Chapter 1

~MELISSA~

”There's a fire!”

“The altar is burning!!!”

A fire? 

I looked around, the screams of the audience jolting me out of the euphoric feeling. 

I was so lost in the moment, exchanging vows with my fiancé, to notice what was happening around me. 

Smoke engulfed the air as the guests ran out. When I returned to my senses, it was already too late.

Indeed, the altar was burning and I was caught in the middle of it. My wedding dress was in flames.

Neither the scorching heat hurt me nor the heavy smoke suffocated me more than seeing my own fiancé running away. 

Wasn't he supposed to grab my hand and save me from the fire?

A heavy furniture had fallen on my long wedding dress and there was no way I would be able to move from the weight. 

My heart pounded, my nerves jittery. Hoping he was going to get more help, my expectations were shattered when he circled the table on the second row and rushed to the rescue of my stepsister. 

“Anita! Speak to me! Are you alright!?” His anxious yells as he picked her up from the floor had my head reeling with confusing thoughts.

“Please take me out of here, Ray. I'm suffocated.” Anita's voice was hoarse and weak as she clung onto him, wrapping her arms over his neck and burying her head in his chest. 

Such an intimate gesture reminded me of the times when only Raymond and I were alone.

Were my eyes tricking me?

In the next second, smoke clouded my vision. I coughed hard. I called out his name. 

He didn't look back. 

He was already out of the hall with my stepsister.

Left confused and hopeless, I tried to tear the wedding dress. It didn't work. 

I stepped out of my heels to run away, but a bigger furniture landed on my dress, grazing my arm and splitting the skin open.

The impact had me rolling on the floor. As if that wasn't enough, the chandelier caught fire and landed right in front of me, missing me by only a few inches. 

But a glass shard had flown right into my thigh, sending a searing pain down my left leg. 

This was my wedding day. The day I would finally become Raymond's wife.

This was the day I'd been looking forward to my whole life!

Was this it?

Would I die this way?

Amidst the fear in my mind, confusion and sadness overwhelmed me. 

Why did Raymond ignore me?

Why did he save my stepsister instead of me?

Smoke stuffed my lungs. I couldn't breathe or see clearly. My energy declined, leaving my body weak and exhausted. 

Yet, just as I gave in to the darkness, a tall figure walked out of the black smoke. 

His face was blurred. I couldn't make out who it was.

Was it Raymond?

Had he come back to save me? 

I couldn't bask in the excitement for long as I fainted right there and then. 

“Satisfied now?” The deep voice of a man, low but intimidating, woke me up. 

When I opened my eyes and found myself on a hospital bed with two complete strangers sitting by my sides, I blinked. 

One was a little boy who should be around four years old, and the other one was a man probably in his early thirties. 

They had to be father and son because the boy looked like a mini version of him. 

The man's question must be directed towards the boy whose eyes sparkled as he nodded his head. “Yes, Dad! She's finally awake!” 

Then the man glanced in my direction. For a second, our eyes met.

Did he look familiar or were my eyes playing tricks? Never had I seen someone so handsome and magnificent.

His dark eyes, sharp and focused, and the foreboding aura surrounding him made me shudder under my skin. 

Suddenly, he tore his gaze away from me and stood up. “It seems to me she's alright. Let's go home.”

“Can't we stay a little longer, Dad?” The boy whined. 

“I've already saved her life. That's enough.” The man murmured dismissively, then he turned for the door. 

I couldn't believe my ears.

This strange man saved me!

He was the tall figure I saw inside the smoke.

Then it wasn't Raymond. 

Raymond never came back. 

“What's your name, Miss?” Asked the boy, his face holding a bright smile unlike the grim expression on his father's face. 

“I'm Melissa.” I tried to return the smile but couldn't. 

Extremely confused, I didn't know what else to say. 

But these people saved my life. I owed them a ‘Thank you’ at least. 

“See! They even have the same name, Dad!” The boy cheered. “I told you she's the one.”

However, the man was impassive to his son's statement.

He neither blinked nor glanced in my direction again. 

Holding his son's hand, he grumbled, “Remember our deal. Let's go home.”

“Urgh! Not fair!” Despite the boy's protest, the man took him away. 

He didn't even give me the chance to say thank you. 

Strange.

Who were these people?

I winced as I tried to sit up, the numbing pain in my left leg holding me down. 

My eyes wandered around the enormous room. It had to be a VIP Ward.

Was it that man who brought me here? 

Where was my family?

Where was Raymond?

Thinking about my fiancé, the image of him saving Anita flashed in my vision, causing a throbbing ache in my heart. 

I tried not to jump to any conclusions yet. Maybe there was an explanation for all this. 

But what was so important that he had to abandon me and save my stepsister instead?

What if I had died in that fire? 

Did he ever come back to save me?

Holding back my tears, I endured the pain and got down from the hospital bed. 

There's no point in lying here, wallowing in confusion. I needed to leave this place and go find Raymond. 

Limping down the empty hallway, I was hoping to see any staff whom I could ask for directions when a familiar voice screamed from the ward opposite.

“Ahhhh! It hurts! Ray, please tell her to stop!”