1 I found an old brass lamp by chance, and it gave me three wishes. My first wish was for my childhood best friend, Oliver, to walk again. A few days later, his legs, which the doctors swore would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, miraculously regained sensation. The very first thing he did when he stood up was confess his love to me. During our junior year of college, Oliver’s family went bankrupt overnight. So, I made my second wish. The day after I saved his family’s empire from ruin, he showed up at my door with an engagement ring. I was bubble-wrapped in joy, preparing for our future just three days before our engagement party. Then, I overheard his friends teasing him. “Hey, Oliver, how does the charity case taste?” Oliver chuckled, his voice dripping with easy amusement. “Not bad. Actually, a lot sweeter than Minnie.” The engagement gift I had lovingly wrapped slipped from my hands, hitting the floor with a quiet, devastating thud. His buddy whistled. “Aren’t you afraid your little heiress will throw a tantrum?” Oliver shrugged, his tone utterly indifferent. “A guy like me was never going to settle for just one woman my entire life. Gratitude is one thing. Everything else is a separate transaction.” I ran all the way home, tears blurring my vision. I pulled out the antique lamp and whispered my final wish: “I wish for the first two wishes to be completely undone!” The lamp flickered, its ancient light sputtering a few times before going entirely cold and dark. The wish was sealed. Based on how the previous wishes worked, it would take three days to take effect. It would happen exactly on the night of our engagement party. Tears spilled over, hot and unstoppable. Outside, a sudden burst of fireworks exploded across the sky, painting the harbor as bright as day. I stared blankly at the brilliant lights, my mind drifting back to the night Oliver proposed to me. It had been just as dazzling. Having spent eight agonizing years in a wheelchair, the moment he finally stood up, he spun me around in his arms, laughing like a madman. “Minnie, you’re my good luck charm!” As the words left his lips, a cascade of fireworks bloomed behind him, reflecting in his shining eyes. “Will you be my girlfriend?” I had loved him in secret for five long years. When my dream finally came true, the sheer joy nearly blinded me. But I didn’t want him to ask me out just because he felt obligated to pay me back for his legs. Back then, he had sworn to the heavens that his feelings were real. “I only held back because I was paralyzed,” he had whispered, pressing his forehead against mine. “Minnie, if I ever betray you, you can tell your magic lamp to take it all back!” It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. My phone buzzed relentlessly. The class group chat was blowing up. “Which rich boy bought out the sky for Tessa tonight?” “Damn, this is even crazier than the night Oliver confessed to Minnie, isn’t it?” Tessa replied with a blushing emoji. “Stop it, guys. Oliver just wanted to celebrate me landing my internship.” The chat fell dead silent for a few minutes. Finally, someone broke the ice. “If I remember correctly, Minnie is still in this group, right? Won’t she lose her mind if she sees this?” The very next second, Oliver flooded the group chat with digital cash links, drowning the conversation. A barrage of expressions of gratitude quickly pushed the old messages out of sight. I slammed my phone face down on the desk, biting my lower lip until the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. Then, the doorbell rang. Oliver stood on the porch, holding a massive bouquet of red roses. When he saw my face, he paused, a flicker of uncertainty crossing his handsome features. “Who upset my little princess?” he asked, reaching out to pull me into his chest. I stepped aside, dodging his touch. Oliver let out a dry laugh, assuming I was just throwing one of my usual, spoiled tantrums. Without another thought, he tossed the bouquet onto the console table and walked into the living room as if he owned the place. “Minnie, seriously, you need to work on that temper of yours,” he said, loosening his collar. “You’re about to be Mrs. Sinclair. You can’t keep acting like a petulant child forever.” Before I could utter a word, his phone chimed. He answered it, and a girl’s soft, sweet voice drifted through the speaker. “Oliver, thank you so much for helping me get the internship. To show my appreciation, can I buy you dinner? There’s a cheap diner near campus. It’s not fancy, but the food is amazing.” A soft smile tugged at Oliver’s lips, his throat bobbing as he swallowed. “Wait for me. I’m on my way.” He hung up and gestured to his phone. “You should learn from her. She’s hardworking, independent, and low-maintenance. Look at you. All you do is shop, spend my money, and throw tantrums.” He sighed, shaking his head with a patronizing grin. “But I guess that’s my fault for spoiling you so much.” As he gestured, his collar shifted, revealing a fresh, dark hickey on his neck. A sharp, suffocating pain flared in my chest. I blinked back the tears stinging my eyes, forcing a cold, mocking smile to my lips. “Oliver, since when did your taste get so trashy?” Getting a job at Sinclair Enterprises through his connections was called being hardworking. Eating cheap diner food was called being low-maintenance. I guess when you eat steak every day, even garbage starts to look like an exotic delicacy. His brow furrowed instantly. “Minnie, she’s just a classmate. I was doing her a favor. Don’t be so