Chapter 1

As soon as I finished talking to the system, Liam Castle finally hung up on Nora Hepburn and stepped inside the house from the balcony.

He was still smiling.

"Sorry, Nora was telling me about how she wanted ice cream from that newly opened place. She asked me to get some for her after work.

"Also, don't forget to cancel the appointment this Friday," he remarked candidly, as if the constant delays were not costing me my literal lifespan.

Whenever Nora wanted anything at all from him, he would set everything aside and attend to her like a top priority.

I did not reply and stayed silent instead.

"What is it? Are you upset again?"

Noticing my prolonged silence, a hint of impatience crept into his voice.

"Amelia, we've been through this so many times. If you're not sick of it yet, I sure am.

"Behave, would you? Nobody is going to swoop in and steal that marriage license from you.

"Quit the nonsense. You're only embarrassing yourself."

I reached for my phone and cancelled the Friday appointment and replied calmly, "Okay."

For some reason, he seemed taken aback by my reaction.

I could recognize the stark surprise in his eyes. He was in disbelief.

I offered a faint smile before walking out of the room without another word.

He was right. We had been through this nineteen times already.

At first, I would become hysterical and beside myself with rage. Eventually, I became numb.

I was truly numb to it all.

Since he did not intend to marry me, there was no point in keeping up the farcical act.

After that, I took a taxi to the office.

The moment I stepped into the HR department, I overheard a round of gossip.

"Did you hear? Amelia took a day off to get her marriage registered again!"

"Hasn't that professor boyfriend of hers rejected her nine times already? When is she going to give up?"

"She's insane! Imagine being shameless enough to force a man to marry you!"

"Professor Castle is a wonderful man. I wonder why he ended up with her of all people!"

Their derisive remarks were clearly directed at me. However, I was completely unfazed because I had been hollowed out by this point.

"I'm here to hand in my resignation letter."

A sudden silence fell over the room.

Without warning, they burst into another, louder round of gossiping.

"She's not taking the breakup well, is she? Or maybe she's quitting to get his attention!"

"Either way, it's disgusting what she's doing…"

While they continued to mock me and offer me false pity, I walked out of the office without any expression.

Suddenly, without warning, I doubled over and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

I felt like my chest was split open, as if a knife had been wedged inside.

Just as I looked up, I saw none other than Liam. He had his arms wrapped around Nora and was in the middle of gently wiping an ice cream smudge from the corner of her mouth.

The agony I felt right then was far worse than any heartbreak.

"Quick, someone call 911!"

Several passersby noticed and rushed to help me, causing a commotion that drew Liam's attention.

"Amelia?!"

The moment our eyes met, he gasped. Then, he sprinted toward me.

"What's going on? Are you feeling—"

"I'm so sorry, Amelia! It's all my fault!"

Nora interjected with a shrill cry before he could finish his sentence.

"You must have had a stomach hemorrhage because you drank too much with those men at the club last night!

"I'm sorry... I wanted to tell you not to go with them, but you seemed to be all over them and having so much fun with them…"

Upon hearing this, Liam's tense hand turned lax and dropped to his side.

He turned to me with a disappointed look on his face.

"Amelia, how long are you going to keep acting?

"Why do you enjoy causing so much trouble?"

When I looked into his eyes with the taste of blood still filling my mouth, I could not make a sound.

Prior to this, Nora had pushed me down the stairs.

I tumbled down forty steps and ended up bleeding all over.

When she cried and accused me of throwing myself down the stairs because my attempt at sabotaging her failed, Liam believed her without needing much convincing.

He accused me of being a devious schemer and made me stay at the house for three whole days with a broken leg before finally allowing a doctor to attend to me.

The same thing had happened again. He chose to believe her.