After that day, Adrian began to sense that something was off.

Evelyn was too calm—so calm it unsettled him.

She no longer left a light on for him when he came home late, or kept a bowl of soup warm. She stopped updating him on every detail of Vanessa's care. Even when he brought up wedding preparations, she only listened, offering no opinion.

This silence unsettled him more than her old obedience ever had.

As if something, somewhere he couldn't see, was quietly breaking apart.

Driven by a mix of guilt and the urge to make things right, Adrian made a detour on his way home and bought the shop's signature strawberry matcha cake from a boutique bakery that was notoriously hard to book.

He remembered Vanessa liked it.

As for what Evelyn liked? He frowned, thinking for a moment, but came up with nothing.

She had always followed his preferences.

Maybe… she liked sweets too.

He pushed the cake toward her, his tone deliberately softened. "I brought this for you. About the studio the other day… I should've told you in advance. I just thought the wedding couldn't happen without photos of the bride and groom. I made the decision too quickly and didn't think about how you'd feel. That's on me. Don't take it to heart."

Evelyn looked at the delicate dessert—the strawberries bright red, the matcha a vivid green.

She didn't like sweets. And she hated the bitterness of matcha even more.

On her first birthday after they got married, he had brought home a Black Forest cake. She had forced herself to finish it, then spent the entire night sick, throwing up.

He had probably forgotten long ago.

"When the wedding with Vanessa is over," Adrian added when she didn't respond, "I'll take you to do a proper wedding shoot. Then we'll go on a trip. Didn't you always say you wanted to see the aurora? How about a destination wedding in Frosthaven?"

Evelyn's fingers trembled slightly.

The aurora.

It was a dream she had mentioned long ago, almost in passing.

And the wedding he had promised her…

He remembered.

Her pale lips parted, the words nearly slipping out—she might not have a future at all.

But his phone vibrated in his pocket. He glanced at it, his expression changing slightly—it was the hospital caregiver.

He answered immediately, his voice tense. "What happened? Is Vanessa feeling unwell again? Alright, I'll be there right away!"

He hung up, grabbed his coat, and spoke quickly to Evelyn, "Vanessa has a slight fever and isn't stable. I need to go check on her. Make sure you eat the cake."

Before he finished speaking, he was already at the door.

So that was all he remembered.

"Adrian." Evelyn called out to him.

He turned back, frowning, one hand still on the doorknob, his whole posture impatient.

Evelyn looked at his face—so familiar, yet so distant—and at the concern in his eyes for another woman. The words caught in her throat.

Did he remember she hated sweets? Hated matcha?

If she were the one who was sick, would he stay?

She already knew the answer.

"Drive safe." In the end, that was all she said, her gaze lowered.

Adrian seemed taken aback for a second, as if he hadn't expected that. He gave a vague "mm" and hurried out the door.

The door shut, cutting off all sound. The room fell into a dead silence.

Evelyn slowly opened the cake box. The sweet scent hit her all at once.

She picked up the small plastic spoon, scooped a bite, and put it in her mouth.

As expected, it made her stomach turn.

She rushed to the bathroom and retched violently over the toilet, until what came up was nothing but murky fluid streaked with blood.

She braced herself against the sink, turning on the tap, watching the red fade and wash away.

In the mirror, her eyes were sunken, her body gaunt.

It didn't matter.

She thought.

Three more days. It would be over soon.

The remaining three days were not easy for Evelyn.

Her headaches grew more frequent.

It was no longer the dull, intermittent ache from before, but a sharp, piercing pain—like a drill twisting inside her skull—accompanied by sudden dizziness and blurred vision.

She knew this meant the tumor was progressing. Time was running out faster than she had expected.

Fortunately, the visa process went smoothly, and confirmation from Silverpine had already arrived.

She quietly began packing. There wasn't much to take—just a few clothes she wore often, and an old photo album filled with pictures of her and the children from Starlight Home.

She didn't take a single thing Adrian had given her.

There had never been much in this home that truly belonged to her.

Before leaving, Evelyn wanted to visit the orphanage where she had grown up, to say goodbye to Lillian Brooks—the orphanage director.

When she called Lillian, the old woman's warm laughter came through the phone. "Evelyn, Ethan is coming to visit today too. I'll have him pick you up at the gate."

At the mention of Ethan Wells's name, Evelyn hesitated for a moment.

