Chapter 1

“Julian, let me go! It hurts!”

“Would you regret it if I died?!”

“Julian, don’t leave with Chloe. I love you…”

I jolted awake, gasping for air like a fish stranded on dry land. My chest heaved uncontrollably, and my throat felt like it was being torn apart.

Opening my eyes with great effort, I was met with the blinding glare of fluorescent lights overhead. The rhythmic beeping of machines nearby further confirmed my suspicion that I was in a hospital room.

“She is awake. The doctor said it’s just a head injury and emotional shock. Nothing serious.”

A low voice spoke on the phone beside my bed. I slowly pieced together the situation. So, I was sick?

A cold, clear voice came through the phone speaker. “As long as it’s nothing serious. I have a video conference to attend, so I won’t be coming over.”

The person holding the phone sighed, turned around, and was startled to see me awake. “Mrs. Moore, you’re awake?”

I opened my mouth, about to ask a question, but the woman in professional attire interrupted herself to explain. “Mr. Moore has a video meeting today, so he won’t be able to come. Let me know if you need anything.”

I frowned in confusion. “Mr. Moore? Who’s that? I’m not Mrs. Moore. My name is Evelyn White.”

Her initial surprise turned into a mocking smirk. “Mrs. Moore, Mr. Moore is very busy, and so am I. We don’t have time for games. You just hit your head; there’s no need to fake amnesia.”

She laughed lightly, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “Maybe you’ve been reading too many of those domineering CEO novels online. Playing hard to get won’t work on Mr. Moore.”

Annoyed, I furrowed my brows. “I don’t read those novels. And I don’t like the way you’re talking to me.”

The woman had been condescending since the moment she opened her mouth, and her attitude was making me increasingly uncomfortable. The feeling was mutual, and I didn’t care for her either.

The woman dismissed me with an indifferent toss of a phone. “This is your phone. If you need anything, contact me. I need to get back to work.”

With that, she swayed her hips arrogantly and made to leave.

Just then, the door to the ward burst open, and a woman with disheveled hair rushed in.

“Evelyn, are you okay?”

Seeing her, I was stunned. “Dolly? What happened to you?”

The woman standing before me was my childhood best friend. We’d been inseparable since we were toddlers, playing in the mud together. We went to the same kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and even college. She was practically family to me.

But the Dolly I remembered was nothing like the woman before me.

Her hair was dyed a reddish-brown, and she wore a form-fitting black dress that emphasized every curve.

She looked both familiar and unfamiliar.

The moment Dolly saw me, her eyes reddened, and then she exploded. “Evelyn, you brainless idiot! I told you to leave that bastard, Julian Moore, but you just wouldn’t listen!

“Look at you now! Attempting suicide and nearly losing your life! Do you want to scare me to death? You’re such an idiot! Ugh!”

Her tirade ended in sobs as she finally broke down.

For reasons I couldn’t quite understand, even though her words made no sense to me, a pang of sadness rose in my chest. My vision blurred as my eyes filled with tears.

The woman in professional attire returned at that moment, clearly irritated. “Excuse me, Miss Jones, this is a hospital. Please keep your voice down.”

Dolly, evidently familiar with her, didn’t hold back. She jabbed a finger at the woman’s face and snapped, “Call Julian right now! Tell him to come to the hospital! His wife is injured and hospitalized, yet he’s out attending some charity gala with Chloe Clarke?!

“The way he’s bullying her is just too much! Back then, that shameless woman Chloe couldn’t be bothered with Julian when he was on the brink of bankruptcy. She ran off overseas without looking back. And who saved his company? The White family! Now that he’s back on his feet, Chloe comes crawling back to cling to him like a leech.

“A man with no gratitude and a woman who’s greedy for wealth—what a perfect match! Trash for trash, a match made in heaven!”

Dolly’s words turned the woman in professional attire bright red with embarrassment.

A nurse arrived, urging Dolly to quiet down. The woman seized the opportunity to leave, practically fleeing in shame.

