We carried on a secret relationship for seven years. Our marriage registration failed eighteen times.
The nineteenth time, I thought the suffering was finally over—that my boyfriend and I would at last walk into marriage together.
Instead, what waited for me was near death.
I was the youngest genius ophthalmologist in Cleveland, someone the entire medical field had placed enormous hopes on.
But that day, a fruit knife pierced straight through my palm. Blood poured everywhere, and from that moment on, I could no longer hold a surgical scalpel.
The attacker was the father of Randall Hendershot’s childhood sweetheart.
I had just finished a seven-hour, extremely high-risk surgery for him. Yet because he was “unhappy that I had taken away the son-in-law he wanted,” he barged into my office while I was completely exhausted and tried to kill me.
After barely surviving, I immediately reported the crime and filed a lawsuit.
But my boyfriend—Randall, a lawyer—voluntarily chose to defend the culprit.
And he won.
I stood outside the courthouse. The gauze wrapped around me was soaked through with blood. My entire arm trembled uncontrollably, yet I couldn’t say a single word.
When I insisted on filing an appeal, Randall reached out and stopped me.
“Tara, if you insist on appealing… your brother might end up going to prison for molestation.”
My heart sank hard. “What do you mean?”
Randall wasn’t in a hurry. He calmly took out his phone, swiped once, and held a surveillance video in front of me.
The moment the screen lit up, it felt like I had been plunged into ice water.
My brother is my only family.
He ranked first in the entire school. His recommendation spot was secured. He was the hope our parents entrusted to me before they died—the one person I was told I had to protect no matter what.
But now, his face was flushed, his eyes unfocused, his entire body leaning uncontrollably toward a girl not far away.
The girl tried to push him away, but she couldn’t.
I knew exactly this was a crime!
If that girl reported him for molestation, my brother’s entire life would be ruined!
But he had always been sensible. How could he ever do something like this?
My whole body turned ice-cold, trembling all the way to my fingertips.
“Nik… how could this happen? Who drugged him?”
Randall’s expression remained calm.
“That’s not something you need to worry about. You only need to decide whether to withdraw the appeal. Once you do, everything will be taken care of.”
Something clicked in my mind. My heart clenched violently.
“This… was arranged by you?”
The man I had loved for seven years slowly lifted his eyes. There wasn’t a trace of panic in them.
It was as if he were merely handling the most ordinary case.
My throat felt like it had been ripped open. The entire world collapsed in that instant.
“My brother is only eighteen! He’s one step away from his dreams! How could you—”
“Because you’re doing something that puts me in a very difficult position.”
Randall cut me off, his voice even gentle as he spoke.
“Tara, if you continue with the appeal, I won’t interfere. Your brother will be left with a permanent criminal record—his future completely destroyed.”
His tone was so detached that it made my stomach churn with fear.
He continued calmly.
“But if you take a step back and withdraw the appeal, then no one will ever know about this. Nothing will happen between your brother and that girl.”
All my strength drained away. The man standing in front of me felt terrifyingly unfamiliar.
“You’re threatening me… for Samantha’s father?”
“That’s not a threat,” he corrected lightly.
“It’s weighing the pros and cons and choosing the lesser harm. Your brother’s future—and our future happiness—will always be worth more than sending an elderly man who made an accidental mistake to prison.”
He slipped his phone back into his pocket and gently lifted my pale chin with his fingers.
“I’ll give you one minute to think it over. As long as you give up the appeal, we can still live happily together.”
He even said it tenderly. “You don’t have to be a doctor anymore. You can stay home as a housewife. I can support you.”
At that moment, every drop of blood in my body froze.
I couldn’t believe the man who once told me, “The way you chase your dreams is dazzling,” could ignore my future for someone else—and even try to destroy my only family.
I could no longer hold a scalpel, yet in his mouth, it was reduced to a casual “accident.”
“Ten seconds,” Randall began counting, certain I wouldn’t persist.
“Nine.”
My brother’s guaranteed admission, his honor, his entire future—suddenly, all of it hung in Randall’s hands now.
“Eight.”
My brother knew nothing. I could already imagine how much pain he would feel once he sobered up.
A genius teenager, forced into becoming the protagonist of a malicious crime.
“Three.”
“I withdraw the appeal.”
Tears blurred my vision.
For my brother, I signed the agreement to give up the appeal.
But when I rushed to the hotel, my brother had already climbed onto the sixth-floor window ledge in despair.
He cried out to me.
“Tara, I don’t want to be a bad person… I’m not a bad person… but I feel so awful. My body isn’t getting out of my control! I really can’t hold on…”
The next second, his body fell backward.
I couldn’t even scream.
All that remained in my eyes was that horrifying streak of red.
In the hospital corridor, I sat there holding my brother’s clothes for a long time.
Then, by chance, I heard Randall’s friend talking to him nearby.
“This really blew up, didn’t it? The time before that, you set fire to the marital house. Last time, you sold Tara’s dog and said it ran away. You dragged things out so many times. Didn’t expect it to blow up this time.”
My entire body stiffened.
Randall replied calmly, “I really did want to register the marriage with her. Who knew Samantha’s father would suddenly act impulsively and make such a mistake. I’ll make it up to her in the future.”
What… did that mean?
I numbly raised my head. The blazing sun shone down on me, yet I couldn’t feel even a hint of warmth.
“You’re really going to marry that woman from the countryside? What about your childhood sweetheart?”
Randall’s voice didn’t waver at all.
“Tara has been with me for many years. I owe her a proper status. Nineteen delays in registering the marriage—consider it my greed. As for Samantha… we’re fated but not destined. We can only be siblings.”
My mind felt like it had been struck by lightning.
Seven years.
Seven years of love.
I had believed Randall and I shared the same heart, that we were running toward the future side by side.
But neither of us ever imagined that all nineteen failed attempts at registering our marriage had been meticulously designed by him himself.
Before the first registration, he was suddenly retaliated against by a defendant, and I injured my leg, spending three months recovering.
Before the second, I was suddenly assigned multiple urgent patients and couldn’t rest for months.
Before the third, I was scratched by the cat belonging to Randall’s childhood sweetheart’s family and sent to the hospital.
It turned out that today was the only accident he hadn’t anticipated.
And Samantha’s father almost killed me.
Yet Randall defended him.
He even used my brother as leverage!
Through tears, I dialed a number I never thought I would call.
“Senior…”
My voice was hoarse, barely recognizable as my own.
“You said before… that you wanted me to go to the United Kingdom for further study and become a professor. I agree.”
“But I have one condition. Arrange the best lawyer for me.”
I spoke each word slowly, using every ounce of will I had left.
“In seven days, I want Randall… to pay the price.”
One week later, I would transfer my brother abroad—and then refile the lawsuit against Samantha’s father!
There was a brief silence on the other end of the line, followed by a firm response.
“Alright. I’ll take care of everything for you.”
