At the bachelor party before the wedding, Vivian, Adrian’s female friend, suddenly raised her glass and draped her arm around his shoulders. “Bro, I can’t believe you’re actually willing to abandon us friends to marry a woman so early. Drink up as punishment!” “The first glass—I toast to your loyalty. Because I said I wanted to see the northern lights, and you ditched your fiancée without a word to accompany me to the Arctic.” “The second glass—I toast to your years of devoted care, like when you stripped off my clothes to wipe me down when I had a fever.” Thunderous applause erupted in the private room. My mind went blank. My ears rang. So on our fifth anniversary, Adrian’s “urgent matter” was accompanying Vivian to see the northern lights in the Arctic. And when I nearly died from amniotic fluid embolism during childbirth, lying in the ICU for three days—ultimately delivering a stillborn baby—he was wiping down Vivian’s naked body! Amid the crowd’s cheering, Vivian acted coquettishly, wanting to share another drink with Adrian. Before raising her glass, she looked at me and smiled: “The last glass—I toast to Emma’s generosity.” “Thank you for lending me Adrian to register our marriage, so I could win the war against my ex-boyfriend.”
The wine glass slipped from my hand and shattered on the floor. “Explain yourself clearly. What do you mean you and Adrian registered your marriage…?” My voice trembled. My fingers gripped the glass shards tightly, sharp pain radiating from my fingertips. In the five years I’d been dating Adrian, I’d proposed to him ninety-nine times. But each time, just when he was about to agree, his female friend would swoop in at the last moment and kick me back to square one. Just recently, Adrian had accepted my hundredth proposal. When I thought we were finally getting married— He’d already registered his marriage with his female friend! The atmosphere grew heavy. Someone quickly stepped forward to smooth things over. “Don’t take it personally. Vivian’s personality is just carefree like that. Besides, we’re all friends—helping each other out is normal.” “Exactly. Adrian just helped me with a small favor as a friend. You’re not going to make a big deal out of such a trivial matter, are you?” Before she finished speaking, Adrian smiled and lightly tapped Vivian’s head. “Stop talking. Even food can’t shut you up.” She playfully punched his chest in response. “A banana couldn’t fill my mouth like your cock does~” The room erupted. Raucous laughter followed. “Vivian, you’ve seen Adrian’s dick? Want to check if mine’s big too?” “Me too, me too! Satisfaction guaranteed, hahaha!” “Fuck off. Adrian’s different from you guys. He and I are like childhood friends who wore the same pants growing up.” “Is there any part of his body I haven’t seen?” “Besides, I used to have sex with him all the time. Big dick feels so good~” As soon as she finished, the previously lively room fell silent. My mind went blank. I didn’t even notice the blood dripping from my fingertips. Seeing me freeze, she laughed carelessly and explained: “Speaking of which, Emma, you should thank me. If I hadn’t trained Adrian for you—” “Would Adrian have such great skills in bed to satisfy you?” Blood rushed to my head. I couldn’t take it anymore. I grabbed a wine glass and hurled it viciously at Vivian. Before she could scream, Adrian stepped forward and pulled her protectively into his arms. “Emma Chase, are you insane? What’s with this spoiled princess tantrum!” I stared at Adrian’s reddened hand, my nails digging into my palms. After a long pause, I heard my own voice: “You two really are good friends—so close you don’t care about gender boundaries, sleeping together!” My face was full of mockery. “If you’re that close, why not just marry her and make her your wife? Let’s be honest—you’re just a slut and a scumbag, a perfect pair of cheating bastards…!” Adrian exploded in rage, raising his hand and slapping me. “Emma, that’s enough! When did you become so vicious!” “Apologize to Vivian now!” Vivian hid in Adrian’s embrace, smiling provocatively from an angle no one else could see. I suddenly felt it was all so meaningless. I grabbed my phone and turned to leave. But Adrian immediately grabbed my wrist. “You humiliated Vivian in front of all these people today and embarrassed me.” “If you don’t apologize, the wedding in three days is cancelled.”
