When the kidnapper fired the gun, I shielded Scott with my body.

The bullet pierced my heart, and I was sent overseas to have my heart exchanged with an artificial one—one that ran on a battery.

Because of this heart, Scott married me, and my friends congratulated me for finally having my wish granted, for finally marrying my childhood sweetheart.

Later, when I laid there on the operating table with my chest cut open, he was kissing another woman under the moonlight.

I didn't react to this in the slightest, recovering my heart in silence.

Scott resented my numbness, grabbing my shoulders as he demanded, "Wendy, aren't you angry about this?"

He didn't know the reason, and to be honest, it was quite simple. Why be angry when my heart was on the verge of giving out?

Every passionate day he spent chasing after love…

Was another tick in the countdown to the end of my life.

While I was having a check-up at the hospital, I received a message from my best friend, Mary.

"He's showing that woman off to us again! Are you just going to sit there and let him?"

I wanted to reply, but a sudden tightness gripped my chest, almost making me double over with pain. Steadying myself against the wall, I took a few deep breaths, only regaining my composure after a long while.

At that point, I just switched my phone off, no longer having any energy to reply.

Meanwhile, the doctor helped me into the consultation room with my medical report in hand. Shaking his head, he said, "Your condition is still quite bad, Miss Palmer. You have to be mentally prepared. Don't let your emotions get too intense, or else you'll…"

I smiled and nodded lightly at the doctor as I shoved a handful of pills in my mouth. "Yes, I understand. I've been using this artificial heart for years now, after all."

Six years ago, Scott and I went overseas on vacation. However, enemies of his family had set an ambush in advance, and the two of us got kidnapped.

When the kidnappers decided to shoot Scott and kill him, I shielded him with my body, and the bullet pierced me right through my heart.

Luckily, the police arrived just in time and rushed me to the hospital.

My heart had been so badly damaged that there was almost no chance of survival, but on the verge of death, a professor finally decided on implanting an experimental artificial heart into my chest.

From then on, each and every beat of my heart has relied on that artificial heart.

After we returned from overseas, Scott married me, proposing to me with an 8-karat pigeon blood ruby ring. "Wendy, you've lost your heart, but let me give you mine. I will treasure you and never hurt you."

However, now, I knew that his love was just as fake as the artificial heart beating in my chest.

We were already in our fifth year of marriage, and he'd already started keeping women around him since three years ago.

Whenever he held me, I almost threw up, suffocated by the overwhelming scent of the perfume, left on him by other women. Occasionally, I would find faint lipstick marks on his shirt, and whenever I stared at them too long, he would push my head aside.

"It's nothing worth looking at," he'd say.

I knew that all those women were nothing but playthings for him.

But recently, things changed. He finally found someone he was serious about.

Her name was Roanna Sterling, and she was both sweet and alluring—just the right type of girl that satisfied Scott's desires.

She'd already been together with Scott for three months by now, and he'd even bring her to official gatherings, showing her off to our mutual friends as if he was giving a silent proclamation.

My friends all messaged me, asking me what was going on, but I was never in the mood to reply to them.

Walking out of the hospital, I saw Scott's car. Wrapping my clothes tightly around myself in the bitter cold, I walked toward it across the hospital plaza.

Roanna saw me first, and she immediately stopped playfully teasing Scott, her face as red as a ripe peach. Then, she leaned against his shoulder with a smile as sweet as honey and whispered something to him, prompting him to turn around and see me outside the window.

Rolling down the window, he asked, "Mom said you came to have a check-up today, so she wanted me to come fetch you. Are you alright?"

"Same as always," I replied curtly."

"I figured as much…" He nodded, and Roanna chimed in, grabbing onto his arm and swaying it coyly.

"Yeah! Her heart's made of metal, after all, so she'll be fine!"

"Hey, since Miss Palmer is fine, can you take me to the movies now? Oh, I really want to try out that new French place in the city center, people say it's amazing!"

I stood there in the wind, my nose and fingertips red from the cold.

As the engine blared to life, Scott said, "Since you're fine, then go home on your own, yeah? We've got plans."

Roanna smiled and waved her hand at me. "We'll head off then, Miss Palmer! Take care of your health and live a long life, alright?"

Then, the window rolled up, and they drove off, leaving me there all alone.

"Live a long life… Huh…?"

-

Mary invited me out to eat, and ironically, it was the French restaurant that Roanna had mentioned earlier.

The place was spacious and packed with people. Midway through the meal, I went to the restroom, only to bump straight into Roanna.

She stood there, huffing and puffing as she glared at me like an angry little rabbit. "Are you stalking us? You're trying to ruin my date with Scott, aren't you?!"

I only smiled softly. "Dates are for unmarried couples, Roanna. What you and Scott are doing is called sneaking around."

Roanna practically exploded with rage. "Y-You're just jealous of me! You're jealous that I'm young and pretty, and that I won his heart!

"Have you looked in the mirror lately? Your lips are purple, your eyes are dull, and even your heart is fake! How could someone like you be with him?"

Even now, I couldn't believe that Scott let her know about my artificial heart, just like that. He really did give her everything, even what he promised was mine—his heart.

Out of nowhere, Roanna stomped her foot as hard as she could, as if she was trying to crush me beneath her feet. However, her lambskin boots didn't have any grip, so she immediately slipped and fell on the polished floor.

"Ow!"

