On the day of my ninth wedding attempt, my fiancé, Lucas Yearwood, leaves me jilted again.

This time, I follow him. I see him holding his adoptive sister's hand as they walk into the obstetrics department.

"Lucas, I dreamed that we're having a boy—he's definitely going to be as handsome as you."

Watching the two of them laugh and chat like that, I feel my blood freeze.

After I chased Lucas for seven years, I got a chance to use a debt of gratitude to force a marriage contract out of him.

I backed him into a corner to make him marry me.

Everyone thinks I can't survive without him. But this time, I hand the marriage contract back and leave him without looking back.

On my wedding day, he calls me. "Viv! Where are you right now?"

I'm in the shower. My new husband picks up the call for me. "Do you have business with my wife?"

Later, I hear Lucas turned all of Riverville upside down, digging through every trash can to find our marriage contract.

In the evening, Lucas Yearwood returned home carrying a bouquet of nearly wilted roses.

"Viv, I bought these roses especially for you. Do you like them?" he asked.

I didn't even look up. I clutched the marriage contract I had once traded my life for as I sat—soaked—on the edge of the bed, my mind filled with the scene I had just witnessed at the hospital.

He had also given roses to Anna Carter. Hers were fresher and more beautiful than mine. Lucas grew angry when he saw no reaction from me.

"Viv, I had to leave abruptly because Anna was attempting to commit suicide by cutting her wrists. If it were you, you wouldn't leave someone to die either, would you?"

I responded numbly, "Of course, we should save her..."

After all, it would have been two lives lost.

Seeing my docile response, Lucas raised his thick eyebrows and smirked. In a patronizing tone, he said, "Just keep being obedient like this. Look, I even bought you your favorite roses."

We had held a wedding ceremony nine times, but each attempt ended in failure because of Lucas' so-called adopted sister. Yet each time, Lucas won me back with a bouquet of roses.

He didn't know that roses were Anna's favorite, not mine. I loved him, so I loved everything he gave me. But now...

"I'll put the roses in the vase..." Before he could finish speaking, I caught the scent of Anna's perfume on him. I then noticed the lipstick mark on his shirt collar.

Perhaps it was from having been caught in the rain, combined with the shock, but my head spun, and I suddenly felt nauseous. I rushed to the bathroom and began vomiting.

Lucas' smile froze when he saw my pale face. He rushed in and patted my back. "What's wrong? You're burning up. Should I take you to the hospital?"

Just as he was about to say something more, his phone rang. Seeing "Anna" flash on the screen, he glanced at me before answering, "Anna, what's up?"

Anna began crying on the other end. Her soft, childlike voice would make anyone feel bad for her.

"Luke, where did you go? My stomach suddenly hurts so badly..."

Lucas immediately panicked when he heard this. He told me, "Viv, something's happened to Anna. I need to check on her.

"You can get to the hospital by yourself, right? You know Anna's fragile and needs constant care."

I felt reluctant to let him go. I grabbed his hand and gave him our marriage contract.

"You said you'd marry me. That promise still stands, right?" I looked at him with reddened eyes. There was a hint of pleading in my voice. Even now, I foolishly hoped he would change his heart for me.

"You're still using this piece of paper to chain me down? Are two years of emotional blackmail not enough for you? I can't even look at this damn thing anymore!"

Lucas' face contorted with disgust as he crumpled the marriage contract and threw it into the trash can. I stared blankly at the contract in the trash, my gaze darkening. In the end, he left anyway.

My eyes filled with tears again as I watched his hurried silhouette disappear.

I had loved Lucas for seven years, but he had never loved me back.

Lucas was swept away by floodwaters two years ago. I swam out to rescue him without hesitation, but a tree branch broke my leg during the rescue. Even though it was reattached later, as a rising star in the national swimming team, I could never compete again.

I leveraged this debt of gratitude by obtaining a marriage contract from Lucas' grandfather to force Lucas to marry me. Even so, Anna would always interfere in the nine times we tried to get hitched. Not to mention, Lucas was always fooled by her poor acting skills.

This repeated farce turned me into the biggest joke in Riverville, yet I never cared about that. It didn't matter to me what others said or how they criticized me. I only wanted to be with Lucas.

Now, however, I was truly getting tired. I had a fever all night and only recovered the next morning.

Even after I woke up, Lucas still hadn't returned home. I opened my phone and scrolled through my feed, coming across Anna's social media post.

"I'm so happy! A mosquito bit me, and my brother was so concerned that he spent the whole night catching mosquitoes. Now, he's making breakfast for me."

The caption accompanied a photo showing a man's back as he worked in the kitchen. I recognized Lucas immediately. The comments flooded in below.

"OMG! Can I have a brother like that, too? My brother only treats me like a workhorse!"

"That's so sweet! I'm so jealous."

Anna replied to the comment shortly after: "He often rides me like a horse, too, especially when he's drunk. It always leaves me in so much pain…"

No one understood the subtle meaning behind her words, but I did. My heart ached dully, and I found it difficult to breathe.

Lucas and Anna had no blood relation. They appeared to be siblings on the surface, but their relationship transcended that.

During my two-year relationship with Lucas, he would rush to Anna's side anytime she called. He would buy her feminine products, pills for cramps, blow-dry her hair, and sleep in the same bed holding her until she fell asleep.

