Chapter 2

In hindsight, everything screamed irony.

Benjamin and I had been together for six years, yet we still hadn't gotten married. At first, he said marriage would hurt his career prospects, that we needed to focus on building his business first.

To help him succeed, I gave up my stable, high-paying job without hesitation and followed him to the city to start a company from scratch.

I drank myself sick at endless business dinners and networking events, and in the end, I helped him secure a comfortable position as CEO.

However, once his career stabilized, he suddenly claimed he needed to "test my sincerity". He said he would only agree to marry me if I passed all 52 premarital tests Chelsea had set up.

So, under the excuse of testing me, Chelsea made me collect 9,999 handwritten blessings from strangers. When I arrived at the office, she would deliberately dump ice water over my head.

She even put laxatives in my drink, so I ended up having explosive diarrhea during business meetings and humiliating myself in public.

That wasn't all.

Whenever Benjamin and I went on dates, she would constantly find excuses to pull him away, claiming it was another test for me. For his sake, I endured it all.

Then, yesterday, right after I finished a design proposal I had spent an entire year working on, Chelsea demanded that I hand it over to her, saying it was the final test.

When I hesitated, she immediately twisted it into proof that I didn't truly love Benjamin. In the end, I gave it to her. Only then did he finally agree to register our marriage.

I was so excited that night that I couldn't sleep at all. Early the next morning, I rushed to the city hall to get a number and wait in line.

Our marriage certificate was practically within reach. Then, Chelsea suddenly appeared and registered the marriage with Benjamin instead.

I had only questioned them with a few words, but he immediately defended her and accused me of having a filthy mind, saying I saw something dirty in everything.

But if he truly had no feelings for Chelsea, why didn't he help the other single parents in the company? Why was she the only one who received preferential treatment?

It took me a while, but I finally understood it. Benjamin's heart had long since drifted away from me. All those so-called tests were nothing more than excuses. He never wanted to marry me in the first place.

My stomach twisted with emptiness, and only then did I remember I hadn't eaten all day. I had skipped breakfast just to get to the city hall earlier and line up for our marriage registration, only to end up doing it for someone else.

What a joke.

I found a restaurant and had a meal. Right after I finished eating, I saw Benjamin post a photo of his marriage certificate with Chelsea on social media.

Our coworkers flooded the comments with congratulations and wishes. Of course, they didn't forget to mock me, too.

"So what if Giselle was the CEO's girlfriend? Look who became Mrs. West in the end."

"She's an old hag. Don't even compare her to a young beauty like Chelsea."

…

I knew Benjamin posted that just to provoke me, but this time, I only gave it a cold laugh and hit like.

Soon, my parents saw the post and called me. "Sweetheart, what's going on with Benjamin's post? Did he actually marry another woman?"

They had always worried about our marriage. All they wanted to see was Benjamin and I settled down.

Just as I was about to answer them, a message from Benjamin popped up.

"I made sure not to hide the post from your parents this time. They must be panicking by now, huh? If you apologize to Chelsea, I can explain to them that it was all a misunderstanding. Otherwise, deal with the consequences yourself."

There was a time when Benjamin respected all my decisions and never forced me to do anything.

Once, when we were having dinner at his parents' place, his mother insisted I eat eggs even though I was allergic to them. Benjamin got so furious that he flipped the table on the spot.

Now, to force me into apologizing to Chelsea, he was willing to use my parents against me. At one point, I had to accept that the man who once loved me more than anything was dead.