Chapter 3

3.

"You have nothing! How dare you try to marry into our family?"

"You're dreaming if you think you're good enough for him!"

The whispers around me made me want to vanish.

Just as I was about to break, a figure in a white shirt stepped in front of me.

"Dad! I'm the one who chased Sienna! I'm the one who confessed!"

"Without her, I wouldn't even want to live. She saved my life and she's the only one I'll ever love!"

"How can you talk to her like that?"

"I love her. No matter what you say, I'm going to marry her!"

That summer afternoon, that boy in the white shirt stood against the world for me.

He moved into my heart and stayed there for ten years.

A sharp pain in my hand brought me back to the present.

I looked at our wedding photo on the desk and made a hard choice.

Dexter, for the sake of the boy you used to be…

I'll give this marriage one more chance, even if it hurts.

If you are honest with me, if you cut her off.

I'm willing to swallow all this pain.

As long as you still love me.

I drove home like a ghost.

I walked into the house and smelled the roses I bought this morning.

Every anniversary, I ordered flowers early so he would see them when he woke up.

This morning, Dexter held those flowers and smiled at me.

"Honey, will you always be this good to me?"

"Our love will never change, right?"

I had held him tight and whispered a promise.

"Trust me."

I thought ten years meant we had a soul connection.

I couldn't understand how that happiness vanished in a few hours.

The boy who should have been celebrating with me was in the hospital for cheating.

Now, the woman's face became clear in my mind.

She was Skylar, the new intern at his company.

He never talked about office gossip, but a year ago, he came home with flowers.

He looked shocked to see me. "Sienna? Why are you home?"

I usually worked late at the hospital.

I just smiled and said the flowers were pretty.

He looked tense and panicked.

"An intern gave them to me… I helped her with a case, so she wanted to thank me…"

"Dexter, it's fine. I'm not suspicious," I said.

But he got more nervous. "Really, it's nothing. I only helped her because she looks a bit like you did ten years ago…"

That sentence changed everything.

I didn't ask anything else after that.

But Skylar started appearing everywhere in our lives.

She sent flowers, snacks, and even left her jacket in his car.

Once, when he was on a business trip, she answered his phone.

"Dexter is busy. I have his phone. I can pass on a message."

I hung up and swallowed my pride.

I told myself to trust him and our ten-year bond.

I never checked his phone or followed him.

But now…