I had foolishly believed they were just close siblings. But thinking about it carefully, what siblings would go to such lengths?

Lucas returned home at noon. Seeing me busy in the kitchen, he walked in and embraced me from behind, resting his head on my shoulder.

"Viv, are you feeling better? Why are you cooking?" he asked while reaching to touch my forehead. "You're still a bit warm."

As he spoke, his hands began to wander. He whispered with a smile, "Let me check if you're just as hot inside..."

A wave of nausea hit me. I pushed him away and rushed to the bathroom to vomit.

Lucas frowned, clearly displeased. "Do you need to reject me so dramatically? I noticed it last night, too. Why do you feel sick every time I touch you?"

I avoided his gaze. After cleaning up, I skipped the meal and said quietly, "I need to go to work now."

Lucas was startled by the coldness in my eyes. He quickly grabbed my arm, his voice softening, "Viv, what's going on with you? Why have you been acting so strangely these past two days?

"It's not like this is our first failed wedding attempt. We can just have another one next time. It's just a ceremony! Is it really that important to you?"

"I'm seriously going to be late!" I pushed his hand away and fled from the suffocating house.

I had been working at Lucas' company after I left the national team, helping him manage it. I always worked diligently without ever asking for a promotion or raise.

Plus, Lucas had always been cold toward me. Even though the employees knew I was his fiancée, they never respected me.

"Did you hear? Vivian West got dumped by Mr. Yearwood at the altar again!"

"She's been dumped nine times already. Can this marriage even happen? If it were me, I wouldn't want to live anymore after being humiliated so many times."

"Don't you know? Vivian has skin thicker than a rhino! She's been fawning over Mr. Yearwood for nine years without giving up. A mere runaway groom isn't going to make her quit."

Before they could finish, I walked out of the bathroom stall and casually approached the sink to wash my hands. The women turned pale when they saw me.

"Vivian, we didn't mean to talk about you..."

I gave them a cold glance and left without looking back. I had been hearing gossip about me for nine years and had grown used to it. Perhaps loving Lucas had also just become a habit.

In the afternoon, Anna came into the office carrying coffee and pastries. When she entered, she smiled and said, "You've all been working so hard.

"Lucas asked me to bring everyone some afternoon treats. Please, don't be shy—eat and drink as much as you like."

Everyone cheered immediately at her words.

"Anna, you're too kind!"

"Exactly! You're not only beautiful but also kind-hearted. Unlike certain people..."

Someone stole a glance at me, their tone turning nasty.

Upon hearing this, Anna smiled and placed a drink and a snack on my desk. "Vivian, you've been working hard, too. Why don't you have something to drink and take a break?"

My eyes darkened as I raised my hand to decline, but she fell backward before I could even touch her.

"Vivian, even if you don't like the drinks I bought, you didn't have to push me!" Anna's eyes reddened as she stared at me pitifully.

The commotion immediately drew Lucas out of his office. Seeing Anna on the floor, Lucas's anger flared.

"Who pushed Anna? Do you have a death wish?"

Everyone turned to look at me. Lucas followed their gaze and met my eyes. I quickly explained, "I didn't push her. I didn't even touch her!"

Everyone began speaking at once.

"Ms. West! Stop making excuses. I just saw you push Anna!"

"I can't believe Ms. West is this kind of person. I saw her shove Anna hard, and now she won't even admit it!"

Amid the chorus of accusations, Lucas didn't hesitate to take Anna's side. "Vivian! Have I been indulging you lately? How dare you bully my sister!"

Seeing this, Anna fell into Lucas' arms with teary eyes. "Luke, stop getting angry at Vivian. It's my fault for being so fragile, and also..."

She placed a hand on her stomach, her expression suddenly contorting with pain.

"Luke, my stomach... It hurts so much..."

Lucas instantly panicked and scooped her up in his arms. Before leaving, he shot me a glance. "I'll never forgive you if anything happens to Anna!"

I watched his retreating figure with reddened eyes, a bitter smile tugging at my lips. I hadn't touched Anna, nor had I insulted her, but Lucas still wouldn't investigate the truth.

He was always like this. He was always unable to get me. That evening, my phone chimed. It was a message from Anna.

"Sorry, Vivian. Lucas probably won't be coming home tonight."

Two photos followed the text. They showed Lucas sleeping at her bedside.

My hands trembled involuntarily, and my eyes reddened with tears.

Lucas had been the campus heartthrob in high school—handsome and academically gifted.

He saved me when troublemakers bullied me, and I fell for him from then on. That crush then turned into nine long years of devotion.

Now, I'd finally come to my senses.

I called Mr. Yearwood Senior to cancel the engagement, but he hesitated—invitations for the tenth wedding had already been sent out.

After hanging up, it suddenly struck me—Lucas still had a young uncle who had never married.

Clutching my phone tightly, I dialed another number.

The next day, I spotted Lucas with Anna by his side while I was with a client, Caleb Lumber. They entered a baby products store together. When he saw Lucas, he immediately went over to greet him.

"Mr. Yearwood, what a coincidence! What brings you here?" Caleb glanced at the store's name as he spoke, confusion flickering across his face.