Chapter 1

My boyfriend of eight years abandoned me in a war-torn country, Asternis, for the sake of his patient. I was left stranded there for three long years.

The day I finally boarded the evacuation flight home, I saw him waiting at the airport. The ground was blanketed in a sea of nine thousand roses.

Scott Maynard knelt on one knee, holding a ring in his hand, eyes brimming with affection.

"Mia," he said tenderly, "I never stopped worrying about your safety. Now that you're finally back, I can finally breathe again."

The crowd erupted with cheers, urging me to say yes. Everyone thought I'd burst into tears and nod in acceptance, because Scott had been the man I adored for eight years.

But they all forgot.

Three years ago, when the rebel forces surrounded the entire Red Cross team, it was Scott who shoved me forward to take the bullet, just to protect his patient, Piper Ellison.

I was captured and dragged into the abyss of a rebel prison while Scott took my passport and returned home with Piper. They carried on with their lives as if nothing had happened.

And now, people had the audacity to say, "After you were taken, Scott was depressed for three years. He almost jumped off a building. If it weren't for his efforts contacting friends in Asternis, you wouldn't have made it back at all!"

I didn't respond. I simply reached into my pocket, fingers brushing against the diamond ring hidden inside.

…

When I remained silent, Scott's friends took it upon themselves to speak.

"Mia, Scott developed bipolar depression because he missed you so much. Now that you're back, you can finally take care of him."

"He's grown thin and haggard over the past three years, and he never even looked at another woman. He's been waiting for you."

The airport road ahead was lined with fresh flowers.

Behind me, a massive screen displayed looping photos of Scott and me—smiling in scrubs, treating the wounded with Doctors Without Borders.

People passing by stopped to watch, some even taking out their phones to capture this "touching" moment.

I thought three years would be enough to dull the pain. But as I looked at the man before me, eyes full of love, I could only feel disgust.

"Mia, marry me." Scott's pale, gaunt face stretched into a hopeful smile. Clearly, he didn't know—I was already married.

Still, I said nothing.

He turned to his friends with a gentle smile. "Mia's been away for three years. Don't scare her."

Then he turned back to me. "Mia, you once said we were kindred spirits. Please… say yes."

I looked at the ring in his hand, which was made from a soda can tab.

And then, calmly, I pushed his hand away.

"Dr. Maynard, whatever we had ended three years ago."

The crowd gasped in shock.

Scott's already pale face turned even more ashen.

"Mia, are you still blaming me for what happened back then? But I had no choice. Piper has asthma. She needed to return home for treatment. You're a doctor. Don't you understand what it means to have a healer's heart?"

I couldn't help but laugh bitterly. In that moment, I realized just how blind I had been back then, how foolish I was to have loved a man like him for eight whole years.

He had been the golden boy of the campus—every girl's dream. His admirers included the campus beauty queens, wealthy heiresses, and even women who'd offer money just for a meal with him.

But he dismissed them all.

Because, in his eyes, I was the only one who mattered.

When I broke my favorite vase, he carved out time from his packed lab schedule to make a new one from scratch.

Every academic paper he published in top journals bore my name, just so I'd qualify to accompany him abroad.

On my birthday, he stood outside in a blizzard for seven hours just to surprise me.

After I earned my PhD, I decided to join Doctors Without Borders. Despite knowing we'd be posted in war zones plagued with disease and chaos, he followed me without hesitation.

Back then, he held my hand gently and said, "Mia, go ahead and chase your dreams. I'll stay beside you, to protect you."

I truly believed he was my soulmate, the one person in the world who belonged to me.

But everything changed when Piper appeared.

At the time, Asternis had just suffered a devastating earthquake. Scott and I were constantly on the move, saving lives in the worst-hit areas.

Piper was one of the people he rescued.

She cried endlessly, trembling with fear, and Scott went out of his way to comfort her. Whenever there was good food or small pleasures to be had, he gave them to her first.

Once, he even pulled strings to have a cake shipped in from our homeland, just because she pouted and said she was craving something sweet.

I was jealous, often.

He would only chuckle and say, "I just feel sorry for her. I'm only trying to help."

At first, I believed him. I thought he was simply being a compassionate doctor.

That went on until a colleague pulled me aside and whispered, "There's a wedding happening by the grass field. The groom… is Scott."