I got there just as Chester's engagement party was starting.

Right when Chester was about to slip the ring on Rose's finger, I burst into the room. "Chester, Janet has passed away, and she sent me to give you a wedding present!"