"Miss Jackson, are you certain you want to undergo hypnosis? You should know that once the hypnosis begins, it cannot be reversed. Your body will be controlled by an alternate personality, and you will fall into a sleep from which you will never wake up again," the doctor asked in a grave tone from the other end of the phone.

"Yes, I'm certain," Nina Jackson replied calmly.

"Miss Jackson, are you sure you want to undergo hypnosis? You should know that once it begins, it's irreversible. Your body will be controlled by an alternate personality, and you'll fall into a sleep from which you'll never wake up," the doctor asked gravely over the phone.

"Yes, I'm sure," Nina replied calmly.

Before the call ended, there was a sudden noise at the door—Lucas Spencer had returned.

Nina hung up and silently walked to the living room.

The dining table was still set with untouched food—roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and asparagus—now completely cold from sitting out too long.

"Nina, I'm sorry. There was an emergency at the office and I've been working overtime until now. I didn't even get to celebrate your birthday," Lucas said apologetically. "But I did buy you a gift. Open it and see."

He handed her a beautifully wrapped small gift box.

Nina didn't immediately reach for it. Her gaze fell on Lucas's collar.

On the white collar, a bright red lipstick mark stood out starkly.

Nina felt a sting in her eyes and a sharp pain in her heart.

Sometimes she couldn't help thinking: was he doing this on purpose? He managed his vast corporate empire so meticulously, yet couldn't check if there was lipstick on his collar before coming home.

"What's wrong? Are you upset?" Seeing Nina's hesitation, Lucas stepped forward and coaxed her affectionately. "The office had an urgent matter, I really couldn't get away. Come on, don't be upset. I'll make it up to you tomorrow."

As he came closer, Nina smelled a strong perfume on him.

Tom Ford's Black Orchid, also known as the "heartbreaker" fragrance.

Clearly, he'd been with some gorgeous woman tonight.

"I'm not upset," Nina finally reached out and took the gift Lucas offered.

It was a pair of sapphire earrings with a celestial design. They looked quite expensive, but—

As the editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine, Nina knew their latest issue had just featured these exact earrings.

They were part of a collection that included a necklace, bracelet, ring, and earrings.

Buy the first three items, get the earrings free.

Nina discreetly felt the bottom of the gift box and sure enough, found the words "complimentary gift" printed there.

She laughed bitterly. "Lucas, we've been married for five years. Do you even know what I do for a living?"

"Of course I do. You're a fashion magazine editor, right?" Lucas smiled. "I read every issue you published.”

Nina fell silent. He claimed to read every issue of her magazine, yet still gave her a promotional freebie on her birthday.

As they stood in awkward silence, Lucas's phone rang at the worst possible moment.

He deliberately turned away from Nina and went to the balcony to answer it.

He intentionally raised his voice, "Hello? Howard? What's up?"

"What? There's a problem with the contract documents? Didn't I just help you revise those documents?"

So transparent in his deception. Nina closed her eyes wearily.

He didn't need to put on this act. The moment his phone lit up, she had already seen the contact name displayed clearly on the screen, “Sexy Babe.”

All this talk about Howard and contract documents... it was all for her benefit.

Setting the stage for his rendezvous with “Sexy Babe.“

Sure enough, moments later Lucas returned from the balcony with an apologetic expression. "Nina, I'm sorry. Those idiots at the office messed up the contract documents. I need to go back again."

"Go to bed and don't wait up for me. I'll make it up to you tomorrow."

With that, he hurriedly left.

Just then, Nina's phone vibrated.

Melody West, the currently most popular singer known for her sensual performances and suggestive lyrics, had posted on Instagram. She shared a close-up photo of her hand with the caption: "I've received the engagement ring. Aren't you coming over for our wedding night?"

In the photo, she wore the sapphire ring from the same celestial collection on the ring finger of her left hand.

Nina couldn't understand how everything had turned out this way.

In the beginning, Lucas was the one who pursued her. Unlike other short-lived suitors, his love was all-consuming. He chased her for two full years, during which she rejected him almost daily. But this never dampened his enthusiasm. He still sent her flowers every day, personally waited in line for hours just to buy her favorite gourmet cream puffs, kept track of her every move, and whenever she lingered on something while shopping, it would inevitably appear on her desk the next day, beautifully wrapped as a gift...

Between them, though there wasn't a passionate, dramatic romance, the tenderness that flowed through their quiet days together was enough to touch Nina's heart.

On the day he confessed his love, Lucas spared no expense and rented the entire theme park. After nightfall, he presented Nina with a fireworks show created just for her.

As the dazzling fireworks filled the sky, Nina was moved to tears. Lucas kissed her then and whispered lovingly in her ear, "I promise, my love for you will always be as brilliant as these fireworks."

