The Runaway Groom

Gaius could hear the exhaustion in my voice.After a brief silence, his tone softened slightly. "You're just upset about the wedding ceremony, aren't you? There's plenty of time for that. Michelle had a heart attack yesterday. If I hadn't rushed her to the hospital, who knows what might have happened?""And what about your social media post? Who was that meant for?" I couldn't help but laugh."That... that was just an emotional outburst. Do you have to make such a big deal out of it?" he retorted.How had this turned into me making a big deal? Over the years, hadn't there been enough of these cryptic messages from him? Most of the time, I could pretend not to notice, giving him credit for maintaining the boundaries of a married man—polite and restrained. But that didn't mean I'd let him humiliate me the same way twice, especially not on my wedding day.Michelle had been Gaius's junior back in school. At our small but warm wedding seven years ago, she had caused a similar scene. Ju

I scheduled an abortion at the same hospital where Michelle was.For years, I took birth control pills to spare Gaius the trouble, and it left me with health problems. When we finally decided to have a child, he was diagnosed as infertile. I thought about keeping the baby and leaving abroad with my child. It wasn't like I couldn't afford to raise it. But now, the mere thought of sharing this tie of flesh and blood with Gaius for the rest of my life made me so nauseous I could hardly breathe.Walking into the hospital, my heart was heavy like stone.But when the procedure was over, and they told me I'd completely lost that little life, the tears wouldn't stop. After two hours of observation, the doctor said I could leave. I stood up and walked out.On the hospital walkway, I saw Michelle clinging to Gaius's arm, acting coy. When our eyes met, Gaius's back was to me. Instead of looking embarrassed, Michelle pressed herself even closer to him, her chest brushing against him like i

The moment the words left my mouth, Michelle let out a short laugh. "Donna, you're really impossible to deal with. Don't start with that joint marital property nonsense. Since Gaius arranged for me to stay here, this villa has nothing to do with you!"I tugged at the corner of my lips. "Call Gaius and have him come here."Before I even finished speaking, Michelle's phone rang. She held it up triumphantly, waving it in front of me. "No need to call him. He always calls me first. That's how it is between us."I ignored her and bent down to pick up my phone. Nikki had already sent a message saying she was safe and explaining the situation. She was bringing people over as we spoke.I replied with a single word: [Good.]As I exited the chat, I accidentally tapped on the pinned contact. My finger hesitated before I opened the chat with Gaius. My gaze drifted upward, scrolling through the history. The messages were almost entirely my lengthy monologues, his responses brief and indiffer

The farce didn't end just because I left.Gaius's affair lingered at the top of trending searches for days, stirring up storms across the city. Back when we started our business, people in the industry jokingly called us the "Golden Couple" of commerce. We were so plain then, barely distinguishable from passersby. Gaius would even kneel to tie my shoelaces in front of others.So when Nikki uploaded videos online—clips of Gaius abandoning me twice, on two separate wedding days—the internet erupted. Netizens turned on the cheating man and the scheming woman, condemning them without mercy. Employees from Gaius's company seized the moment, stepping forward with explosive revelations. Once the walls began to crumble, everyone joined in pushing them down.As for Michelle's heart condition—real or not in the past—it certainly became real now. Her social media account was already in ruins. Seeing the tide turn, she even pleaded publicly online for Gaius to marry her. But the man shr