Scott Maynard and I were in love for eight years. I once believed he was my soulmate.

We joined Doctors Without Borders together and ventured into war zones side by side.

But everything changed the day Piper Ellison appeared.

To protect her, he shoved me into danger during a rebel siege, using me as a scapegoat. Then, he fled the country with Piper, and left me to rot in the prison.

Three years later, Miles rescued me. Yet upon returning home, the first thing I saw was Scott staging an elaborate proposal, surrounded by nine thousand roses.

He twisted the truth about what had happened in Asternis, and those around us believed him.

I revealed my wedding ring, and Miles stepped forward to shield me. Despite that, Scott still refused to let go. He became obsessed and relentless, even threatening his own life to force me back.

This love, riddled with betrayal and cruelty, finally came to a complete end with his death.

My boyfriend of eight years abandoned me in a war-torn country, Asternis, for the sake of his patient. I was left stranded there for three long years.

The day I finally boarded the evacuation flight home, I saw him waiting at the airport. The ground was blanketed in a sea of nine thousand roses.

Scott Maynard knelt on one knee, holding a ring in his hand, eyes brimming with affection.

"Mia," he said tenderly, "I never stopped worrying about your safety. Now that you're finally back, I can finally breathe again."

The crowd erupted with cheers, urging me to say yes. Everyone thought I'd burst into tears and nod in acceptance, because Scott had been the man I adored for eight years.

But they all forgot.

Three years ago, when the rebel forces surrounded the entire Red Cross team, it was Scott who shoved me forward to take the bullet, just to protect his patient, Piper Ellison.

I was captured and dragged into the abyss of a rebel prison while Scott took my passport and returned home with Piper. They carried on with their lives as if nothing had happened.

And now, people had the audacity to say, "After you were taken, Scott was depressed for three years. He almost jumped off a building. If it weren't for his efforts contacting friends in Asternis, you wouldn't have made it back at all!"

I didn't respond. I simply reached into my pocket, fingers brushing against the diamond ring hidden inside.

…

When I remained silent, Scott's friends took it upon themselves to speak.

"Mia, Scott developed bipolar depression because he missed you so much. Now that you're back, you can finally take care of him."

"He's grown thin and haggard over the past three years, and he never even looked at another woman. He's been waiting for you."

The airport road ahead was lined with fresh flowers.

Behind me, a massive screen displayed looping photos of Scott and me—smiling in scrubs, treating the wounded with Doctors Without Borders.

People passing by stopped to watch, some even taking out their phones to capture this "touching" moment.

I thought three years would be enough to dull the pain. But as I looked at the man before me, eyes full of love, I could only feel disgust.

"Mia, marry me." Scott's pale, gaunt face stretched into a hopeful smile. Clearly, he didn't know—I was already married.

Still, I said nothing.

He turned to his friends with a gentle smile. "Mia's been away for three years. Don't scare her."

Then he turned back to me. "Mia, you once said we were kindred spirits. Please… say yes."

I looked at the ring in his hand, which was made from a soda can tab.

And then, calmly, I pushed his hand away.

"Dr. Maynard, whatever we had ended three years ago."

The crowd gasped in shock.

Scott's already pale face turned even more ashen.

"Mia, are you still blaming me for what happened back then? But I had no choice. Piper has asthma. She needed to return home for treatment. You're a doctor. Don't you understand what it means to have a healer's heart?"

I couldn't help but laugh bitterly. In that moment, I realized just how blind I had been back then, how foolish I was to have loved a man like him for eight whole years.

He had been the golden boy of the campus—every girl's dream. His admirers included the campus beauty queens, wealthy heiresses, and even women who'd offer money just for a meal with him.

But he dismissed them all.

Because, in his eyes, I was the only one who mattered.

When I broke my favorite vase, he carved out time from his packed lab schedule to make a new one from scratch.

Every academic paper he published in top journals bore my name, just so I'd qualify to accompany him abroad.

On my birthday, he stood outside in a blizzard for seven hours just to surprise me.

After I earned my PhD, I decided to join Doctors Without Borders. Despite knowing we'd be posted in war zones plagued with disease and chaos, he followed me without hesitation.

Back then, he held my hand gently and said, "Mia, go ahead and chase your dreams. I'll stay beside you, to protect you."

I truly believed he was my soulmate, the one person in the world who belonged to me.

But everything changed when Piper appeared.

At the time, Asternis had just suffered a devastating earthquake. Scott and I were constantly on the move, saving lives in the worst-hit areas.

Piper was one of the people he rescued.

She cried endlessly, trembling with fear, and Scott went out of his way to comfort her. Whenever there was good food or small pleasures to be had, he gave them to her first.

Once, he even pulled strings to have a cake shipped in from our homeland, just because she pouted and said she was craving something sweet.

I was jealous, often.

He would only chuckle and say, "I just feel sorry for her. I'm only trying to help."

At first, I believed him. I thought he was simply being a compassionate doctor.

That went on until a colleague pulled me aside and whispered, "There's a wedding happening by the grass field. The groom… is Scott."

My scalpel slipped during surgery, slicing into my own wrist.

Even then, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I'd asked my colleague multiple times if it could be a coincidence—a case of someone with the same name. But she insisted: in this region, he was the only person with the surname Maynard.

After the operation, I forced down my anger and rushed to the site. I needed to confront Scott.

But the moment I arrived, I saw him placing a flower crown on Piper's head. She was wearing the only white dress I owned, her cheeks tinged with a bashful blush under the sunlight.

A crowd gathered around them, singing unfamiliar blessings in a language I couldn't understand.

They danced together beneath the sun, moving in perfect sync, like a couple deeply in love.

For a moment, I felt like I had fallen into an ice pit. It was July, but I couldn't breathe.