But fireworks don't stay brilliant forever.

They vanish in an instant.

Nina smiled bitterly to herself, thinking that perhaps from the very beginning, her love story with Lucas had already been written with its ending.

As brilliant as fireworks, and just as fleeting.

Lucas didn't return all night. When Nina saw him again the next morning, he was still impeccably dressed in a tailored suit, handsome and elegant.

But Nina immediately noticed he was wearing a different suit.

Last night's "encounter" must have been too intense, and yesterday's suit was probably torn beyond repair.

"My dear wife, please don't be upset anymore." Lucas walked over and slipped his arm around Nina's slender waist, then lowered his head to kiss her. "To make up for my mistake, I've prepared a very special surprise for you today."

Nina turned her head, avoiding his kiss. "...Go take a shower first."

"I already showered..." Halfway through his sentence, Lucas's face showed embarrassment, though it quickly disappeared. He smiled and explained, "I showered at the Marriott. After finishing work last night, it was already midnight. I was busy preparing your surprise, so I didn't come home and just showered at the hotel instead."

Nina lowered her gaze. "Take another shower. Hotel showers don't clean thoroughly enough."

There was a hidden message in her words, but Lucas seemed not to catch it. He playfully tapped her nose, his tone and gesture indulgent, "Alright, alright. Whatever you say, sweetheart."

After his shower, Lucas drove Nina to the theme park.

He had once confessed his love to her here, and now he had rented the entire place again.

Nina felt slightly moved, but this feeling came too soon. Shortly after entering the park, they were greeted by the cartoon character parade.

On one of the floats, Melody West was dressed as a princess, standing in the most prominent position and passionately singing into a microphone.

"I remember you love Melody's songs," Lucas said. "You also love this character, so I invited Melody to dress up and sing for you... Are you happy?"

It felt like a dull knife slowly cutting through her heart, inch by inch.

The pain was so intense that Nina could barely breathe.

...How could he... How could he do this?!

Even the deepest enemy couldn't hurt her this badly, but Lucas had managed it.

He hadn't just insulted her. He had insulted her deceased sister.

Nina loved this theme park more than anywhere else because her childhood had been so unhappy. This theme park was a world of fairy tales and cotton candy, while her childhood had been nothing but violence and tears.

Old newspaper clippings still documented what had happened back then: "Wife, unable to endure husband's domestic violence, turned on the gas stove intending to die with husband. Two daughters couldn't escape in time - one died, one injured."

She was the injured one. Her sister, two years older, was the one who died.

The reason she loved the princess was because that was her sister's favorite cartoon character.

Also, the princess had a younger sister whom she deeply loved, just like Nina's own sister who had silently loved and protected her.

So the character held a special meaning for Nina. She represented her deceased sister.

But now, Lucas had his mistress dress up as the princess to sing for Nina, wishing her a happy birthday!

"You once told me your childhood wasn't happy, so you love here because it's like a fairy tale world that can heal all wounds," Lucas said, not noticing anything wrong with Nina. He took her hand, bent down to kiss the back of it, then declared passionately, "I can't travel back in time to change your childhood, but I promise you this: every day we're together, I'll spoil you like a child and make sure you live in a fairy tale."

Nina couldn't take it anymore. She pulled her hand back and slapped Lucas hard across the face, then turned and ran away, covering her face.

Lucas was stunned by the slap. After a moment, he quickly chased after her. "Nina!"

They ran for a while, but eventually, Lucas caught up to her with his longer legs.

"Nina, what's wrong?" He grabbed her arm and forcefully pulled her into his embrace. "What happened? Everything was fine. Why are you crying?"

You see, he always put on a good act. Even when slapped during his loving declaration, he didn't get angry. Instead, his first concern was her emotions, asking why she was crying.

But Nina didn't want to pretend anymore. "What happened? Lucas, don't you know? Do I really have to spell it out?"

"Nina, what are you talking about? I don't understand a word," Lucas asked with a frown.

"Enough! Stop pretending!" Nina cried out, on the verge of breaking down. "I know about you and Melody. She's even wearing the sapphire ring you gave her yesterday... Lucas, do you have to disgust me like this?"

Enough, really enough. Let everything end.

She no longer wanted to live in endless lies and pathetic self-deception.

Lucas calmly waited for Nina to finish venting, then pulled a small blue velvet box from his pocket. "Darling, is this the sapphire ring you're talking about?"

He opened the box to reveal the celestial sapphire ring lying inside.

"I actually bought the entire collection, but since I missed your birthday yesterday, giving everything at once felt like it lacked ceremony," Lucas explained with a wry smile. "So I only gave you the earrings. I was planning to give you the necklace, bracelet, and ring tonight during the fireworks show."

"And now before the fireworks even start, I've been accused of being a cheating scumbag?"