My boyfriend, Landon Wellington, and I had been together for twelve years, five of which were long-distance relationship.

Landon was offered a job outside after graduation, and I stayed home to help him care for his grandmother, Karen Wellington.

Karen held on to life for five years and set a wedding date for Landon and me when she was terminally ill.

The day before our wedding, Landon sent Karen a picture of him with another girl.

Landon: [Grandma, it took me twelve years to realize that the girl I truly loved wasn't Julie, and the only bride for tomorrow could be this girl.]

Karen passed away immediately after being pissed off at him, and I handled Karen's funeral alone and in a hurry.

I kept calling Landon during the funeral, only to be blacklisted by him.

"Julie, if you curse my grandma again, I'll kill you!"

The next day, Landon took the girl back home.

I received an offer of admission to the headquarters abroad.

It was early in the morning when I finished dealing with Karen's funeral, and I went home in exhaustion.

I rested for three hours with my eyes closed, my mind filled with memories of the twelve years Landon and I had been together.

I wasn't surprised by Landon's message today.

We fell in love in high school and separated after college. That was when the cogs of fate began to turn.

Landon repeatedly promised me before he went out of town at first that he would call me on video every day even if he was busy.

We didn't think distance would be a factor in our relationship.

However, Landon then made fewer and fewer video calls with me. He became familiar with the work and started to get increasingly busy.

I would transfer half of my salary to Landon every month when I got paid to support him in the big city.

I knew exactly what I was spending every cent on Landon.

At first, I gave him tens of dollars for meals. Later, I would give him hundreds of dollars a day with extra expenses for beer and desserts.

I asked Landon why I should pay for it, and I cried about it.

But Landon looked impatient on the other side of the phone video.

"You told me you wanted to support my career. Don't I have to keep up my colleague relationships at work?

"People who live in big cities like to socialize by drinking beer or coffee. I can't buy someone a glass of water, right?"

Landon's expenditure statement showed a limited Valentine's set.

When I asked him, he grumpily explained that he would save more money by doing it.

"That's what you decided to do. Did I force you? I'm already tired of work, and I'm not a rich kid. I have no parents to help me, and I'm working here alone. Do you think it's easy?

"If you don't think I'm capable, we can break up anytime. I'll hire someone to take care of my grandma, and I won't drag you down, so you don't have to care about me!"

To be honest, I couldn't leave him at that moment, and even more so, I couldn't let go of our relationship.

So I chose to put up with it, as if Landon still loved me as long as Karen liked me and identified me as Landon's only wife.

Now that Karen, who had cared about me, had passed away, there was nothing left for me.

There was a long way to go for life, and the first item of baggage Landon threw away was me.

I accompanied Landon on his journey, and I became the path he travelled.

After calling Landon about Karen's death, I sobbed uncontrollably.

Instead, he angrily yelled at me for cursing Karen and blacklisted my phone number.

The image of how we used to love each other kept appearing before my eyes while tears wet my pillow when I opened my eyes.

In order to distract my attention, I got up and started packing for my trip abroad.

I had this opportunity five years ago, but I turned that opportunity down to further my education abroad to take care of Karen.

I even refused a promotion like the need to travel out of town due to the complexity of the job.

Now I didn't need to worry about anything.

As I packed my luggage, I finally calmed down.

I was going to go out and take another look at the place where I had lived for twelve years, but I didn't expect to open the door and see Landon holding another girl's hand and smiling gently.

The girl was dressed in all the luxuries, and she looked like a holy angel in her white dress, all but unlike the marks on my face that had aged due to life.

Landon suddenly looked back at me, and he immediately tightened his frown and became impatient.

"Where are you going? Are you insane? Who's going to take care of my grandma after you leave?"

I clenched my hand dragging the suitcase so tightly that the veins on the back of my hand even bulged.

"So you knew that was your grandmother."

My voice sounded extremely cold, and he immediately snapped when he heard it.

"Does my grandma have nothing to do with you? My grandma took care of you for so many years, and if it wasn't her, would you have had the money to finish college? No wonder your parents didn't want you and left you at the orphanage. How can you be so shameless? You are so ungrateful. Aren't you sorry for my grandma?"

I didn't want to argue a word with him because Karen would be upset when she saw it in heaven.

"Let's break up. Though you may think in your mind that we have broken up a long time ago, we'll break up completely today."

Landon's eyes suddenly widened when he heard this, his eyes filled with anger.

Nevertheless, he calmed down and looked down as he told the girl patiently and gently, "Evelyn, you should just sit inside and rest for a while. You're tired from the two-hour plane ride."

