I'm finally bored after pursuing Hugh Freeman for ten years. I give up on him and get together with Christopher Sanders, who's always had feelings for me.

Christopher lights the city's sky with fireworks throughout the night. He even buys a small island to propose to me. However, he goes missing right before the wedding.

When I find him, I hear him talking and laughing with someone. "I only pursued Jessica to get on Hugh's nerves—I lost interest in her once I got together with her.

"Still, I don't want to let her off so easily because of everything she put me through. That's why I'm going to leave her at the altar—to humiliate her. Fun, isn't it?"

So, I decide to run away before he does. I turn him into the laughingstock of the city.

Later, I hear that Christopher scours the capital in search of his missing bride. He never finds her, though.

A month before our wedding, my fiancé—Christopher Sanders—disappeared.

I searched the entire city but couldn't find him.

On the seventh day of his disappearance, I received news that he had been spotted in Louville.

I took the next flight there overnight.

Finally, I found him on a cruise ship.

Just as I was about to knock on the door, I heard his voice, filled with mockery.

"I only went after Jessica Walter to provoke Hugh Freeman. Now that I've got her, she just seems boring."

I froze after hearing that. He didn't sound drunk. On the contrary, he sounded completely sober.

Following that came the cruelest words I'd ever heard from him.

"And after tasting her, I found her quite dull."

Laughter filled with amusement echoed around him.

"As expected of Mr. Sanders, conquering the unattainable flower of Redfern Valley."

Christopher seemed to enjoy the flattery and continued, "She acted like she was willing to die for Hugh when pursuing him in the past, but she turned out so unbelievably naive. What a pity."

"Why?" someone asked.

Christopher slowly exhaled a puff of smoke. "It's a pity that even though I was her first man, I wasn't her first love."

He continued, "She loved Hugh for ten years. Who knows if she's really over him? If he wasn't my rival, I wouldn't have bothered playing the role of the devoted lover for Jessica just to get back at him."

Someone teased, "You've been with her for three years, Mr. Sanders. Why the sudden regret?"

Christopher sounded irritated as he scoffed, "It's precisely because I spent so long chasing her that I can't accept this."

Another voice chimed in from the crowd, "I heard she's been looking for you everywhere, almost going crazy. You've been missing for days now. Are you sure it's okay?"

Christopher took another drag of his cigarette, exhaled, and chuckled. "Isn't it fun to leave her humiliated at the altar?"

On his face, I saw no expression of guilt, pity, or love. There was only satisfaction and the triumph of long-awaited revenge.

My fingers dug into my palms as my heart felt like it was being stabbed with needles, each stab making it harder to breathe.

I always thought Christopher was my salvation—the final destination of my journey in love.

I made sure my feelings for him weren't just gratitude but genuine love before accepting his proposal.

That day, he was so happy he lit up the entire city with fireworks.

After three years together, he bought an island in my name and proposed under a sky full of floating lanterns.

I thought it was love. I thought it was romance.

I never imagined it was all just an elaborate act to get back at Hugh.

So, the past ten years of devotion, all the ways he had helped me—was it all just a performance?

In my daze, memories began to resurface.

…

At 12, I was brought back to the Walter family from a small southern town. I was timid, insecure, and anxious.

Back then, Hugh had shielded me from bullies just once, and I fell hopelessly in love with him.

I pursued him with such intensity that everyone around me knew about it.

But he loathed me to his core.

Eventually, I realized it was pointless and gave up on him.

That was when I finally noticed Christopher, the one who had been silently watching over me all along.

That night, it rained heavily, and he stood beside me the entire time, holding an umbrella over my head.

He once said, "Jessica, I don't ask for you to see me. I only hope that from now on, you can live freely, following your heart."

How ridiculous it was.

I cleared my heart, making room for Christopher.

I fell deeper and deeper in love.

I started fantasizing about our sweet future together.

But all I did was give him the perfect opportunity to carve wounds into my heart, one slice at a time, leaving me bloodied.

The pain was unbearable, like a slow, agonizing execution.

My emotions tugged at me, and my eyes burned with uncontrollable pain.

A tear slipped down, and I wiped it away immediately.

Inside, the conversation continued, voices throwing out ideas for his revenge.

"If you want to get back at a woman, the best way is to let her experience the peak of happiness—only to shove her straight into the abyss. Wouldn't that be more entertaining?"

"Exactly. Mr. Sanders, you should go back. Go with her to pick out a wedding gown, send out invitations together, and act like everything is perfect. Then, on the wedding day, leave her humiliated and alone at the altar. I'd bet anything, Jessica would lose her mind."

The room was filled with sickening laughter.

I swallowed my nausea and waited for Christopher's response.

I desperately wanted to hear him say, "Don't joke about that. I love Jessica."

Or at least tell them that this was too cruel a joke to pull on a woman.

But after a long silence, I heard his calm steady reply.

"Hm… Not a bad idea. Let's do that."

A wave of rage crashed down on me, suffocating me.

I let out a hollow chuckle, but my tears wouldn't stop running.

So, he wanted to play games with me? Fine, I'd play along.

I'd love to see his face on the wedding day when he realized I was the one who disappeared instead.

…

I erased all traces of my trip to Louville and returned to our wedding home.

I took out every gift he had ever given me and destroyed them one by one.

