The Shock of Love

Years ago, I saw a story on the TV show "Tales of the Bizarre," which I believe was originally based on a novel called "The Shock of Love." My memory is a bit hazy, so I apologize if I've added any embellishments. The protagonist, a young man, becomes a boarder at the home of a wealthy family. In the house lived the wealthy man's beautiful daughter. For some reason, the family treated the girl like a slave and abused her. Feeling pity for her due to her beauty, the young man tries to treat her with kindness, but she always avoids him. However, one day an opportunity arises, and the moment the young man speaks kind words to the girl, she suffers a mysterious seizure and collapses.

Demanding to know why she had a seizure, and why everyone always treated her so coldly in the first place, the young man confronts the family. That was when the girl's mother finally broke her silence and revealed the truth: the girl suffered from an "affection allergy." From birth, whenever affection was shown to her, her body would trigger a violent rejection reaction, which could in some cases be fatal. Because of this, the entire family had forced back their tears and treated her coldly.

Shocked by this truth, the young man realizes by that point that he has fallen in love with the girl. He resolves himself and asks the wealthy man for permission to marry her. The family, who truly loved the girl, rejoiced at the young man's kindness and accepted the proposal. And so the two were married, and their life together began, albeit without physical touch. However, one day, unable to suppress his love for the girl, the young man embraces her with all his heart. The girl responds to his love with a truly blissful expression, saying, "I love you too," but immediately suffers a major seizure.

The girl's seizure was so severe that it hovered on the border between life and death. She somehow managed to cling to life, but from that day on, the young man never once treated her with kindness. Time passes, and the scene shifts to the funeral of the girl, who has grown old and passed away. All the attendees were bad-mouthing the young man, whispering, "That husband abused his wife until the day she died, and he won't even show up at her funeral." The story ends with the elderly young man staring at a photograph of the girl, continuing to call her name. The bitter taste left behind came from the clueless attendees bad-mouthing the young man.

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