Chapter 3

While I lay in the hospital bed hooked up to an IV, my best friend suddenly sent me a TikTok link.

I tapped it. The moment the video played, the blood in my veins turned to ice.

The caption read: [Pre-wedding Loyalty Test Gone Wrong: Bride Pisses Herself From Pure Fear!]

The video began with the fake kidnapping call I received.

Then came the clips of me desperately begging Natalie and my parents for money.

Followed by me standing on the ledge, cornered and weeping, jumping off the fifteenth floor in that harness.

And finally, me stumbling out of the elevator alone, covered in sweat, my pants soaked.

Natalie had hired someone to record me from five in the morning.

My terror, my panic, my desperate pleas, my ultimate degradation—she had turned every single piece of my suffering into viral clickbait.

It had only been up for an hour, yet it already had tens of thousands of likes.

The comment section was overflowing with ridicule.

— [Who falls for such an obvious fake kidnap call? Does this girl have zero brain cells?]

— [It's just a wire stunt! People do higher drops in action movies all the time without peeing their pants. Total fake.]

— [Honestly, her despair at the end looked so real. She missed her calling as an actress lmao.]

I sat frozen in the hospital bed, my trembling fingers scrolling through the endless mockery.

Outside the door, which wasn't fully closed, the hushed voices of Julian and Natalie drifted in from the corridor.

"Natalie, delete that video right now!"

"When the hell did you even film that? Why didn't you tell me?!"

Julian's voice was thick with suppressed fury.

"Julian, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to leak it!" Natalie's voice broke into a delicate, trembling sob, instantly playing the victim.

"I just thought Avery's reaction was kind of funny, so I sent it to a friend. I wanted her to edit a cute clip proving how much Avery loves you, so we could play it at your wedding next week!"

"I swear I had no idea she would turn it into a prank video like this!"

She sniffled softly, sounding utterly heartbroken.

"Julian, look at the views... it's already got millions of impressions! I already sold the rights to a promotional media account."

"If we take it down now, we'll have to pay a massive breach-of-contract penalty!"

Julian fell silent.

After a long pause, footsteps approached. He pushed the door open and walked over to my bedside.

Glancing at the video playing on my phone screen, he hesitated for a couple of seconds before speaking.

"Avery, our wedding is in a week. After we're married, you'll just stay home comfortably. You don't need to go out and socialize anyway."

"Internet trends die out fast. People will forget about this in a few days."

"Leaving the video up... honestly won't affect much."

To him, my dignity, my self-respect, and my humiliation didn't even weigh as much as Natalie's contract penalty.

Every ounce of pain and rage I had swallowed down over the past year finally exploded.

"Won't affect much?!"

"My dignity can just be dragged through the mud for everyone to stomp on, is that it?!"

"Julian, I jumped off a fifteen-story building! I was so terrified I lost control of my body! And who the hell did I do that for?!"

Julian frowned, his tone turning sharp and impatient.

"Avery, it was just a joke! Natalie was just playing around with you!"

"Why do you always have to be so sensitive? Why can't you take a joke?"

"No wonder your parents prefer Natalie. You always ruin the mood over the smallest things!"

I looked at his face. I looked at the irritated, dismissive sneer in his eyes.

And suddenly, the raging storm inside me vanished.

A chilling calm settled in.

It was all so utterly pointless.

I stopped looking at him. I raised my hand and pointed toward the door.

"Get out."

Julian stared at me in disbelief, his expression hardening.

"Avery, you're talking to me like this over something this petty?!"

"I've really spoiled you rotten, haven't I?!"

He snatched his phone, spun on his heel, and stormed out, slamming the door hard behind him.

The room fell dead silent.

I looked at the flight confirmation on my screen—two days until my departure to Vancouver. I closed my eyes.

Julian said people would forget the video soon. He said everything would pass.

He was right.

Everything here would soon become my past.

Including him.