When I was in college, my mom had terminal cancer, and our family company collapsed due to heavy debts.

Just when I was at my lowest, my childhood friend Zach Hall rushed back from overseas. For seven years, he stayed by my side and helped me heal.

…Until the night before our engagement ceremony, when I was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer.

I wanted to tell Zach, but instead, I overheard a conversation between him and the lead surgeon who had operated on my mother.

"Zach, your fiancee's mother could've been saved back then. But you stopped me from treating her, just so Jessica could get that poor woman's corneas. If Jessica is the one you love, why marry your fiancee?"

"I do feel guilty toward Annie, but I don't regret it. It was the only way for Jess to pick up a brush again and keep chasing her dreams."

Through the crack in the door, I saw clearly the tenderness on Zach's face when he mentioned Jessica.

"What if Annie finds out?" the surgeon asked.

Zach fell silent, rubbing the band on his ring finger. "I don't know. I've already decided to marry her. I'll love her, protect her, and spend the rest of my life making it up to her."

The pain hit me so hard at that moment that I almost collapsed, as if my heart was being ripped out.

Compensation?

What a farce!

Was that ever a valid reason for Zach Hall to deceive me the entire time we were dating, all while he remained hung up on Jessica Baker?

Feeling even more disgusted, I tossed the test result straight into the trash bin.

And here I was, actually worried that Zach would be upset about my illness. It turned out I was just overthinking.

Back in the bedroom, I stared at the photo on the nightstand—in it, Zach and I were smiling. Now, it just made me feel empty.

Zach walked in with a cup of hot lavender tea and carefully fed it to me, one spoonful at a time.

"Honey, you're not doing well right now. If your boss makes you work overtime again, just play pretend and slack off a little. Look at you—you've lost so much weight in just a few days!"

His eyes were full of concern as he gently wiped the corner of my mouth.

Moments like this used to make me feel so lucky—that I still have someone to love me like this, especially after my mom passed away.

But now, I turned my head away. "I don't want it anymore."

He held my face and kissed my forehead. "What's wrong? Who upset you?"

I didn't answer, but he didn't seem bothered. He just tucked me in under my blanket.

"Tell me when you're ready, Annie. Whenever you want to talk about what's on your mind, I'll always be here for you."

It was fake—so fake that it disgusted me.

Tired of us hiding things from each other, I wanted to finally tear off this farce.

"My mom could have been saved. It was you…" I began.

Just then, Zach's phone rang. Jessica's name flashed on the screen.

He picked it up right away and walked out of the room, lowering his voice..

"Jess…?"

"Zach, you said you loved me the most! So why are you marrying Annie? Do I have less worth than her to you?!"

Jessica's questions came one after another, her voice choked with tears.

Zach's voice was filled with anxiety. "Don't cry. Where are you? I'll come find you."

Hearing, I didn't feel like arguing with him anymore.

The door closed behind him. Zach, who had just promised to always stay by my side, didn't even bother to say goodbye as he left.

My stomach turned. I stumbled into the bathroom and threw up all the tea I had just drunk. There was bile and blood, and darkness began to consume me.

Just before I passed out on the cold bathroom floor, I caught a glimpse of Jessica's latest post on her social feed.

It was a photo of two hands tightly holding each other, and I recognized Zach's hand immediately.

His left hand, where a ring should have been, was now marked only by a faint line.

The caption read: "No matter where I am, I'll be there if you need me."

I was unconscious all night, and when I woke up, my stomach was still in pain.

I grabbed a handful of painkillers from the nightstand and swallowed more than a dozen pills. My phone was full of messages from Zach.

"I called you so many times, and you didn't pick up. I figured you were sleeping. It's fine, you can come over after you wake up. I'll go greet the guests in the ballroom first."

That was when I remembered that today was our engagement party. Friends and relatives from both sides would be there.

I decided I would go and explain everything, then call off the wedding.

The engagement was lavishly set up. Videos of our love story were looping on giant screens across the city's high-rise buildings.

Even the taxi driver sighed when I got into the car.

"I wonder what kind of woman could be so lucky to have someone so loyal."

I stayed quiet. When I arrived, I could already hear the emcee's voice echoing from the ballroom.

I hadn't even made it inside yet… Why had the engagement ceremony already started?

The servers in the hallway gave me strange looks, and I had a bad feeling about this.

I pushed the door open and saw Jessica onstage, dressed in a wedding gown. On her wrist was my mother's emerald bracelet.

My mom had told me that the bracelet should be given to someone who was truly trustworthy. In my fifth year with Zach, I gave it to him and told him how important it was. Now, that bracelet was on Jessica's wrist.

My heart sank.

Zach looked flustered for a second, then walked toward me.

"Jess and I grew up together, and we're just like siblings. When she heard about our engagement, she cried for days. You know her eyes are damaged. I was worried she would get sick from all the crying, so I agreed to have a fake wedding for her. You understand this, right?"

I looked him straight in the eye, and Zach's eyes darted around. His fingers were cold, and there was a sense of awkwardness on his face.

After a long silence, I nodded.