As he spoke, Adrian’s expression unconsciously took on an air of confidence and arrogance. He looked down at me condescendingly. As if certain I wouldn’t leave, waiting for me to lower my head and admit fault like the previous ninety-nine times. “Emma, you’d better think carefully. Walk out that door, and who else besides me would dare marry you?” My heart sank. The Adrian before me had become utterly unfamiliar. I couldn’t reconcile him with the passionate young man from eight years ago. Bitter tears flowed silently in my heart as the sincere youth slowly appeared before my eyes. At thirteen, when I was being bullied, Adrian stood up for me, suffering serious injuries to pull me out of the abyss. “You’re Emma, right? I fell for you at first sight. From now on, you’re under my protection.” “If you’re in danger, just drop my name. Anyone who dares bully you—I’ll make them pay!” At fifteen, facing high school applications, Adrian—whose grades were at the bottom—picked up textbooks for the first time to get into the same school as me, waking before dawn to study. At sixteen, my family went bankrupt. My parents died. My tuition was in jeopardy, and I was forced to take a leave of absence. Sixteen-year-old Adrian skipped classes to work part-time—as a waiter, doing manual labor, suffering from stomach bleeding and hospitalization from exhaustion. With the money he earned, he paid seven years of tuition for me, supporting me through high school and college. At eighteen, just past midnight on his birthday, Adrian couldn’t wait to kiss my lips, insisting on promising me his life. “Emma, I’ll be here from now on. Don’t be afraid. I’ll treat you well for the rest of my life.” At twenty, after experiencing that horrific, nightmarish incident, on the day I was rescued, Adrian held me and sobbed, vowing to make those who violated me pay a terrible price. At twenty-two, after college graduation, I started planning our future. But after he succeeded in his business and met Vivian, everything between us turned to bubbles. Adrian began unconsciously mentioning Vivian in our daily conversations. I don’t know when it started, but he mentioned her more and more frequently, and came home less and less often. He began distancing himself from me, despising me, letting others humiliate me at will. The cold wind outside rushed into my chest, jolting me back to reality. My blood gradually cooled. The phantom of that young man slowly blurred. I looked Adrian straight in the eye, word by word: “Then let’s cancel it. I wish you two the best together.” Seeing me turn to leave, a flash of barely perceptible panic crossed Adrian’s eyes, and his voice carried urgency. “Emma, stop right there!” “You were violated. You’re not pure anymore. Who else besides me would want you!” Adrian’s voice wasn’t loud, but it struck everyone’s ears like thunder. Blood rushed to my heart, then drained completely the next second. I turned around, trembling, my eyes full of disbelief. My most painful, most unspeakable past had been torn open by Adrian and displayed before everyone. A flicker of panic crossed Adrian’s face, then he composed himself. “Emma, be good. Come apologize to Vivian. I can pretend what just happened never occurred, and we’ll have our wedding as scheduled.” Adrian’s voice floated lightly through the crowd. Suppressed gasps rippled through the room. Everyone’s gaze swept over me like X-rays. “Holy shit, this is explosive!” “Oh my god, I can’t believe it. Emma always dresses so elegantly—you’d never guess she’d experienced something like that.” “Right? Man, poor Adrian. The wife he pampered for so many years turns out to be damaged goods.” “Yeah, thank god they didn’t get married yet. At least he cut his losses in time.” The pointing and whispers pressed on my chest. Cold suffocation gripped my throat. “Adrian, you bastard!” “You don’t know anything—” I shot to my feet, anger and grief making my whole body tremble. Unable to control myself, I rushed forward and slapped Adrian hard across the face. Smack! The entire room fell silent. Vivian stepped forward, draping her arm over Adrian’s shoulder and pulling him to her chest. “Emma, women like you are so troublesome. Adrian and I are just good friends. Do you really need to be so uptight?” “Everyone else thinks it’s fine. Don’t project your own dirty mind onto everything!” One sentence made everyone look at me with even more dissatisfaction and contempt. The murmuring grew louder than before. Adrian stood rigid, refusing to look at me. Something in my chest shattered completely with a crack. Vivian’s provocation, everyone’s humiliation, Adrian’s silence—all the grievances I’d endured over the years slapped me back in the face like a vicious blow. “Adrian, I’ve put up with you two for so long. Every time, it’s ‘just good friends!’” “When I need you, you’re never there. I said I wanted to go see the northern lights with you—you said it was boring. But the moment Vivian mentions it, you eagerly rush off with her.” “When I nearly died from amniotic fluid embolism, fighting for my life in the ICU for three days—that couldn’t compare to Vivian having a simple fever. Last time, the time before that, the time before that… Every time you promised to register our marriage, the next day you’d abandon me because of Vivian’s various little problems, right up to today!” “She humiliates me constantly, provokes me endlessly, and you still stand there like an idiot on her side, casually revealing my most painful, most unbearable past to let these people insult me at will!” “Adrian, am I really that worthless in your eyes?!” I gasped for breath, tears blurring my face. In my peripheral vision, Adrian seemed to reach toward me, but the surrounding comments rose like waves threatening to drown me. I couldn’t bear this shocking pain anymore. Like a coward, I fled in defeat.
