"I’ll be checking your daily earnings and performance. That will be the standard for whether you’re fit to marry my daughter."

I froze.

Diane didn’t know I was the only heir to one of the most powerful families in Crestfall City.

But asking me—a finance graduate from Halcyon University, a top 50 university in the world, an analyst at Blackridge Capital, a leading brokerage—to deliver food?

This wasn’t about "experiencing life". This was humiliation.

"Mom! This is too much!" Olivia finally snapped, shooting to her feet, her face flushed.

"Too much?" Diane let out a cold laugh.

"Olivia, don’t forget. Your brother Christopher got caught in the rain once, and it left him with a chronic condition. Every time the seasons change, he coughs for weeks.

"Kids these days are fragile. I’m just giving him a head start, seeing if he has the resilience to take on the responsibility of being a man. If he can’t even handle this, how is he supposed to support a family? How is he supposed to deal with real life?"

Her twisted logic left Olivia completely speechless. She looked at me helplessly, her eyes full of apology and conflict.

Looking at the overbearing Diane, and Olivia standing there unable to speak up, a chill ran through me.

Nevertheless, four years together wasn’t something I could just walk away from. We had gone through the uncertainty of graduation together, mapped out our future side by side. We had even debated the style of our future home countless times.

Maybe Diane really was just testing me?

Maybe if I endured these three months, everything would finally open up.

"Fine." I took a deep breath, met Diane’s scrutinizing gaze, and nodded. "I agree."

A satisfied smile curled at the corner of her lips.

The next day, I took a long leave from work. As fast as I could, I registered for a delivery driver account and picked up a yellow jacket and helmet set.

Standing in front of the mirror in that outfit, I felt nothing but unfamiliarity and absurdity.

Even my parents thought it was ridiculous. "What kind of test is this supposed to be?"

I couldn’t explain it. I just kept my head down and hurried off to the rider station. My so-called "training" began just like that.

On the first day, I couldn’t even figure out basic route planning.

During the lunch rush, I completed 3 orders, 2 of which were late. Not only did I get penalized, but a customer pointed a finger at me and yelled for a full ten minutes, complaining his order had turned into a soggy mess.

By the time I got back to the apartment Olivia and I shared that night, I collapsed onto the couch, too exhausted to move a single finger.

Olivia came over, massaging my shoulders, then ordered my favorite crawfish for dinner.

I looked at my phone. My earnings for the entire day didn’t even hit $50.

I let out a bitter laugh. "This single meal would take me a full day of deliveries to earn back."

Olivia sighed. "I’m sorry you have to go through this, Kian. Once these three months are over, my mom will see your effort. She’ll accept you."

I didn’t say anything. I just kept peeling the shell off the crawfish in silence.

At first, I held onto a sliver of hope. I thought maybe Diane really was just harsh on the outside, soft on the inside.

It didn’t take long for me to realize how wrong I was. This wasn’t a test. She was trying to break me.

Every single day, without fail, she made me report my earnings, order count, on-time rate, and customer reviews. If even a single metric looked off, she’d find a reason to come after me.

"Kian, why did you only get one 5-star review today? Were you rude to customers?

"I’m telling you, as a future son-in-law of the Grants, you need to carry yourself properly. Don’t embarrass us.

"And look at this! Your on-time rate is only 92%? Back when Thomas was running his business, everything was built on one word: trust. If you can’t even deliver food on time, what can you possibly be trusted with in the future?"

"What? You ran a red light just to save time?

"Kian! Have you lost your mind? If something happened to you, wouldn’t that just disgrace Olivia in front of everyone?"

The most ridiculous incident was when I took an urgent order and ran through the streets in the pouring rain. By the time I handed the food to the customer, I was soaked through. When I got back, I came down with a high fever.

I called Olivia, hoping she could take me to the hospital, but Diane answered the phone.

"A fever? Just take some paracetamol. Why make Olivia run around for you?

"Olivia has an important meeting tomorrow. She needs to rest. Go to a pharmacy yourself, pick up some medicine, and while you’re at it, think about why other riders are fine, but you’re the one getting sick.

"At the end of the day, your body’s just too weak. You lack discipline."

Then she hung up.

That night, I lay alone under the covers, burning up, drifting in and out of consciousness. What chilled me more than the fever was everything else.

For the first time, I started to wonder if any of this was worth it.

The arguments between Olivia and me became more and more frequent.

"Olivia, can you talk to your mom? Get her to stop treating me like this?"

"I’m a person, not a puppet. I feel like she’s controlling every part of my life. I don’t even have any freedom."

"Kian, my mom is doing this for your own good. She just wants you to become better. That’s just how she is. You need to be a little more understanding."

"Understanding? She expects me to keep delivering orders while I have a fever, and that’s for my own good?"

"She didn’t mean it like that. She just… she’s used to showing care in her own way. Look at my brother Christopher. He grew up under her rules, and he turned out just fine, didn’t he?"

It was always the same. She kept going in circles—my mom has it hard, my mom means well, my mom is doing this for you.

