Chapter 2
932 Words
"The Mr. David Brown you mentioned is unmarried, and he has already made a marriage registration appointment with Miss Ada Green for February 20th six months ago."
That morning, unable to find her marriage certificate, she had gone to the civil affairs bureau to apply for proof of marriage.
And this ironclad result turned every word David had said in the bar into fact.
How ridiculous.
She had been married to Sam for seven years, yet had no legal relationship whatsoever with David.
This single piece of paper casually erased ten tangled years, leaving not even a trace.
February 20th was the anniversary of the day they had originally connected.
And the day he had pretended to get the marriage certificate with her was a date he had picked at random, wrapped in sweet words:
"I don't want our anniversary to overlap with any holiday. I want this day to be special because of us."
But now, he had long ago reserved the romantic 5/20 for Ada. Those "exclusive romantic gestures" he talked about—in the end, he only gave them to the person he truly cared about.
Annie drifted home in a daze. Every trace of their life together, visible everywhere in the house, now became an instrument torturing her body and soul.
After an unknown amount of time, the sound of the lock turning came, and David walked in, covered in rain.
"Annie, why haven't you turned on the lights? It's dark outside."
He knelt beside her, not even taking off his wet coat, his fingertips gently touching her forehead. His voice was full of concern.
"Good thing you don't have a fever. You had a cold the last couple of days. I was worried you might be unwell."
When he saw her sitting there blankly, the corners of her eyes red, he leaned in close, begging for forgiveness like a guilty curly-haired puppy.
"Sweetheart, you're mad at me for drinking and not answering your messages, right?
"That work thing really couldn't be avoided. Forgive me. I won't do it again."
Annie sneered inwardly. His acting skills were good enough to win an Oscar.
David took out a velvet box and handed it to her with a smile.
"I had this custom-made. Open it."
Inside the box lay a uniquely designed ring. Someone who hadn't seen it before would surely admire its originality. But Annie happened to have seen the original design.
The designer's concept was: the main ring symbolizes eternal, unchanging love, while the accompanying secondary ring represents hypocrisy and deceit.
The designer hoped that whoever received the pair would treasure the main ring and discard the secondary.
As luck would have it, Ada had just posted a photo of the main ring on her social media today.
And what he was handing her now was the free, complementary secondary ring—the one named "Deception."
He couldn't even be bothered to choose a different gift for her. He just naturally wrapped the shared lie between him and Ada into a cheap hand-out and delivered it right to her.
The truth, peeled away flesh and all, hurt so much that her eyes turned red.
David panicked, cupping her face. "Why are you crying?"
She turned her head away from his kiss and made up an excuse. "My application for admission was rejected."
"So that's what this is about. Don't take that letter of accusation too seriously. It's all fake."
Annie's heart jolted.
Regarding the accusation letter, she had only learned about it from a trusted teacher and had never mentioned it to anyone. How could he know so clearly?
He tried to get closer, his warm, wine-scented breath spraying on her neck, his hand slowly creeping under her skirt.
"Sweetheart, forget about not being able to go. I never wanted you to go anyway. I don't want to be in a long-distance marriage. I couldn't last a single minute through the night without you by my side."
To perfect her design skills, she had pulled countless all-nighters.
To make a name for herself in the industry, she had forced herself to network with people she deeply despised.
He had witnessed every drop of effort she poured into her career and passion.
And yet, all of that hard work and those dreams, in his eyes, were only worth a casual, "Forget about it."
The person who used to cheer her on and fully support her pursuit of her dreams was gone. In his place was an executioner, alive and ready to break her wings.
Disgusting.
She suddenly pushed the man off her.
Rejected, David's face darkened. The ruthlessness that flashed in his eyes made Annie's heart skip a beat.
But the next second, the ringtone reserved exclusively for Ada rang out. His anger was instantly extinguished. He hurriedly stood up and went outside.
"Baby, something urgent came up at the company."
The wind from outside rushed in, drying the tears at the corners of her eyes and thoroughly chilling her heart.
But she would never give up on her dream. She would never surrender as David wished.
Over the next two days, she ran around everywhere, consulting all her familiar teachers for advice, preparing detailed appeal materials, trying every channel to respond to that accusation letter. But all of it disappeared into the void.
Just as helplessness threatened to consume her, an unfamiliar overseas number called.
She answered hesitantly. A deep, steady male voice came from the other end.
"I can help you resolve the accusation letter issue with Moon Academy and make sure it doesn't affect your admission."
- Writer
