Before the wedding, my fiancé disappeared while camping with friends.

I searched for him for an entire month, nearly losing my mind.

But on Valentine's Day, a week before our wedding, I saw him at a romantic restaurant, hugging and kissing his childhood sweetheart.

Jayden Corrick held the woman in his arms and said softly, "If this goes on, I don't even want to go back and marry Leah."

Sophie Muller asked if he regretted disappearing—if he truly didn't plan on going back.

He hesitated for a moment.

"No regrets. Let's stay one more week. Our parents will cover for us anyway. When she's completely driven mad with worry, I'll show up again."

I stood hidden among the crowd, watching their closeness, and gave a bitter smile.

The next moment, I called home. "Don't bother looking for Jayden anymore. I'm never marrying him."

"Leah, why are you suddenly not looking for Jayden anymore?" my mother asked, clearly shocked by what I had just said.

After all, after Jayden Corrick disappeared during a camping trip with friends, I spent an entire month searching for him—sleepless, worn thin, my body several pounds lighter, my face hollow with exhaustion.

I glanced at the couple still kissing in the restaurant across the street and gave a bitter smile.

I said, "Let's just say Jayden is dead."

Even though she knew I was speaking out of anger, my mother didn't ask for details. Instead, she instinctively tried to comfort me.

My father, quick-tempered as always, was delighted when he heard I was no longer holding on to Jayden. "It's about time you let go! What was ever so great about that guy, anyway? Leah, since you're finally leaving it to us, I will definitely help you find someone better. No need to stay fixated on someone I never approved of to begin with!"

Before I could say anything else, a sudden gasp rose from the crowd. Fireworks exploded overhead in brilliant colors. It should've been a romantic scene. But all I felt was cold.

I looked at the man who had just accused me of being controlling—right after embracing his first love—and suddenly felt my father might've been right.

Even though I had never been controlling with Jayden. Not once.

I knew him through an online chatroom when I was in college abroad. We fell in love, made it through the long-distance phase, and after graduating, I was the one who proposed.

Sophie Muller came back two years ago. I had always known she was his high school sweetheart. Over the years, Jayden never avoided the topic when mentioning her.

I thought we had come far enough that none of it mattered anymore.

But just one phone call—one "I'm back" from Sophie—and his heart flew out the door.

All these years, I gave him complete freedom. All the space he could want. And still, he kept lying to me, again and again.

I begged him to keep some distance from Sophie. I asked him not to lie about "hanging out with the guys" when he was actually out with her, not to go clubbing with those old friends of his.

I had given him more than enough freedom. And yet, he was the one who betrayed us first.

In the beginning, he listened to me. But with time, he reverted—nights spent out, lost in neon lights and noise.

What I didn't expect was that, eventually, he would turn around and call me controlling. And disappear on me right before our wedding.

"If this goes on, I don't even want to go back and marry Leah," he had said.

'But when I proposed, weren't your eyes filled with tears when you said yes? While I spent a month searching for you—were you really that happy, Jayden?' I thought bitterly.

"No regrets. Let's stay one more week. Our parents will cover for us anyway."

'No wonder your parents wouldn't let me call the police. No wonder they stayed so calm and insisted you'd show up. From beginning to end, I was the only one panicking.'

"I don't want to go back and be manipulated by her. I'll show up when she's completely lost it."

'Jayden, I really did lose it. Do you know how long it's been since I last had a decent night's sleep? I even went to a fortune teller, hoping it would bring you back. And sure enough, you reappeared—but with another woman. So this is what it means to be heartbroken.'

I didn't want to keep watching them stare into each other's eyes with such affection. I turned and left without looking back.

Once I got home, I pulled out a burlap sack and my suitcase. I packed up everything of Jayden's from the past six years and dumped them all by the door.

The next morning, I was awakened by a loud, insistent knocking at the door.

It had been the best sleep I'd had in a long time. So deep, in fact, that when I got up, I was still dazed. I didn't even check the peephole—just opened the door.

Standing there were Jayden's parents.

They didn't look pleased. His mother took one look at my bleary eyes and gave a cold, sharp laugh.

"Leah! I heard from your parents—you're not planning to keep looking for Jayden? What's that supposed to mean? Do you not love him at all?"

"That's right, Leah. Why would you suddenly stop looking? As his parents, of course we're worried!"

Her voice was sharp and aggressive, while his father chimed in almost instantly, brushing past me and walking straight into the apartment.

I looked at the two of them—dressed plainly, yet with an air of calculation that felt almost practiced. Something inside me gave a dry chuckle, though on the surface, I let my face take on just the right amount of sorrow, my eyes even turning red at the corners.

After everything Jayden had put me through, wearing that expression took no effort at all.

I said quietly, "But we've been searching for so long already. Maybe… maybe something bad has happened. Perhaps it's time we called the police."

"What do you mean something bad? Are you cursing your own fiancé? Our Jayden's probably just gone out to clear his head!"

His father immediately grew angry, settling heavily onto the sofa and reaching for my cup of coffee.

Jayden's mother snapped, "Leah, you're my son's fiancée. The wedding's almost here—how can you just stop looking? Go find him now. Then we'll have the wedding as planned!"

"But I really don't know where he is," I said, trying to keep the annoyance from leaking into my voice. "Maybe we should just call the police."

Every time I brought up the police, her reaction was unusually intense.

