Chapter 3

As he spoke, Adrian's expression unconsciously took on an air of confidence and arrogance.

He looked down at me condescendingly.

As if certain I wouldn't leave, waiting for me to lower my head and admit fault like the previous ninety-nine times.

"Emma, you'd better think carefully. Walk out that door, and who else besides me would dare marry you?"

My heart sank. The Adrian before me had become utterly unfamiliar.

I couldn't reconcile him with the passionate young man from eight years ago.

Bitter tears flowed silently in my heart as the sincere youth slowly appeared before my eyes.

At thirteen, when I was being bullied, Adrian stood up for me, suffering serious injuries to pull me out of the abyss.

"You're Emma, right? I fell for you at first sight. From now on, you're under my protection."

"If you're in danger, just drop my name. Anyone who dares bully you—I'll make them pay!"

At fifteen, facing high school applications, Adrian—whose grades were at the bottom—picked up textbooks for the first time to get into the same school as me, waking before dawn to study.

At sixteen, my family went bankrupt. My parents died. My tuition was in jeopardy, and I was forced to take a leave of absence.

Sixteen-year-old Adrian skipped classes to work part-time—as a waiter, doing manual labor, suffering from stomach bleeding and hospitalization from exhaustion.

With the money he earned, he paid seven years of tuition for me, supporting me through high school and college.

At eighteen, just past midnight on his birthday, Adrian couldn't wait to kiss my lips, insisting on promising me his life.

"Emma, I'll be here from now on. Don't be afraid. I'll treat you well for the rest of my life."

At twenty, after experiencing that horrific, nightmarish incident, on the day I was rescued, Adrian held me and sobbed, vowing to make those who violated me pay a terrible price.

At twenty-two, after college graduation, I started planning our future.

But after he succeeded in his business and met Vivian, everything between us turned to bubbles.

Adrian began unconsciously mentioning Vivian in our daily conversations.

I don't know when it started, but he mentioned her more and more frequently, and came home less and less often.

He began distancing himself from me, despising me, letting others humiliate me at will.

The cold wind outside rushed into my chest, jolting me back to reality.

My blood gradually cooled. The phantom of that young man slowly blurred.

I looked Adrian straight in the eye, word by word:

"Then let's cancel it. I wish you two the best together."

Seeing me turn to leave, a flash of barely perceptible panic crossed Adrian's eyes, and his voice carried urgency.

"Emma, stop right there!"

"You were violated. You're not pure anymore. Who else besides me would want you!"

Adrian's voice wasn't loud, but it struck everyone's ears like thunder.

Blood rushed to my heart, then drained completely the next second.

I turned around, trembling, my eyes full of disbelief.

My most painful, most unspeakable past had been torn open by Adrian and displayed before everyone.

A flicker of panic crossed Adrian's face, then he composed himself.

"Emma, be good. Come apologize to Vivian. I can pretend what just happened never occurred, and we'll have our wedding as scheduled."

Adrian's voice floated lightly through the crowd. Suppressed gasps rippled through the room.

Everyone's gaze swept over me like X-rays.

"Holy shit, this is explosive!"

"Oh my god, I can't believe it. Emma always dresses so elegantly—you'd never guess she'd experienced something like that."

"Right? Man, poor Adrian. The wife he pampered for so many years turns out to be damaged goods."

"Yeah, thank god they didn't get married yet. At least he cut his losses in time."

The pointing and whispers pressed on my chest. Cold suffocation gripped my throat.

"Adrian, you bastard!"

"You don't know anything—"

I shot to my feet, anger and grief making my whole body tremble.

Unable to control myself, I rushed forward and slapped Adrian hard across the face.

Smack!

The entire room fell silent.

Vivian stepped forward, draping her arm over Adrian's shoulder and pulling him to her chest.

"Emma, women like you are so troublesome. Adrian and I are just good friends. Do you really need to be so uptight?"

"Everyone else thinks it's fine. Don't project your own dirty mind onto everything!"

One sentence made everyone look at me with even more dissatisfaction and contempt. The murmuring grew louder than before.

Adrian stood rigid, refusing to look at me.

Something in my chest shattered completely with a crack.

Vivian's provocation, everyone's humiliation, Adrian's silence—all the grievances I'd endured over the years slapped me back in the face like a vicious blow.

"Adrian, I've put up with you two for so long. Every time, it's 'just good friends!'"

"When I need you, you're never there. I said I wanted to go see the northern lights with you—you said it was boring. But the moment Vivian mentions it, you eagerly rush off with her."

"When I nearly died from amniotic fluid embolism, fighting for my life in the ICU for three days—that couldn't compare to Vivian having a simple fever. Last time, the time before that, the time before that... Every time you promised to register our marriage, the next day you'd abandon me because of Vivian's various little problems, right up to today!"

"She humiliates me constantly, provokes me endlessly, and you still stand there like an idiot on her side, casually revealing my most painful, most unbearable past to let these people insult me at will!"

"Adrian, am I really that worthless in your eyes?!"

I gasped for breath, tears blurring my face.

In my peripheral vision, Adrian seemed to reach toward me, but the surrounding comments rose like waves threatening to drown me.

I couldn't bear this shocking pain anymore. Like a coward, I fled in defeat.