My grandmother didn't have much time left. Before she passed away, she entrusted me to my boyfriend, Hunter Jones.

As we held hands with our fingers interlaced, he promised to register our marriage in front of my grandmother's sickbed.

However, the day after we registered our marriage, Sarah Moore, Hunter's female colleague, posted a picture of a marriage certificate with her and Hunter's names on it.

There was a caption, stating, 'I know you have no choice but to agree to marry her. But as long as I'm the person you love most, I'm satisfied with only one month.'

I went to find Hunter, intending to question him about what was going on. Instead, I overheard him chatting with his friend.

"I'm indebted to Audrey's grandmother. I promised her that I would take care of Audrey for the rest of my life, so I have to take responsibility for her. As for Sarah, I can die without regrets if I can be her husband for a month in this life."

His friend laughed and said, "Poor Audrey White. Aren't you afraid she'll get angry and run away when she finds out that the marriage certificate you got her was fake?"

Hunter fell silent for a moment. "She will never find out. I'll just tell her that there was an error in the registration system and that we need to re-register. Audrey trusts me so much. She won't suspect anything," he added.

However, his plans shattered when he tried to contact me to re-register our marriage. That was because he received my wedding gift for him, along with a wish that he and Sarah would have a long and happy life instead.

One Last Goodbye

Audrey's POV

"I'm so fed up with her using her grandmother to force me to stay with her every day!"

Hunter Jones's words pinned me firmly in place as I stood outside the door listening to him.

Hunter and I grew up together, and he confessed his feelings to me in college. We had been friends for 18 years and lovers for eight. Yet, never had I imagined that it would all be a lie.

My knuckles turned white as I gripped the doorknob. Suddenly, I felt dizzy. It wasn't until my phone vibrated that I snapped back from my blanked-out state.

"Ms. White, your Grandma is undergoing emergency treatment. Please come as soon as possible."

When I rushed to the hospital, my grandmother had already been wheeled out of the emergency room.

I calmed down as my eyes landed on her loving face. However, what the doctor said next came like a bolt from the blue.

"The patient is dying, so please say what you need to say quickly."

My footsteps felt unsteady like stepping on cotton as I walked toward the door to my grandmother's ward. After I pushed the door open, I saw my grandmother smile at me. "Audrey, you're here. Where's Hunter? Why didn't he come with you?"

Although my grandmother looked much better, I knew it was just an illusion.

"Grandma, he's busy with work. I'll call him right now."

I made more than a dozen phone calls that day. The disappointment in my grandmother's eyes only intensified when all the calls went straight to voicemail.

I called again and again, refusing to give up. Finally, Hunter answered the phone.

However, he snapped at me before I could even speak, "Audrey, didn't I tell you I was busy? Why do you keep calling me?"

My voice trembled as I choked with sobs, "Hunter, Grandma's dying. Can you—"

Before I could finish speaking, Hunter interjected, "Stop it, Audrey! How dare you lie about something like this! I'm very busy today, so let's talk about it tomorrow."

Before the call ended, I heard Sarah Moore's voice. She was calling Hunter, "Honey," intimately.

My grandmother immediately noticed that I was upset. She gently stroked my hair, just like she did when I was a child and said softly, "Audrey, my greatest wish in this life is to ensure your happiness. I'll always be with you no matter what."

I lay down next to my grandmother, just like I did when I was a child. I stayed like that until the ECG machine emitted a piercing sound.

I couldn't speak. My throat was tight with sorrow. My vision blurred as tears streamed down my face like broken pearls.

"Deepest condolences to you, Ms. White."

I sat blankly outside the morgue, wanting to call Hunter over to say goodbye to my grandmother.

Only after I called did I find that I had been blocked.

Hence, I tried reaching him through other ways, but none of my methods succeeded.

Eventually, I saw Sarah update her social media.

In her post, she was walking on the beach. Hunter was holding her hand and smiling gently.

'I was just feeling down, but my husband came with me to the beach overnight to get some fresh air.' She wrote.

I immediately unlocked my phone and bought a flight ticket for three days from now.

Since they both were so in love, I supposed I need not make a fool of myself.

Farewell, Hunter.

Biased

"Ms. White, you can come by and pick it up tomorrow."

I handed my grandmother's ashes over to the staff at the diamond institute because I planned to have them made into diamonds to wear with me.

When I got home, I was startled by a sudden bark from a dog.

"Sorry, my puppy is a bit shy around strangers," Sarah said as she came out of the room in a silk nightgown.

Hunter quickly came over to take my hand when he saw my face fall. "We were tied up with work until very late last night, so I let her sleep in the guest room for the night."

I scoffed, my mind recalling Sarah's post. "You two were quite busy, indeed."

Hunter raised his voice, clearly stung by my rebuke. "Audrey, what are you getting at?"

I shook off his hand and went upstairs. Before he closed the door, I heard him comforting Sarah in whispers. "She's been behaving strangely lately. Just ignore her."

The room was filled with my grandmother's things. I took a deep breath, trying to soothe my emotions. Still, my tears refused to stop.

The door to the room swung open just as I was going through my grandmother's belongings. Sarah was standing there and looking at me with a mocking smile.

