Chapter 1

It was already past midnight when I finished dealing with my father's funeral arrangements. I returned to my cold room and took off the cheap rented wedding dress.

Ten hours had passed since I sent Hugo Roberts the breakup message.

This wasn't the first time Hugo had abandoned me for his secretary, Bella Wood.

After Bella appeared, every single one of our dates would be interrupted by her, intentionally or not.

Sometimes she'd have an allergic reaction, other times stomach pain.

Those common ailments would become matters of grave importance in Hugo's ears.

I used to make a fuss about it at first, but later I came to understand my place.

All that remained was numbness.

I sat on the cold tiles, unknowingly drifting off to sleep.

When I woke up, Hugo was sitting on the sofa smoking, looking at the wedding dress on the couch with obvious irritation.

"Why aren't you sleeping in the bedroom? What's wrong with you sitting here? You nearly scared me to death when I came in."

He frowned at my swollen eyes. "It's just a fake wedding, isn't it? It was fake anyway, we can make it up to you later. Are you never going to let this go?"

As he finished speaking, Bella walked in with a bag of breakfast, using her own key.

All my vulnerability was suddenly exposed.

Seeing the tense atmosphere between Hugo and me, Bella spoke innocently:

"I'm so sorry, Sophia. This afternoon my period came, and I nearly fainted from the pain. If Mr. Roberts hadn't found me in time and carried me to the hospital, I might not be here now."

I gave her a cold glance, not bothering to respond.

But Bella seemed to remember something and quickly turned to pull out a black plastic bag from her purse.

"Mr. Roberts ran several kilometers to buy these for me, but they're not really appropriate for me to use. I should return them to you, Sophia."

Her innocent eyes blinked repeatedly.

She thought I still cared about this laughable relationship.

I curved my lips in mockery and coldly said after she finished: "Hugo, let's break up."

Whether the wedding was real or fake, I didn't want it anymore.

Even the air around him made me feel nauseous.

Chapter 2

After speaking, I didn't wait for Roberts' reaction and went to get the suitcase I had packed last night.

My movements were stiff from maintaining one position for so long.

But Hugo just lowered his head, eating the breakfast Bella brought, ignoring my actions.

I dragged my small suitcase to the door, then remembered something in the refrigerator.

So I turned back, ending up right in front of Hugo.

He paused his eating and snorted coldly:

"Now you realize your mistake? It's not too late to apologize! Don't be ungrateful, I've spoiled you too much these years!"

But I didn't even give him a glance, only looking at the refrigerator as I spoke:

"Excuse me, please move."

He sat there with a dark face, pretending not to hear, so I simply stepped over his legs.

From the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, I took out the meat pie my father had made for me during his last visit.

I carefully clutched it to my chest.

But as I turned to leave, Hugo deliberately stuck out his leg, tripping me.

My head hit the corner of the coffee table directly.

He frowned in displeasure: "What's so precious about that box of junk? Should have thrown that garbage out long ago! Makes my whole refrigerator smell like meat filling!"

I pushed myself up with both hands, my gaze falling on the flour-dusted floor.

But my vision was blurred by the blood slowly trickling down.

Hugo's face remained dark and superior as he irritably lit another cigarette for himself.

"Sophia, can you stop being so embarrassing? Why don't you just kneel down and lick it off the floor? I just helped Bella out a bit yesterday, why are you acting so pitiful? Who are you trying to impress?"

"You knew the wedding was fake, so why are you making such a fuss now?"

"A fake wedding - how could that be more important than someone's life?"

Even now, he thought I was just angry about him missing the wedding.

I understood clearly - it wasn't that the fake wedding wasn't important.

It was that I, Sophia, had never been important in Hugo's eyes.

For five whole years, I had always been the inferior one in our relationship.

Perhaps compared to me, Bella was more suited to be his perfect companion.

I had waited countless nights for him to come home.

All I ever got were messages about him socializing with Bella.

I would message him to drink less.

But the replies were always just red exclamation marks.

When it got too late, they would book rooms at the same hotel, and Bella would use his phone to unblock me, sending me messages.

Complete with room numbers and photos of them together.

"Sophia, I'll take good care of Mr. Roberts, you should get some rest!"

She indeed took very good care of him, to the point where Hugo no longer needed me at all.

I stared coldly at Hugo, "Life is indeed important, but my father's life wasn't important to you, was it, Hugo?"

His expression darkened with my questioning.

As I was dragging my suitcase to leave, Hugo couldn't help but roar angrily:

"Are you determined to act crazy with me today? I can go to the hospital to apologize to your father, isn't that enough? If that's not enough, I can even take Bella to apologize to your father in person! Do you want me to show your father her hospital IV records?"

