At my first wedding, right as I was about to exchange vows with Leland, Shanna shoved the priest aside, and right in front of my husband-to-be, she slit her own wrist with a piece of broken glass.
Leland, who’d been standing protectively by my side a second earlier, completely panicked. He dropped everything—including me—and rushed her to the hospital. Our engagement rings were still lying on the floor where he’d left them.
The second time, the night before the ceremony, Shanna drugged herself and ran off to the wildest, most chaotic bar in the city, demanding that Leland come “save” her as the antidote.
The two of them caused a scene the entire night. The next day, Leland slept straight until two in the afternoon, completely forgetting about me, leaving me standing alone on an empty lawn under the rain for an entire day. From then on, I became a laughingstock in the circle.
Every time something like that happened, I told myself I should break up with him.
But then, I’d see this man—who was always so cold, so untouchable in front of others—cry and beg me for forgiveness again and again… and I’d cave.
After all, back in college, someone fed my face into an AI and created disgusting fake porn of me.
Nobody was willing to hear my side.
Everyone hated me, shunned me, and bullied me. And when the school expelled me for “causing a huge negative impact,” Leland was the one who pulled me out of hell.
When I tried to jump off the building, he grabbed me so hard that the railing tore open his arm, but he still held on.
He believed me without question. He stopped the school from expelling me by pledging to donate five buildings a year.
Then he put out a massive bounty to hunt down the people who spread the rumors. One by one, the students who bullied me were forced to apologize and beg for my forgiveness.
He announced to the whole world that I was someone under his protection, and after that, not a single person on campus dared look down on me again.
Not to mention the expensive gifts and the way he took care of me so attentively.
All of that made me believe Leland truly loved me.
That’s why, every time he cried and begged, I forgave him. And every time, I quietly looked forward to our final wedding.
But on the night before we tried to get wed for the 99th time, I overheard Shanna talking to him.
“Seriously, Leland, after all these years, you still won’t admit you like me?
“Don’t think I don’t know—you only got close to Charmaine because you wanted her mom to donate a heart to me! You even staged that accident and killed her mom for it!
“I know I’m the one you love the most. Now that I’m back, don’t marry her, alright?”
Her voice was dripping with temptation as she leaned in to kiss him.
Leland turned his head away, his expression cold, but he still couldn’t bring himself to push her away.
“That was all in the past. The person I love now is Charmaine…”
“You liar!” Shanna cried out.
“I saw it! The photo album of me in your study! It’s practically falling apart! You obviously flipped through it so many times that there are marks all over it!
“All these years while I was abroad, you were basically using my photos to relieve yourself, weren’t you? You’ve never even touched Charmaine. Otherwise, that night when you were my ‘antidote,’ you wouldn’t have been so… insatiable.”
Leland fell silent… because everything she said was true.
Seeing that he still refused to give me up, Shanna’s face twisted in despair.
“My parents already arranged a marriage for me. I only came back because I thought you still liked me. Looks like I was just delusional…”
She stood to leave, but Leland grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, his voice thick with possessiveness.
“You’re not marrying anyone else. The only man you can have… is me.”
