While I was still standing there in a stupor, Bianca stepped past me and opened the door herself.

A fair, thin boy walked in, dragging a suitcase in his left hand and carrying a huge stack of books in his right, swaying under the weight.

Bianca quickly took the books from him. "Let me."

The face in front of me overlapped with the face in the photo.

It was Mason.

Bianca dragged Mason's suitcase toward the guest room. As she passed me, she started explaining awkwardly.

"Mason is still my husband in name, after all. I asked him to move in with us so his family wouldn't get suspicious. I'll tutor him myself from now on, and you'll have to cook something nutritious for him. I'm sure he'll succeed next year."

"Thank you, Professor Bianca," Mason thanked Bianca, his face flushed.

When he looked up and saw me, the blush vanished at once. He rolled his eyes and muttered reluctantly, "Thank you too, Professor's…husband."

Husband?

Bianca and I weren't even married. What kind of husband was I?

I gently set the watch on the table, ignoring him, and turned to pack my things.

However, Mason refused to let me leave quietly. He nodded at me, but he couldn't hide the smugness in his eyes even with his head lowered.

"Professor Bianca only married me to help me. You're the only person she loves. Don't worry. Once I graduate and start working, I'll pay back the fifty thousand dollars she gave my family and the car she bought me. I'll pay back every cent. I'm grateful to you and the professor for giving me a second chance in life."

Even a fake marriage needed a payoff?

I quickly opened my mobile banking app.

Our joint savings of seventy-five thousand dollars had vanished. Only a little over three hundred dollars remained.

I held my chest, feeling as if my chest was being crushed. It hurt so badly I could barely breathe.

Whenever we talked about marriage, Bianca said she wouldn't marry me unless I saved up one hundred thousand dollars first.

I worked desperately to save up, so I could have the money sooner and marry her properly.

Yet now, she had married Mason without asking him for a single cent.

Not only had she asked for anything, she had even bought Mason a car and given his parents a fifty-thousand dollar monetary gift.

What did that make me, her boyfriend of eight years?

In despair, I shouted at Bianca, "We saved that money together, but you used it to marry another man! You stole it!"

Bianca had always thought highly of her own virtues, so when she heard the word "stole," her expression immediately darkened.

"If I hadn't given Mason's parents the money, how would they have agreed to let him leave the countryside? Is a human life not worth fifty thousand dollars to you? And about the car, what man gets married without buying a car? Whether the marriage is real or fake, I couldn't let Mason be treated unfairly. You're a man too. Can't you put yourself in his shoes?"

A metallic taste spread through my throat.

Tens of thousands of dollars, and she made it sound so lightly, as if she could take it out whenever she wanted.

But that was every cent we had saved over seven years of work.

Bianca was a university lecturer, and I ran a tailor shop. Our income was decent, but Bianca devoted herself to research, and materials were expensive. They ate up almost everything she made, and I always covered our household expenses.

The savings had also come from my careful budgeting, scraped together bit by bit. All so that one day, I could save enough and marry the woman I loved most.

I never got Bianca to marry me.

Instead, I got her to use our wedding funds to buy another man a car and marry him.

"You're so stingy. It's just some money. Once I finish grad school, what will that amount even matter? I'll pay you back double! I thought Professor Bianca's lover would be someone special, but he's just like those ignorant old men back in the village, always talking about money. So vulgar!" Mason muttered in dissatisfaction.

His voice wasn't loud, but it was enough for both Bianca and me to hear.

Bianca paused, but she still didn't say a word in my defense in the end. Instead, she simply carried Mason's luggage into the guest room and made Mason's bed for him.

Bianca was usually busy with work, so, I had taken on all the housework myself because I felt sorry for her.

This was the first time I had ever seen her do housework.

And it was for another man.

The tear on my face hadn't even dried. When the wind blew, my face felt raw and scraped.

I couldn't stay in that home for one more second.

I quickly opened a rental app, but the prices made my heart sink.

Apartments in Creston cost at least forty-five hundred dollars a month. Meanwhile, I had barely three hundred dollars to my name.

Then I remembered the jewelry my mom had left me.

Before she passed, she had left me the pieces she had saved away and told me to give them to my wife when I got married. They were meant for the woman who would be my wife.

Selling even one piece would solve my immediate problem.

Despite my reluctance, I had been forced into a corner. I truly had no other choice.

I opened the drawer, only to find that all the jewelry inside was gone.

My mind was filled with panic, and I ran to the guest room to look for Bianca.

"A thief broke into the house! All the jewelry my mom left me with is gone! We… We need to call the police!"

Bianca's shoulders stiffened. She pushed up her glasses, guilt written across her face.

"I sold them. Mason needs to study and there will be more expenses later. His family refuses to support him. Who's going to help him if I don't?"

I stared at Bianca in complete shock. If she wanted to support Mason's studies, what did that have to do with selling my mom's jewelry?

With red eyes, I shoved Mason into the corner. I grabbed his shoulders and roared at him.

"If you want to study, ask your parents for money! That was the jewelry my mom left me! Give it back!"

Mason glared at me indignantly, his eyes red as he held back tears. "Alan, you've gone too far! You know exactly what my parents are like, but you're still stabbing me where it hurts. Just because I was born poor, does that mean I don't deserve to study?"

So, people really could laugh when they were furious enough.

"I never said you didn't deserve to study. I just said if you want to study, earn your own money and save for tuition! What does stealing from me make you?"

"You…!" Mason hid behind Bianca in shame and anger, looking deeply wounded.

