After her husband Richard saved the pregnant Rose but died in a car accident, Rose was tormented by guilt and began to contemplate suicide. Her stepson Bruce also harbored suicidal thoughts. To save him, Rose signed an eight-year “contract of life and death” with Bruce, agreeing to stay by his side until he came of age, at which point they would die together. During this time, she assumed the role of his legal guardian. As they spent time together, Bruce developed a paranoid and obsessive love for Rose, going so far as to self-harm and drive away all his romantic rivals. Torn between moral constraints, the specter of her late husband, and their age gap, the two repeatedly found redemption in each other only to plunge together into the depths of taboo. One night at a hotel, they finally crossed the line. Rose let go of her resistance and confessed her love, while Bruce finally revealed the truth about the car accident he had buried for years. Burdened with original sin, they became each other’s sole, symbiotic refuge.
