Chapter 3

Contempt, disgust, and whispers no one bothered to hide.

"How does she still have the nerve to show up here?"

"After the scene she caused three years ago—the depression, the suicide attempt, all to win Daniel back—she wouldn't still be trying to cling to him, would she?"

A chill ran through me, the voices around me growing fainter and fainter, while it felt like a hand had clamped tight around my chest.

My sister came up to me, her eyes red.

"Sis, I know about your past with Daniel."

"But today, I really do want your blessing."

She choked up.

"Only if you bless us with your own words will I believe you've truly let go of the past, that you've truly recovered!"

I opened my mouth.

But my throat felt sealed shut, and I couldn't get out a single word.

Then Daniel suddenly sneered.

"Forget it."

His eyes fixed on me, filled with undisguised disgust.

"A blessing from someone like her—I'd find it filthy."

My head snapped up.

Daniel stared at me and spoke, word by word.

"Actually, I should thank you."

"If that hadn't happened three years ago, I never would have seen you for what you really are, and I never would have met someone truly worth loving."

He paused, as if he wouldn't be satisfied until he'd watched the words sting me with his own eyes.

"It was you letting me off the hook that gave me the chance to meet my true love."

A wave of cheering broke out around us.

And there, under everyone's eyes, Daniel dropped to one knee.

The moment the ring box opened, my whole body went rigid.

That ring—

Three years ago, hunched over a table in the library, I had drawn it in my notebook, stroke by stroke, over and over.

A vine-like band, with a tiny round diamond set in the center.

Back then Daniel had snatched my notebook away and said, grinning,

"When we graduate, I'll have it made just like this, and I'll put it on you myself."

Now he really had made it.

But he was sliding it onto my sister's ring finger with his own hands.

My sister threw herself into his arms in tears, and the whole room applauded.

Then she suddenly turned, ran over to me, and held up her hand to show me the ring.

"Sis, look."

"Daniel says this design is really meaningful."

She threw her arms around me.

"Thank you for giving us your blessing."

My body was as stiff as a block of wood.

The next second, she leaned close to my ear, her voice so soft that only I could hear it.

"Oh, by the way."

"Mom and Dad told you I was thrown out and had to rough it for three years, right?"

She let out a soft little laugh.

"Actually, they sent me abroad the second month. Tuition, a house, living expenses—I got all of it."

"These three years have been wonderful for me."

My pupils shrank all at once.

Then, unhurried, my sister added,

"And that man."

"You think Mom and Dad could've gotten him out that fast on their own?"

"It was Daniel who helped."

"He was afraid you'd use what happened three years ago to keep hanging on to us. So he said—let you face it head-on, once and for all, so you'd get better sooner and stop clinging to us."

The last thread in my mind snapped clean through.

I shoved her away, hard.

My sister staggered back two steps and suddenly fell to the ground.

She clutched her lower belly, her face deathly pale.

"It hurts…"

"Daniel, my stomach hurts so much… our baby…"

Daniel's expression changed in an instant.

He rushed over and swept her into his arms, and when he looked up at me again, there was nothing left in his eyes but fury.

"Are you insane?!"

"Didn't you know she's pregnant?!"

I stood frozen where I was.

Mom completely panicked too. She charged over and swung her hand across my face.

My head snapped to the side from the blow.

"Your sister already apologized to you—why won't you let her go?!"

"You won't be happy until you've driven her to her death, is that it?!"

The whole place erupted into chaos.

"That's just vicious."

"He proposes today, and she has to cause a scene like this."

The voices pressed in on me from every direction.

Before Daniel rushed out with my sister in his arms, he suddenly looked back at me.

In that one look was a cruelty that was shocking to see.

But I couldn't see anything clearly anymore, the ringing in my ears growing louder and louder.

The figures in front of me twisted, one after another.

A birthday party three years ago, a birthday party three years later.

Daniel's departing back, the ring on my sister's hand.

My body suddenly went out of control, and warmth slid down between my legs.

The clamor of the room went abruptly silent. Everyone sucked in a breath and covered their noses in disgust.

Standing there in front of everyone, my body seized up and lost control until I wet myself, unable to hold on to even the last shred of dignity.

Everything went completely black, and I collapsed hard to the floor.