Chapter 1

The night before my wedding, I randomly saw a video located in my fiancé's apartment complex.

The caption wrote, [One last night as husband and wife, from now on we'll just be strangers.]

[When I was 18, I was sponsored by my godparents, then I became his god-sister.]

[When I was 23, he saw me naked and I saw his restrained yet moving expression.]

[When I was 24, we had a son. I thought we'd have a happy home.]

[But fate dealt him a cruel blow; tomorrow he's marrying someone else.]

[My love, the father of my child, congratulations on your marriage.]

Opening the rest of the video, I felt like I'd been struck by lightning. In the video, the child, whose face was blurred, had a conspicuous thick gold rope on his wrist. It was the custom-made, blessed bracelet I'd personally put on my fiancé's nephew.

——

[Sister, how could you post something so morally reprehensible? You deliberately posted it so the bride would see it, right?]

[Help! I feel like I'm going blind! Is this something a normal person would say?]

[Help me bump this up, let the bride see this, run! If she really gets married, this family with concubines will be a nightmare for her.]

Looking at the familiar gold rope, the familiar address, even the familiar child's figure. I suppressed my shock, still unable to believe that Mike Walter, my boyfriend of five years, could do such a thing. I took a screenshot of the video and forwarded it directly to the group chat.

[Was the gold rope I gave Toby stolen?]

Less than a minute later, the video was restricted and could not be viewed.

Mike quickly replied.

[How could that be? He really likes it, he wears it every day.]

[What video? Why aren't you asleep so late? The wedding is tomorrow morning, don't watch, go to rest.]

A chill ran through me. I didn't reply, thinking of that disgusting phrase, [One last night as husband and wife.] I immediately initiated a multi-person video call in the group.

[You and Rebecca take this call, I have something to do.]

The next second, Mike’s mother, Milena Walter, who usually played dumb and stayed out of the group chat, replied, [What's going on? Why are you video chatting so late? Let's talk tomorrow. Rebecca is too tired from preparing for the bridesmaids and has already gone to sleep.]

Mike followed up, [Yeah, we'll be get married tomorrow. We won't need to video chat anymore, we can see each other every day, Kate.]

Milena echoed, [Besides, you know we have a custom here: the bride and groom can't meet the day before the wedding. It's considered bad luck.]

I frowned, my tone leaving no room for argument, [If you don't answer the video call within one minute, the wedding is canceled.]

The group chat fell silent instantly. My parents rushed into the room.

"Kate, you're not kidding, are you? What happened?"

I recounted the entire video I had seen. My parents' expressions instantly turned serious, "This can't be. Can it be a coincidence?"

I looked at them firmly, "I don't believe in such coincidences. I won't marry him until this is cleared up."

The group chat exploded quickly.

[What does this mean? She's refusing to marry him just because of a video?]

[Father-in-law, you be the judge. Does she expect the whole world to revolve around her? Refusing to marry because of a little dissatisfaction, is that reasonable?]

My father glanced at me. Then he typed in the group chat, [Traditional customs are irrelevant. Whether a marriage works depends on whether the couple are reliable and whether they have other motives. My daughter has her own ideas and we fully support her.]

After this, everyone in the group seemed guilty and fell silent. A minute later, the video call connected.