His accusations ignited fury in my chest, making it heave violently.

So in his eyes, this was how unreasonable my father and I were.

Seeing my unusual reaction, Hugo's expression flashed with confusion before trying to rush over and grab me.

But Bella's voice stopped him.

"Uncle's tickets were probably fake, he shouldn't have arrived yet. It's probably not about uncle being upset, maybe Sophia is just angry that you missed the wedding yesterday. It's okay, I can explain to her with the hospital records."

The rage suddenly exploded in my chest, burning away all my rationality.

The next moment, I grabbed the black bag from the shoe cabinet and hurled it at her head.

Chapter 3

The moment I acted, Hugo's attitude, which had softened due to my cold face, completely erupted.

He strode towards me, snatched my suitcase, and smashed it against the floor.

The clothes scattered everywhere.

As he walked over, his leather shoes flattened the meat pie on the floor. I gritted my teeth, staring at his feet.

"Sophia, my patience has limits. Don't drag innocent people into our business!"

My hands trembled as I stood frozen in place.

Bella's eyes reddened, tears welling up as she looked at me innocently.

"I'm sorry, Sophia. I just checked those flight tickets, I was planning to go pick him up, I didn't expect..."

As she spoke, her tears fell drop by drop, hitting the floor and mixing with the meat filling.

"I was just worried Mr. Roberts was being deceived, after all, the Roberts family is special. There are too many cases of people using children to trap wealthy families into marriage, I..."

She looked at Hugo, biting her lip and shaking her head.

My gaze grew colder, and when I spoke, my voice held no warmth at all.

"Hugo, you also think I'm deceiving you?"

He didn't speak, but his expression was answer enough.

My father's medical records were real, from the local hospital.

I had accompanied him for the checkup just six months ago - there was no way to fake that.

So Bella had focused her attention on my father's travel tickets.

He indeed hadn't taken a plane.

How could he afford such expensive plane tickets?

To save money for my dowry, he had endured a thirty-hour train journey while battling illness.

All just to attend his daughter's wedding that didn't even exist.

But even for just one line of dialogue, Hugo chose to break his promise rather than act with me.

Thinking carefully, he had never reciprocated my feelings. Our ending was predetermined from the moment we met.

I searched for evidence of his love in every detail of our interactions, deceiving myself.

Everything remained peaceful for five years.

But since Bella's appearance, this superficial balance was finally broken.

Mr. Roberts began to show emotions like a normal person.

He learned to love.

He would ask me what to do when Bella had stomach aches.

He would prepare allergy medicine in the car in anticipation of her allergic reactions.

He would take Bella to all the Roberts family company events, introducing her to everyone as his perfect work partner.

In comparison, I was like a rat in the gutter, emanating stench.

Even if I offered up my dignity with both hands, letting him and his beloved trample it at will, I still couldn't get a ticket to this battle.

Now, I no longer want what I can't have.

The spot where Bella had been hit quickly swelled and reddened, tears rolling down one after another.

Hugo immediately cursed in rage.

But his hands didn't stop moving, skillfully taking out medicine from his bag and applying it to Bella's face with his fingers.

After comforting Bella, he turned to me with a threatening tone.

"Sophia, don't be ungrateful. Bella is innocent. The first thing she said after waking up in the hospital yesterday was to tell me to hurry to the wedding to find you."

"Look at yourself now, you're acting like a jealous shrew! How can you face her kindness?!"

"Sophia, I'm telling you for the last time, apologize to her!"

"If you make another scene like this, get out of here!"

I acted as if I couldn't hear his words, just silently picking up my scattered belongings.

Time ticked by second by second, and Hugo's patience ran out.

He strode over to me, bent down and grabbed my long hair, his features fierce and terrifying.

The pain from my scalp was excruciating, but I bit my teeth to hold back any sound, my bloodshot eyes fixed on Hugo.

His tone was vicious: "Can't hear me? Or don't know how to apologize? Sophia, I've really spoiled you too much!"

"You want your dad's meat pie, right? Why don't you taste it right now!"

I clenched my teeth hard, but my head was forcefully pushed down and rubbed against the floor.

My lips were pressed and distorted, tears mixing with flour stuck to my face.

But Hugo was still not satisfied. He erupted, pulling my head in front of him with one hand while slapping my face repeatedly with the other.

A metallic taste filled my throat, blood blurring my vision.

"Open your mouth! Weren't you acting tough? Come on, open your mouth and let me see how good my aim is!"

After speaking, he immediately picked up a relatively intact meat pie from the floor and forcefully ground it into mince on my face.

"Smells good? Happy now? Now apologize to Bella!"

"Otherwise, I'll make your father go back to wherever he came from right now!"