Chapter 2

The summer air was stifling. Sweat was already clinging to my skin by the time I slipped into the driver's seat.

My mouth, however, was parched. I had to swallow hard several times before my breathing finally steadied.

How dare Edward do this to me!

We had been dating for three years, and we were about to get married tomorrow. Yet he actually went behind my back to fool around with his so- called "buddy" to the point she ended up in the hospital.

I slammed my fist into the steering wheel.

Before long, my phone chimed. Edward had sent me several texts.

"You were being unreasonable earlier. Winnie was just joking with you. Must you say such harsh words?

"Fortunately, Winnie is kind enough not to hold it against you. Let's just put this behind us.

"You can head back home first. Tell your parents and relatives that the wedding will be pushed back a day—the wedding dress needs to be altered."

I stared at the last text in disbelief before chuckling coldly. How come I didn't know that the wedding dress needed to be altered when I was the bride?

Somehow, I ended up opening the Instagram group chat Edward had added me into tonight. I found Winnie's profile picture and clicked into it.

Her profile was public, and she had just posted a new video five minutes ago.

In it, Edward's wrists were tied with a black tie behind his back as he knelt before Winnie. Like a queen, she was sitting on the main seat with other men surrounding her.

I turned the volume up and heard him chuckling helplessly before barking once at her.

Winnie said, "Some people couldn't take a joke and ended up ruining the whole party. What a shame! Luckily, this pup knows better. He postponed the wedding to make it up for me, and we'll party again tomorrow night."

She clicked her tongue before continuing, "I'll forgive him then. After all, I'm too softhearted as his owner."

Edward and Winnie's conversation was under the comments section of the post.

He commented, "You little devil. This should be enough now, right? I must've owed you in my past life or something."

Winnie replied, "What nonsense are you talking about, pup? You still owe me in this lifetime too. Have you forgotten the time you got into a fight when you were younger and got your clothes torn? You ran to my house and stripped me off my clothes to put them on yourself."

Edward commented, "And you've got the nerve to bring that up? If it weren't for you scaring them with a toad, they wouldn't have blocked you in. I was only trying to save you!"

Winnie's next comment read, "It's only natural for a pet dog to save its master. Are you trying to rebel here?"

I couldn't help but tighten my fists as I read about them reminiscing in their past memories.

I didn't even want to rewatch the video a second time, afraid that I might just throw up in my car.

I slammed the accelerator.

…

The moment I got home, I opened Edward's computer.

He was well-known as the monastic miracle doctor with the perfect reputation as an elite. He was meticulous, serious and steady, and was practically married to his work.

What Edward and Winnie did tonight was beyond his "serious and steady" reputation. However, there was something else I couldn't wrap my head around.

He devoted himself to his work in the hospital during our entire relationship, refusing to even take a day off for my birthday.

Once, I couldn't get out of bed due to high fever. Yet he left me the second his phone rang, rushing off to the ER.

So where did Edward find time to fool around with Winnie for "two whole days"?

I quickly opened the digital calendar on his desktop. Checking back, I only found one schedule in the entire month of January—Hordole Medical Summit month.

Hordole seemed to be Winnie's hometown.

I suddenly remembered that Edward had been away the entire month on "business".

Something in my mind snapped.

I quickly searched it up, only to realize there were at least 200 entries labelled "Hordale" over the past year—summits, consultations, overnight ER shifts.

Which meant every time Edward told me he was away in Hordale for work, he was actually with Winnie.

Was he even hiding those sex toys in his backpack whenever he attended his so-called overnight ER shifts?