Chapter 4

When I woke up, Aaron was asleep beside my hospital bed, holding my hand tightly.

My slight movement woke him, and he opened his eyes, still groggy. "You're awake. Do you want some warm water?"

His exhausted face pulled me back to when I was twelve.

That year, I had been in a terrible car accident and suffered thirty-six fractures. The pain had kept me awake for entire nights.

At Zara's suggestion, my parents refused to stay overnight because she said it would build my willpower.

So, every day, Aaron dragged over a small stool and slept beside my bed. He helped turn me over, gave me water, and even awkwardly wiped me clean.

He had looked at me with complete earnestness. "I think they're all wrong. There's nothing wrong with being sensitive. It's how your soul senses the world. I'll always protect that soft part of you."

Now, Aaron held a cup of warm water to my lips with a straw already in it, his voice gentle. "It's my fault for what happened earlier today. I didn't think about how much you could handle. But Zara's thesis is at a critical stage. She can't finish it without your data. Canceling the wedding was my idea, so don't pin the blame on her."

He pulled out a hand-drawn "forgiveness coupon" from his pocket. "Let me make it up to you tomorrow with the grandest wedding I can give you, okay?"

I had drawn that coupon for him on my eighteenth birthday.

That day, he had forgotten about me at the restaurant he had booked for us because he went with Zara to her book signing.

Later, he waited outside my house all night. My heart finally softened enough for me to draw him two forgiveness coupons. He had asked for the second one as a keepsake, saying he wanted it to remind him that there would never be another chance to use one.

I looked at the yellowed card and took it from him, the last bit of warmth in my heart extinguished.

So… The so-called keepsake had only been an escape route for the next time he made a mistake.

The next day, I stood alone in a custom-made wedding dress Aaron had flown in overnight as I waited for the garden wedding.

The host came over and lowered his voice for the third time, asking, "Ms. Gomez, you still can't reach Mr. Shaw?"

I held my phone up and looked at the screen, which still showed the message he had sent two hours earlier: [Stuck in traffic. Almost there.]

Now, my calls would not even connect.

Panicked, I tried to stop the guests who were already starting to leave.

When I turned around, I accidentally knocked over some of the photographer's equipment. So, I bent to pick it up.

Just then, Aaron's voice came through an earpiece on the ground. "Make sure you get closeups of her face. Record the whole thing when she finally breaks down. That data is important."

Turns out my missing fiancé was hiding somewhere nearby, calmly recording every second of my humiliation.

My entire body began to shake as I picked up the earpiece, already close to tears. "Aaron, you lied to me again."

Silence filled the line for several seconds.

For the first time, a crack appeared in Aaron's usually steady voice. Then, he softened his tone, as if I were a child throwing a tantrum. "Anne, stop causing a scene. Zara's advisor suddenly told her she needed emotional and tracking data from a subject having extreme disappointment. If we actually got married today, Zara's project would be ruined."

Tears blurred my vision.

Beside me, the emcee asked carefully, "Should we... Continue the ceremony?"

I wiped my face as I took the microphone from him. My voice came out calmer than I expected. "I'm officially calling off my marriage to Aaron Shaw from today onward."