Max Siegel loved me deeply and promised me the grandest wedding anyone had ever seen. However, just three days before the big day, everything changed.

The custom-made wedding dress he'd ordered for me was given to his stepsister, Fawn Lewis, and instead, he handed me a pill—one that could erase memories.

“Kate,” he said, “I don’t want to hurt you, but Fawn has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She doesn’t have long. Her last wish is to marry me. I can’t have her leave this world with regrets.

“This pill will make you forget everything about us for a few days. But don’t worry. After the wedding is over, I’ll give you the antidote, and you’ll remember everything again. Then, I’ll give you the wedding you deserve.”

His tone left no room for negotiation.

Without hesitation, I took the pill and swallowed it. However, what he didn’t know was that I developed that drug myself, and there was no antidote.

Three days from now, I would forget the man I loved most—him. And once that happens, there’s no turning back and no chance to start over.

The wedding dress, freshly tailored to my measurements, was sent off to Fawn Lewis on Max Siegel, my fiancé’s orders.

He cupped my face gently, his voice lowered into something soft yet careful.

“Kate, don’t be afraid. This pill will make you forget you love me, but it’s only temporary. Once you take the antidote, you won’t remember anything that happens over the next few days. There will be no pain or sadness. We’ll go back to the way we were.

“I swear, you’re the only woman I’ve ever loved. Once Fawn’s wish is fulfilled, I’ll give you a wedding even grander than we planned.”

He sounded sincere, but I knew that we would never have that wedding. That was because I created the pill myself, and there was no antidote.

The drug couldn’t wipe memories in an instant. Instead, it would slowly erase what the heart held most dear until it vanished, leaving nothing behind. Worst of all, it was permanent.

I looked up at Max, the man still clinging to his fantasy that everyone could be happy.

“What if I never remember again?” I asked.

He smiled confidently and kissed the tip of my nose. “Then I’ll make you fall in love with me all over again.

“Alright, sweetheart, don’t be upset. Fawn is just a dying patient. I’m only doing this to fulfill her final wish. You understand, right?”

‘Fall in love again?’ I thought as I looked down, a bitter smile tugging at my lips.

He had probably forgotten how long it took him to pursue me before I finally agreed to be with him. Most importantly, he had forgotten what I told him the night I said yes.

“Max, I don’t give second chances. If one day your love is shared or becomes tainted in any way, I won’t hesitate to erase you from my life.”

He had grabbed me back then, eyes bloodshot like a beast pushed into a corner, and kissed me so fiercely. His voice had been hoarse and desperate.

“I’d never give you a reason to forget me, Kate. Never.”

Ironically, he had now given my dress to fulfill his stepsister’s dream and personally handed me the pill to forget everything about us.

The bitterness hit hard, and my chest tightened so suddenly that the color drained from my face.

Noticing immediately, Max rushed to hold me up.

He asked with concern, “Baby, what’s wrong? Don’t scare me like this. I swear I’m not abandoning you. If you’re that worried, we can register our marriage first.”

I forced myself to stand straight and, through the daze, asked, “Marriage registration? Who… Who am I marrying?”

His eyes widened. Then, to my horror, joy flickered in them.

“No one. You’re not getting married,” he said quickly. “Kate, I’m your brother. You’ve been sick, and you lost some of your memories.”

I followed his gaze and saw the pill box he’d hastily thrown into the trash. That was when I realized that the drug was working, and the first thing it erased was the wedding I had been waiting for my entire life.

Now, Max believed I remembered nothing, and he was already switching my role with Fawn’s. However, I didn’t call him out. I’d let him play his game and let it be the final gift I give him before we end for good.

Just then, a figure in a white gown came stumbling in.

“Honey, do I look pretty?” Fawn beamed.

The gown had been tailored for my height, so it dragged awkwardly on her. She tripped on the hem, and Max, without thinking, let go of me to catch her.

I slammed into the wall behind me, pain stabbing through my already aching chest.

“Kate, are you okay?” He turned to me at the sound of my gasp and explained out of habit, “She’s sick. That’s the only reason I caught her first–”

“You'll be my husband. Of course, you should protect me first,” Fawn interrupted with a sweet, smug smile as she clung onto Max’s arm as if she was declaring her superiority. “Kate doesn’t mind. Right?”

I steadied myself and forced a smile. “Of course not.”

Fawn beamed with satisfaction. “Then you must come to the wedding in three days. You have to witness our marriage…”

Before I could answer, Max’s face darkened.

