Chapter 3
769 Words
“Why?”
I clutched the bedsheet tightly, a terrible answer already forming in my mind.
Just as I feared.
The next second, I heard him say,
“Because the Civil Registry Office was fake. The marriage certificate was fake. The parents were fake. Even the friends and relatives at the wedding were fake.
Everything was carefully arranged by me. Wren, how are you supposed to sue me?”
His tone was far too calm, as if we were discussing tomorrow’s lunch plans.
Meanwhile, my heart grew colder and colder.
The boy who had once begged through 31 floors and 186 households during the pandemic just to get me half a tablet of ibuprofen...how could he possibly lie to me?
When my mother was hospitalized for three years, he stayed by her side day and night.
He always saved the sweetest part of the watermelon for me and only bought new clothes for me.
Even the pictures of snakes, insects, and toads in my reference books had been folded page by page beforehand because he knew I was afraid of them.
And yet now, he was personally telling me that everything I treasured most had been fake.
“Fine, then I’ll leave right now. I’ll stay far away from you for the rest of my life. That should be enough, right?”
His dark eyes stared at me for a long time. Then suddenly, he pulled me into his arms and kissed me fiercely, like a violent storm, as if he wanted to crush me into his very bones.
No matter how hard I struggled, he refused to let go.
Until someone knocked on the door.
“Mr. Mercer, Mrs. Hale has come out.”
“Mm.”
He lifted his head slightly, breathing unevenly. Without hesitation, I slapped him across the face, but he grabbed my wrist and, with reddened eyes, pressed a kiss into my palm.
“What’s between us stays away from Chloe. You can’t handle the consequences. She wants you to accompany her for maternity photos tomorrow. Be good and go with her, or she’ll be unhappy.”
Every single word was a command.
He quickly straightened his clothes and turned to leave.
There were bodyguards outside the door, and moments later, I received a transfer notification on my phone.
Two million dollars.
To me, that number had once been unimaginably out of reach.
But now, it was merely the most insignificant thing Rowan could do to make Chloe happy.
Early the next morning, I was taken to the photography studio. The moment I walked upstairs, I saw Rowan massaging Chloe's calves and rubbing the soles of her feet while the employees around them watched with envy.
I stood frozen in place, suddenly remembering a long time ago. Rowan had spent hours studying massage techniques on his phone, giving me massages night after night just to ease my headaches and chronic back pain.
Back then, I truly believed his love and tenderness belonged only to me. I had genuinely believed we would grow old together.
But I had never imagined that one day, I would stand there as “the other woman,” forced to watch him shower another woman with affection.
The ache in my chest nearly suffocated me. My eyes reddened as I lowered my head, only to hear Chloe call out to me cheerfully.
“Wren, you’re finally here! Hurry and help me decide which sets we should shoot!”
I casually pointed at one of the photos in the album. Chloe immediately looked displeased.
“What should I do? Wren likes this set, but I still prefer the other one.”
The moment she spoke, Rowan took the album away and tore out the photo I had chosen without hesitation.
Then he kissed her forehead indulgently.
“It’s fine. What she thinks doesn’t matter. What matters is what you like. There, problem solved. Let her pick again.”
Chloe smiled smugly and placed the album in front of me once more, looking at me expectantly.
I stared at the intimate couple’s photograph and slowly extended my finger, heavily pointing at it. The words “doesn’t matter” echoed endlessly in my ears.
So that was it.
Because my feelings didn’t matter, Rowan could lie to me without restraint and demand that I endure everything without a second thought.
In this relationship, he had always stood high above me.
And I had never once been given the right to choose.
Satisfied, Chloe went to change clothes.
I sat on the sofa, staring blankly as Rowan cooperated with her during the photo shoot.
- Writer
