Chapter 2

When I woke up again, all I saw was white.

rushed to my bedside with red-rimmed eyes. Every finger on her hands was wrapped in gauze.

"Elodie? How are you feeling? Do you know how badly you scared me?"

The worry and tension on her face looked no different than before. Only a faint trace of guilt lingered beneath it, so subtle that it would have been easy to miss.

A dull, prickling pain spread through every part of my body like countless needles.

I stared at her. "Do you really hate Jonas that much?"

She frowned and answered without a moment's hesitation. "Of course! Trust me! He's nothing but a playboy. Do you know that he actually..."

"Luna! Will you give it a rest already?"

threw the door open and stormed inside, cutting her off.

"Elodie can judge for herself how I treat her. She doesn't need you stirring up trouble between us!"

I looked at Jonas, who had burst in so suddenly, and quietly put the earbuds back in.

The very next second, the voice of the future Jonas slid into my head like a venomous snake.

"Thank God I got here in time! Luna is way too naive. She thought coming clean would keep Elodie from getting hurt, but she never stopped to think that Elodie would never spare her for old times' sake!"

Ten years from now, after learning about their betrayal, I would become nearly unhinged. Not only would I push Luna down the stairs, but I would also lose control and ruin her face with acid. In the end, Jonas would personally send me to prison.

Now, he was stopping Luna from confessing because he wanted to protect her from ever being hurt by me again.

I slowly pulled my hand from Luna's grasp. In that instant, it felt as though every bit of strength had drained from my body.

"Jonas, I'm asking you one last time. Are we still getting married?"

Jonas ruffled my hair and looked at me in confusion.

"What kind of silly question is that? If I'm not marrying you, who else would I marry?"

As he spoke, his eyes drifted toward Luna as though by accident.

Their gazes met and lingered for a moment. They thought I would not notice.

"What is Elodie getting at? The county clerk's office I spent 20 million dollars building will be finished today, and every actor has been fully trained. Now she doesn't want to get married?

"Or is she jealous because you saved Luna at the restaurant instead of her?"

Jonas's expression changed instantly.

He crouched in front of me and hurried to explain.

"Elodie, it was an emergency. I know how much Luna means to you. If you'd seen her get hurt, you would've felt even worse. I just didn't think it through at the time.

"I promise, next time I'll save you first."

My nails dug into my palms until they broke the skin.

It was such a ridiculous excuse.

He claimed to love me, yet when danger struck, his body had instinctively chosen someone else.

My thoughts drifted back to a year earlier.

My parents had died suddenly in a car accident. I had also lost the full-time job I was about to receive because someone with connections was hired instead.

Overnight, it felt as though the entire world had abandoned me.

During that time, I locked myself inside my home and refused to see anyone.

It was Luna who brought people to break down my door and stayed by my side day and night. When I lost control and wanted to hurt myself, it was Jonas who took the blade from my hand and dragged it across his own arm instead.

He was the one who had told me, "Elodie, don't be scared. No matter what happens, I'll always be by your side."

Luna was the one who had promised me, "If anyone ever hurts you, I'll be the first one to make them pay!"

Yet now, the two people who had sworn to love and protect me were the very ones driving the knife in deepest.

My mind warred with itself, torn between everything they had done for me and the betrayal before my eyes.

My eyes burned, and I nearly bit through my lip.

The next second, a wave of nausea suddenly hit Luna.

She clapped a hand over her mouth and ran to the bathroom.

Jonas instinctively started after her. He only stopped when he caught sight of me from the corner of his eye.

The worry and tension in his expression never disappeared.

"Luna is actually pregnant. She knows Elodie can't have children, so she's planning to have the baby in secret and then give it to Elodie.

"Luna always puts Elodie first and has suffered so much because of it. Yet Elodie has never once appreciated it!"

Whenever the future Jonas spoke about me, he could not hide the disgust in his voice.

Every word drove deeper into my heart.

I suddenly remembered noticing that Luna's stomach had seemed slightly rounded earlier.

She had quickly insisted it was from eating too much, and I had never questioned it.

Luna emerged from the bathroom, her face deathly pale.

"My stomach hasn't been great the last couple of days. I must've eaten something bad..."

I cut her off.

"Do you remember why I can't get pregnant?"