Chapter 4

Liam followed my gaze downward.

His hand flinched violently. He quickly clenched it into a fist and shoved it into his suit pocket.

"Claire."

He took a deep breath. When he looked at me again, his eyes brimmed with gentle apology.

"I was going to surprise you at tomorrow's wedding, but you found out early."

He pulled his hand back out and opened it in front of me.

"I saw you staring at pink diamonds in magazines lately, so I secretly commissioned a French craftsman to make one. When I picked it up earlier, the clerk said the size might be a bit tight, so I tried it on myself and it got stuck."

He even laughed self-deprecatingly.

"I couldn't wait to see how it looks on you."

What a seamless excuse.

The next second, his thoughts drilled into my ears.

[Damn it! How did I wear Mia's ring back?!]

[I was in such a rush getting out of bed at the hotel, I put on the wrong ring. I absolutely can't let her know I made wedding rings for Mia too.]

Three hours ago, he'd called me in that gentle voice, telling me an overseas acquisition had run into urgent issues and he needed to join a cross-continental video conference.

He told me to go try on my wedding dress alone.

His "cross-continental video conference" took place in a hotel bed.

He'd prepared wedding rings for both of us.

With the same hands that had pulled me from a glacier in the last life, he'd caressed Mia's body.

With the same lips that had sworn to me "never to betray you in the next life," he'd kissed away Mia's tears.

My fingers trembled uncontrollably.

"Is that so?"

I heard my own voice.

"But the engraving inside this ring doesn't look like my name."

Liam's pupils constricted sharply.

The color drained from his face at a visible rate. Even his breathing stopped for a second.

He covered the ring tightly.

"The inside says 'eternity' in French. The letters are too small—you must have misread it. Tomorrow when it's on your finger, you can look more carefully."

His phone rang.

He glanced at me, indicating it was work.

He walked quickly toward the floor-to-ceiling window, deliberately lowering his voice.

"Didn't I tell you not to contact me at this time?"

After hearing what the person on the other end said, his expression changed drastically. He hung up and headed for the door.

[Mia's morning sickness is getting worse. She needs me most right now. If I keep stalling, she'll only suffer more.]

[I need to get there quickly. Claire can't get pregnant, but Mia's different. That's my first child. Nothing can go wrong!]

In sophomore year, he got cornered in an alley by some thugs during a fight. The thugs came prepared with knives. Without hesitation, I rushed forward and took the blade for him. Blood stained his palms.

The doctor said my body was damaged. I'd never be able to have children.

He slapped himself twice hard across the face.

"Claire, I've failed you."

"It doesn't matter if we can't have kids. If you want, we can adopt. If you don't, we'll just have our life together, just the two of us."

And now, he had a child with his mother's murderer.

The lies ground the past into dust, leaving only desolation.

He strode toward the door.

"There's a major crisis with the investment deal. The funding chain is stuck. I have to go to the office to handle it."

After he left, I called a friend and had her pull Mia's medical records.

Half an hour later, an electronic medical file arrived on my phone.

Six weeks pregnant. Counting back, it was exactly the night of my birthday.

A sense of absurdity overwhelmed me. I wanted to call my father to cancel tomorrow's wedding.

My finger hovered over the dial button.

That was impossible. The invitations had all been sent out. The hotel was booked.

No one would believe me. Liam had played his part too well. He'd fooled not just me, but everyone around me.

In this world, everyone would vouch for Liam's devotion. Everyone would think I was the unreasonable one in this relationship.

I wiped away my tears forcefully, my lips curling into a smile.

Then let everyone watch the show.

I sent Mia a wedding invitation with a note:

"Come watch your man make his vows to me."

On the wedding day, I watched the tears glistening in my mother's eyes.

She held my hand and patted it gently.

"Claire, I'm so happy today. Liam is such a rare, good man. Your father and I are completely at ease with you marrying him."

At the groom's table across from us, Liam's father sat upright.

Unsmiling, his brow habitually furrowed, yet even he made an exception today and raised his glass.

Liam's father was a traditional man. Since his wife's death, he'd never remarried.

He looked at me, his voice steady.

"I've always taught Liam to be a man of responsibility! To love only one woman his whole life. If he dares wrong you, I'll break his legs."