Chapter 1

Before my best friend, Melody Cusack, dies of cancer, she tells me the one thing she can't let go of is her online boyfriend, whom she's never met in person.

Clutching my hand, she cries and begs me, "Shay, he's suffering from severe depression. I'm scared he won't be able to handle it. Please talk to him using my account. Gradually grow distant from him, and once enough time has passed, ask him to break up with you.

"Can you do this for me, please?"

With tears in my eyes, I promise her I will.

I follow her wishes, using her tone to talk to the man for three whole years. I stay by his side through his recurring depression and his eventual return to the peak of his career. Then, little by little, I begin to distance myself from him.

Today, I decide three years is long enough. Surely, this amount of time is long enough for him to finally let go of a relationship that has grown distant.

So, I press send.

My message reads, "We shouldn't stay in touch anymore. Let's break up."

At that exact moment, the phone that is on the coffee table lights up. It belongs to my fiance, Ashton Steele. The message that appears on his screen is the exact breakup text I just sent.

Chapter 1

"Shay, the water is just right. Get in and soak for a while. I'll be there after I finish drying my hair."

Ashton Steele's voice came from the bathroom. Through the steam, he sounded gentle and considerate.

I froze in place.

I stared at the profile picture on the screen and at that account. I had used it for three whole years.

"We shouldn't stay in touch anymore. Let's break up."

I'd just typed every single word moments ago.

The bathroom door opened. Ashton came out wrapped in a bath towel, drying his hair. When he saw me standing stiffly in front of the coffee table, his footsteps faltered.

"What's wrong? Why do you look so pale?" He walked over and habitually reached out to put an arm around my waist.

I stepped back. My lower back slammed into the armrest of the couch. The pain made me wince.

His hand stopped in midair. "Shay?"

His gaze followed mine and fell on the phone lying there with its screen still lit. The next moment, his entire face stiffened.

The phone vibrated again. It was the special notification he had set for that account.

He lunged forward, snatched up the phone, and opened the message with trembling fingers. He stared at those few words and read them three times.

His voice was so faint it was almost inaudible. "No… She wouldn't..."

He started typing, then he deleted the message. He typed again, and then deleted it once more. He couldn't bring himself to send a single word.

Then, he started calling.

Once... Twice... Three times.

In my pocket, Melody's old phone remained completely silent. I had always kept it on silent because I was afraid he'd find out I had been pretending to be someone else's girlfriend online and misunderstand.

"Pick up... Please pick up..." His voice trembled, and his forehead was covered in sweat.

I had never seen him like this.

No, that wasn't true. I had seen it before in his chat with Mel.

When his depression had been at its worst, he'd begged me just like this. He'd desperately pleaded with "her" not to leave.

But in real life, the face he had always shown me was the most polished and impeccable version of himself.

"Ashton," I said.

He didn't react. He was still making calls.

"Ashton!"

His head snapped up. His eyes were bloodshot, and irritation was written all over his face.

"Shut up!" He spat those two words at me in annoyance.

I froze for a second and laughed.

He came to his senses and hurriedly apologized, his tone returning to its usual gentleness and composure. "I'm sorry. I have something to take care of."

After that, he walked toward the bedroom and started rummaging through his clothes.

"What happened?" I asked.

He was dressing so hurriedly that he tore off a button, and he didn't even care.

"It's urgent." Ashton didn't even look at me.

"What's so urgent? We're supposed to go try on wedding dresses tomorrow."

His movements stopped. Finally, he spared me a glance. There was no guilt in his eyes. All they showed was irritation at being held up.

"You can go try on the wedding dresses yourself. Pick whatever style you want. I'll reimburse you."

"Reimburse me?" I repeated the two words. "Ashton, what do you think could be more important than our wedding?"

Hearing that, he pulled a long face. He looked at me as though I were a stranger.

"Shayna, you've always been very understanding. Why are you suddenly so unreasonable now?"

