Chapter 1

On the day we got our marriage license, I placed the certificate beside our candlelit dinner, ready to take a photo for Ins.

My husband Hendley suddenly spoke up:

"Billson, actually, this certificate is fake."

I froze.

A woman's shocked voice came through his phone:

"Hendley, why did you tell her so early! This is no fun anymore!"

Hendley frowned:

"She's so stupid she still hasn't figured it out. Is there any point in continuing this act? You win the bet, okay? Cruz!"

But I had already posted on Ins.

Everyone was congratulating Hendley and me on our seven-year relationship finally coming to fruition.

And Cruz, who had bullied me in high school, mockingly commented under my post:

"Is this marriage certificate real? When are you inviting me to the wedding?"

I thought for a moment and replied:

"Next week."

Cruz immediately called Hendley:

"You're not breaking up with Billson?"

"Why would I break up? To be with you? You're about to get married yourself, okay?"

Hendley hung up on Cruz and carefully opened the cake box, placing it in the center.

Then he lit the candles and beckoned to me:

"Billson, come make a wish."

My whole body went numb as I stared straight into his eyes.

His eyes were calm and still, without even a trace of guilt.

"Was it fun deceiving me for so long?"

The smile faded from Hendley's face.

"I wouldn't call it deception. I'd rather lose to her than keep this from you—I just didn't want our relationship to have problems. Doesn't that show how much I value you?"

"Besides, we just didn't get the official license. I never said I wanted to break up with you."

The cake in front of me had seven candles on it.

Brazenly announcing that this was the seventh year I'd been played for a fool.

The candlelight held little warmth, yet it made the long-healed scars on my arms itch slightly.

I never could have imagined that my boyfriend who promised to stay with me forever and the bully who burned me with a curling iron, leaving me covered in wounds...

Were actually childhood friends.

The fake marriage certificate on the table was painfully glaring.

The open page captured my happiest smile.

I had thought my life was finally turning around.

Tears welled up in my eyes.

"Right, you didn't lie."

I was the fool—stupid enough to think someone would willingly give everything to love someone as broken as me.

I picked up the fake certificate and held it over the candle flame.

The fire licked at it, and the cover immediately blackened at one corner.

Hendley quickly pulled me into his arms.

He grabbed a glass and splashed water to extinguish the flame.

"What are you doing! You're most afraid of fire!"

He remembered—the aftereffects from my bullying.

Every year on my birthday, I would whisper my wish in his ear.

He would make the wish and blow out the candles for me.

For seven years, I made the same wish countless times.

"Billson wants to be with Hendley forever."

Mom remarried, Dad found someone new.

More than anyone, I wanted a home with an address that would never change.

What was he thinking when he heard these wishes? Was he laughing inside?

Laughing at how I'd been played year after year without realizing it?

And in the end, he had to mercifully tell me the truth himself?

The fire was out, leaving a bloody scar on my finger.

Hendley pulled out the first aid kit to apply antiseptic ointment, a flash of complexity in his eyes.

"Stop being dramatic. There's really nothing between Cruz and me. You know she's about to get married. Whatever you want, I can compensate you."

He picked up his phone, about to show me the gifts he'd selected in his shopping cart.

But his expression immediately stiffened. He frowned at me.

"You did this on purpose? I specifically told you not to post it. You deliberately hurt yourself just to pressure me into marriage?!"

"Billson, are you that desperate to get married?"

"Isn't dating the same thing? I was going to..."

His words caught in his throat, interrupted by a phone call.

It was Cruz calling, her exaggerated laughter exploding through the speaker.

"Everyone knows you're having a wedding next week! I warned you—people like her have no self-respect. Even after being played, she still desperately wants to marry you."

"She probably found out you have money. Too bad she doesn't know you promised to protect me forever."

The man's face darkened as he hung up and ordered me:

"Delete that Ins post right now."

"I won't delete it. Hendley, next week, I'm getting married."

Grandma was very ill.

She asked me why, when Hendley and I had such a stable relationship, we still hadn't made it official.

Turns out, he'd already made promises to another woman.

Continuing to date me was already the greatest charity.

I should be grateful.

But why did he think I would want this pity that slipped through his fingers?