Chapter 1

After five years of marriage, Ameera Meyer was finally pregnant.

The first thing she did was to get a birth record registered. She figured it was the perfect fifth anniversary present for her husband, Marlow Brunsfield.

The only hiccup was that when she tried to enter her marriage certificate information, the display indicated that the certificate was invalid.

"Ms. Meyer, are you sure your marriage certificate is legitimate?" The employee asked in a puzzled voice upon noting the repeated error message issued from the machine.

Ameera was slightly upset. "We've been married for five years. There's no way it's fake!"

The employee tried again, only to return the document to her eventually. "I recommend that you take this up to City Hall so they can take a look at it. Submitting an illegitimate certificate is wrong. Besides, you can apply for a birth record even if you were single."

Ameera understood what the employee was implying. Then, she went to City Hall.

When she emerged from the office, her face was drained of color. All of her previous joy had all but vanished.

What the employee at the counter said struck into the core of her heart, "It says here that you and Mr. Brunsfield are not married. The marriage certificate is a counterfeit."

Their five-year marriage... was fake this entire time!

She was Marlow's childhood sweetheart. Everyone knew he loved her deeply and would give her the world. Why would he forge their marriage certificate?

With that, she immediately bought a plane ticket headed to Anderia to look for Marlow, who was on a business trip. She was going to get to the bottom of this!

Soon, she arrived at the hotel where Marlow was staying. There happened to be a wedding ceremony taking place at the time.

Anderia was a special country with a unique law dictating that everyone could only get married once in their lifetime. Divorce was not permitted.

She was not interested in observing the ceremony, but as she squeezed through the crowd to get to the elevator, she caught something from the corner of her eye. Her recognition of the groom who was surrounded by a crowd sent bolts of electric shock through her!

The groom was dressed in a leather jacket paired with fitting pants and dark boots. He was dressed in local fashion, featuring a beret and a red belt strapped around his waist. The entire time, he was smiling from ear to ear.

There was no mistaking it. This was the man she had been married to for five years—Marlow himself! If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have believed it.

"Congratulations on getting married, Marlow!"

"Truly impressive. Both your wedding ceremonies back home and over here are so grand!"

"Marlow, I have to ask, are you serious about this Josette girl? She comes from a poor family, doesn't she?"

Another person asked curiously, "Isn't this bigamy? Haven't you already married Ameera back home?"

"Don't you know? Back then, Marlow wanted to wait for Josette Klemer to come of age, so he never actually married Ameera back home. Legally speaking, he has been single for the past five years!"

"Is that so? You sure are a player, Marlow."

Ameera stood frozen in the crowd. It felt as if her blood had stopped flowing.

At first, she believed it was just a misunderstanding. However, the continuation shattered her hopes.

Marlow answered contemplatively, "Of course, I'm serious about Josette. Back then, she risked a blood transfusion to save Ameera's life. She was willing to live under Ameera's shadow for the rest of her life, and all she asked for was a lifetime with me. I can give her that much at the very least."

So that was what happened!

Ameera felt herself tearing up without realizing it. The truth was out. Marlow had arranged the forgery of their marriage certificate.

Five years ago, she got into an accident. Josette, who was a freshman in high school at the time, was the one who rushed her to the hospital and donated blood to save her life.

Josette came from a poor family, and the only one she ever had was her mother, who was very sick. As a gesture of appreciation for saving Ameera's life, Ameera and Marlow decided to pay for her education and even arranged for her to study abroad.

Marlow stated that by saving Ameera, Josette had saved him as well. He was willing to give everything he could to express his gratitude.

Little did Ameera know, the extent of his gratitude included raising her until adulthood and marrying her.

What was even more ridiculous was that she didn't suspect anything in the last five years. She never knew they had gotten together.

Marlow's friend could not resist the urge to ask, "And what about Ameera? Aren't you worried about her finding out?"

The look in Marlow's eyes darkened. He tapped his fingers rapidly against his phone and declared with a hint of confidence in his voice, "I will continue to love her. She will never find out about this. And none of you will ever mention this to her."

Immediately after that, Ameera's phone vibrated.

When she noticed it was a text from Marlow, she felt a chill run through her body, which almost made her heart stop.

"Honey, I miss you. I hate having to go on business trips and being away from you. Every moment away from you is torture! I'll try my best to get home in time for our anniversary. Love, your dear hubby."

Ameera clutched her phone and glanced at Marlow's figure, which was walking away from her. Pain crept into the tunnels of her heart. Her vision gradually became misted with tears as she began to cry. This was not the Marlow she knew.

Marlow was her childhood sweetheart. He was the boy who broke his leg climbing through a window just to help her retrieve a fallen hairpin. He consoled her softly and told her not to cry after that.

When they were eighteen, he climbed to the top of a snowy mountain just to profess his love for her. He vowed to love her forever and never lie to her.

When they were twenty, he had written her ten thousand love letters and baked a hundred cakes for a wedding proposal.

When they were twenty-two, he planned the wedding of a lifetime for her and couldn’t bear to spend a single night apart after.

He was not the liar she was looking at now, the one who would marry another woman behind her back.

She felt an ache in her heart as she bit her lip hard.

Then, her phone vibrated again. It was Marlow calling. She hesitated for a second before picking up.

"Honey, where are you? Have you eaten? Why does it sound so noisy in the background?" Marlow's voice was as gentle as ever. Every word he spoke contained all the love he had for her.

"What are you up to?" Ameera instinctively tightened her grip on the phone as she spoke. She told herself that if Marlow owned up to what was happening, perhaps she would have a proper sit-down with him and give their relationship another chance.

Marlow answered without hesitation, "I'm in a meeting right now, but I missed you so much, so I stepped outside to call you. Are you shopping now? Buy whatever you want, honey."

Ameera felt her lips jerk involuntarily. The light in her eyes dissipated as she fell silent before murmuring, "Okay."

Marlow immediately noticed the change in her tone. He became slightly distressed, "Honey, is something wrong? You can talk to me."

"I need to go. I'm in the changing room."

After Ameera hung up, she spotted Josette, who was also dressed in the local fashion, throwing herself into Marlow's arms.

"Honey, how do I look?"

"You look wonderful. My girl, you would look good in anything." Marlow smiled gently as he lapped his arm around her waist and kissed her forehead.

The sight of it stung Ameera. This entire time, his adoration and tenderness were not only reserved for her. He could split them into halves for two women.

'Marlow, how could your heart contain two different women?'

With that, she ran out of the hotel in a fit of panic before retreating into a dark alley where she curled into a ball to bawl her eyes out.

It was only when she was close to passing out from crying that she suddenly got up with a determined look in her eyes.

She was done with this five-year-long marriage that was nothing but a lie!

She was done with Marlow Brunsfield as well!

Since he was legally wed to Josette, she was going to give them what they wanted.

Her parents' death anniversary was in two weeks. After that was over, she was going to remove herself from Marlow's life for good.

With that, she took a taxi to the airport and caught the earliest flight back home.

The first thing she did upon returning was to schedule an abortion at the hospital.