He didn't wait for me to respond. Grabbing his car keys, he slammed the door behind him and left.

Chapter 2

"Ms. Lourd, is your husband still unavailable today?"

At the bridal store, the shop assistant wore a professional smile, but the implication behind her words was obvious.

I sat alone in front of the full-length mirror.

This was the second time.

The whispers from the employees around me kept finding their way into my ears.

"That's her. She's an illustrator. I wonder how she managed to get her hands on a renowned designer like Mr. Steele."

"Mr. Steele hasn't accompanied her here even once. I doubt this marriage is going to happen."

I ignored them.

Inside the dressing room, I took out Melody's phone. The screen was filled with hundreds of unread messages from Ashton.

"Mel, why aren't you answering me?"

"Did I do something wrong? Tell me, and I'll change."

"Please answer my call, even if it's just for a second."

"Mel, are you going to leave me?"

"Please, don't leave me."

There was also a one-minute voice message. I hesitated for a long time before pressing play.

Ashton was trying to hold back his sobs, and there was the sound of a car engine in the background.

"Mel, I'm sorry... Please give me one more chance... I'll die without you... I really will..."

The same man who had told me to "shut up" last night and accused me of being unreasonable was now sobbing so hard he could barely breathe on the other end.

Someone knocked on the dressing room door. "Ms. Lourd, Mr. Jaeger is here."

Milo Jaeger was Ashton's childhood best friend.

I hurriedly wiped the tears off my face and changed out of the wedding dress before walking out.

Milo sat on the couch with his legs crossed. When he saw me, he pulled a black card from his wallet and slapped it onto the table.

He said impatiently, "I'm here to make the payment. Ashton's busy. How could he possibly have time to come pick out this stuff with you?"

Milo stood up and walked over to me.

Lowering his voice, he said, "Shayna, let me be frank with you. You know why Ashton chose you. You're obedient, easy to deal with, and you don't cause trouble. He'll give you the title of Mrs. Steele, so just stay in your lane. Don't expect any of that love nonsense. That has nothing to do with you."

I raised my hand to slap him, but he grabbed my wrist.

His grip tightened as he continued, "Upset already? I'm warning you. Ashton hasn't been in a good mood these past few days, so don't go looking for trouble. If you don't want this position, there are plenty of women waiting in line."

He shoved my hand away, and I staggered back two steps.

Milo said flippantly, "The code is his birthday. Pick whatever wedding dress you want. You'll only wear it once anyway."

With that, he straightened his suit and left.

I stood alone in the empty bridal store.

On my phone, my fiance was crying and begging the other "me" not to leave him. In front of me was the black card his best friend had thrown at me.

"Ms. Lourd, are you happy with this wedding dress?"

"No. I don't want it."

Chapter 3

After returning from the bridal store, I felt completely drained and went to bed early.

In the middle of the night, a sudden cramping pain tore through my lower abdomen. Cold sweat soaked through my pajamas, and my vision went black.

I fumbled for my phone and called Ashton.

It rang for a long time before he answered.

"Hello?"

I could hear an airport announcement in the background.

My heart sank as I pleaded, "Ashton... My stomach hurts so badly that I can't get up... Can you come and take me to the hospital?"

Ashton fell silent for a few seconds before he said, "Shayna, I have something urgent to take care of right now. You're an adult. Can't you just take a cab to the hospital yourself?"

Something urgent, huh?

His precious Mel wanted to break up with him. Of course, that was the most urgent thing in the world to him.

My hands and feet went cold as I lay on the floor.

Like I was making one last bet, I picked up Melody's phone and typed a message.

I wrote, "I want to see you."

Then, I sent it.

Almost at the same moment, I heard Ashton shout at someone beside him through the phone. "Change my flight right now! Book the earliest flight to Ivydale! I don't care how much it costs!"

Ivydale was the city I had casually said was Melody's home to make my lie more convincing.

So, Ashton was indeed at the airport. And he was more than willing to abandon me for someone who didn't even exist.

