Chapter 14: The truth they couldn't find

All evidence shows that Vivian and David are just business partners, His assistant said.

No one's knows about her family not even her business partner, David knows about her background and family.

"Sir."

Alexander looked up as his assistant hurried back into the hospital room, holding a tablet in one hand and a brown file in the other.

"I've finished the investigation."

Alexander closed the document he had been reading and motioned for him to continue.

"What did you find?"

The assistant placed the tablet on the bedside table before unlocking the screen.

"Our team searched everything we could access."

Alexander remained silent.

"We searched company records, newspaper archives, business magazines, social media, public interviews, and online blogs."

"And?"

The assistant swiped across the screen.

The first photograph appeared.

David stood beside Charlotte in a beautifully decorated church. They were smiling as they exchanged wedding rings while family and friends applauded around them.

We couldn't find her biography, status and family too.

Alexander studied the picture for several seconds.

"So they are legally married."

"Yes, sir."

The assistant nodded.

"We verified the marriage registration."

Alexander's expression remained calm.

"What about Vivian?"

The assistant swiped to the next photograph.

David and Vivian stood together during a charity fundraising event organized by Blackstone Holdings.

The last photograph showed both of them standing beside several executives after the opening of a new construction project.

"We couldn't find anything beyond these."

Alexander raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing?"

"No, sir."

"It appears Miss Vivian worked closely with Mr. Blackstone on several occasions."

The assistant paused before continuing.

"Judging from what we found, they seemed to have shared a good professional relationship."

Alexander folded his arms.

"So David wasn't lying."

"It doesn't appear so."

The assistant continued carefully.

"We dug much deeper than normal."

"We searched old articles, archived websites, online interviews and photographs."

"And?"

"We found nothing linking them as husband and wife."

Alexander looked once more at Vivian's unconscious face.

For a brief moment, he wondered why she had reacted so strongly when David visited the hospital.

Perhaps she had simply been hurt by someone she trusted.

Business betrayals happened every day.

He turned back to his assistant.

"Very well."

The assistant waited.

"Stop the investigation."

"Sir?"

Alexander nodded once.

"We have no reason to continue."

"If Mr. Blackstone says she is his business associate, and the evidence supports it, then there's nothing more to investigate."

"Understood, sir."

The assistant picked up the tablet.

"I'll inform the team."

Alexander gave a slight nod.

As the assistant walked toward the door, Alexander spoke again.

"One more thing."

The assistant stopped.

"Keep an eye on her condition."

"If she wakes up before I'm back, notify me immediately."

"Yes, sir."

The assistant left the room quietly.

The soft click of the closing door echoed through the ward.

Silence returned.

I heard every single word.

Every...

Single...

Word.

Business associate.

That was all I was now.

Not his wife.

Not the woman who had loved him with everything she had.

Not the woman who had trusted every promise he made.

Just...

A business associate.

A painful lump formed in my throat.

If I had been able to move, I would have cried until my voice disappeared.

Instead, tears gathered silently beneath my closed eyelids.

So this was what David wanted.

He hadn't only divorced me.

He had erased me.

He had erased our memories.

He had erased our marriage.

He had erased every trace that I had ever existed in his life.

Even the internet no longer remembered me.

The wedding photographs we once smiled at.

The interviews where he proudly introduced me.

The articles that called me Mrs. Blackstone.

Gone.

Every one of them.

It was as if someone had carefully wiped away every piece of evidence that I had ever belonged beside him.

A dull ache spread through my chest.

Was I that easy to forget?

Or...

Did David hate me that much?

I remembered how proudly he used to hold my hand in public.

How he would smile whenever someone called me his future wife.

Now he couldn't even allow strangers to know we had once shared the same name.

The realization hurt more than the divorce itself.

Slowly, another memory surfaced.

A happier one.

A memory from years ago...

Back when David looked at me as though I was the only woman in the world.

Seven years ago

Warm sunlight spilled through the library windows, painting golden streaks across the old wooden table where David sat pretending to study.

