Jeremy fixed his eyes on the woman before him. She was the same woman who had loved him with everything she had.
There were no tears in Cheryl's eyes when she mentioned divorce. She didn't question him, and she showed no sign of anger.
That quiet acceptance unsettled him because it felt as though she had slipped beyond his reach.
Before long, that uneasiness gave way to burning anger.
"Cheryl, have you gone crazy?" His fingers crushed the cigarette until it bent out of shape before he threw it onto the floor. His voice dropped into a dangerous growl. "I've already explained that this wedding is only for show. Danica is dying. She may not even survive another month. And this is when you decide to use divorce as a threat?"
"A threat?" Cheryl gave a quiet laugh that held no amusement. "Jeremy, you've known me for seven years, and we've been married for three. Tell me, when have I ever used anything to force your hand?"
All this time, she had been the one who always chose to compromise.
Whenever his mother made things difficult for her, Cheryl never argued back. Whenever Jeremy came home late, she always kept a light on and waited for him.
Because he had once rescued her during the darkest chapter of her life, she had endured every disappointment and kept every wound to herself.
In return, what had all those sacrifices given her?
They only convinced Jeremy that she would stay with him forever. That confidence gave him the nerve to gather both families and their friends so he could hold a grand wedding for another woman without even telling her.
"I mean every word." Cheryl quietly stepped farther away from him.
As the distance between them grew, the familiar scent of fir slowly disappeared. The cool breeze brushed against her face, and her thoughts became clearer than ever.
"Weren't you the one who said this wedding isn't legally binding?" Cheryl met his eyes with a detached expression, as though she were looking at a stranger. "Once our divorce is finalized, you can marry her for real. She won't just have the ceremony. She'll become the true Mrs. Barrett. Isn't that exactly what you want?"
"Cheryl!" Jeremy snapped. A vein stood out at his temple. "If you think I've treated you unfairly, I'll make it up to you. You can have company shares, property, or anything else you want." His voice left no room for discussion. "As for a divorce, you can forget about it."
"Jeremy..." A frail voice echoed from the far end of the corridor.
Without anyone noticing when she arrived, Danica stood there.
Her fingers gathered the layers of her elaborate wedding gown while the color had completely drained from her face.
She steadied herself with one hand against the wall and looked at them with tearful, vulnerable eyes.
"Cheryl, please don't blame Jeremy." Danica's voice quivered as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Everything happened because of me. I never wanted to take him away from you. I only... I only wished I could experience wearing a wedding dress before I die. I know I shouldn't ask for something like this, but I don't have much time left."
Before she could say anything else, a violent fit of coughing overtook her.
The moment Jeremy saw her condition, his expression changed completely. He hurried over in a few quick steps and immediately gathered her into his arms. "Danica, why did you come here? It's cold, and the wind is getting stronger. The doctor warned you not to expose yourself to weather like this."
The concern and tenderness filling his eyes were emotions Cheryl had never once been fortunate enough to receive throughout the seven years she had loved him.
Resting quietly against Jeremy's embrace, Danica lifted her eyes and looked at Cheryl.
Despite the tears welling up in Danica's eyes, Cheryl failed to find any remorse in them. All she saw was quiet triumph.
"You should go comfort Cheryl, Jeremy. I'll be alright. I can make my own way back," Danica said with forced generosity. Even so, her hand never loosened its grip on his sleeve.
Jeremy faced Cheryl coldly. "Don't make me see you as someone without compassion."
Every word struck Cheryl harder than any knife ever could.
Keeping Danica close in his arms, Jeremy rushed toward the lounge without looking back even once.
Meanwhile, the relatives and friends waiting near the red carpet quickly surrounded the pair, treating them like a couple worthy of everyone's sympathy.
From the crowd, Cheryl's own parents and her brother looked at her with obvious disapproval, as though she was responsible for spoiling Danica's happiest moment.
No one walked over to ask how Cheryl was feeling. Instead, they stayed by Danica's side and left with her.
No one remained in the corridor except Cheryl, who stood frozen as everything that had happened weighed heavily on her.
A stronger breeze swept through and tossed loose strands of hair across her face.
Just then, her phone buzzed inside her pocket.
The message came from Laura. "Cheryl, Danica has always been a pitiful child. She has no one in this world except us. Now that she's so seriously ill, please treat this as one final act of kindness toward her. Help her fulfill her last wish. Jeremy's heart still belongs to you."
An act of kindness?
Cheryl kept staring at the message, unable to believe what she had just read.
They expected her to act as though nothing had happened. They wanted her to quietly watch her own husband marry the woman everyone called her sister and remain by that woman's side until the very end. Somehow, they believed that counted as an act of kindness.
For more than twenty years, Danica had already lived as the Pearson family's beloved daughter in her place. Now they expected her to surrender her husband just as willingly.
The moment she refused, everyone would see her as the cruel and heartless one.
A quiet, mocking laugh escaped Cheryl as she opened another conversation.
Danica had sent her a few messages earlier that day with an unfamiliar number.
"Cheryl, Jeremy was supposed to be with me from the very beginning. You're the one who took him away. I'll make you see that both Jeremy and the Pearson family have only ever cared about me. To them, you mean nothing."
Right after that came a photograph. In the picture, Jeremy was crouched in front of Danica, carefully helping her put on a pair of custom-made crystal heels.
Two more messages appeared beneath it. "Do you see it now, Cheryl? He's only willing to do something like that for me."
"Tonight, Jeremy and I are getting married at the Barrett family's private estate. Why don't you come and see it for yourself?"
One after another, Cheryl read every message on the screen before letting out a quiet laugh filled with bitterness and self-ridicule.
Jeremy had always insisted that he treated Danica as nothing more than a friend.
Even so, the same man who had spent three years keeping Cheryl at a distance now gave Danica all the affection and tenderness Cheryl had longed for but never received.
He had even joined forces with both families and their friends to arrange this grand wedding without his wife knowing a single thing.
Although tears threatened to fall, Cheryl stubbornly held them back.
She had already accepted defeat. There was no point in shedding tears over someone who had already broken her heart.
Cheryl slipped her phone into her bag.
Then she turned around and walked away, leaving every feeling she had ever carried for Jeremy behind in that silent corridor.
Once, he had been the person who rescued her. Now, she was choosing to let him go.
From that day forward, Jeremy would never again have her love.