His voice sounded so gentle that I had never even heard it before.

Sadness and heartbreak surrounded me in an instant.

Evelyn was tired from the two-hour plane ride, but when I travelled over twenty hours on the train alone to save money to see him, he would just say that I was wasting my money, that it wasn't necessary, and that it was holding up his work.

The faint smell of perfume rushed into my nose as Evelyn walked past me.

Landon grabbed my luggage. "You can't leave! What will grandma do if you leave? I need you to join me in explaining to her that we broke up our relationship a long time ago, and we've just been hiding it from her because we're worried about her health.

"Regarding the wedding that was scheduled for today, you must stay and explain to the relatives that it was you who wanted to marry me, so you modified the name on the invitation without permission, and that the bride was supposed to be Evelyn."

I sneered out at the look on his face as he took it for granted.

"Do you care about Karen? Do you care about the relatives? If you cared about me, you wouldn't have hung up on me and blacklisted my phone number when I wasn't finished talking.

"Landon, don't be ridiculous. You just care about yourself.

"You disgust me!"

Saying that, he looked at me angrily.

"Disgust? Julie, you know very well that you were the one who begged me to be with you at first, and now you're pretending to be innocent. Have you forgotten how you flattered me before?

"Who are you? You're just a nanny in my house, and who are you to teach me a lesson?

"I had found a company for you, and it was owned by Evelyn's family. I wanted to recommend you to go there, and you could double your salary, but now you don't look like you deserve it. You're just right for working at the bottom."

Landon moved too much, revealing the Rolex Submariner on his wrist.

I sneered out a laugh.

"I make clean money, but how about you? You're just making money with your body.

"By the way, does that girl inside know what kind of person you are? Does she think she's been with a wonderful man, just like I did back then? I'm going to reveal your true nature right now!"

After saying that, I directly turned around with the intention of walking towards the room, but I didn't expect Landon to yank my wrist so forcefully that I immediately shrieked out in pain.

"If you dare to say one more word in front of Evelyn, I will tear your mouth!"

After saying that, Landon's grip on my wrist got even harder, and my skin rapidly reddened.

I gritted my teeth to endure it, my eyes growing indifferent.

This was the first time I was indifferent to what Landon was doing. A hint of panic showed in his eyes, but he still threatened me.

"I told Evelyn you were my cousin, but are you going in there now to ruin me? I'm warning you, don't reveal my identity. Otherwise, I'll make you lose your job.

"You don't want to live in this city like a stray dog, do you? Karen is my grandma, so do you really think she'll favour you if we break up? Stop dreaming!"

The ferocity in his eyes stung my swollen eyes.

For twelve years of relationship, he didn't give me a single word of explanation when we broke up.

Instead, he asked me to help him hide his identity.

I shook his hand off with all my might, and I felt extremely disappointed at this moment.

I said indifferently, "Landon, don't waste your time. The wedding has been cancelled, and you and your idiot girlfriend can go back."

"What? Julie, are you insane? Do you know how much effort it took me to get Evelyn to agree to come back to my hometown and get married? You're a bitch. Why did you cancel the wedding?"

Landon grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, his face flushed and his eyes filled with rage.

However, I got angry this time and knocked Landon's hand down.

Landon didn't expect that I, who was always obedient, would get angry one day, and he looked stunned.

"Julie, how dare you fight back? If it weren't me, would you be here today? Are you out of your fucking mind?"

I looked at him with a sneer in my eyes.

"Yes, I've gone crazy, so I would have believed your lies and waited for you back home for five years. Twelve of my years were wasted on a bastard, and Karen even felt sorry for me!"

My voice got increasingly louder, and I finally was yelling with almost all my might.

Landon widened his eyes and grabbed me by my neck, and I could barely catch my breath.

"What the fuck were you babbling about in front of my grandma? Did you complain about something? Julie, I was wrong about you, and you make me sick!"

"Why did you cancel the wedding? I've obviously explained it to grandma. She loves me the most, and there's no way I'd cancel the wedding!"

"Where's grandma? I want to see her!"

Saying that, Landon flung me to the side, and my whole body fell heavily to the ground.

The dust from the concrete floor got on me.

Perhaps I was all this disgusting dust to Landon.

But Karen wouldn't want me to break down for Landon.

Karen was holding my hand in tears before she died.

"Landon is sorry for you. I will make sure you meet your happiness when I die."

Landon was striding towards inside at this moment.

I struggled to get up, forcing down my tears of distress and patting my shirt.

A few moments later, Landon stumbled out and pushed the back of my head against the wall so hard that I couldn't see anything.