"Ashton," I said into the phone solemnly. "What if I die today?"

His voice was cold and devoid of emotion as he snapped, "Don't threaten me with death. Someone with a personality like yours is suffocating."

He hung up.

I lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling. The pain in my abdomen came rushing back, more intense than ever. I curled up like a shrimp. The pain made it hard to even stay conscious.

Clinging to the last shred of consciousness I had, I called 911.

...

"She has acute perforated appendicitis! If she'd arrived any later, she would have developed peritonitis!"

"Where's her family? There's no one to sign the surgical consent form!"

The surgery took three hours. After that, I stayed in the hospital for three days.

Ashton didn't call me once or send me a single message. Melody's phone, on the other hand, received hundreds of messages from him every day without fail.

"Mel, I'm in Ivydale. Where are you?"

"I've searched everywhere you might have gone. Why won't you see me?"

"I'm waiting for you at a cafe. I'll stay here until you show up."

I shut off the phone emotionlessly.

It was raining the day I was discharged. I handled the paperwork myself and took a cab back to the home where we had lived together for three years.

I pushed open the door. Everything was exactly as I had left it.

Chapter 4

I started packing my things.

I didn't cry or make a scene. The clothes he had bought for me went back into the closet, neatly folded. The clothes I had bought myself went into my suitcase.

In the study, I covered the art supplies he had given me with a dust-resistant cloth. In the living room, I slowly erased every trace of myself.

When Ashton came home, this was the scene he saw.

He had waited at the airport for three days without seeing his beloved Mel. He looked haggard and disheveled. He hadn't shaved, and his eyes were bloodshot.

When he saw me zipping up my suitcase, he froze.

"What are you doing?" he asked hoarsely.

I didn't answer. I bent down to move the monstera from the coffee table to the floor. Then, I took off the engagement ring on my finger.

It was a pink diamond ring. He had put it on my finger himself when he proposed.

He had said, "Shay, marry me and let me take care of you for the rest of our lives."

I placed the ring and the keys side by side in the center of the coffee table.

"Shayna, I'm talking to you! Why are you throwing a tantrum again? What are you upset about now?" Ashton raised his voice as he strode over and grabbed my wrist.

I looked up at him and said, "Ashton, I'm not throwing a tantrum."

He froze for a moment before letting go of my wrist. He rubbed his temples and softened his tone.

"Fine. I admit I wasn't very nice to you the other day." He pulled a card from his wallet and stuffed it into my hand. "I'll double your allowance this month. Put the ring back on and stop making a fuss."

He was throwing money at me again.

In an even and calm voice, I said, "That day, my appendix burst. I almost died."

His hand immediately went slack. Panic flashed across his face, but he quickly suppressed it.

"Was it serious?"

"The doctor said I wouldn't have made it if I'd arrived even a minute later."

His lips moved. "I'm sor..."

I pushed the card, ring, and keys back toward him. "Stop. You don't need to apologize, and I don't plan on forgiving you."

I grabbed my suitcase and turned toward the door.

He wrapped his arms around me from behind and held me tightly. "Shay, listen to me. I had something really important to take care of that day..."

"I know," I said calmly, "Mel was going to break up with you."

His entire body went rigid as he stammered, "H-How... How did you know?"

I pried his hands off me, turned around, and smiled at him. "I've always known."

He took half a step back. All the color drained from his face.

Then, his expression shifted. The panic disappeared, and it was replaced by the cold indifference he used at the negotiating table to crush his opponents.

"You investigated me?"

"That doesn't matter." I picked up my suitcase. "We're done. The wedding is canceled."

His voice came from behind me. "Shayna, are you sure about this?"

I didn't stop.

"What can you do on your own? Draw? Will what you make in a month even cover your rent?"

My hand tightened around the suitcase handle.

"Once you walk out that door, no one will be there to bail you out."

I opened the door.

"You'll regret this."

The hallway was silent. I dragged my suitcase toward the elevator without looking back.