Bradley wandered aimlessly through the streets until he finally picked a hotel at random and checked in.
However, when he tried to pay with his card, he discovered that it had been frozen.
With no other choice, Bradley pulled out an old bank card so worn that the numbers were nearly impossible to read. The money inside came from the part-time jobs he had worked during college. He had saved it for one purpose: their future wedding.
He had never imagined that one funeral would turn Lilian's life upside down forever.
The small amount of money in that account, barely $10,000, probably seemed as insignificant to her now as he did.
Bradley had never touched a single cent of it. It was the last thing he had left to hold on to, a reminder of the future he had once believed they would share.
Now, he had no choice but to give that up, too.
After paying for the room, he curled up in the shabby little hotel and drifted into a restless, hazy sleep.
For several days, Lilian and Bradley remained locked in silence. She never reached out to him again.
Meanwhile, his phone was filled with pictures and updates of Lilian and Matthias enjoying their perfect life together.
She accompanied Matthias to the golf course, holding his hand as they played. She even showed up at a late-night food stand just to cheer him up. At glamorous social gatherings, she attended as his date, dancing with him in each other's arms as though they were deeply in love.
Bradley?
It was as if he had never existed.
His disappearance had finally brought the perfect couple together, satisfying everyone around them.
Then, as Bradley absentmindedly scrolled through his phone, a headline suddenly caught his eye.
[Breaking: Johnson Group Heiress Spotted at Hotel Late at Night with Brooks Group Heir. Couple Seen Acting Affectionately, Wedding Rumored to Be Near!]
[Johnson Group Heiress Harassed in Public by Ex-Boyfriend. Man Kneels and Begs for Her Love, Refuses to Leave After Being Rejected, Sparking Controversy.]
Beneath the article was a picture of Bradley kneeling on the ground that day.
His head was lowered as he knelt miserably among the crowd, his battered appearance humiliating beyond words.
The comments were filled with one cruel remark after another.
[Is this guy insane? Does he have even a shred of self-respect? What a pathetic loser.]
[I’ve seen plenty of people like him. Does he really think a rich girl will fall for any guy who decides he wants her? He spends all day trying to marry into a wealthy family, but I bet she can’t even stand having him anywhere near her.]
[A grown man kneeling on the ground and begging a woman for love? He’s thrown away the last bit of his dignity. I honestly can’t respect a man like that.]
...
Bradley kept scrolling. Every comment was filled with mockery and abuse.
His fingers tightened around the phone until his knuckles turned white. It felt as though his heart were bleeding, and the pain in his chest grew so intense that he could barely catch his breath.
Those strangers' words had trampled his dignity into the ground, grinding it down until there was almost nothing left.
Lilian remained silent. She offered no explanation, no defense, and no correction.
Bradley stared at the screen for a long, long time. Then, with trembling fingers, he typed a reply.
[You shouldn't judge a situation when you don't know the whole story. What if there was a misunderstanding?]
[There are plenty of ways to pursue a wealthy heiress. Why would someone choose to do something like this? Maybe what happened isn't the way the article described it.]
He held his breath as he tried to defend himself with the last bit of courage he had left.
The next second, his private messages flooded with abuse.
[Wow, you are really going out of your way to defend this guy! Looks like you’ve done plenty of things like that yourself. You spineless loser! You’ve probably embarrassed your whole family!]
[Did no one ever teach you to have some self-respect? You are nothing but a useless freeloader who lives off women. I bet you’ve been mooching off women for years!]
[You are defending a guy like that? Wait, are you actually the man in the news? Oh, my God, you really have no shame! If you are so desperate to marry a rich girl, why not earn your own money instead of relying on a woman to support you?]
[Is this guy not an embarrassment to every man out there? He is nothing but human garbage! How can a grown man do something so humiliating? Why are you defending him? Do you seriously think there is anything admirable about his behavior?]
Bradley read the stream of vicious messages, each one more disgusting than the last. He felt as though he were suffocating. Overwhelmed and helpless, he collapsed onto the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
He was Lilian's real husband. He was the man she had married, yet the entire world saw him as a shameless, pathetic loser who had no dignity and lived off a woman.
Bradley lay there for a long time, lost in thought.
Finally, he shut off his phone, got to his feet, and headed straight for the news agency that had published the article.
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