When Scott turned and saw me, he instinctively pulled his arm away from around Piper.

Panic filled his face as he jogged over to me. "What are you doing here?"

I glanced at the lipstick stain on his shirt collar and gave a cold, bitter laugh. "Came to give you a wedding gift."

At my words, his brow furrowed, as if trying to suppress his frustration. "Don't make a scene. I'll explain everything when we get back."

I actually laughed—really laughed, because I couldn't believe it.

My boyfriend was holding a wedding ceremony with another woman, and now I wasn't even allowed to ask why?

Looking at the man in front of me, so calm and composed, I felt like I was hallucinating. Wasn't this the same person who had held me not long ago, whispering about marriage?

Grievance surged in my chest, and tears spilled from my eyes before I could stop them.

Seeing me cry, Scott panicked. "Mia, I was wrong. But I can explain. Don't overthink it. I'll explain everything later, okay? Please don't make a scene."

He reached out to gently wipe my tears.

I pushed his hand away and turned to leave without another word.

Scott made a move to follow me, but Piper called out behind him, "Dr. Maynard… don't leave me…"

Watching my retreating figure, he hesitated for a long moment, then didn't come after me.

I sat alone in our home until the early hours of the morning. It wasn't until then that Scott finally returned, reeking of alcohol.

He used to never drink a drop.

Seeing my expression, he instinctively reached out to hold my trembling body.

"Piper's condition has been unstable. She's been having memory lapses lately," he said. "I'm just helping her recover. We're doctors. You understand, don't you? We can't just stand by and do nothing when a patient needs us. There's no such thing as male or female in the eyes of a doctor—only patients."

When I didn't respond, he cupped my face in his hands, gazing into my eyes with sincerity.

"Mia, I gave up everything to come with you to this foreign land. How could you doubt me like this?"

There was even disappointment in his eyes.

He sounded so earnest… and yet, I couldn't bring myself to believe him.

Because it was absurd.

Seeing my expression hadn't softened, he gently took my hand and slipped a ring onto my finger—one made from a soda can tab. Then he lowered his head and kissed it.

"Mia, let's get married when we return to our homeland, okay? You're the only woman I'll ever love. I'll give you the grandest wedding, make you the most beautiful bride."

I leaned into his embrace, my fingers tracing the makeshift ring.

The doubts in my heart eased a little.

Maybe… Piper really was just his patient.

What I didn't expect was that after that day, Scott became even bolder in how he doted on Piper.

He began bringing her in and out of the office openly, indulging her every whim without hesitation.

I warned him more than once to keep a professional distance, but he would only brush me off with perfunctory reassurances. He accused me of lacking compassion, of turning my back on someone in need.

Before long, the hospital was abuzz with rumors. They said Scott had fallen for someone new. Some even romanticized it, calling their bond a love born from surviving hardship together.

Before I had the chance to confront him, Piper came to find me.

At the time, I was working a free clinic in a disaster zone. Gone was her usual delicate, soft-spoken demeanor. In its place was smug arrogance.

"Dr. Armstrong," she said, chin held high, "Scott loves me. I suggest you back off before things get ugly. He told me that he only came to this godforsaken place because you pressured him into it. If it were up to him, he never would've become a field doctor.

"Save yourself the humiliation and break up with him. Do you really want to be the pathetic one clinging to a man who's already moved on?"

My hand trembled as I snapped open an ampoule. The jagged edge sliced deep into my skin. Blood poured down my wrist.

She smiled faintly, eyes gleaming with triumph. "Still not giving up, Dr. Armstrong? No matter. You'll know soon enough who Scott chooses."

She leaned in closer. I instinctively stepped back, but she suddenly grabbed my wrist.

The broken glass tore a long gash down my arm, but before I could cry out in pain, she shrieked and flung herself backward.

We both stumbled to the ground, drawing the attention of everyone nearby.

Moments later, Scott arrived in a panic and scooped Piper into his arms without a second thought.

"Piper, are you okay?"

Then he turned to glare at me, his eyes full of anger. "Is it so hard for you to accept her presence?"

Piper clung to him, her voice trembling with practiced vulnerability. "I just wanted to help Dr. Armstrong… but she called me a homewrecker… Dr. Maynard, maybe it's best if you stop taking care of me…"

Her words immediately ignited Scott's temper. "Just look at yourself! Do you think someone like you deserves to be a doctor? I've told you—again and again—that I'm only worried about her. Why can't you let it go? She's all alone in a foreign country. Can't you show some basic decency and stop nitpicking every little thing?"

I stared at him in stunned silence, unable to believe what I was hearing.

Was this really the man I'd loved for eight years? The one who now stood there defending a woman he'd only known for a few weeks?

The injustice boiled over inside me, and I finally snapped. "She provoked me first! Are you my boyfriend or hers? She even hurt—"

"Enough!"

Before I could finish, he cut me off sharply.

His voice was cold, full of impatience. "How many times do I have to explain? There's nothing between Piper and me! Why can't you stop being so paranoid? I gave up everything to follow you here. What more do you want from me?"

His words hit like ice water.

As I watched him walk away, still carrying Piper in his arms, I felt something inside me crumble.

For the first time, I realized just how little my eight years had meant.

I removed the makeshift ring from my finger and tossed it into the drawer.

From that day on, Scott never sought me out again. Even though we still lived under the same roof, he went out of his way to avoid me.

Our colleagues began to distance themselves as well. Behind my back, they whispered that I was the real third party, because I was the one who wasn't loved.

I didn't get angry. I buried myself in work instead. I believed that someday, the truth would come to light.

Until that day, war broke out in this country, and the rebel forces surrounded the hospital.

Due to a tampered batch of medication, many of the rebels died.

Someone accused me of being a spy and poisoning them on purpose.