Chapter 1

Three days before the wedding, some lunatic broke into my home to rob me.

By the time my boyfriend, Duncan Barnes, got there, I was already in the hospital, cuts all over me.

He looked at my arm in its cast, pressed his lips together, and said,

"...I'm sorry, Susan. I didn't know the address of your new place."

I looked at him calmly.

"But I told you three times."

Duncan paused.

"I've been working late a lot lately. It just didn't stick."

Didn't stick.

Didn't stick again.

Three years together, and Duncan had never remembered the things I liked, never remembered the foods I couldn't eat.

Now he couldn't even remember where I lived.

I dropped my eyes.

And I suddenly thought of a week ago, when I'd happened to glance at Duncan's food-delivery app.

The saved delivery addresses were packed with Mia Fox's name.

Her building. The school where she worked. The hotels she stayed in on business trips.

It wasn't that he couldn't remember anything about me. He just didn't want to.

Something that had been pulled tight in my head snapped.

I didn't answer him. I lowered my head and tapped at my phone a few times.

Cancelled the wedding. And accepted the school's transfer offer.

1

The transfer application went through fast.

【Ms. Susan Henson, congratulations on your approved transfer to Paris, France. Please arrive within three days.】

Three days from now was my wedding to Duncan.

I deleted the message, and cleared out the saved police report too.

Duncan hadn't noticed anything off about me at all.

He was busy typing a message to Mia Fox.

【I ordered everything you like. Check the peephole before you open up, don't open the door for strangers.】

When he looked up at me, his expression wavered.

"I'm just glad you're all right."

Duncan stepped forward and pulled me against him.

"If I'd remembered your new address sooner, you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

The cuts all over me throbbed.

In a haze, I remembered: three years of long-distance, Duncan and me.

He had never once come to my place. It was always me going to his.

Duncan picked up the iodine from the table and dabbed it gently on my wounds.

"I already asked the doctor. Don't worry, the scars will fade before the wedding."

I pressed him. "And if they don't?"

"Then I'll find the best doctor to get rid of them for you."

Duncan's answer was flawless. Perfectly proper.

I looked at him and said nothing.

Last night I'd called him dozens of times.

He hadn't picked up once.

"Last night I—"

"Hold on, Mia's calling me."

Duncan patted me soothingly and took the call.

"What's wrong, Mia?"

Mia's voice came through the receiver, choked with tears.

"Duncan, my mom just had an acute stroke, and I don't know what to do all by myself."

Duncan's whole face changed in an instant.

He set down the iodine and stood up to leave.

"Don't panic. Your documents are in the box to the left of the entryway."

"Grab them, I'm coming right now!"

Same city, and Duncan remembered every one of Mia's places, right down to where she kept her documents.

But he couldn't get straight the new address I'd told him three times.

I couldn't stop myself.

"I'm still on the IV. You're leaving?"

"Mia's scared, all alone."

There wasn't a trace of hesitation in his voice.

Then he paused and explained.

"She and I have known each other since we were kids. I have to get over there."

"I've called a caregiver. She'll take good care of you."

And with that, he turned and walked out, resolute, without a backward glance.

I didn't try to stop him.

I just calmly dialed the wedding planner.

"The wedding in three days. Cancel it."

The planner was stunned.

"Miss Henson, you spent two full years planning this wedding down to the last detail. Are you sure you want to cancel?"

I touched the cuts on my body, my voice even.

"I'm sure."

I don't need things that were never mine.

I cancelled everything for the wedding, one item at a time.

But the banquet designer told me,

"Miss Henson, the invitations and the seating were handled entirely by Mr. Barnes."

"To cancel, we'll need one of you to sign in person."

I booked a time to sign the next day.

An hour later, my head was swimming.

I looked over the medication chart and found an ingredient I was clearly allergic to.

I had made a point of stressing this to Duncan.

My fingers clenched hard, and it hit me all at once.

During a video call, Duncan's tone had been dismissive.

"I'm looking at the new address."

So he hadn't been looking at my new address.

He'd been looking at Mia's new address.

I gritted through the whole night.

At five in the morning, I saw Duncan walk in, shielding Mia with his arm.

She still had his coat draped over her shoulders.

Mia saw me and let out a soft laugh, feigning guilt.

"Sorry about this, Susan. Duncan didn't think the other hospital was good enough, so he made a point of moving my mom over here."

Duncan was even carrying Mia's purse.

When he saw how pale I was, his brows drew together on reflex.

"Why do you look so awful?"

Then he pointed at the fruit platter on the table. "Mia's allergic to mango. Take these away."

I looked at him and pointed at the medication chart.

"I told you I'm allergic to this ingredient."

Duncan picked up the chart and read it over carefully.

Then he turned his head away, his voice rough.

"You're not a child. You can't expect me to remember every little thing."

He could remember that Mia was allergic to mango.

But he couldn't remember the medication ingredient I was allergic to.

My eyes stung.

That was when Mia reached out and poked my arm, her voice all innocence.

"Susan, how do you have so many scars, just like Duncan?"

"Except Duncan's scars were all from protecting me, back then."