Scott immediately rushed over, and the moment I saw him, my heart started beating in overdrive.

I clutched my chest, forcing myself to take deep breaths in an effort to calm myself down.

Between the two women who stood there, his husband and his mistress, he hesitated for a moment before helping Roanna up from the floor.

He was frowning, but his voice was filled with concern. "How did you fall like that?"

In response, Roanna went limp and collapsed right into his arms, sniffling softly. "I found her stalking us, and I just wanted to tell her that it wasn't right, b-but she- She called me a dirty homewrecker!

"My feelings for you are real, and your feelings are the real deal too, right? I don't want to be a mistress!"

She buried herself in his chest, like she was sobbing her heart out. Meanwhile, I leaned against the wall, trying my hardest to calm my breathing.

Scott turned to me, voice sharp, "Did you really say that to her?"

In my pain, I couldn't even muster up a single word, so I just averted my gaze.

"Look at her! She can't even make excuses because of her guilty conscience! She bullied me so badly that I scraped my hand! It's all her fault!"

She was the one who fell flat all on her own, yet that somehow became my fault too.

Frowning, Scott ordered, "Well? Speak!"

He seemed to be waiting for some sort of explanation, but I couldn't say a single word—not that I would, even if I could.

His eyes glinted dangerously. "I never expected for you to sink this low, Wendy. What kind of person bullies a helpless young girl? If you've got a problem, take it out on me!"

At that moment, the restaurant manager noticed that something was happening and came towards us to check.

In response, Scott said, "I'm a premium member of your group, and I suspect this woman stalked us and followed us here. Is this how you protect your customers' privacy?"

This restaurant was one of the properties under the name of a renowned group, and their premium membership wasn't something that could be acquired with just money, requiring a referral from an existing member as well.

The manager immediately bowed deeply towards Scott. "I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Harris. I will make sure this woman leaves our premises immediately."

"You should be apologizing to my girl, not me!" Scott complained angrily.

At his words, the manager quickly bowed and apologized to Roanna as well.

"I'm terribly sorry, Miss Sterling. I will take care of this immediately."

Roanna raised her chin proudly, shooting me a smug look.

So what if I was Scott's lawfully wedded wife? I still couldn't compare to his mistress in the slightest.

The manager immediately turned to me, his face cold and stern. "Ma'am the exit is that way. Please leave, and refrain from disturbing others like you did today."

Then, he immediately started goading me towards the exit, making sure I couldn't walk any other way.

As I walked, I saw Scott walking away, his arm around Roanna as he comforted her and kissed her gently.

Once upon a time, he treated me like that too, but I was a fool for not realizing that people could change.

Mary, having noticed my delayed absence, came looking for me. Seeing the manager trying to kick me out, she immediately took out her premium membership card and threw it in the manager's face.

"Did you think that man was the only premium member around here? Besides, don't you know who this lady is? She's that man's lawfully wedded wife!"

The manager turned pale, stumbling over his apologies. "I'm incredibly sorry, I didn't realize! Mr. Harris always comes here with Miss Sterling, so all our staff believed that…"

He trailed off, but his meaning was clear. All of them thought that Roanna was Scott's lover.

Mary looked like she was going to explode with anger, but I gently tugged her arm. "Forget it. It's not his fault."

Her eyes reddened, tears threatening to fall out. "How could that man treat you like this when you're going through such a tough time?"

"Let's not talk about him anymore, Mary," I cut her off. "Let's just enjoy our meal, alright? After all…"

My days were numbered, and soon enough, we wouldn't even be able to eat together anymore.

Bursting into tears, Mary hugged me tightly, and at that moment, I found myself wondering… Would Scott cry for me like this at my funeral?

Would he regret everything he ever did to me?

-

During a thunderstorm, I fainted at home. My heart couldn't supply enough blood, after all, so my body was already fragile to begin with.

When the ambulance arrived, I thought I saw a familiar figure through my hazy vision. He pleaded in a trembling voice, as if he was going to cry, "Don't fall asleep, Wendy! Please don't fall asleep!"

Those words sounded familiar. Back when I first took a bullet for this man overseas, he had cried just like this, begging me not to lose consciousness.

Did Scott love me? Of course he did.

We grew up together, and were lasting fixtures in each others' lives.

I still remember a thunderstorm that happened when we were little the scared me so badly that I leapt into his arms, and from that moment on, he knew that thunder was what I feared the most.

"Aw, what a scaredy cat! Don't worry, I'll protect you!"

From then on, he'd always come and keep me company whenever a thunderstorm rolled in, keeping me safe.

Whenever the weather forecast predicted lightning, no matter how busy he was, he'd cancel everything to be with me and keep me company through the long nights.

"No matter where I am, as long as there's thunder, I'll find a way to be by your side," he promised.

Because of that, I slowly became less afraid of thunder as time went on.

Today was a stormy night too, and the fear of thunder kept me awake. I sat at home alone until midnight, and when the first thunderclap cracked through the sky, a video appeared on my social media feed—fireworks blooming in the sky in celebration of Roanna's birthday.

Those professional-grade fireworks were worth millions, so there was no way she could afford those on her own.

In the video she posted, I saw a familiar side profile.

The city was far too big. In one place, there was thunder and lightning, while in another, the night sky was clear with starlight.

With the thunder rumbling and my heart beating far too fast, I collapsed inside my own closet.