"Enough."

Bianca grabbed my wrist and looked at me with exhaustion.

"You grew up spoiled by your family and don't lack any of these things, so what's wrong with letting Mason have them this once? Your mom left those jewelry to me in the first place. How I choose to handle them is up to me. Aren't you being a little too possessive over someone else's things, Alan?"

I glared at Bianca in complete disappointment and bit my lip until it bled.

The jewelry was left by my mom for her future daughter-in-law, but Bianca had now become another man's wife. How could she still deserve the jewelry my mom had left behind?

Mason gave me a cold glance, his eyes filled with contempt. "I look down on people who scheme over a woman's belongings."

I was taking back the jewelry my mom had left me. How had that become scheming against Bianca?

Mason's words enraged me completely, so I grabbed a cup and hurled it at him. Bianca instinctively hugged Mason and took the blow for him with a muffled groan.

The blood on her face was so red; as red as the blood that had poured from her forehead the year the school lab exploded, when she threw herself in front of me.

I closed my eyes, no longer having the strength to continue this fight.

I spent some money on a metal cot and moved into my shop.

Bianca came by several times to talk me into going home, but I threw her out every time.

I reported the missing jewelry to the police, but without enough evidence, they couldn't open a case at all.

I was so anxious that I could barely function, and sores formed in my mouth.

While I was sending Mason another message, I saw his latest social media post.

[Admitted through a direct admit slot. Stay mad!]

The attached photos showed an acceptance letter from Alpaca University's graduate program and a patent certificate for a new nanomaterial. Mason's name was on it.

That nanomaterial had always been Bianca's research project. She had spent six years funding the research herself, and she had finally made some progress not long ago.

Yet on the patent certificate, she had willingly put Mason's name.

All so this young man, who had failed to gain entry three years in a row could get admitted through a direct admit slot.

I thought I would never shed another tear for Bianca again. And yet, the tears still rolled down my cheeks, one after another, beyond my control.

This was Bianca, the woman who had always been upright and refused to cheat the system.

During senior year, my mom became seriously ill. I was running myself ragged taking care of her, so I often asked for leave and skipped class. That caused my grades to become a complete mess.

To graduate smoothly, I begged Bianca to write my paper for me. She refused without the slightest hesitation, saying, "Alan, that would be unfair to the other students. I can't do it."

I never expected that eight years later, she would break her principles so easily for Mason.

She could ignore every rule for him.

I couldn't swallow it, so I went straight to the school.

After two months without seeing him, Mason had changed completely.

That skinny boy had been raised into someone bright and full of spirit. He was wearing a well-tailored custom suit that must have cost Bianca at least half a month's salary.

Meanwhile, I was so broke I could barely afford food.

I gritted my teeth. No longer caring about dignity, I raised the megaphone I was holding.

"Mason Rivers failed to get into the university three times in a row. How could he possibly have developed a new nanomaterial with that kind of research? Bianca White did the research and then wrote the academic paper for him! This behavior seriously undermines the fairness of the admissions system. I demand that the university investigate this thoroughly and punish them both accordingly!"

Quite a few students stopped to watch, and more and more scrutinizing gaze fell on them.

Bianca looked at me with a complicated expression. She took a deep breath, then slowly took out the marriage certificate from her pocket.

The edges of the certificate were neat and clean. Anyone could see how carefully its owner had protected it.

"Mason is my legal husband. The nanomaterial is the result of joint research between me and my husband. May I ask what the problem is with putting his name on it?"

The entire crowd erupted at once.

"Professor Bianca and Mason are actually husband and wife!"

"An older wife and a younger husband? She spoils him so much! A female dom and male sub together are so sweet, I'm dying!"

"The joint research result only has his name on it. Professor Bianca loves him so much! So even an ice queen can melt for one person!"

Bianca held Mason's hand tightly and gave him a firm look in front of everyone, telling him not to be afraid.

Mason gradually calmed down. He raised his chin and walked up to me, then spoke neither arrogantly nor meekly.

"Mr. Alan, my relationship with my wife is very good. It isn't something you can destroy so easily. Even if you want to be the other man in this relationship, you still have to see whether my wife agrees."

The students all looked at me with disgust. Just like that, I became the outsider who was trying to destroy a married couple out of jealousy.

"No! That isn't true!"

I hurriedly opened my phone gallery and found the first photo Bianca and I had taken together eight years ago. It was on the field right in front of us. She was leaning against my shoulder, sound asleep.

I pretended to read, but in truth, I was secretly looking at her from the corner of my eye, unable to stop forming a tender smile.

Back then, we were only twenty-two while Mason was still in elementary school.

Once I showed the photo, everyone would naturally know who was the real secret lover!

Right before I could show it, my phone suddenly rang. My aunt Jessie's voice came over from the other side with sobs.

"Alan! Someone showed your grandmother Bianca's marriage certificate with someone else! They said you've been someone's secret lover all along! Your grandma was so furious that she had a brain hemorrhage and passed away..."

My mind went blank and my face became pale.

It was Mason! It had to be him!

My eyes went red with rage as I lunged at him, wishing I could strangle him to death on the spot and make him pay for killing my grandmother.

Before I could even grab the corner of Mason's clothes, Bianca kicked me away in panic, and that kick landed right on my chest.

She knew it. She knew full well that I had a hereditary heart condition.

A tearing pain struck my heart. I looked deeply at Bianca one last time before closing my eyes in despair.

Before I passed out, the only thing I remembered was someone shouting beside my ear.

"He's coughing up blood!"