"Audrey, Hunter doesn't love you anymore."

"Let him come and tell me himself, then. I promise I will never bother him after that."

Sarah's smirk froze on her face.

"Just you wait!" she hissed.

However, I didn't want to waste my breath on her. I was just about to tell her to leave when I smelled a foul odor.

I quickly saw that her puppy was jumping into the bed and peeing on my grandmother's portrait. So, I immediately pulled it away and wiped it with a tissue.

"Oh, no! My baby!" Sarah screamed, hugging the dog with tender pity.

"Audrey, how dare you bully my baby!" Her face twisted in anger as she kicked my grandmother's clothes out of the bag to the ground and stomped on them hard.

I gave her a sharp slap in a fit of rage, causing her to stagger from the blow. Then, I slammed her against the wall.

"Sarah, I'll kill you if you dare touch my Grandma's things again."

Suddenly, someone grabbed my arm and threw me heavily to the ground. My head slammed against the nightstand with a thud.

"Audrey, what the hell is wrong with you?" scolded Hunter while hugging Sarah tenderly. As she showed her swollen cheeks, she expressed her grievance, sobbing loudly. "I just wanted to come and help, but… Since Audrey doesn't like me, I'll leave and won't get in her way."

Hunter's face darkened as he listened to her words. "Audrey, what exactly is your problem? Sarah was just trying to help."

I held up the urine-soaked portrait of my grandmother in front of him. "Tell me, which part looked like she was trying to help? Was it the part where she let her dog pee on Grandma's portrait? Or was it the part where she stepped on Grandma's clothes and got them dirty?"

Hunter guiltily looked away.

"It's just a photo. I'll ask her to print another one for you. There's no need to make a scene."

I looked at him with disappointment. That was when my heart stopped beating for him.

It was one thing for him not to love me romantically, but my grandmother had treated him like her own grandson for years and even saved his life. Yet, he had the audacity to allow another woman to trample on my grandmother's things!

Her Sinister Plan

"Get out!" I shouted, angry tears streaming down my face. Sarah wanted to say something, but Hunter yanked her away.

I packed up my grandmother's belongings and prepared to leave. Hunter reached out to stop me when he saw me dragging a suitcase along.

"Seriously? You're leaving home because of something so trivial? It's just a photo. I'll go print another one with you later."

I shook off his hand.

"These are Grandma's clothes. I'm going to go and stay with her. I'll print the photo myself. You just go ahead and do your thing."

My cold demeanor caused a hint of unease to appear on Hunter's face.

"How's Grandma feeling? Wait for me. I'll go visit her with you."

Suddenly, Sarah's cry of pain came from the kitchen.

"Hunter, I accidentally cut my hand. It hurts so much."

He immediately pushed me aside, rushed to Sarah's side, and wrapped her finger tenderly with a tissue.

"Sarah's finger is bleeding. I'll take her to the hospital first. Wait for me at home, and we'll visit Grandma together."

I nodded slightly, meeting his gaze head-on. Hunter heaved a sigh of relief and left with Sarah.

I knew that he wouldn't be returning. So, I took a car back to my hometown and burned my grandmother's belongings by the river, as per our family's tradition.

It wasn't until the flame died down that I received a call from Hunter.

"Audrey, there's a sudden meeting at the company. Please send my regards to Grandma. I'll go with you tomorrow."

After I hung up the phone, I saw him in Sarah's post once again.

In the caption, she mentioned how Hunter insisted on giving her round-the-clock personal care even though it was just an accidental cut.

I received a call from Hunter early in the morning.

Perhaps because I hadn't bothered him all day yesterday, so he sounded a bit nervous on the other end of the phone.

"Audrey, let's go visit Grandma together today."

I was accepting the diamond necklace from the staff at the diamond institute at the time. The diamond was made from my grandmother's ashes.

I caressed the necklace tenderly, lamenting inwardly that my grandmother, who was once my safe haven, was now reduced to only a tiny diamond.

"Okay. I also have something I want to tell you," I said.

After much contemplation, I figured I should tell him about my grandmother's passing.

When I got home, Sarah looked at the necklace around my neck and flipped her hair provocatively.

She wore an expensive gemstone necklace. A smirk played on her lips as she said, "My hand hurt so much yesterday that Hunter bought this to cheer me up."

I dismissed her, asking blandly, "Where's Hunter?"

My calm reaction surprised Sarah. Then, her eyes turned sinister as she ripped off my necklace and threw it out the window and into the swimming pool.

Even though my neck bled from the force and I could feel my blood was dripping down my skin, I couldn't care less about it. I rushed to the edge of the pool and jumped in without hesitation.

Just then, Sarah's gemstone necklace fell into the water, followed by her cries.

I surfaced and saw her kneeling on the ground while Hunter pointed at me, his face livid with rage.

"Audrey, you're getting eaten up by jealousy!" he scolded.

"Sarah completed her task, so I rewarded her with a necklace. Yet, you actually tried to frame her by faking falling into the pool! Retrieve that necklace now. Otherwise, you'll keep staying in the water until I say you can leave!"