A flicker of guilt passed over her face, quickly masked by a burst of false bravado as she slapped the coffee table. "Calling the police? What would that look like? The wedding invitations have already gone out. Do you know how unlucky that is? How disgraceful?"

"Exactly," her husband echoed. "The police would have to investigate, ask questions—how would it look to have the groom missing right before the ceremony?"

I laughed silently to myself. They said calling the police was bad luck, but the truth was, they were all in on it—two of a kind, and not the good kind.

"Oh, my poor son!" Jayden's mother wailed, suddenly reaching for tissues. "Leah! If you hadn't been so controlling, he wouldn't have run away! You rich girls are all the same—spoiled! If I'd known, I never would have agreed to this match. I should've let him be with Sophie instead!"

Her words turned to sobs, painting me as manipulative, high-maintenance, and unworthy of their precious son. I wondered how Jayden had twisted the truth so thoroughly to them over the years.

They complained about me now, but had they forgotten how they fawned over me in the beginning? Every visit to their home ended with them nudging me to stay the night, calling me "daughter-in-law" like it was already written in stone.

Their family had relied on mine for years. And now, with a little money in their pockets, they suddenly found fault in everything I did—said I was extravagant, looked down on me for my background.

Yes, I'd studied abroad. But I came back with a degree, just like anyone else. Why should I be looked down upon? What made Sophie, with her local degree, so superior?

The bitterness stirred, but I kept it buried, and let sorrow show on my face.

"You're right. If you're so dissatisfied with me, then maybe—since Jayden and I haven't married yet—we should just call it off. From now on, let's go our separate ways. It might save us all from suffering later."

Just then, Jayden's mother's face flickered with the shadow of a smile. She opened her mouth to speak, but her husband cut in, placing a firm hand on her arm.

"Leah," he said gently, "let's not be hasty. We're still planning to look for him. Marriage isn't something to joke about. It's not just on-again, off-again. Don't make a decision out of anger. We only said those things because we were worried."

I nodded in response and saw Jayden's parents to the door. Just as it clicked shut behind them, I heard their voices echoing down the stairwell—Jayden's father scolding Jayden's mother.

"What were you thinking just now? Sure, our family's doing better these days, but we're not at the top yet. We still need her family's help to rise in the business world. If we break things off now, what does that make us look like?"

Jayden's mother seemed to realize something and kept repeating, "You're right, you're right."

I gave a soft, mirthless laugh in my heart. Just then, my father called.

"Leah, I've found you a potential fiancé. The two of you should meet, get to know each other a bit. Come home tonight for dinner."

I said yes without hesitation and threw on something simple.

When I got home, though, I was so shocked I nearly dropped my purse.

"Nick? What are you doing here?!"

Nick Parker was sitting on the living room couch, wearing a well-cut suit, posture straight and composed. When he saw the surprise on my face, he stood up, raising an eyebrow slightly, a trace of amusement playing at his lips.

"What, am I not good enough for you?"

I stared at the Parker heir, frozen for a long moment.

It was true that our families had a number of business ties, but Nick had never gotten along with Jayden. Not even a little.

He and I had studied abroad together, and we were friends, in a way. But when I came back and officially started dating Jayden, Nick's attitude toward him turned openly hostile. He picked fights, made digs, said we weren't even from the same world.

At first, I tried to smooth things over. Tried to be polite. But the more I tried, the more aggressively he targeted Jayden. In the end, I started to lose patience with him, too.

And now, here he was, not only willing to marry me, but willing to take Jayden's place—even after the wedding date had already been set. It would be a proper family alliance.

It was unbelievable.

In my memory, Nick had always thought I was too sentimental. Too easily fooled.

I couldn't help laughing softly, more in resignation than anything, nodding my head. "Good enough, for sure. But weren't you the one who…"

'Didn't you hate me the most?' were the words I wanted to say, but didn't.

He clearly caught my drift and looked a little awkward.

"I—I never really hated you. You were just always chasing after Jayden. I mean, I'm willing to marry you now, aren't I? Who else would want to deal with that mess you've got?"

"You're… willing to marry me?" I repeated, my voice distant, like it didn't quite belong to me.

My mother, standing to the side, gave a heavy sigh and scolded me with thinly veiled exasperation.

"Leah, can't you see? Nick's always liked you. Always. He just told me, all those times he clashed with Jayden—it was because he could tell Jayden was just using you. He wanted to stand up for you!"

Nick looked even more uncomfortable. He cleared his throat. "You just never got it. That guy was only after your money, and you couldn't see it. Then you stopped talking to me altogether. What kind of friend does that?"

"I was wrong," I said quickly, feeling a pang of guilt. "Jayden fooled me. I didn't see it. I'm sorry, Nick."

He brushed it off with a wave, his tone unusually calm. "Forget it. I'm marrying you anyway."

With Nick and his family's full support, our engagement moved ahead swiftly. The details were finalized almost overnight.

News spread fast. Everyone in the city with any kind of status heard about it. They called it a perfect match—two strong families, a handsome man and a beautiful woman, a textbook union.

Jayden's parents came to find me the very next day.

They looked haggard, hollow-eyed, standing at my door with none of the arrogance they'd shown before. The moment I opened the door, they leaned in urgently.

Jayden's mother spoke first, her voice timid. "Leah… is it true? They're saying you're marrying the Parker heir. What's going on? Weren't you supposed to marry Jayden?"