Chapter 2

Jake was wearing the suit I designed for him and the diamond ring I picked out for him, but he was not marrying me.

He pressed a hand to his temple irritably.

“I already told you, I’m just helping her recover. Can you be a little more understanding?”

My heart clenched.

I still remembered the moment the system’s deadline notification appeared. I begged him desperately, “Jake, if I don’t marry you this time, I’ll die. Can you please come register the marriage with me?”

Back then, he just gave me a cold stare.

“I told you, Whitney is just someone from my past. Can you stop making a scene?”

When I refused to give up, he finally gave in reluctantly.

“As long as you give the project to Whitney, I’ll marry you.”

I thought that if I pleased him, if I let him stay with his first love and even handed over a billion-dollar project, I would be able to survive.

However, I was wrong.

He agreed to marry me, only to stand me up on the day of our registration and instead marry Whitney.

He let her take everything from me. Now that I had nothing left, including my own life, he was still telling me to be understanding.

How ridiculous.

I calmly handed him the gift.

“Congratulations on your marriage.”

Inside was a women’s watch he bought for me ten years ago, when he confessed his love and spent everything he had on me.

It cost over a thousand dollars, an unimaginable sum for us back when we could barely afford food.

I once believed it was the symbol of our love and had kept it carefully all this time.

It was over between us now, so this symbol should be returned to him.

Jake held the gift in his hand, realizing he had misunderstood me. He opened his mouth awkwardly, as though he was about to say something.

At that moment, Whitney arrived.

“Jake, everyone’s waiting for you.”

She only then seemed to notice me and asked, confused, “Who is she?”

She pretended not to recognize me, but the sharpness in her eyes betrayed her.

I was certain that Whitney had never lost her memory.

However, Jake, who had always been so perceptive, could not see through her act. Instead, he quickly explained, “Just a friend. She’s here to deliver a gift.”

Whitney immediately smiled and thanked me, then opened the gift in front of everyone. She said in surprise, loudly enough for everyone to hear, “A watch?”

Whispers spread through the crowd.

“Giving a watch at a wedding? Is she here to cause trouble?”

Tears welled up in Whitney’s eyes.

“I believe you, Jake. Your friend must be here to bless us. I’ll wear it so she won’t feel embarrassed.”

She put it on while crying.

Jake shot me a reproachful glance and soothed her, “If you don’t like it, don’t force yourself.”

However, she shook her head stubbornly.

“No, I have to wear it. It’s from your friend.”

During their struggle, the watch slipped and shattered on the ground.

Whitney acted like a naive child, pressing her hand directly onto the shattered glass.

She cried out in pain, holding up a fingertip with a bead of blood on it.

Jake’s expression darkened when he saw this. He grabbed the watch strap and hurled it at me.

“I knew you came here with bad intentions. Guards, kick her out!”

He called in an entire medical team to tend to her tiny wound, holding her finger like it was something precious.

He pretended not to see how the watch cut my face when he threw it at me.

Blood slid down my cheek, yet I felt no pain.

“Miss Hoyles, please get out!”

The same bodyguards who once protected me now lifted me to please their new master and threw me out.

I collapsed onto the gravel path. My body ached as though every bone had shattered. I did not even try to get up. I just lay there staring at the sky.

After a long while, my phone buzzed. Jake had wired me $100,000.

[Head to the hospital. If your face gets disfigured, I really won’t want you anymore.]

I did not accept the money. I just forced myself up and threw the blood-stained, broken watch into the trash.