Chapter 3

Even after taking back the ring, Max still texted me, reminding me to eat on time and asking if I wasn’t feeling well. However, he never came back in person.

I used that time to meet up with a few close friends and have one last dinner before I left. I threw away every gift he had ever given me. Then, I scrubbed my phone and laptop clean of every trace of him.

On the morning of the third day, I rolled my suitcase out the door and left without a word. While I was on the way to the airport, a wedding video from Fawn popped up on my phone.

The venue looked exactly like the one I used to dream about. She was wearing the wedding gown custom-made for me and a ring on her finger engraved with my name. She held tightly onto Max’s arm as they smiled and accepted blessings from the guests.

Someone in the crowd asked, confused, “Isn’t the bride supposed to be Kate? How did it turn into Fawn?”

Max pulled her protectively behind him. His voice rang out loud and firm across the crowd.

“Today is my wedding to Fawn. Please don’t mention anyone irrelevant.”

We shared five years of love, and in the end, I was reduced to just “someone irrelevant.”

I knew I should feel devastated, but there was no pain or even a heartbreak. I watched all fifty-nine seconds of that video in complete calmness, like watching a scene from a movie that had nothing to do with me.

At that exact moment, the last memory of Max drifted away like dust in the wind. The name that once carved itself into my soul was now a stranger, and the deep love I once drowned in felt like it had never existed. I even felt my lips twitch ever so slightly, not in mockery, but in something that felt like quiet, detached confirmation.

So, that was what it felt like to be free—empty and light.

What I didn’t know was that Danielle crashed the wedding. Just as Max and Fawn were about to exchange rings, Danielle stormed in and threw a glass of wine straight into Max’s face.

“What the hell are you doing here? Where’s Kate?” he asked, fuming at the red stain on his white suit, but when he realized it was Danielle, he swallowed his anger.

Danielle casually wiped her hands and gave a cold smile. “Trash like you two? I don’t need Kate to see this mess. I’m more than enough to deal with you.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he snapped, pulling the tearful Fawn behind him, his face darkening.

“I’ve explained everything to Kate. She agreed for me to marry Fawn first.”

“Oh, you mean you forced her to forget you just so that you could marry another woman?” Danielle sneered. “God, you’re even dumber than you look. Did you seriously think that pill would make her forget instantly?

“No. It doesn’t work like that. It makes people slowly forget what matters most to them. Kate remembers everything you’ve done over the past three days.”

“Impossible!” Max’s face went pale. “The research report said it would temporarily erase memories of the person they love most…”

However, his voice trailed off because nowhere on that report did it say the effect would be immediate.

He stared at the ring on Fawn’s finger that used to be meant for me, and his eyes turned red. Then, suddenly, he slapped himself across the face and fumbled for his phone to call the research lab, hands shaking.

“It’s fine,” he mumbled. “There’s still the antidote. If she takes it, she’ll forget everything that happened in the last three days. She’ll remember how much she loves me. She’ll forgive me. She has to forgive me…”

“Don’t bother.” Danielle’s voice cut in sharply, killing his hope. “That drug? Kate made it. There is no antidote.”

She raised her chin, looking down on him like he was nothing.

“In other words, you erased every trace of the love she had for you. You made sure she’d never remember you again.”

That broke him, and the last shred of hope crumbled in his eyes. His lips trembled.

“No… this wasn’t what I wanted. I never wanted to hurt Kate. I love her. I’ve only ever loved her…”

In a panic, he dialed the number pinned to the top of his call list, but it went straight to voicemail. His heart clenched like it was being crushed in a fist, and he bent over, breathless from the pain.

Watching the broken man and the woman crumpled on the floor in a wedding dress that didn’t belong to her, Danielle smiled with grim satisfaction.

“Are you looking for her?” she said. “Too late. While you were busy putting a ring on another woman, she left. Max, you’ve lost her. Forever.”