“Ms. Marsh, the plan for your fake death is in place. You will ‘die’ in an accident. After that, your personal information will be destroyed, and you will cease to exist.” A cold, mechanical voice came through Bertha Marsh’s phone.
She smiled and replied with a firm, “Okay.”
“We’ve given you a new identity in Switzerland, and your death will occur half a month later. Please cooperate with us when the time comes.”
Once she hung up, Bertha opened an app and scrolled down. Soon, she received a message that she had successfully booked a flight ticket.
Following that, she drove over to the restaurant where she was supposed to have a date with Simon Zimmer.
She went upstairs shortly after she spoke with a waiter. Simon had booked the second floor and covered the place with roses. Only the table beside the window was not covered in flowers.
It offered the best view, which was a clear view of the entire ocean.
Soon after Bertha sat down, the sight of a man and woman on the beach drew her attention.
The sun shone on the woman's smooth back. Then the man removed his blazer and covered her while he caressed her thin neck. Bertha could not see their faces, but the man wore a ring with a ruby on his middle finger.
It was cut from the same raw gemstone as the one on Bertha’s ring.
She took her phone out and tapped the name at the top of her contact list. With trembling fingers, she typed her message for around five minutes. During this time, she kept deleting and retyping her message. In the end, she only sent three words.
[Where are you?]
The receiver replied quickly. [I’m at a meeting in the company. What’s wrong?]
Bertha looked outside. The man was typing on his phone with one hand as he forced the woman to remain in the same position.
Bertha held her phone tightly as pain filled her heart. Her eyes stung while she replied, [How much longer will it take before you arrive?]
[An hour.]
Soon, the man sent another message over, as though trying to appease her. [Are you getting antsy from the wait? I’m sorry for making you feel that way. I’ve gotten you a surprise for your birthday, so forgive me, please?]
Bertha no longer looked at the screen. Instead, she kept her eyes fixed on the beach. Soon, the man threw his phone to the side, cradled the woman’s face, and kissed her passionately.
When tears started to blur her vision, Bertha took a deep breath. While she endured the pain in her heart, she forced herself to stop looking. This was perhaps the surprise Simon had mentioned.
An hour and a half later, she heard hurried footsteps from the stairs.
Simon was holding a bouquet of lilies in his arms, along with presents of various sizes.
By this time, Bertha’s tears had dried up, but she did not smile at Simon as usual. Instead, she turned her head away and stared at the setting sun in the distance.
Simon’s eyes were full of regret. Feeling pity for her, he hugged Bertha and anxiously signed to her, “The people in the company just kept pestering me. That’s why I’m late. Don’t be mad, please? I’ll accept whatever punishment you give me.”
She broke free from his embrace. The sweet smell of another woman’s perfume made her want to puke. With dull eyes, she whispered, “Do you still love me, Simon?”
However, Simon was already used to the smell of perfume lingering on him, so he did not think much of it. When he saw the dried tears around Bertha’s eyes, he panicked and signed, “What on earth are you saying? Of course I love you! Everyone knows that I’ll die if I don’t have you by my side.”
Despite his passionate declaration of love, Bertha’s heart did not flutter. She just wore a self-deprecating smile.
Indeed, everyone knew that Simon loved her and could give everything up for her.
Before she met Simon, she did not know what love was.
Her family was no good, as her parents only doted on her younger brother. Ever since she was a child, she would have to eat her brother’s leftovers and constantly patch up her clothes. Her sanitary pads were all sold and bought in bulk because they had already expired. Even her undergarments were items she got from dumpster diving.
To buy her brother a tablet, her parents even stole her scholarship. She also had to beg her parents for an entire day and night just for a chance to study at university.
It was cold that day, and the floor was chilly. She ended up getting a fever and nearly died from it, but her parents just told her to go ahead and die.
It was her neighbor who told her that she could get a student loan to study.
Later on, she became a famous designer, and her parents came to her doorstep with her brother in tow. They shamelessly stayed at her place, with the excuse that they had the right to do so because they brought her up. When her house caught on fire, her parents pushed her into the flames so that she would save her brother. As a result, she lost her hearing.
Everyone treated her like a burden after that. She was chased out of the studio she had built up with her own two hands. Her parents took all of her savings and swore that from then on, she was no longer their daughter.
The first half of her life was hell on earth, hence she scoffed at the idea of love.
Simon fell in love with her at first sight when they met in university. But she had already shut herself off from the world, and she remained unmoved by his attempts to win her heart.
Yet, after she lost her hearing, Simon kept taking care of her without complaint. He took her all around the world to receive treatment and even learned sign language for her sake.
Time passed, and Simon continued trying to win her heart for four years.
His constant companionship eventually melted the ice around her heart. During those four years, the entire world abandoned her, but Simon was the only one who stayed by her side.
When they just got together, the Zimmer family did not like her. They were an affluent family, and they thought that she was not worthy of their heir. Simon abandoned his title as heir and built his own business for her. Every day, he worked overtime, until he nearly died from exhaustion. The constant social gatherings also caused him to get a gastrointestinal rupture. But eventually, he managed to create a business that rivaled Zimmer Corp, and he brought her back to his family.
Their wedding shocked the entire world. Simon booked all the billboards in the city and signed his love for her at the same time that he announced it to the world.
After they got married, Simon’s enemies orchestrated an accident for her, and she nearly died from it. In the process of protecting her, he lost a leg and fell into a coma for three days in the hospital. Despite nearly dying, the first thing he did after he woke up was look for Bertha.
“If anything happens to her, I’ll die too.”
The media took pictures of this, and the incident trended for a few days online.
[No one’s as loyal as Simon Zimmer.]
[Simon Zimmer almost died for his wife.]
[The warrior of love: Simon Zimmer.]
However, the man who claimed to love her slept with Luna Springfield in the third year of their marriage. She was Bertha’s attending physician.
He would take care of Bertha during the day, but at night, he would lie that he had a meeting. Then, he would stay overnight at Luna’s place and make love to her until the sun rose.
It was Bertha’s birthday today. Just how obsessed was he with Luna that he would cheat on her so fearlessly right beside the restaurant?
Some time ago, Bertha had regained her hearing. She was overjoyed, and she immediately ran off to tell Simon, only to hear his conversation with Luna.
“Simon, why don’t you marry me? I want to be with you like a proper couple. If you can’t abandon Bertha, you can take care of her. I won’t mind. After all, you loved her so much in the past.”
“Don’t I dote on you enough already, you little witch?” Simon’s voice was hoarse. “Bertha’s different from you. You can’t hope to compare to her.”
During the three months after she learned the truth, Bertha could not sleep. But she did not have the courage to confront Simon and demand answers. She could only let her pain, disappointment, and despair overwhelm her bit by bit.
“Simon, do you remember what you said on our wedding day?”
Bertha stared at Simon and smiled. With an earnest tone, she said, “You asked me to swear that if you ever made a mistake, I should leave without a word and not give you a chance to apologize because you’d be undeserving of forgiveness.”
It was time for her to fulfill her oath.
Half a month later, she would disappear during their fourth anniversary, and no one would ever find her.
