Chapter 2

Those two dumped me at the hospital and left.

Their excuse was that they were going to check whether Logan needed any help on his end.

Once my wounds were bandaged, I waited alone from day into night.

Logan never showed up.

Close to eleven, he finally called.

“Vivi, one of our clients lives one city over, and he came all this way for nothing. I feel awful about it.”

“I'm going to drive him back myself. Just tough it out at the hospital tonight, and I'll come get you first thing in the morning.”

Then he hung up.

He didn't ask how my injuries were, or whether I'd eaten.

Only that veiled reproach, as if I were the one who'd made trouble for him.

On social media, the two who'd just left had posted several videos back to back.

【Time to crash the wedding night for our Logan and his bride~】

【A wife's tears are a husband's weak spot. The bride cried, and Logan dropped the whole idea of going to the hospital to fetch a certain dead weight, hahaha.】

So this was the real reason Logan wouldn't come.

The first few clips were all of him and Debbie playing their little games.

I watched them sitting on our wedding bed, mouth to mouth, trying to bite the apple dangling between them.

They couldn't reach it, so their mouths met in a kiss instead.

Debbie flushed red, but Logan curled his lips, pressed a hand to the back of her head, and deepened the kiss while everyone egged them on.

She burrowed shyly into his arms, then seemed to jab against something.

“What's this?”

Logan pulled out a protective charm, yanked it off, and tossed it into the trash without a second thought.

“Nothing. Cheap junk off a street stall.”

“Did it hurt you? Let me rub it better.”

My heart felt like it was being crushed in a fist, until even breathing hurt.

There was a time Logan had been sick, and for a long while he wouldn't get better.

I'd secretly asked the driver to take me to a hilltop chapel on the outskirts, and I'd knelt up all 999 steps to pray for that charm.

Because I couldn't see, I even tumbled down partway, nearly losing my life.

When Logan found out, he was furious and heartbroken all at once, and he held me tight, shaken.

“Vivi, you don't need to do anything for me. As long as you're by my side, I'd run back from the gates of hell itself to take care of you.”

“Don't worry. I'll treasure it with my life.”

And now he'd thrown it away like garbage.

I tapped open the last video. Someone, uneasy, was asking.

“But Vivienne can't see. Leaving her by herself at the hospital, won't something happen to her?”

“Pfft, it'd be for the best if something did. Then Logan would finally be free. What can Vivienne do besides drag other people down? Nothing like the bride, who's not only Logan's right hand at the company but gave him a big healthy son too. Now that's a good wife.”

“Logan, be honest. These five years with Vivienne, do you regret it?”

Logan paused.

“Vivi was my girlfriend back then. Taking care of her, I've never regretted that.”

Hearing that, something in me stirred.

But Debbie's face shifted, and she smiled with something pointed behind it.

“Right. She did save Logan's life, after all. He should be responsible for her his whole life.”

Only Logan's face went cold in an instant, and he let out a scornful laugh.

“I clawed my way to where I am in Pearl City so she could live well. That's still not enough?”

“I really should take care of her. But now and then I do wish she hadn't saved me that day. Or just …… maybe then I wouldn't be this worn out, having to tiptoe around her feelings at every turn.”

Debbie leaned into his arms, delicate and pitiful.

“Logan, you don't have to think about me. I don't mind taking a little unfairness.”

“I'm content just to have a wedding. At least in other people's eyes, no one will call our child illegitimate. As for the marriage license, I won't dare hope for that.”

Logan held her close, aching for her, as if he'd made up his mind.

“It's just a marriage license. I'll give it to you.”

“But what about Vivienne ……”

“Some other day I'll get a fake one to fob her off. She can't see, she won't notice.”

I couldn't make out the rest.

Clutching my chest, I curled up on the hospital bed. It felt like there was a hole torn open there, cold wind whistling straight through.

What Logan had meant to say was: or better yet, if I'd just been crushed dead by that billboard, there wouldn't be all this trouble.

My phone rang. On the other end came my brother's voice, one I hadn't heard in so long.

“Vivi, your eyes are finally better? I was so happy to see your message. I thought you were still angry, so I didn't even dare come to the wedding.”

“Are you happy being a bride? Is Logan good to you?”

Listening to my brother's concern, I couldn't hold it in any longer, and I broke into sobs.

“Julian Carrington, he married someone else, and they have a child. He's hoping I'd already dropped dead.”

“I don't want to be with him anymore. I want to come home.”