He Ruined My Funeral, I Smashed His Tomb

Chapter 1

The day after my boyfriend Damian Lawson and I got engaged, something happened that no one could have expected.

My father and Damian's mother were found dead in the same bed.

After examining them, the doctors said they had died because the s*x had been too intense, causing excessive physical and emotional arousal that ultimately proved fatal.

From that day on, Damian and I were completely through.

We had once been lovers preparing to get married, but because of what happened between our parents, we became the people we hated most.

Damian barged into my father's funeral with a group of people and turned the entire ceremony into chaos.

To get back at him, I smashed his mother's gravestone.

From then on, we fought each other for ten whole years.

For those ten years, the first thing we did every morning when we woke up was think of ways to strike at each other.

We relentlessly went after each other's companies, both determined to drive the other into bankruptcy.

It wasn't until ten years later that we finally grew tired of it all.

Damian left and moved to New York, then later went to Wall Street.

I stayed in Washington, D.C.

I sold my company and stopped running a business myself.

Later, I turned to the financial markets and became the mastermind operating behind the scenes of Washington, D.C.'s stock market.

Two years later.

That day, after wrapping up my final behind-the-scenes deal, I hurried back to the flower shop my mother had left me.

On the giant screen outside the mall across the street, the news was reporting Damian's return to the country.

Once, Damian had simply been the son of the wealthy Lawson family of Washington, D.C.

Now, he had become one of Wall Street's top investors.

News of his return to Washington, D.C. had only just been announced, yet it had already sparked plenty of discussion.

I glanced at the screen once, then looked away.

As usual, I was about to head into the back room of the flower shop to wipe down the framed photographs my parents had left behind.

Just then, the wind chime above the door suddenly rang.

A young woman with long, golden waves hurried inside.

Her voice was bright and lively.

Pointing at the flowers on the racks, she said, "I'll take all of these!"

Walking in right behind her was Ryan Carter, Damian's best friend since childhood.

The moment Ryan saw me, he visibly froze.

His expression immediately turned awkward.

"Mia, why don't we go to another shop?"

The girl rejected the suggestion without a second thought.

"No! I brought Damian roses from this shop before. He said the flowers here were beautiful. And today happens to be his birthday, so I have to buy them here."

With that, she looked at me with wide, blinking eyes.

"My fiancé just got back today. He really likes the flowers from your shop. Would you mind letting me use the shop to prepare a birthday surprise for him here?"

I couldn't think of a good reason to refuse, so I nodded.

She immediately asked again, "Could you also make a few more bouquets for me? Please make them as pretty as possible."

I agreed.

But suddenly, another wave of discomfort spread through my chest.

I quickly turned away and covered my mouth with a handkerchief as I coughed several times.

When I lowered the handkerchief, there was blood on it again, just as I had expected.

I didn't let anyone else notice.

My steps trembled slightly as I made my way toward the back room.

My illness had flared up again.

And it was an incurable, terminal disease.

Outside, the girl was still urging Ryan along.

"Ryan, we're running out of time. Hurry up and help me set everything up! Damian will be here any minute. It's his birthday. I don't want him to be unhappy."

Ryan didn't move right away.

Because he knew.

Whenever Damian saw me, he was never happy.

At the same time, the news interview on the giant screen across the street was still going on.

In front of the camera, the corner of Damian's mouth curved slightly upward.

But there was no trace of a smile in his eyes.

"She should be watching this too, shouldn't she? I'm looking forward to... seeing her again."

He paused, then added, "After all, I miss the days when we used to be rivals."

He was talking about the ten years we had spent taking revenge on each other back when he still lived in Washington, D.C.

One day, I would short his company's stock.

The next, he would find a way to cut off every source of supply to my company.

At our worst, we would even get physical the moment we saw each other.

Whenever either of us was in a bad mood, we would simply start fighting.

The scar on his collarbone, visible on the screen now, had been left there when I slashed him with a dagger years ago.

And the severe scar across my back came from the time he struck me with a broken wine bottle.

Many of the conflicts between us didn't even have a particular reason.

We had simply gotten used to retaliating against each other.

If he hurt me, I would always find a way to make him pay for it too.

The female host on the screen smiled and asked, "Mr. Lawson, now that you've returned, are you planning to settle in Washington, D.C. for the long term? And I see you're carrying a gift. Are you on your way to meet someone important?"

Damian paused.

"My fiancée."

At those words, the girl who had been carefully arranging roses and candlesticks inside the flower shop immediately turned to look at the screen.

She suddenly asked Ryan, "Ryan, I heard Damian had a first love here in Washington, D.C. who was tangled up with him for ten years. Do you know anything about that?"

I kept my head down and continued trimming the flower stems.

But I could feel Ryan looking at me.

Just then, the girl suddenly cried out in delight, "Damian!"

She immediately ran out of the flower shop.

She even forgot to take her umbrella.

"Mia."

Outside the flower shop, Damian caught her steadily with one arm as she ran toward him.

He was holding an umbrella in his other hand.

Afraid she might get wet, he had clearly tilted it toward her.

Mia stood on tiptoe and kissed the corner of his mouth.

Damian seemed to instinctively pull back a little.

And in that exact moment, through the rain-streaked glass window, Damian's eyes suddenly met mine.

Mia seemed about to turn around and look.

But Damian immediately placed a hand on the back of her head, lowered his head, and kissed her deeply.

I calmly looked away.

At the same moment, the scissors in my hand snipped cleanly through a flower stem.

By then, Ryan had already walked over to me.

He hesitated for a long time before lowering his voice.

"Evelyn Hayes, I'm begging you. Today is Damian's birthday. Just for today, don't fight with him."

After saying that, he seemed to think of something else.

So he added, "That girl is still in college. She's innocent and doesn't have any schemes. A lot like the way you used to be."

My fingers felt slightly cold.

But I simply nodded.

"She is. Though she's prettier than I was."

The door of the flower shop opened again.

Damian closed the long-handled black umbrella in his hand and walked inside.

"Were you talking about my fiancée?"

His voice sounded almost amused.

But the look he gave me was ice-cold.

Ryan immediately fell silent.

He watched me nervously.

He was probably waiting for me to lose my temper.

Waiting for me to clash with Damian directly, just like I used to.

But I did nothing.

I simply pushed the finished bouquets toward them.

"Here are the white roses you asked for."