“You're not feeling well. You don’t need to attend.”

His eyes returned to me, and Fawn noticed. Her smile faltered, and a shadow flickered in her expression before she softened it into a tearful pout.

“Max, all I wanted was Kate’s blessing on our wedding day. Was that too much to ask? If even that’s too much, maybe I should just die now.”

Just like that, his protective instincts kicked in again. He pulled her into his arms.

“Don’t cry. I’ll give you everything.”

As I stared at them, Max cleared his throat awkwardly and maybe looked a little guilty. However, when he remembered I was supposed to be the amnesiac now, his expression relaxed.

“Kate,” he said softly, “I’m taking Fawn to the hospital for a check-up. Stay home and rest. I’ll send someone to pick you up on the wedding day.”

With that, he left, carrying Fawn out the door. Their overlapping silhouettes vanished through the doorway, like a blade slicing deep into my heart.

My hands trembled. The memories of us and our love started fading, clouded by pain.

Then, my phone rang.

“Kate,” said the voice on the other end. “Thank you for rejoining Historia’s Research Institute. We look forward to welcoming you in three days.”

After I hung up the phone, I instinctively returned to the bedroom I used to share with Max. However, somewhere along the way, his belongings had vanished.

That was when it hit me. The whole “bride swap” situation wasn’t a last-minute decision. It was planned.

Clutching my bruised shoulder, I sat down, the bitterness rising in my throat.

I remembered how, back then, if I burned my finger just a little while cooking him a meal, he’d freak out and rush me to the doctor. I’d laugh at him for overreacting, but he’d take my hand, kiss it gently, and whisper, “Kate, you’re my treasure. I didn’t propose to you so you’d take care of me. I want to take care of you. If you’re in pain, it hurts me even more.”

Yet now, he was the one who hurt me, and he didn’t even care. The wedding dress he had custom-made for me that ended up on another woman was the perfect example.

While I was treating my injury, my best friend Danielle Carter called.

“Kate, what’s going on? Your wedding is in three days, and you’re booking a flight to Historia?”

“There’s no wedding anymore.”

I gave a dry laugh and told her about the memory-erasing pill. The next second, a string of furious curses erupted through the phone.

“Kate, wait right there. I’m coming over to beat the hell out of that shameless pair! If it wasn’t for you using your research to back his crappy startup, that loser would still be jobless and living on the streets. Now that he’s made it, he feeds you a damn memory-erasing drug for another woman? Scum doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

Her words opened a floodgate of memories, and my eyes stung.

It was true. I was the one who stood by him when his business failed and even when his family turned their backs on him. I gave him my research, my money, and my network to help him become the heir to the Siegels’ empire. I was also the one who stayed up through the nights with him for three years straight.

He used to swear I was the only one he’d ever love and the only woman he’d ever marry. So, when did he start looking at someone else?

Why was it my love that had to pay for his pity and guilt?

After half an hour of Danielle cursing Max out, she finally ran out of steam. There was a beat of silence before she let out a dark laugh.

“Babe, that scum doesn’t know there’s no antidote to that pill, right? Just imagine him bawling his eyes out while you calmly ask who he is. It’s weirdly satisfying, isn’t it?”

Her sarcasm made me laugh, and for a moment, the ache in my chest didn’t feel so bad.

I thought I’d cry myself to sleep that night, but somehow, I drifted off. When I woke up, someone was holding my hand.

I opened my eyes to Max trying to take off my ring.

“What are you doing?” I asked, groggy.

He froze, then offered me a half-glass of water. “Oh, you’re awake. Are you thirsty?”

I ignored the question. “What were you just doing?”

Caught, he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “You probably forgot. That ring belongs to Fawn. She’s going to need it for the wedding.”

His lie felt like a slap in the face. So, for Fawn, he’d go as far as to treat me like a fool.

I remembered as clear as day that he had designed the ring himself just for me—a delicate balloon flower motif, with our initials engraved on the inside of the band—all because I once casually said engagement rings all looked the same.

He’d said it symbolized a love unlike any other, and now? He wanted to give that to someone else.

Finding it ironic, I couldn’t help but ask, “Why would her ring be on my finger?”

He hesitated for a second before quickly putting on a serious face. “Kate, quit playing. You love this ring, don’t you? After the wedding, I’ll have another made for you. But I promised Fawn a perfect wedding. She needs the ring now.”

His words, so confidently false, made my chest twist with pain. I remembered the day that ring got done—how he couldn’t wait to slide it on my finger.

