Chapter 3

After Serena confessed the truth, she stopped wearing the fisherman’s outfit.

She changed into a black trench coat.

Serena had been beautiful since she was a child.

She had a high nose bridge and features as delicate as a painting.

Many boys had wanted her.

In the past, every time she received a love letter, she would give me ten gifts.

She said, “I will only ever like Ethan in this life, and every time someone shows interest in me, I’ll treat my Ethan ten times better.”

The last time, she planted a gardenia tree for me.

I stared at it blankly for a while.

She straightened her collar and smiled softly at the lit phone screen.

On the lock screen was their wedding photo.

The man wore a custom suit and a delicate brooch.

I remembered what she had once said.

If we got together in the future and got married.

She would take me around the world to take wedding photos.

She would put my bow tie on with her own hands.

She would hold my hand and kiss me by the sea.

My ears had turned red from imagining it.

Back then, I loved watching Titanic.

I cried over the beautiful love between the male and female leads.

At that time, Serena glanced at it as she passed by and hurriedly wiped away my tears.

“Why do boys all like this kind of thing?”

“Fine, when you turn eighteen, I’ll give you one exactly like it.”

She really had not forgotten that promise.

It was just that the person standing beside her was not me.

I looked again at the man’s suit.

Then I lowered my head and touched the rough burlap on my body.

On the island, I only had two burlap shirts with no style to speak of.

My life was terrible.

My so-called wife only showed a trace of warmth when she pressed against me deep at night and tangled with me.

For seven years, whenever she said she was going fishing, she would leave for two or three months.

But I did not care.

Because I had never treated her as my wife.

In my eyes, she was a human trafficker.

Until last month, when I finally saw a familiar figure by the sea.

But Serena had not come to take me away.

She even wanted me to stay here.

She wanted to keep me locked up for the rest of my life.

Pretending to be a fisherman for seven years must have been hard on her.

My heart throbbed with pain again and again, and I could barely breathe.

On the other end of the call, a child shouted excitedly.

“Mommy! The house you bought me has been decorated by Daddy!”

“It’s so pretty! It looks like a castle!”

“Daddy said you prepared a dozen houses like this for me, but why are houses counted by the dozen?”

The man laughed and pushed the child away, saying, “Go on, go play, your mom and I have something to talk about.”

She looked at the phone, a doting smile on her face.

“Baby, I’ll be back soon.”

“Mm, I know, you even bought the outfit? You miss me that much?”

“Then don’t sleep tonight, and begging won’t help.”

When she turned back and saw me, she froze for a moment.

Soon, she hung up and glanced at the child sleeping on the bed.

She came over, touched my head, and softened her voice.

“I’m leaving, so take good care of the baby, because he’s only two and can’t be away from his dad.”

She held my hand and put a ring on me.

“If you want a wedding, we can have one next month.”

I silently gathered up the hood that had burned to ash on the ground.

My voice held no warmth.

“Fine.”

My heart slowly went cold too.

Voices came from outside the window.

“Miss, sir, he…”

The other person paused for a few seconds.

Serena immediately strode over and asked nervously,

“What happened to him? Is he in trouble?!”

Before she finished speaking, Mason’s voice came from outside the door, carrying deliberate intimacy.

“Serena, I’m here.”