I hadn't eaten since I finished dealing with Karen's funeral until now, and I was so weak that I didn't have the extra strength to breathe.

"Julie, where did you take my grandma? Tell me!"

He was so anxious that his eyes were in tears, and I wanted to sneer but didn't have the strength to make a sound.

It was so ironic.

Seeing that I was about to faint, he angrily yelled, "Stop pretending. Where the hell is Karen? Do you want me to kill you?"

I felt the oxygen in my chest gradually running out, I could no longer see anymore, and the voices in my ears were becoming more and more muffled.

If Landon were to let go of me at this moment, my entire body would immediately fall to the ground.

Evelyn came out of her room after hearing the sound. Seeing this, she turned pale with fear.

She hastily reached out to stop Landon.

"What are you doing? Isn't she your cousin? Why did you hit her?"

Landon seemed to be a gentleman again in front of Evelyn, so he let go of me.

The next second, I fell heavily to the ground.

After regaining my freedom, I breathed deeply.

Despair covered my eyes when I heard the word "cousin".

After our twelve years of relationship, I eventually became Landon's cousin.

I even had to be arranged by Landon to be a bridesmaid, taking all the blame for the change of wedding on me.

Luckily, the wedding was cancelled.

Otherwise, I would be nothing but a joke!

Landon gritted his teeth and did his best to keep his voice soft.

"I don't know where she has taken my grandma, and I haven't seen her anywhere I've checked."

Evelyn heard him and smiled, "Is that all it was? I just saw a bunch of hospital reports in a drawer in my room, and I wasn't sure if they were about Karen or not. Do you want to take a look?"

Saying that, Landon immediately tugged on my arm, hard enough to make me struggle in pain.

My eyes were wide and locked on Evelyn's innocent face.

"Why did you touch Karen's things? Who allowed you to touch them?"

That box was full of Karen's belongings.

Evelyn burst into tears immediately after hearing my stern question.

She wrapped her arms gently around Landon with his hands.

"Why is your sister so mean? I didn't know I couldn't touch them. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I'll just go sort them out and put them back now."

Saying that, Evelyn choked back tears as she wiped them away and walked towards Karen's room.

I felt so anxious. At this moment, I burst out of all my strength and kicked Landon between his legs with all my might.

He didn't expect me to hit back, and he let out a cry of pain and dropped to the floor.

I ran towards Evelyn and jerked her arm the moment before she was about to open the door.

I shook it off with such force that Evelyn fell to the ground like a rag doll.

She looked pale with pain.

Her tears fell to the floor in drops, but she bit her lip tightly to keep from crying out, looking at Landon in aggrievement.

I turned to protect the door to Karen's room from them.

Landon slowly got up and saw the scene where I hurt Evelyn. At this moment, he was so angry that his eyes were in tears, and he had completely lost his mind.

He shouted at me angrily, "If I don't teach you a lesson today, will you forget whose house this is?"

He held up a chair that Karen used to use to sit and cool off in the yard.

He strode towards me, the wind in my ears making me close my eyes in fear.

I reflexively dodged sideways.

The worn wooden chair slammed fully into my back, and it instantly turned to splinters.

The enormous strength caused my back to bend in a bizarre arc.

The next second, my entire body fell straight to the floor, my limbs twitching involuntarily.

I still murmured, "Don't touch Karen's things."

Evelyn turned pale with fear and shouted at Landon, "Get her to the hospital. Let's go to the hospital!"

Her driver, along with Landon, threw me roughly into the car.

I closed my eyes in despair all the way, just hoping that Karen in heaven wouldn't see this.

Otherwise, how upset would she be?

As soon as we arrived at the hospital, I was immediately carried to the door of the operating theatre.

But Landon yanked on the stretcher and asked the paramedics to stop where they were at that moment.

He gritted his teeth and asked me, "Julie, now tell me exactly where my grandma is. Otherwise, you will die in the hospital today. If I don't sign for you, no one will dare to operate on you!"

The scene in front of me had blurred, and the voices in my ears were getting lower and lower.

Hearing his question, I could only smile helplessly.

"I told you this a long time ago, but you didn't believe me."

Seeing that I still hadn't answered, he cursed me in anger and slammed his fist into the side of my face so hard that it almost reached my cheek.

I closed my eyes, tears slipping from the corners of my eyes.

His eyes were full of resentment. He was just about to ask me again when his phone rang.

It was the staff of the funeral parlour.

"Hello, is this Mr. Landon Wellington? I'm from the funeral parlour. Yesterday your grandmother's cremation and burial contract needed to be signed by a relative, and your friend said you'd probably be back today. Are you available to come over now?"