Ethan had grown up with her at Starlight Home, a few years older than her.

He had been adopted when she was ten. Later, she heard he got into a top medical school and went abroad, with a promising future ahead of him.

"Alright, I'll appreciate Ethan's help." She didn't refuse the offer. Forcing herself up, she changed into clean clothes and headed out.

But the moment she stepped out of the gate, the suffocating pain struck again without warning—stronger than ever before.

Her vision went black, and she collapsed, the back of her head slamming hard against the cold asphalt.

Pain exploded through her skull, inside and out. The world spun violently.

She lay on the ground, driven by instinct, using every last bit of strength to inch forward, reaching for her phone lying out of reach.

After a tremendous effort, her fingers finally brushed against the cold edge of the phone.

Her vision had blurred into a haze of red.

Relying on muscle memory, she unlocked the screen with trembling fingers and, through the shaking contact list, tapped the number she knew by heart.

"Adrian…" Her voice was hoarse, barely audible. The pain broke her words apart. "Help me…"

On the other end, Adrian seemed to be responding to someone beside him. It took him a few seconds to realize Evelyn had spoken.

"What did you say? I'm out walking with Vanessa, it's windy here. Say that again."

"I…"

Before she could finish, a surge of thick, metallic warmth flooded her throat, cutting off her words. Blood choked her airway, and through the phone, only her strained, broken breaths could be heard.

"Adrian, is Evelyn upset that I've been taking up so much of your time?"

Vanessa's soft voice came through clearly from the other end.

"If she's unhappy, she could just say it. Why would she do this just to get your attention and make you go back…"

Before she could finish, Vanessa suddenly let out a fragile cry, completely drowning out Evelyn's faint breathing.

"Adrian… my chest feels tight… I can't breathe…"

"Vanessa! Don't be scared, I'm here!"

Adrian's voice changed instantly.

"Doctor! We need a doctor here, now!"

Through the phone came his hurried reassurances, chaotic footsteps, and the urgent voices of nurses.

She tried to speak again, but her throat felt completely sealed. No sound came out.

Warm tears slipped silently from the corners of her eyes.

On the other end, Adrian picked up the phone again, speaking quickly, a hint of irritation in his voice.

"Evelyn, I really can't leave right now. Vanessa's condition is bad! Whatever it is, we'll talk when I get back. Be good."

The call ended.

Her consciousness faded with the busy tone. Cold darkness surged in like rising water.

Her body grew colder, the pain slowly dulling.

It seemed she might really die here today.

Evelyn slowly closed her eyes, just as the last thread of awareness began to slip away.

A car screeched to a halt, followed by hurried, frantic footsteps rushing toward her.

A pair of trembling hands lifted her blood-covered face.

"Evelyn! Stay with me!"

At that very moment, Adrian was busy feeding Vanessa soup by her hospital bed.

The wedding planner called again to go over the details.

As for Evelyn, he had no time to spare for her at all.

Then three days passed, and the wedding arrived right on schedule.

Dressed in an expensive custom suit, Adrian stood at the entrance of the ballroom greeting guests. His eyes kept sweeping through the crowd on instinct, but there was no sign of Evelyn, and a strange irritation began to creep into his chest.

Then, through the moving crowd, he suddenly caught sight of a slender figure in a pale blue dress not far away.

Slim and slight, the figure looked so much like Evelyn.

Adrian relaxed at once, letting out a long breath inside.

He knew it. She would come after all.

As the romantic wedding march began to play, the ceremony moved forward exactly as planned.

Onstage, Vanessa wore a stunning wedding gown scattered with crystals, smiling radiantly.

"And now, let's welcome Ms. Evelyn Hart, to the stage for a few words!" The host's booming voice rang through the entire hall.

Applause thundered from the audience, but when the spotlight hit the end of the red carpet, no one was there.

"Ms. Evelyn Hart, please come up to the stage!" the host called again with an awkward laugh, raising his voice the second time.

Still nothing. A deathly silence fell, and the guests began whispering among themselves as the entire room turned painfully awkward.

The smile on Vanessa's face froze. Gathering up her skirt, she turned to Adrian with a wounded look.

Her beautiful eyes filled with tears, confused and aggrieved, and her voice trembled as she spoke. "Adrian, if Evelyn really didn't want to give me her blessing, she could've just said so earlier! Why would she disappear on purpose at a time like this? She just wanted to humiliate me in front of everyone. She wanted to ruin the perfect wedding I'd been looking forward to!"