I had teased him, “Aren’t wedding rings for the ceremony? What’s the rush?”

He kissed me and said seriously, “I just want to lock you down early. Promise me you’ll never take it off.”

Now, he didn’t hesitate to remove it for someone else.

I stared at the empty space on my finger, feeling a wave of sorrow and betrayal crash over me. Clutching my aching chest, I tried to calm myself.

“It’s okay,” I whispered. “It’s just heartbreak. A few more days, and it won’t hurt anymore.”

The sky was just beginning to lighten, and all the memories I once treasured were already starting to fade into dust.

Even after taking back the ring, Max still texted me, reminding me to eat on time and asking if I wasn’t feeling well. However, he never came back in person.

I used that time to meet up with a few close friends and have one last dinner before I left. I threw away every gift he had ever given me. Then, I scrubbed my phone and laptop clean of every trace of him.

On the morning of the third day, I rolled my suitcase out the door and left without a word. While I was on the way to the airport, a wedding video from Fawn popped up on my phone.

The venue looked exactly like the one I used to dream about. She was wearing the wedding gown custom-made for me and a ring on her finger engraved with my name. She held tightly onto Max’s arm as they smiled and accepted blessings from the guests.

Someone in the crowd asked, confused, “Isn’t the bride supposed to be Kate? How did it turn into Fawn?”

Max pulled her protectively behind him. His voice rang out loud and firm across the crowd.

“Today is my wedding to Fawn. Please don’t mention anyone irrelevant.”

We shared five years of love, and in the end, I was reduced to just “someone irrelevant.”

I knew I should feel devastated, but there was no pain or even a heartbreak. I watched all fifty-nine seconds of that video in complete calmness, like watching a scene from a movie that had nothing to do with me.

At that exact moment, the last memory of Max drifted away like dust in the wind. The name that once carved itself into my soul was now a stranger, and the deep love I once drowned in felt like it had never existed. I even felt my lips twitch ever so slightly, not in mockery, but in something that felt like quiet, detached confirmation.

So, that was what it felt like to be free—empty and light.

What I didn’t know was that Danielle crashed the wedding. Just as Max and Fawn were about to exchange rings, Danielle stormed in and threw a glass of wine straight into Max’s face.

“What the hell are you doing here? Where’s Kate?” he asked, fuming at the red stain on his white suit, but when he realized it was Danielle, he swallowed his anger.

Danielle casually wiped her hands and gave a cold smile. “Trash like you two? I don’t need Kate to see this mess. I’m more than enough to deal with you.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he snapped, pulling the tearful Fawn behind him, his face darkening.

“I’ve explained everything to Kate. She agreed for me to marry Fawn first.”

“Oh, you mean you forced her to forget you just so that you could marry another woman?” Danielle sneered. “God, you’re even dumber than you look. Did you seriously think that pill would make her forget instantly?

“No. It doesn’t work like that. It makes people slowly forget what matters most to them. Kate remembers everything you’ve done over the past three days.”

“Impossible!” Max’s face went pale. “The research report said it would temporarily erase memories of the person they love most…”

However, his voice trailed off because nowhere on that report did it say the effect would be immediate.

He stared at the ring on Fawn’s finger that used to be meant for me, and his eyes turned red. Then, suddenly, he slapped himself across the face and fumbled for his phone to call the research lab, hands shaking.

“It’s fine,” he mumbled. “There’s still the antidote. If she takes it, she’ll forget everything that happened in the last three days. She’ll remember how much she loves me. She’ll forgive me. She has to forgive me…”

“Don’t bother.” Danielle’s voice cut in sharply, killing his hope. “That drug? Kate made it. There is no antidote.”

She raised her chin, looking down on him like he was nothing.

“In other words, you erased every trace of the love she had for you. You made sure she’d never remember you again.”

That broke him, and the last shred of hope crumbled in his eyes. His lips trembled.

“No… this wasn’t what I wanted. I never wanted to hurt Kate. I love her. I’ve only ever loved her…”

In a panic, he dialed the number pinned to the top of his call list, but it went straight to voicemail. His heart clenched like it was being crushed in a fist, and he bent over, breathless from the pain.

Watching the broken man and the woman crumpled on the floor in a wedding dress that didn’t belong to her, Danielle smiled with grim satisfaction.

“Are you looking for her?” she said. “Too late. While you were busy putting a ring on another woman, she left. Max, you’ve lost her. Forever.”