Once the room fell silent, Dolly wiped her face and continued angrily, “Evelyn, listen to me. You’ve been entangled with Julian for seven years—seven whole years! You’ve made a mess of things, but he doesn’t love you. He doesn’t even respect you or the White family.

“The world is so big, why hang yourself on this one tree? Today it's threatening to jump, what's next? Slitting your wrists tomorrow? None of this affects him—he stopped believing you a long time ago.”

She paused, glaring at me with frustration. “Evelyn, you’re rich and gorgeous. Why are you such a hopeless romantic?”

Finally finding an opening to speak, I asked, “Dolly, who is Julian Moore? I don’t remember him.”

Dolly froze for a moment before letting out a laugh. “Julian’s assistant has already left. You don’t need to keep acting. I know you’re pretending to have amnesia.”

I reached up to touch the tender swelling at the back of my head, a wry smile tugging at my lips. “Dolly, I’m not faking it. I genuinely have no memory of this Julian Moore you’re talking about.”

Dolly fell silent, staring at me blankly.

After two minutes of eye contact, she suddenly let out a blood-curdling scream. “Ahhh! The heavens have answered my prayers—Evelyn, you’ve finally forgotten about that bastard Julian!”

…

After a series of examinations, the doctor concluded that it might be intermittent amnesia.

After all the brain was known as a delicate thing and apparently, I had tumbled down several dozen steps of a villa staircase. The impact on my head likely damaged certain brain functions.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror.

A familiar oval-shaped face, slightly upturned nose, and pale lips devoid of any color.

It was my face, yet it felt oddly foreign.

The Evelyn I remembered was vibrant and full of life, always smiling like an idiot every single day. But the woman staring back at me had eyes that rarely smiled, and the more I looked, the more I saw a deep melancholy in them.

Could Dolly be telling the truth?

Had I really been entangled with Julian for seven years?

And… I was married?

...

I didn’t want to believe it.

But Dolly pulled out photos and videos on her phone, presenting irrefutable evidence. I was, indeed, married—and to none other than Julian, the cold, untouchable heartthrob of our university days.

Looking at the wedding photos and videos of myself grinning from ear to ear, I let out a deep sigh.

Dolly, ever the chatterbox, began to recount, “You were obsessed with Julian starting in your sophomore year. You even skipped classes just to hang around his dorm, bringing him breakfast and treating him to meals. When he played basketball, you handed out crates of drinks to all his teammates.

“On his birthday, you hired people to string balloons and banners across campus to confess your love. When Julian got sick, you camped out on the floor of his hospital room, taking care of him 24/7…”

I groaned in embarrassment. “Stop it…”

This was mortifying.

However, Dolly wasn’t done. “You even bribed members of the student council to bump someone else off the roster so you could join his AI club and do menial tasks. You didn’t know a thing about programming, so you became free labor for the team.

“And on your twentieth birthday, you confessed to him again…”

I clamped my hands over my ears, unwilling to listen anymore.

Dolly let out a sigh. “You spent forty thousand dollars to put a proposal ad on the tallest building in Riverdale. It ran on a 24-hour loop, asking Julian to marry you. The whole city was talking about it.”

I sighed, lowering my gaze. “And how did it end?”

Dolly’s expression turned awkward, almost hesitant. “Julian said yes to your proposal.”

I fell silent for a moment before asking, “Was it because of what you mentioned? The Moore family was on the brink of bankruptcy, wasn’t it? Otherwise, he didn’t seem to love me. He probably only married me because he had no choice.”

Dolly looked at me with a mix of sympathy and reluctance. “Well… maybe. Or maybe he was worn down by your persistence and eventually gave in?”

The room fell into a heavy silence again.

I sighed deeply. “How humiliating…”

Looking at my pale, frail reflection, I gave a bitter laugh. “Who would’ve thought that the proud heiress of the White family would end up as Riverdale’s biggest joke?”