"Sure. In fact, today's the perfect day to explain everything…"

Before I could finish, Zach's face lit up and he rushed back to Jessica, eager to continue with the ceremony. He didn't even hear the rest of what I had to say. People in the crowd started snickering.

"If she can tolerate this, next thing you know, she'll let Jessica sleep with her husband. Maybe even have kids for her."

"Seriously, how pitiful can you get? It's obvious Zach likes Jessica more. It's all Annie's fault for not letting him go and making everyone's life a misery."

The emcee's voice rang. "Do you take Annie Carter…uh…do you take Jessica Baker as your wife? No matter sickness or health, for richer or poorer…"

Zach cut in before he could finish. "I do."

Onstage, Jessica was looking at me. She had received my mother's corneas… And now, she was looking at me with that conceited look.

A wicked princess and a false knight.

How disgusting.

The so-called fake wedding didn't show signs of stopping. They even started toasting the guests. While Zach was busy toasting, Jessica shoved through the crowd to come stand next to me. She couldn't hide her smug satisfaction on her face.

"Seven years… So what? Just one phone call, and he ran straight to me. You'll never beat me."

"Fine, you can have him. Will that make you happy?" I couldn't be bothered to argue. I moved aside, already thinking about cutting ties with Zach for good.

"I don't care about your charity. He has always been mine, Annie."

Annoyed at being ignored, Jessica's eyes flashed with malice as she stomped on my dress. I lost my balance and instinctively grabbed Jessica's arm.

We both crashed to the floor, and a broken wine glass cut her face, leaving a shallow cut.

There was a commotion in the crowd, and Zach quickly noticed what had happened. When he saw the cut on Jessica's face, he rushed over to help her up.

Jessica lay in his arms and forced out a couple of tears. "I just wanted to tell Annie not to take this wedding seriously, but she pushed me out of anger…"

During the fall, Jessica's knee slammed me right in the stomach. The taste of blood filled my mouth.

I bit down, saying nothing, just quietly watching him.

Zach's gaze darted between me and Jessica. He didn't yell at me for what she said, but he didn't believe me either, even though my eyes were red from holding back tears. He just looked at me with those pleading eyes.

"Annie, I'm not blaming you for this. But… A woman's face matters. I need to take her to the hospital right now. I'll come get you when I get back."

He didn't wait for a reply. Instead, he just picked Jessica up and ran out in a hurry.

My plan was completely derailed as the symptom suddenly hit me. I bent over as I started to cough up violently, blood in my palm.

"She's coughing up blood! What's going on?"

"She's going to die if this continues! Someone! Call an ambulance!"

All around me, the crowd's chatter grew louder as I collapsed on my knees. When I saw the broken bracelet, a sharp pain shot through my chest.

I picked up a shard and clenched it in my fist.

The cut was deep, but I couldn't feel a thing.

The familiar scent of disinfectant filled my nostrils.

I saw my doctor looking at me with a frown.

"Didn't I tell you to have some quiet rest and avoid any emotional stress during your treatment? How did things get this bad in just a few days?"

I looked down. "Dr. Smith, the survival rate for late-stage stomach cancer is really low. Chemotherapy is painful, too… I don't want to do it anymore."

Before I could go on, Doctor Wade Smith gave me a sharp rebuttal.

"Annie, I told you that your situation is different. There's a ten percent chance you can recover. Why not give it a try? What if the treatment succeeds? You're still young. You have friends and family. Why not try and live?"

I slipped the wedding band off my finger and left it on the nightstand, whispering, "No. I have nothing left."

Wade paused, then turned away, his voice a bit hoarse. "Let's start with an IV and get you stable. We can talk more about your treatment later."

I lay in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Seven years together…

We had gone to the beach to pick up seashells, listened to the waves at night. Climbed snowy mountains for five hours just to see the peaks showered in gold at sunrise. But most days, we were just at home. Zach would cut up a plate of fruit and pour two glasses of fruit juice. We would curl up on the couch, listening to each other breathe, getting impatient at the couples in the TV drama for their painfully slow romance.

Back then, Zach would ruffle my hair and tell me that I should tell him right away if there was anything happened. That I shouldn't keep it to myself.

"I'll worry about you," he had said.

But he was the one who told the biggest lie.

He was the one who betrayed me first.

There must have been a moment in those seven years when Zach thought about telling me the truth, but in the end, he gave up.

I didn't want to think about the reason anymore.

We're over. Thinking about it wouldn't change anything.

I heard Zach and Jessica talking in the hallway. "Jess, the doctor said you got here just in time. There won't be any scars on your face. Don't worry. I want to go back and check on Annie now."

Jessica buried her head in his chest. "Zach, my eyes feel a little weird… Can you ask the doctor to take a look?"

"Your eyes?" Zach hesitated. "Is it your corneas? We searched everywhere for a match, but only Annie's mother was a match. Maybe her cancer affected the transplant? Come on, let's have a doctor take a look."

I pulled out the IV from my hand and held the spot where the needle pierced me as I walked out.

I saw Zach carefully holding Jessica. I pushed down all the emotions inside of me, and calmly called his name.

"Zach."

He froze, and he turned around stiffly. His face was ghostly pale as I looked at him.

"How long are you planning to keep lying to me?" I asked.