Every tear Vanessa shed landed on Adrian's nerves like a spark.

But before he could react, a dull thud suddenly sounded beside him.

A second ago Vanessa had still been accusing Evelyn. The next, her eyes rolled shut and she crumpled onto the crystal steps like a rag doll.

......

This time, Vanessa stayed unconscious for a long while. The doctor said she could not be upset again, needed complete rest, and would require close monitoring.

Adrian frowned when he heard the diagnosis.

Before Vanessa woke up, he meant to find Evelyn himself and ask just how much resentment she had been carrying to pull something so low as disappearing from the wedding and pushing Vanessa to the brink!

Just as Adrian turned to leave, a buzzing vibration broke the silence in the hospital room.

The sound was coming from the designer handbag Vanessa had left by the bed.

Adrian walked over, pulled out the phone, and saw a new text light up the screen.

The sender was saved as "Dr. Martin Graves," but the content itself was hidden by the phone's privacy settings.

Adrian had no intention of paying attention to it. He was just about to put the phone back when Martin called directly.

Adrian hesitated, puzzled.

Vanessa's attending doctor was never Martin. Could it be some specialist Vanessa had contacted privately for treatment?

Thinking it might have something to do with her condition, Adrian swiped to answer and raised the phone to his ear.

"Hello?"

A sharp gasp came from the other end, and then the call was cut off without even a second of hesitation.

Adrian froze mid-motion, his gaze darkening by the second.

What kind of doctor reacted like that just from hearing a family member's voice?

He turned and looked at Vanessa lying unconscious on the hospital bed. As if driven by something he couldn't explain, he walked over and unlocked the phone with her fingerprint.

Adrian opened the messages and fixed his eyes on the unread text that had just come in.

"Ms. Cole, the fainting act at the wedding went perfectly. Mr. Quinn seems to have completely bought it. When will you send the remaining payment?"

It hit Adrian like a blast.

He stood there as if struck by lightning, rooted to the spot, his mind going completely blank.

The fainting… was an act?

His fingers stiff, he scrolled upward through their message history like a machine.

The most recent exchanges came into view at once.

Martin texted, "Ms. Cole, those medications have serious side effects. The risks are high, especially since you've only just recovered…"

Vanessa replied, "What's there to be scared of? You don't win big without taking a risk. If Adrian doesn't think I'm dying, how's he ever supposed to bring himself to kick that stumbling block out of the way for good?"

Vanessa continued, "Oh, and don't forget to send me that 'critical condition' diagnosis template I asked you for earlier. I might need it again next time."

Everything above that had already been wiped clean. Nothing was left.

For a split second, Adrian felt as though every drop of blood in his body had frozen, only to rush backward the next instant.

Fake?

It was all fake?

Then what had all of this been for?!

What about Evelyn? Had she stayed away today because she knew something? Why hadn't she told him?

Something inside Adrian hollowed out all at once, and a fear unlike anything he had ever known swallowed him whole.

With trembling hands, he pulled out his own phone. He even keyed in the number wrong several times before finally placing the call.

"Sorry, the number you dialed is currently unavailable…"

The cold mechanical voice sounded again.

Adrian stared at the call log on his screen. This was already the twenty-third call.

He took several deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down through the suffocating panic.

Then he called Lillian.

The call was answered after only two rings.

"Lillian!" Adrian blurted out like a drowning man grabbing for a lifeline. "It's Adrian. I can't get through to Evelyn. Did she go to you because she was upset? Please, let me talk to her, I…"

"Adrian, you bastard, how dare you call me? Will you only be satisfied once you've driven her to death?"

On the other end, Lillian, always so gentle and kind, roared with such fury that Adrian went completely still.

Lillian sobbed and cursed him mercilessly, calling him heartless, blind, bewitched by a scheming woman, ungrateful to the core, and damned for what he had done.

Adrian could no longer process the exact words.

All he heard were Lillian's final words, drenched in despair and fury, each one cutting into him like a blade.

"That precious childhood sweetheart of yours isn't dead yet, but Evelyn really is dying! Her brain tumor ruptured days ago and she suffered massive bleeding. Ethan already flew her to Silverpine this morning. So rest easy, because even if she dies on the operating table, she will never turn back and look at a bastard like you ever again!"