My husband, Lawrence Schwartz, and I were both liars.

He lied to me, saying he would forget his first love, yet his phone is filled with photos of her.

I lied to him, saying I would never leave, while secretly planning a future without him.

A month ago, I tricked Lawrence into signing the divorce papers.

Today was the final day to complete the entire divorce process..

Three hours left. I packed all my luggage and bought a plane ticket for the next day.

Two hours left. I cut up every photo of us together, leaving only myself in the album.

Last hour. I thought about leaving a message, then decided against it.

Today marked the tenth year I had loved him and the first day I left him.

I went to deliver the wedding planning contract to Lawrence Schwartz at the agreed time and heard him chatting casually with a friend in his office.

"Kayla's coming back soon. Are you still going to have a makeup wedding with Rebecca?"

Lawrence only gave an absent-minded "Yeah" while checking his watch over and over. "Why isn't she here yet?"

But I knew he wasn't checking the time for me.

He was anxious to go pick up his first love, Kayla Walton. Today was the day she returned to the country.

Back then, when she got engaged, Lawrence married me out of spite.

Three days ago, Kayla got divorced.

He got drunk that night, and when he sobered up, he suggested having a delayed wedding ceremony with me.

It was nothing more than a way to provoke Kayla once she came back. My marriage was just a prop in their emotional drama.

When I pushed the door open, Lawrence impatiently held out his hand.

"The wedding contract."

I handed him the contract I had prepared long ago.

The second-to-last page contained a divorce agreement I had secretly slipped inside.

"There seems to be an additional clause. If you have time, you can take a closer look."

But I chose this timing on purpose because I knew one thing.

He wouldn't have time.

Sure enough, he flipped straight to the last page.

"I'm heading out to pick someone up. I don't have time to read this."

A trace of tenderness flashed through his eyes.

His impatience was for me, while his softness was reserved only for Kayla.

He signed hastily and left, showing me nothing but his back.

I had been married to him for five years. He wasn't completely cold to me, just sparing with affection.

I tried to make him get used to me with love.

Yet even in news articles, he was always introduced as a bachelor.

Any gossip headlines only talked about his tragic love story with Kayla.

As his wife in a hidden marriage, I didn't even deserve to have my name mentioned.

After all, Lawrence had a first love, a woman he loved to the point of madness.

The day Kayla divorced, the man who never smiled at home drank himself senseless, but his face was lit up with a grin the entire time.

Even when he looked at me, there was a faint smile on his lips.

It was a smile I had begged for, for years, without ever getting.

I took care of him until late at night and used Kayla's birthdate to unlock his phone.

I opened the photo album. It was nearly out of storage.

Every single photo was of Kayla.

There wasn't a single one of me.

The cover photo of the album was our wedding portrait, but my face had been photoshopped into Kayla's.

I remembered how Lawrence had refused to hold a wedding ceremony when we registered our marriage, yet insisted on taking wedding photos.

Now I understood why.

In that moment, I knew.

This five-year marriage had reached its end.

All that remained was the mandatory cooling-off period before divorce.

I started the one-month countdown.

Coincidentally, the wedding ceremony Lawrence promised to make up to me was a month away.

There were 20 days left.

Lawrence started leaving earlier and coming home later than before.

The wedding he once promised felt like it had never existed at all.

Sometimes, I would see posts from his childhood friends. In the corner of their photos, there was always him, walking beside a woman.

That face was one I had already seen in the photo album on his phone.

That day, my company partner, Daphne Bishop, stopped me.

"Bring the design drafts later. We're going to sign a contract with the client. I heard this client is Mr. Schwartz's rumored lover."

I nodded, a little distracted.

Even though he was my partner, none of my colleagues were aware that I knew Lawrence, much less that we were secretly married.

The client's office was right downstairs from Lawrence's company.

I knew this was the new company Kayla had set up after returning, funded by Schwartz Corporation.

Lately, financial news had been full of stories hyping up their past romance.

When we entered the CEO's office, unsurprisingly, I saw Lawrence.

He was holding an exquisitely wrapped gift box and handing it to the woman sitting in the executive chair.

Kayla.

The moment Lawrence saw me, his expression froze.

Everyone in the room sensed something was off.

Kayla looked at me with a hint of amusement, asking, "And who is this?"

Lawrence fell silent, clearly weighing how to explain.

I smiled and introduced myself to everyone. "My name's Rebecca Neel. I'm the designer for this project. Mr. Schwartz and I are…"

Lawrence and I spoke at the same time.

"College friends."

As the words fell, my fingers tightened around the design drafts until my knuckles turned pale.

My fingertips pressed a deep crease into the paper.

This wasn't the first time I had covered for Lawrence, and it wasn't the first time he didn't want my identity made public.

