Chapter 1

After dating Kyan Mercer for seven long years, he finally agreed to marry me.

But on the day we were supposed to get our marriage license, his secretary called.

She said, "Kyan, if you marry her, I'll end it all!"

I begged him not to leave.

Kyan lost his temper right there.

"Can you grow the hell up? What if she actually does something drastic?"

He drove off without even looking back.

I walked home under the scorching sun, only to pass out and be sent to the hospital.

In the blink of an eye, I saw his secretary's new post on social media.

The background was our home.

She captioned it, "I bet on it, and I won."

In the live photo, they were passionately kissing, and his eyes were full of tenderness.

Looking at the wedding ring on her finger that looked exactly like mine, everything suddenly made sense.

1.

The background of her photo was the little home Kyan and I had built over seven years.

Tears streamed down my face as I raised my hand to look at my wedding ring.

He had spent half a year calling in favors to get it custom-made.

I loved the design, but the size was way too big, slipping loosely on my finger.

At the time, he said, "I didn't expect you to lose so much weight. Should I order a new one?"

I had shaken my head, completely unsuspecting. I had indeed lost weight recently while drafting designs for his company.

Only now did I realize that this ring was never meant for me.

Gritting my teeth, I called out to the nurse. "I've made up my mind. I need to let this pregnancy go."

The nurse gave me a surprised look but ultimately didn't say anything.

I had just found out I was pregnant, and the doctor warned me it would take a severe toll on my body.

I had a heart condition, so having a baby was a massive risk.

But Kyan had always desperately wanted a baby of his own, so I was determined to keep it.

Even if it meant putting my own life on the line.

Until today, when she threatened to do something crazy just because we were getting married.

I begged him to stay, but he yelled at me and turned around to bring his secretary back to our home.

That was when I realized his proposal might have just been done out of spite.

His secretary was a fresh college grad who looked a bit like me, and she had been chasing him for a long time.

Kyan always said she was annoying and that he had no interest in her.

Later, I heard she was going on blind dates.

It was exactly then that Kyan proposed to me, and I was too thrilled to think straight.

I didn't think deeper into their twisted dynamic.

Around the same time, I got pregnant. I had planned to surprise him when we got our license.

But there was no need for that anymore.

The nurse told me to go home and wait for the scheduling call.

When I got back home, I could hear their flirtatious voices right from the doorway.

"Kyan, when are you going to marry me? Throw her stuff out, it's an eyesore."

"I know you love me. The ring you picked is my favorite jasmine flower design. If I hadn't said I'd do something crazy, would you have really married her?"

"I want to give you a cute baby. Let me pick the name when the time comes, okay?"

"You were so wild last time, I loved it. Can we do it again?"

I froze. Bitterness filled my heart, and my tears fell uncontrollably.

Kyan didn't say a word the entire time.

A month ago, on our anniversary, he stayed out all night.

I closed my eyes, remembering how I thought he was just overwhelmed with overtime.

I never expected they were hooking up that night.

He had stopped loving me a long time ago.

A disgusting bastard like him wasn't worth my sacrifices.

Clenching my fists, I decided to never look back.

I pushed the door open, startling the two people inside.