I looked at her, and suddenly, I felt exhausted. These three months of torment had worn down my patience, and with it, every illusion I once had about this relationship.

Still, four years together wasn’t something I could just throw away.

In the end, I clenched my teeth.

There were only a few days left. I just had to endure a little longer.

On the last day of my "training", the weather was unusually perfect with clear skies stretching endlessly overhead.

Like every other day, I got up at 6 a.m., put on that yellow rider jacket, and prepared myself for the final stretch.

Maybe it was the feeling of finally being liberated from this torture, but I was in unusually good form that morning. Orders came in smoothly, one after another.

Around noon, I had just completed a delivery when my phone buzzed. A special order popped up on the app.

[Priority Same-City Delivery]

Pickup: City General Hospital Pharmacy

Drop-off: Building A-17, Sunshine Gardens

Note: Lifesaving medication—extremely urgent! Contactless delivery. Leave at the door. Please hurry!!!

The tip amount was shockingly high: $1,000.

My heart skipped a beat. Orders like this were usually life-or-death situations.

I didn’t hesitate. I tapped accept and turned the bike around, heading straight for City General Hospital.

Picking up the medication went smoothly. The pharmacist repeatedly stressed how urgent it was.

When I saw the label "epinephrine injection", my chest tightened. This was emergency treatment for anaphylactic shock. Even a minute’s delay could cost someone their life.

Sunshine Gardens was on the other side of the city.

I twisted the throttle, pushing the bike to its limit. The navigation voice in my earpiece blended with the roar of the wind.

"Kian, today’s your last day, right?" Olivia’s call came through.

"Yeah." My eyes stayed locked on the road ahead, my response short. "I’m in the middle of a delivery. It’s urgent."

"Let’s have dinner tonight. My mom said she’ll cook herself. Consider it a celebration for you."

"She also said that as long as your numbers look good today, all those minor mistakes from before will be wiped clean."

Her voice sounded light, almost cheerful, like she could already see our perfect future ahead.

For a moment, I felt relieved, too.

The damage Diane had done to me wasn’t something one dinner could erase. At least, it was finally coming to an end.

"Alright. I’m busy right now. We’ll talk tonight." I hung up, took a sharp turn, and sped onto the overpass leading to Sunshine Gardens.

Ten minutes… five minutes…

As the navigation showed I was almost there, the tension I’d been carrying finally started to ease.

Sunshine Gardens was one of the more upscale residential compounds in the city. Security was tight. I pulled up at the entrance, reported the unit number and purpose like I’d done countless times before.

The guard was about to wave me through.

Then a familiar figure stepped out from the security booth and blocked my bike.

It was Diane. She held a granola bar, arms crossed, watching me with casual ease. That same expression I knew all too well, which was condescending and critical, sat on her face.

"Mrs. Grant?" I froze. "What are you doing here?"

"Why shouldn’t I be here?" She let out a cold snort. "I came to see how my future son-in-law performs on his final day. Kian, don’t rush in just yet. Let’s talk."

I glanced at the timer ticking on my phone, panic rising in my chest. "Mrs. Grant, this order is extremely urgent. It’s a lifesaving medication. Let me deliver it first, and we can talk after, okay?"

I was practically pleading.

"Lifesaving medication?" Diane burst out laughing as if she’d just heard the most ridiculous joke.

After a moment, her expression turned cold. "Which one of your deliveries isn’t 'urgent'? Kian, don’t use that excuse to brush me off. Today, we’re going to settle the rules properly."

She refused to budge, launching into a list of my "failures".

"The day before yesterday, a customer complained that you spilled their soup. The platform didn’t fine you, but our family’s reputation matters. That counts as a major mistake. $5,000 penalty.

"The wedding will be pushed back another three months on top of what you already agreed.

"Yesterday, you delivered to Block B instead of Block A. If the customer hadn’t come down to get it themselves, that would’ve been another bad review.

"That shows carelessness. $8,000 penalty, and you’re not allowed to see Olivia for a week. Take that time to reflect."

Second by second, time slipped away. The box of medication in my hand felt unbearably heavy.

I stared at the unreasonable woman in front of me, and in that moment, every ounce of patience and restraint I had left finally snapped.

"Ms. Grant." My voice turned cold. "I’ll say this one last time. This is lifesaving medication. If it’s delayed, someone could die. Are you going to move or not?"

My tone seemed to enrage her. Her voice shot up sharply. "What kind of attitude is that? Kian, you’re not even married yet, and you’re already rebelling?

"I’m telling you right now, there’s no way you’re getting through this gate today! What could possibly be more important than me shaping a proper son-in-law? No matter how significant it is, it can wait!"

She even pulled out her phone, as if she was about to call the customer and file a complaint.

"I’d like to see what kind of person this is. They are so unreasonable that they’d make you run red lights and speed just to deliver their precious medication!"

Watching her start to dial, I suddenly laughed because I had just seen the recipient’s name.

Christopher Grant.

And the phone number… belonged to Olivia.