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.

I could clearly see the panic in Zach's eyes.

He wanted to explain, but Jessica stepped in front of him with a frown.

"Your mother was dying of cancer, anyway. Donating her corneas at the end of her life is something to be proud of!"

I didn't care what happened to me, but she was insulting my mother… That was something I couldn't tolerate.

Rage flared up inside me. I marched up to Jessica and slapped her hard across the face. I didn't hold back—she stared at me in shock, a red handprint forming on her cheek.

"Show some respect for my mother," I said coldly.

My stomach started to hurt again from the anger, but I forced myself to ignore the metallic taste in my throat.

Zach, afraid I'd hit Jessica again, suddenly grabbed my wrist. His grip was hard enough to hurt me.

"Annie… Annie, I know you're angry right now. But Jess is an artist. That accident overseas nearly ruined her life. Your mother was a perfect match, and she was already at stage four cancer. Her chances of surviving were very low, and Jess's life was just starting out. She couldn't lose her sight… I didn't want to make this choice, but there was nothing else I could do."

He spoke quickly, eyes full of urgency, hoping I would understand him like I always used to.

But I didn't.

"If you really feel guilty, then give my mother's corneas back to her!"

When I won the lawsuit, I was happy, thinking that I had finally gotten justice for my mom.

But now, everything in front of me proved it was all a lie. It had been Zach's plan from the very beginning.

And now he was saying all this in such a magnanimous tone, acting like he had no choice.

People like him…

I would never forgive him!

Maybe it was the fury or the stress, I could no longer hold it back as I coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Zach's pupils shrank. He wiped my mouth with his sleeve, panicking. "What's wrong? What's happening to you?"

At the same time, Jessica's frightened voice rang out.

"Zach, I can't see! It's all dark… So dark! Zach!" She searched around blindly, grabbing Zach's arm, sobbing. "Zach, I can't let anything happen to me! Please, help me!"

The chaos drew the attention of the medical staff. A nurse quickly pried Zach's hand off my wrist, while Zach clung to Jessica instead.

I heard him whisper to her, "Don't be afraid, Jess. I'm here."

In the chaos, Zach said something to me. I couldn't hear him, but I could read his lips.

"When everything's over, I'll come back to you."

Then, he left with Jessica.

The nurse wheeled me into the emergency room. My vision was getting darker, and I could barely make out a silhouette.

It was Wade.

I couldn't see his face behind the mask, but his eyes were brimming with tears. I could tell what he was thinking.

I was dying.

Wade stopped the resuscitation, and the assistants quietly left the room. He bent down and cradled my head, tears falling onto my face.

"Annie, why did we see each other again only for it to end like this? I spent my whole life studying medicine, but I still couldn't save you."

It was blurry, but I seemed to be able to see Wade's youthful face from high school under his doctor's mask. He would always whisper the answers to me when I was stuck in class, and we would both get sent out to stand in the hallway.

The memories from those days were hazy now. All I remembered was that Wade, who was supposed to study computer science, surprised everyone by studying medicine instead.

Seven years later, when we met again, I already had terminal cancer.

Nobody wanted to bump into an old classmate after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, so I pretended not to recognize him the whole time. But now, seeing him cry for me, my heart softened.

I reached out to touch his cheek. "It's okay, Wade. You did everything you could."

Wade grabbed my hand and broke down in tears.

My heavy body suddenly felt weightless, and all the pain I had suffered vanished.

For a second, I thought it was some kind of miracle, and I instinctively tried to pat Wade's shoulder to comfort him.

But when my hand passed right through him, I realized I was only a spirit now.

I was dead.

That realization made me suddenly remember Zach's promise before he left.

"I'll come back to you."

He broke his promise.