Chapter 1

I had been working on my mission to win Harlan over for six years. Now, he wanted a divorce to spend his first love's final days with her. She supposedly had terminal cancer.

I didn't agree at first. I told him that if we divorced, I would forget him entirely.

Harlan didn't believe me. He slammed the divorce papers onto the table, his face twisted with disgust. "She's dying, Sienna. Can't you stop being so selfish and quit lying for once?"

Later, it turned out his precious Celine had been misdiagnosed. But by then, I couldn't remember who he was at all.

…

On our wedding anniversary, Harlan gave me a massive gift. He asked for a divorce.

"If you have time, let's just get the paperwork over with," he said coldly.

"Celine has stage four stomach cancer. She doesn't have much time left. I have to be there for her."

I looked at the table full of food that had gone cold. The candlelit dinner I had spent hours preparing was now a pathetic joke.

I had seen this coming. His heart had been drifting for a long time.

Ever since his first love, Celine, moved back to the city, he started coming home later and later. He was always away on business trips.

We barely spoke anymore. At first, I tried to save us, bringing up topics he liked, but he always cut me off. He said I was annoying.

I thought today would be different. I wanted to make him happy on our special day.

But he didn't even stay for a bite. The second he walked through the door, he demanded an end to our marriage.

I knew the truth. His heart was no longer mine.

I clenched my fists and took several deep breaths before I could find my voice. "Harlan, if we divorce, I will forget you."

This was a setting fixed by the System from the very beginning. No one could change it.

His expression shifted instantly. His face, which had been somewhat calm, turned icy. "Sienna, enough is enough."

"Why do you always treat me like an idiot? You'll lose your memory if we divorce? Why don't you just say you'll die instead?"

I opened my mouth to explain, but he closed his eyes, looking exhausted. "I've had enough of this. I don't want to live with someone I have zero feelings for anymore."

After all these years, he claimed he felt nothing for me. It felt like a punch to the gut.

"If you didn't love me, why did you marry me in the first place?" I asked, my voice trembling.

He looked up, and for a second, I saw a flash of panic in his eyes. Before he could answer, his phone buzzed. It was Celine.

His gaze softened immediately. He stepped aside and whispered comforting words to her. A moment later, he grabbed his bag to leave.

"Today is our anniversary. Where are you going?"

I stood in his way, refusing to move. He tried to push past me, but I wouldn't budge.

Suddenly, a sharp slap echoed through the room. My face stung as he hit me in a fit of rage.

"You heard the call. Stop being such a hypocrite. Celine isn't feeling well, and I have to go to her."

"Get out of my way. Now!"

Harlan glared at me like I was his worst enemy. When I still didn't move, he grabbed a steak knife from the table and held it to his own throat.

"Sienna, if you stop me again, I'll kill myself right here!"

Looking at how desperate he was to get away from me, a wave of helplessness washed over me. Finally, I stepped aside and let him go.