My mother, Mariana Heimann, has terminal cancer. She wants me to get married before she dies.

It takes 57 days of me pleading with my boyfriend, Hayden Weatherford, before he finally agrees to marry me.

On the day we agreed to register our marriage, he's a no-show even after the city hall staff have clocked off from work.

At the same time, Hayden's childhood friend, Scarlett Needham, shows off a photo of her and Hayden holding up their marriage certificate. It's captioned, "Time sure flies. In another week, we'll have been married for two months."

It dawns on me that Hayden and Scarlett were married on the day I first begged him to marry me.

I receive a message from Hayden on my phone. He apologizes, "Scarlett's family members were forcing her into marriage, Lucy. I couldn't stand by and watch her suffer, pressured into marrying a stranger. We'll get divorced in a week, after which you and I can get married."

…

One week later, I send Hayden a message as he waits for me in front of the city hall, dressed in a suit. "We'll never meet again, Hayden."

I gazed at my mother's icy body lying in the morgue, my tears flowing ceaselessly down my face.

My mother, Mariana Heimann, had raised me alone and never asked for anything in return. On the contrary, I had never done anything for her.

I could not even fulfill her only wish before she passed.

Knowing that my mother was dying, I begged Hayden Weatherford—the man with whom I'd been mutually in love for seven years—to marry me. I wanted my mom to rest assured that even after she was gone, someone would take care of me.

I begged him for a total of 57 days, but Hayden always failed to give me a proper answer.

On the first day, his childhood friend Scarlett Needham's mother fell sick, so he had to rush over to visit her.

On the second day, he was helping Scarlett move some furniture, so the talk about marriage had to be postponed to another day.

…

On the 57th day, Scarlett was going on a trip, so he had to drop her off at the airport.

If not for Scarlett posting an intimate photo of them holding up a marriage certificate today, Hayden would have continued playing me for a fool.

I made up all sorts of excuses on his behalf, but I never would've guessed that he had already been married to someone else.

I knelt by my mom's bedside until the sky had gone dark. That was when my phone started ringing.

It was Hayden on the other end, his tone as caring as usual, as he mentioned, "It's already dark outside. Why are you still not home? Send me your location and I'll drive over to pick you up."

I was going to reply, but then my words stuck in my throat.

Usually, I would definitely pretend to be unhappy to hear him cheer me up with sweet nothings, then wait joyfully for him to show up.

But at that moment, I could no longer bring myself to flirt with him.

Hayden's voice became tense. "Where exactly are you, Lucy?"

"At the hospital," I replied.

Hayden paused for an instant before remembering that I had been keeping my mom company at the hospital recently.

"You… Wait for me. I'll head over to take care of Mrs. Atwell with you," he said before hanging up the phone.

I suppressed the grief in my heart and got to work handling my mom's funeral affairs.

Five minutes later, I received a message from Hayden.

"Scarlett has gotten into a conflict with her family members, Lucy. I'm going to help her deal with it first, but I'll definitely visit Mrs. Atwell some other day!"

I didn't feel any shock.

Over the past two years, the words he had said the most often were, "Some other day, for sure".

He hadn't turned up at our anniversary, promising to make up for it some other day.

He promised to visit Mom some other day.

He agreed to get married only to end up asking to postpone the marriage to some other day.

I had always been tolerant of him, but he only ended up hurting my feelings more and more.

From now on, though, I was no longer going to give him the chance to say "some other day".

After all, Mom won't be able to meet him "some other day" anymore, so he was never going to get the chance to say that to me anymore either.

I continued to stay by Mom's cold corpse in the hospital that night and didn't return home.

Hayden kept sending me text messages all night long, and there were countless missed calls on my phone, but I ignored him completely.

…

Early the next morning, I went to the company to write up my resignation letter.

Hayden had founded the company, and I was just some no-name designer working there.

I encouraged him to establish the company back when he didn't have a single penny to his name, and I stayed by his side the entire time.

However, now that the company was flourishing, I was no longer useful and had become practically invisible.

Even if I were to leave one day, Hayden wouldn't realize that anything was off.

As I was standing next to the printer, he suddenly appeared and tapped me on the shoulder.

At that moment, I was holding the resignation letter in my hand with an impassive expression.

"Are you done photocopying documents?" he asked gently.

"Yes," I replied simply.

Hayden didn't seem to notice my cold expression, which was so different from my usual attitude. He cleared his throat and said, "Please drop by my office, Lucy."

As I turned to walk toward Hayden's office, whispers from my colleagues reached my ears.

"I heard that Hayden is already a family man."

"That's what I thought! It's no wonder that Lucy and Hayden are dating behind everyone's backs and being evasive about their relationship. It turns out they're having an affair."

"Lucy even used to swear that she hated women who interfered with others' relationships. What a hypocrite."

My parents' happy marriage had been ruined by a mistress, which resulted in my mom and me being abandoned and having to suffer lives filled with hardship.

And now, because of Hayden, I had actually been painted as the mistress getting in the way of someone else's relationship.

Just then, Hayden stood from his swivel chair and pulled me into his arms. "We haven't made out here in such a long time, babe."

I evaded Hayden's grasp and stepped back. "It's office hours right now, Hayden."

Hayden frowned. "I know that you're still angry with me. How about I drive you over to the hospital to visit Mrs. Atwell after work?"

I snorted coldly. "That's no longer necessary."

Mom was no longer around, and he didn't deserve to see her anymore, regardless.

If she knew that I was being criticized for being someone's mistress because of him, she would be angry and upset.