It was a strange feeling. I wasn't thinking about anything, but the tears kept falling anyway.

I once heard someone say that heartbreak was like arthritis, where you would feel fine during the day, but at night, when the cold crept in, the gnawing aches would follow.

Perhaps these were just my withdrawal symptoms.

I stood up and laid out the custom-made wedding gown on the floor.

Without a trace of emotion, I took a pair of scissors and cut through the fabric.

It was a reminder to myself about love. Once a crack appeared, no matter how hard you try to fix it, it would never be the same again.

After packing everything away, I placed them in the study. Christopher rarely went there anyway.

Lying in bed, unable to sleep, I scrolled through short videos when a recommendation popped up—someone I might know.

It was a video from someone with the ID: I Love Chris.

Something compelled me to click on it.

It was a girl's video diary about secretly loving a man.

The latest post showed her location in Louville.

The caption read, "The man I've loved for ten years is getting married next month. I want to be brave and confess. Wish me luck!"

In the thumbnail she posted, I saw a familiar hand—a hand wearing a wedding ring on the ring finger.

It belonged to Christopher.

…

I never got a message from him, but I did get a call from Hugh.

"Guess who I ran into in Louville?"

"Hugh, I don't care. Stop using different numbers to call me."

I was about to hang up when I heard the smugness in his voice.

"Jessica, do you really not know why Christopher disappeared for so long? He doesn't want to marry you. He hates that you used to pursue me with such fervor. The only reason he got close to you was to get revenge on me. He was never someone you could trust."

"What exactly are you trying to say?" I was getting impatient.

"Jessica, at least I can say this—aside from the ten years of your pursuit, there has never been another woman in my life."

I sat up and raised my voice. "Hugh, you're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

I continued, "Five years have passed, and you're still so eager to put a wedge between me and him. But let me tell you—no matter what happens, this was my choice. I made my decision, and I'll take my loss. I won't look back."

Hugh went quiet for a moment before saying something completely unrelated, "I sent you something. You'll want to see it."

After he hung up, a video popped up on my phone.

Under the dim lighting, a girl stood face-to-face with Christopher.

He exhaled a cloud of smoke, his expression as indifferent as ever.

Amidst the teasing and laughter in the background, the girl stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.

More importantly, he didn't move away.

The video ended there.

I opened the girl's social media account.

Lo and behold, she had just updated her status. "How is this not a success?"

The attached photo was of them kissing.

Nausea churned in my stomach. I ran to the bathroom and dry-heaved over the toilet for a long time, only to realize I hadn't eaten all day. There was nothing to throw up.

Pain gripped my stomach, cramping so badly I could barely breathe.

I forced myself back to bed, curling into a ball.

Suddenly, a memory resurfaced.

…

When Christopher and I had just started dating, I had once wanted to see the stars from the mountaintop in the middle of the night.

He didn't ask a single question. He indulged my whim and drove me there overnight.

The air was cool, and he wrapped me in his arms, his warmth seeping into me.

With the moonlight casting a soft glow, he leaned in and asked cautiously, "The night is beautiful. Jessica, can I… kiss you?"

…

Unfortunately, there was no going back now.

Half-asleep, I was suddenly jolted awake by noises from the living room.

Cold sweat broke out on my back, but I had no strength to get up.

The next second, the bedroom light flicked on.

The harsh brightness made it impossible to open my eyes.

Then I heard his panicked voice.

"Jess! What's wrong?"

…

At 7:00 am, I woke up in the hospital.

Christopher was by my side, holding my hand, looking exhausted—like he had stayed up all night.

He stood up to pour me some water. "I wasn't around for a few days, and you just stopped taking care of yourself? You've always had a weak stomach—are you trying to kill yourself?"

He was reprimanding me.

Just how ridiculous could he be?

For the past week, I had barely eaten or slept, losing five pounds.

I had thought maybe he had gotten into trouble in the business world—that someone had kidnapped him.

I had been terrified and sleepless, crying into my pillow every night.

Meanwhile, he had been living it up somewhere else, kissing another girl without a care in the world.

"Are you giving me the silent treatment?" Christopher smirked, pinching my cheek. "You know I'll punish you for this, right?"

"Alright, get up and eat something. I made some oatmeal for you. I hadn't slept all night," he added.

He acted as if nothing had happened.

Helping me sit up, he scooped a spoonful of oatmeal and fed me patiently.

More than once, I wanted to confront him and ask, "Christopher, aren't you tired of acting?"

Or perhaps I should just tell him that I overheard their conversation, and if he didn't want to marry me, we could just cancel the wedding. It was not like we had registered yet anyway.

However, I swallowed the words.

I wanted to understand why he was doing this to me after all these years of loving me.

Was it just because I once loved someone else? Did that mean that I didn't deserve love now?

"Jess, why are you crying?"

He put the bowl down and quickly wiped my tears. "There, there. I'm sorry, I was wrong."

I lowered my gaze and closed my eyes, but I still ended up in Christopher's embrace.

He gently stroked my back and said softly, "Darling, I'm sorry for making you worry."

He then continued explaining, "I just got overwhelmed. Knowing I'm about to marry you—it felt too good to be true. I was scared it was all a dream. I just needed some time to clear my head. I should have told you sooner. Will you forgive me?"