Before the door closed, the last thing I heard was Vivian’s playful mockery. “Looks like I didn’t love you in vain. You’re really loyal—willing to abandon your wife for me.” “But if you just want to pretend you don’t care so you can go chase after her, we won’t look down on you.” Adrian’s firm reply rang out: “Without me, no one will want her.” They bet five hundred thousand dollars that within three days, I’d come crawling back to apologize. In that moment, the last ember of hope in my heart was completely extinguished. I pulled out my phone and called a number I hadn’t contacted in ages. In less than three seconds, the call was answered. “In three days, I’m getting married. Come—as the groom.” The other end sounded excited and was about to ask something when a text from my grandmother suddenly came through. “My dear granddaughter, how’s the wedding planning going with Adrian? Do you want to come home for dinner tonight? I made all your favorite dishes.” Following was a photo of the food. Grandma had made every dish that Adrian and I loved, filling the entire table. I could only swallow the bitterness in my throat, not daring to tell the truth and worry the grandmother who’d worked her whole life raising me. I could only reply with a voice message, trying to sound natural: “Got it, I’ll come keep you company right away. But Adrian has a business dinner tonight, so he won’t be joining us!” Before getting in the car, I instinctively looked up toward Adrian’s villa. He and Vivian were surrounded in the center of the crowd. Amid everyone’s cheering— His ears turned red. My cheek burned with stinging pain. Before I knew it, my dried-up eyes filled with tears again. I raised my hand to cover my face, unwilling to let anyone see my embarrassment. … I don’t remember how I got home. When I came to my senses, the rice in my bowl had been poked beyond recognition. Seeing my mood was off, Grandma quickly put down her utensils and pulled me into her embrace. She carefully spoke: “Tell Grandma—did that Adrian boy bully you?” Meeting Grandma’s loving, concerned gaze, the truth rose repeatedly in my throat, only to be swallowed back down. “Grandma, how about I take you somewhere else?” After a long while with no response, I looked up questioningly. Grandma’s warm tears dropped right into my eye sockets. “Grandma promises you—wherever Emma goes, I’ll follow and take care of you.” “Marriage isn’t the destination of happiness. If you don’t like it, if you’re hurt—you don’t have to go through with it. Grandma only wants you to be happy forever.” My closest person’s comfort was like warmth rising from spring tides after winter recedes. I could no longer hold back the flood in my heart. I buried myself in Grandma’s arms, sobbing, releasing years of grievances. The next day, as I was packing clothes for our trip, my alternate phone buzzed with a notification. The content showed Vivian in ski gear, nestled in Adrian’s arms. The two looked as intimate as lovers in passionate romance. The caption read: “Someone came to make up for my regret of never seeing snow. Today he’s transformed into strict Coach Adrian~” I froze. The snowman toy Adrian had given me fell from my pocket. It was his gift to compensate for me never having seen snow. He’d promised to take me to see snow as soon as work quieted down. But one busy period led to another. That promise was tossed into the farthest corner of his heart, long covered in thick dust. I snapped out of my numbness and threw the toy forcefully into the trash. Just then, a scream came from Grandma’s room. When I pushed the door open, Grandma was collapsed on the floor in pain. From her shattered phone came Adrian’s voice: “You were violated…” “Emma… is what he said true… when did you suffer such grievance…” “It’s all my fault… cough cough… all my fault for not protecting you…” Grandma cried while clutching her chest. The pain on her face made me react immediately. Grandma’s heart condition was acting up!
I frantically called for emergency services, but when we arrived at the hospital, I was told the cardiology doctor had been dispatched by Adrian to treat Vivian’s external injuries! Hearing this, I couldn’t care about dignity anymore. I stumbled toward the consultation room. “Adrian! Adrian! I’m begging you—please save Grandma!” “For the sake of how she always treated you like her own grandson, how she gave you her burial savings to start your business—please have the doctor save her!” The next second, Vivian appeared before me, clinging to Adrian’s arm. She clutched her chest affectedly, her voice syrupy as she whined about how much it hurt. But it was clearly just a minor bruise! Adrian was about to speak when Vivian pulled him back. “Adrian, my chest hurts so much~” “She was acting all high and mighty, even slapping you last night. Today’s little show is probably just another trick to fool you into coming back.” His gaze shifted from concern to cold indifference as he looked at me. “Emma, even if you’re going to lie, make it believable.” “How dare you use Grandma’s life to fabricate a story!” “You like putting on shows, don’t you? Fine. I’ll remove the ventilator right now and see what you’ll use to perform!” The moment the ventilator was removed, the heart monitor stopped beeping. Grandma’s chest stopped rising. The person who loved me most in this world had her life cruelly taken by the man I once loved most deeply. “No—!” I screamed in anguish, only to receive a vicious slap in return that sent my head snapping to the side. I was completely engulfed in Adrian’s towering shadow, seeing clearly the disgust and fury in his eyes. My vision darkened. Warm liquid flowed from my nose and mouth simultaneously, the metallic taste of blood filling my entire mouth. Vivian stood right beside him, lips curving slightly, her triumphant gaze piercing my heart like madness. “Emma, kneel here and reflect on what you’ve done!” Time passed—I don’t know how long. Long enough that I felt my soul had left with Grandma too. My knees ached terribly. My face hurt. The cold wind cutting across my skin made it sting even more. I crawled with difficulty toward the hospital bed, my trembling hand touching that kind face. Grandma, living is so exhausting. I want to leave with you… As if possessed, I moved to the window, closed my eyes, and my hand gripping the windowsill was about to let go. The next second, I fell into a familiar, warm embrace. “I’m sorry. I came too late.”
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