disgusting.” “A classmate? What kind of classmate sleeps in your bed?” Oliver froze, a rare flash of panic breaking through his calm facade. “How did you…” I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Tears streamed down my face as I slapped his hand away. “You promised you’d never betray me, Oliver!” Before he could respond, his phone rang frantically. He picked it up, and his friend’s panicked voice filled the room. “Oliver, Tessa just got hit by a car! We don’t have enough cash for the emergency deposit. Can you come down here right now?” Without a single second of hesitation, Oliver spun on his heel. “I’ll explain everything when I get back!” I grabbed the bouquet of roses he had brought and hurled them at his back. “Don’t bother, Oliver! We’re over!” He stopped. His back tensed for a brief second before relaxing. “Minnie, don’t be naive. We can’t break up.” He turned around, his usual playful arrogance replaced by a heavy, foreign exhaustion. “At this point, our family businesses are completely tied together. Do you really think this is your choice to make? Even if you want to call off the engagement, do you think your father would ever agree? On our engagement night, three days from now, do you expect us to just humiliate both our families?” He walked out, leaving nothing but a mess of crushed petals on the floor. I stepped on them numbly, the red rose juice staining my white silk night gown like fresh blood. He was right about one thing. Ever since my second wish saved his family, Sinclair Enterprises had reached unprecedented heights. My father, a ruthless businessman to his core, would never let me call off this merger. But Oliver had no idea that the third wish had already been cast. For an entire day, Oliver didn’t send me a single text. I blocked his number. I spent the afternoon packing away every single thing he had given me over the years: his messy love letters, the clumsy scarf he had knitted for me, and the birthday gift he had flown across the world to buy at an auction, spending a whole year’s allowance. All those sweet memories, once swallowed like candy, now felt like broken glass tearing through my throat, leaving me bleeding inside. The last item was our engagement ring. I had custom-ordered it from a designer, engraving each other’s initials on the band. I traced the letters O.S. with my thumb, then threw it into the trash box with the rest of his things. I hadn’t looked at my phone all afternoon. The quiet group chat had exploded once again. “Did you guys hear? Tessa was hit by a car and lost her vision!” “Oh my god, that’s awful! Her family is broke, how is she going to afford the surgery?” “We don’t need to worry about that. Oliver is covering everything. But the doctors said her corneas are severely damaged. She might be blind for life!” I stared at the screen, my face blank. I shut down the phone, picked up the box of trash, and walked out. As soon as I opened the front door, I ran into Oliver. He looked disheveled, panting as he ran toward the villa. Was it my imagination, or was he limping slightly? Before he could even catch his breath, he grabbed my arm. “Minnie, does your lamp still have one last wish? Let me borrow it, please!” The box of trash slipped from my grip, spilling our memories all over the driveway. Oliver didn’t even glance down. He dragged me toward the house. “Tessa is blind, and we can’t find a matching cornea in time! Take the lamp and come to the hospital with me!” I yanked my hand back with all my strength. “Why? What makes you think I would use my wish to save your mistress?” Oliver gritted his teeth. “She’s only twenty-two! How can you be so heartless?” “What does her life have to do with me?” During our shouting match, Oliver’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out, and as his eyes scanned the screen, his face darkened into something truly terrifying. He looked up, his expression venomous. “Minnie Reed, how can you be so vicious?” I froze. “What the hell are you talking about?” He shoved the phone in my face. It was a text from his friend. “Oliver, Tessa is awake. She said she saw the driver who hit her. It looked like Minnie’s family driver.” Then, an audio message played. Tessa’s weak, trembling voice filled the air. “It was Minnie’s driver! I’ve seen him before! Why is she doing this to me? I’m blind now… I’d rather be dead!” I stared at Oliver for a long, silent moment. Then, I began to laugh. Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes, but I couldn’t stop laughing. “Oliver, did you leave your brain in her bed? If I wanted to destroy her, would I really be stupid enough to send my own family driver to run her over?” Oliver bit his lip, searching my face for any sign of a lie. But his desperation won. He pushed past me, heading straight toward the study where I usually kept the lamp. “I don’t care! We have to save her first!” He snatched the brass lamp from the shelf and ran for the door. I lunged forward, grabbing his arm. “Give it back!” Oliver violently shook me off. The force sent me stumbling backward. My temple slammed hard against the sharp corner of the wooden console table, and the world spun. I collapsed onto the floor. Oliver turned, his face draining of all color. He dropped to his knees, panic-stricken. “Minnie! Minnie!” He pressed his hand against my forehead, but hot blood was already pouring through his fingers. Darkness swallowed me whole. When I finally regained consciousness, the first thing I heard was a muffled, angry argument outside my hospital room. It was Oliver’s voice. “Gratitude? I