Hayden felt that I was behaving strangely. He paused for a moment before saying, "In just a few more days, I'll be able to divorce Scarlett. We can get married after that."

He then retrieved two gift bags from under his office desk. "I especially asked a friend to buy these from abroad. They're supplements for Mrs. Atwell."

I gazed at him and took a deep breath.

It was too late. Mom could no longer accept his sincerity.

Hayden was rather confused by my silence, but just as he was about to ask about it, his phone suddenly started ringing.

He took out his phone, then glanced at me. In the end, he seemed to arrive at a decision and turned to leave.

I knew that it had to do with Scarlett.

At the moment, Hayden's legitimate wife was her and not me.

Still, I felt at peace with myself, because it no longer mattered to me.

I dropped by the HR department and handed in my resignation letter. My sudden resignation didn't surprise the HR manager, Hilda Errington, at all.

"Hayden will definitely take care of your affairs for you, Lucy," she reassured me.

I looked at her, unable to stop myself from sneering inwardly at her comment.

Everyone seemed to think that I was Hayden's secret lover and that he should be paving a way out for me.

It didn't occur to any of them that I was his actual girlfriend and he had betrayed my feelings by marrying someone else behind my back. It never crossed their minds that I had only chosen to leave because he had thoroughly broken my heart.

I packed up my personal belongings into a box. Then, I carried the box with me as I walked toward the elevator in a daze.

I looked up only to see Scarlett and Hayden walking in my direction, smiling. They were in the middle of flirting with each other.

"You're too bad."

"Do you like that side of me?"

Hayden noticed me and became nervous. "Don't overthink it, Lucy. I brought Scarlett along because—"

Scarlett, on the other hand, outright grabbed Hayden's arm and interjected, "I came to my husband's company to familiarize myself with the environment."

I remained silent.

"You don't mind, do you, Lucy?" she added, her tone filled with provocation.

I simply stepped out of their way without saying a word.

Hayden opened his mouth to speak, but just as he grabbed my arm and attempted to explain himself, Scarlett noticed and quickly dragged him away.

…

Later in the afternoon, I cried as I watched Mom's body pushed into the furnace for cremation.

I delivered her ashes to the cemetery afterward.

Hayden never contacted me, even when evening came, but I no longer cared. My mom could leave in serenity without him disrupting her peace.

Mom used to treat him as if he were her own son while she was alive and could remember all his preferences.

She was allergic to mangoes, but she would still endure the discomfort they brought her when she made him his favorite mango cake.

However, it was clear that he really didn't deserve her love and care.

He had not only cheated on me but also deceived my mom as well.

Wherever she was in heaven now, she definitely wouldn't want me to remain in such a shaky, uncertain relationship with Hayden, much less watch us get married.

It was time to let go of our seven-year relationship.

It was quiet around the cemetery at night.

I hadn't walked around alone at night in a long while.

Mom used to hold my hand in the past, and later on, I would hold onto Hayden's arm instead.

From now on, though, I would be moving forward alone. I believed I would be able to adapt to it.

I only arrived home at 1:00 am.

Hayden wasn't asleep yet. Instead, he was staring at his phone screen and typing messages.

His nervous expression dropped as he saw me return, and he immediately rushed over to hug me. "Where have you been? None of my calls went through, and you didn't reply to any of my messages. If you hadn't come back, I would've gone to the police and reported you missing!"

I was stunned for a moment, after which I broke free from his embrace. "I just wanted to spend some quiet time with my mother."

A trace of guilt flashed across his face at my words. He had even promised to visit Mom earlier.

Suddenly, his expression shifted. He pulled out an exquisite little gift box from his pocket and held it out to me.

Seeing how serious he looked, I opened the box and was stunned to see a diamond ring nestled inside.

Hayden once seriously confessed to me and said that he would get down on one knee to propose to me with Mom as our witness. He wanted her to watch as we received our marriage certificate and bear witness to our happiness.

I waited countless days and nights since that day, eagerly looking forward to the promised day, but those expectations had since dried up.

I closed the box and handed it back to Hayden.

He frowned slightly before recalling what had happened earlier today and explaining, "Yet another day has passed. Just wait a little more, and I'll be able to divorce Scarlett. I'll definitely fulfill my promise from back then.

"How about the day after tomorrow? I'll formally propose to you then, and we'll order a certified copy of our marriage certificate right away. I'll even personally put the ring on your finger."

I could no longer feel moved by his words and simply replied indifferently, "I get it, but I'm too tired right now. I'm going to sleep first."

Hayden had truly experienced my nonchalance for the first time, and his happy expression disappeared instantly.

He attempted to hug me from behind as I turned around, but Scarlett stepped out of our bedroom just then. She was even wearing my nightclothes.

She rubbed her eyes before running over to take Hayden's hand. She swung it lightly while cajoling, "Lucy's back now, so stop fretting and come to bed already."

Hayden looked at me and said quickly, "Scarlett fought with her mother, so I let her stay in the guest room for one night."

He stared closely at me as he spoke, as if deathly afraid that I would misunderstand the situation.

I replied expressionlessly, "Sure. It's fine. I'll just stay over with my mother."

Hayden looked at me in astonishment, surprised that I would agree so readily.

Scarlett showed no hesitation upon hearing my answer and smugly walked back into the bedroom.

Hayden was still trailing after me as I dragged my suitcase out of the house.

He bit his lip and kept his hand on mine, refusing to let go. His eyes were filled with heavy guilt.

Scarlett was still nagging at him to return, so he said quickly, "We'll go to the city hall early the day after tomorrow to get our marriage certificate, then visit Mrs. Atwell immediately afterward."