Pretending.

Because every few seconds, his eyes drifted from the thick economics textbook in front of him... to me.

I couldn't help smiling.

"What?" I whispered, trying not to earn another glare from the librarian.

He shrugged, though the grin tugging at his lips betrayed him.

"I was just thinking."

"About?"

"How unfair it is."

I raised an eyebrow.

"What's unfair?"

"You."

I laughed softly.

"What did I do?"

"You walked into my life and made concentrating impossible."

Heat rushed to my cheeks.

"David..."

"I'm serious."

He reached beneath the table and brushed his fingers against mine.

A tiny touch.

Barely there.

Yet it sent a flutter through my chest.

"If I fail this exam," he murmured, "I'm blaming you."

"You should blame yourself."

"For falling in love with you?"

His eyes held mine.

"So worth it."

I lowered my head, unable to stop smiling.

Back then...

Everything felt so simple.

Classes during the day.

Late-night study sessions.

Cheap street food after lectures.

Long walks back to the dormitory, where he'd insist on carrying my backpack even though it was lighter than his.

He treated every ordinary moment as if it were something precious.

Three weeks later...

Rain tapped gently against the café window while I twisted the edge of a paper napkin between trembling fingers.

David noticed immediately.

"You've been quiet."

I looked down.

"I have something to tell you."

His smile faded.

"What is it?"

The words caught in my throat.

I had rehearsed them a hundred times.

Yet now...

They refused to come out.

I slipped the small white test stick across the table.

He frowned.

His eyes dropped to it.

Then widened.

Silence.

The cheerful sounds inside the café suddenly felt impossibly far away.

He looked at me.

Then back at the test.

Then at me again.

"Vivian..."

My hands trembled beneath the table.

"I found out yesterday."

He didn't speak.

I searched his face for excitement.

For surprise.

For happiness.

Anything.

Instead...

He rubbed both hands over his face.

"This..."

His voice cracked.

"This wasn't supposed to happen."

The tiny spark of hope inside me flickered.

"I know it's unexpected."

He leaned forward, lowering his voice.

"We're still in school."

"I know."

"I don't even have a stable job."

"I know."

"We're not ready."

Every answer became quieter than the last.

He reached for my hands.

His palms were warm.

His grip familiar.

"I love you."

My heart lifted.

"But..."

One word.

Just one.

And everything inside me tightened.

"You have to terminate the pregnancy."

The world went silent.

I stared at him.

Certain I had heard him wrong.

"What?"

"We can't have a baby now."

His fingers squeezed mine.

"Think about our future."

"Our graduation."

"Our careers."

"Our dreams."

"We'll lose everything we've worked for."

Tears blurred my vision.

"But... this is our baby."

"I know."

His voice softened.

"It hurts me too."

He brushed away a tear before it reached my cheek.

"Listen to me."

"We're going to graduate."

"I'm going to take over my father's company."

"I'm going to marry you."

"I promise."

His eyes never left mine.

"When we're ready..."

He smiled gently.

"We'll have children."

"As many as you want."

"A whole house full of them."

I wanted to believe him.

I really did.

Because this was David.

The man who carried my books.

The man who remembered my favorite flowers.

The man who whispered that loving me was the easiest thing he'd ever done.

If he was asking me to wait...

Surely it was because he believed we had forever.

A sob escaped before I could stop it.

He stood, walked around the table, and pulled me into his arms.

His heartbeat echoed against my ear.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into my hair.

"I promise this is only for now."

"I'll make it up to you."

"You'll be my wife."

"And one day..."

"You'll be the mother of all our children."

I closed my eyes.

Then, slowly...

I nodded.

Because I loved him more than I loved my own certainty.

Because I trusted every promise he made.

Because I believed forever was waiting for us.

The memory blurred.

The warmth of his embrace faded.

His voice grew distant.

Everything dissolved into darkness.

I wished I can change the hand of time 

Suddenly, I felt changes in the body

I felt her eyes open, everything became blurry to me.