threw my entire life away for her! Isn’t that enough payback? Tessa wants nothing from me. I couldn’t give her a future, and now she’s lost her eyes because of me! If it was going to end like this, I wish Minnie had never saved me in the first place!” My heart seemed to stop. I clenched my fists so hard my nails cut into my palms. Then, his father’s voice, hushed but furious, replied: “If it weren’t for Minnie, the Sinclair family would have been bankrupt years ago! The engagement party is tomorrow. How am I supposed to explain this to her father?” Oliver let out a cold, mocking laugh. “Explain what? Her father has a dozen mistresses. Didn’t his affairs drive Minnie’s mother to suicide? What right does he have to judge me? And honestly, look at Minnie’s emotional instability. She probably inherited her mother’s mental illness. I’m exhausted from playing her perfect prince all these years!” I bit the inside of my cheek until the copper taste of blood filled my mouth. He knew. He knew my mother’s death was my deepest trauma. He had sworn to protect me from the kind of neglect that killed her, and now, he was weaponizing it. A cold, burning rage consumed me. Just as I reached to grab the water glass on the nightstand to smash it, the door burst open. Oliver’s friend ran in, panting. “Oliver! Tessa is pregnant!” The news of Tessa’s pregnancy was a bomb that shattered the Sinclair family’s hesitation. Even Oliver’s father changed his tune, sending endless expensive supplements to her room. The night before the engagement party, I walked into Tessa’s hospital ward. Her eyes were bandaged, her pale face making her look fragile and pitiable. Hearing my footsteps, she offered a sweet, fragile smile. “Oliver? Is that you?” “It’s me,” I said. Her smile instantly vanished. She went completely rigid, her hand instinctively shielding her stomach. “Minnie? What are you doing here?” I sat down on the chair by her bed, my voice ice-cold. “Why did you frame me?” She didn’t expect me to be so direct. For a second, she faltered. But then, a smug, triumphant smirk crept onto her lips. “Does the reason even matter? Oliver believed me, not you. That’s all that counts, isn’t it?” Before I could respond, her ears perked up at the sound of approaching footsteps in the hallway. In a split second, her entire demeanor changed. She lunged forward, grabbing my hand, sobbing hysterically. “Please, Minnie! For the sake of our college days, spare me! Please don’t hurt my baby!” I tried to yank my hand back, startled by her sudden act, but the door was already thrown open. “Minnie! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Oliver stormed in, grabbing my wrist with bruising force and dragging me out of the room. He didn’t even give me a chance to speak. “I warned you to stay away from her and my child!” I wrenched my wrist from his grip, glaring at him. Oliver’s chest heaved. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, before his tone softened into a placating whine. “Minnie, what’s done is done. Stop fighting me on this, okay? Once she has the baby, I’ll pay her off and send her away.” I rubbed my swollen wrist, a mocking laugh slipping out. “And what about your bastard child?” He winced at the word, but forced himself to remain patient. “We’ll keep the baby. We can tell the world you gave birth to it.” “Are you insane?” I stared at him, realizing I didn’t know this man at all. He avoided my gaze. “Your mother had severe mental issues, and your temper is unstable. I’m worried it’s genetic. Besides, you’ve always said you’re terrified of the pain of childbirth. Isn’t this perfect? You get a child without any of the suffering.” What a generous offer. I forced down the rising bile in my throat. Knowing what was coming tomorrow, I suddenly wanted to laugh. “Fine,” I said. Oliver blinked, stunned by my quick capitulation. “You agree?” He smiled, assuming I had finally submitted to his will. “Good girl. I knew you’d understand. Save the lamp’s last wish for Tessa’s eyes. It’s the least we can do to compensate her. I’ll drop the hit-and-run investigation.” He leaned against the wall, rubbing his left leg. He looked uncomfortable. I smiled coldly. “Sure. But on one condition.” “Name it.” “I’ll heal her after we exchange our rings tomorrow.” Oliver let out a soft chuckle, reaching out to stroke my cheek. “What, afraid I’ll run away? Don’t worry, I’m marrying you. I know you love me enough to do anything for me. Just look pretty tomorrow.” I smiled back. Oh, I wasn’t worried about him running away, because after tomorrow, he wouldn’t be running anywhere ever again. The next day, the grand ballroom of the Plaza Hotel was packed with the city’s elite. I spent three hours on my makeup, looking flawless. When Oliver saw me, his eyes lit up. He walked toward me, but after a few steps, his left leg visibly spasmed. He shook it off, ignoring it, and offered me his hand. “Shall we, Mrs. Sinclair?” I placed my hand in his, walking up the steps to the stage under the flashing lights. Just as Oliver took the microphone, smiling warmly at the crowd, the double doors of the ballroom slammed open. The Sinclair family’s lead assistant ran in, his face completely bloodless. “Mr. Sinclair! Something went wrong! The federal investigators just seized our main development project!” The room erupted into chaos. At that exact moment, a horrific scream tore from Oliver’s throat. He collapsed onto the stage, clawing at his left leg, his eyes wide with sheer terror. “My legs! I can’t feel my legs!”
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