A secret marriage hid the truth of who we were to each other. It also sealed the fact that there would be no future for us.

The rest of the business meeting went badly.

Lawrence slipped back into his elite business persona, representing Kayla as he pressed relentlessly during negotiations.

"Lower the price by another 10%."

He pushed our profit margin and bottom line to the absolute limit.

Daphne hesitated, then clenched her teeth and agreed. "Fine. You really live up to your reputation, Mr. Schwartz. You read our bottom line perfectly."

The man lowered his eyes and didn't dare look at me.

He really was as ruthless as the rumors said.

It was just that now, that ruthlessness was aimed at me, his legal wife.

Kayla hadn't said a word the whole time. She just smiled softly, without a trace of warmth.

There was a bit of provocation in that smile, and even more pride.

She had won so completely. She deserved to be proud.

Kayla reached out to open the gift box on the table.

"Let's all have some cake."

Unexpectedly, Lawrence, who had been calm throughout the negotiations, rushed to stop her.

"Don't. You're allergic to peanut butter. Let me check it first."

At that moment, the scene in front of me turned into sharp blades, tearing straight through me.

In five years of marriage, this man had forgotten our anniversary and mixed up my birthday. Everything I ever reminded him about was brushed aside without a second thought.

However, he always remembered that I was allergic to peanut butter.

I once secretly felt glad.

Maybe all those details proved he didn't love me, but there was still one thing that showed a hint of his care for me.

But it turned out that even that hint was fake.

-

The project moved along quickly.

However, Lawrence thought it was too slow. Hence, he reminded Harlan more than once.

"This is Kayla's first project since coming back. I don't want it to fail."

I watched the whole thing with a kind of emotional detachment.

That night, after the negotiations ended and we got home, Lawrence hesitated on the couch for a long time.

In the end, he explained, "We're still secretly married. I just haven't found the right chance to explain it yet. In the future, I'll make it public. For now, the most important thing is getting this project done properly."

I nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

I didn't remind him that what should really matter most was the wedding we were supposed to have soon.

A wedding he had promised but never prepared for, not even once.

I also didn't remind him that by that day, the divorce cooling-off period would be over.

After all, in his eyes, Kayla still mattered the most.

During the project, Lawrence deliberately avoided situations where Kayla and I might meet, but Daphne still noticed something was off.

She asked me with clear curiosity, "Did you and Mr. Schwartz have something going on before?"

I smiled. "What do you mean?"

Daphne pursed her lips. "He's looked at you more than once with this really guilty expression. That's exactly how a guy who hasn't fully turned heartless yet looks at an ex."

I froze for a moment and thought back carefully.

It wasn't that I hadn't noticed. It was just that everything from the past made it impossible for me to trust what I saw in his eyes.

Ten days left.

That day was supposed to be our regular project meeting.

Kayla chatted with me for a long time. I wasn't sure if it was intentional. I knew she had probably figured out my relationship with Lawrence.

I still responded politely.

After the meeting, Lawrence unexpectedly offered to drive me home.

It was the first time.

"Your work ability really exceeded my expectations," he said.

After five years of marriage, this was the first time he had praised me.

My hands paused while organizing the files, and I looked at him in confusion.

Lawrence hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "The makeup wedding. Do you think we can make it?"

I lowered my head, knowing he probably wanted to cancel it. Most likely because of Kayla.

"Let's just cancel it. We don't have time to prepare, anyway."

I looked up at him, not exposing the truth and not wanting to make things awkward.

Lawrence stared at me in shock, as if he had gotten an answer he never expected.

He suddenly asked, "You're okay with that?"

Fair enough. If this were the past, I probably would've lost control on the spot, demanding an answer.

So many ugly moments in our marriage had come from my losing control, even though every one of those moments was caused by him.

I wore a small smile. "Of course. It's just a ceremony."

After a long silence, Lawrence spoke again on his own initiative.

"How about this? In a few days, I'll take you to the old town nearby to relax."

I looked down at the countdown on my phone.Ten more days until the entire divorce process is finalized.

I declined.

His hands stiffened on the steering wheel, and he almost ran a red light.

"What about the beach? Or we could go eat at that restaurant you've always wanted to try."

Lawrence suggested several ways to relax in a row, but I turned each one down.

By the time we got out of the car, his expression had shifted from awkwardness and guilt to confusion and irritation.

Seeing his face, I took the initiative and asked, "How about we go check out the old house?"

The old house was where Lawrence and I lived when we first got married.

I really did miss it a little.

Lawrence froze for a long time, clearly trying to figure out what I was thinking.

Even after I got out of the car, he was still sitting there, staring ahead for a long, long time.