He Stood at Memory's End

When she married Harry Slate, she was 22 years old while he was 32.

During their three years of marriage, he showered her with endless tenderness and would give her anything she wanted. He said he could pick the stars for her if she wanted, even the moon if she so wished. He spoiled her like she was a precious treasure.

The only thing was that he had insatiable demands every night. He would chuckle and refuse to let her go, even when she cried and begged for mercy.

She knew Harry had a lot of money and a lot of love—and all of it belonged to her. The day her father passed away, she called him 99 times, yet he declined every single one.

The next second, she received a photo taken by her best friend.

[Celine, is this your man? I saw him hugging a woman on the streets of Palto.]

After tapping the photo and seeing the man and the woman, Celine Quest felt as though she had fallen into an icy abyss.

The man was Harry, and the woman was her aunt.

Three days after Celine Quest's father, Tobias Quest, passed away, Harry Slate finally returned home. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Celine sitting on the couch. Her eyes were sunken, her figure thin and frail.

The guilt in his heart peaked. He quickly walked up to her and hugged her. "Celine, I flew to Palto for a meeting at the last minute. Due to the time difference, I didn't receive your call. That's why I couldn't accompany you to the funeral. It's my fault. What compensation do you want? I'll give it to you, okay?"

Celine quietly listened to him. Her expression was blank, showing no emotion. She said nothing and just took out two documents from her bag. She opened the last page for both of them before handing it to him. "I want these two things. Sign them."

Harry let out a sigh of relief and quickly picked up a pen to sign his name.

Seeing his unhesitating action, Celine's eyes began to well up with tears. "You didn't even look at the papers. Aren't you worried that the things I want from you are very expensive?"

Harry helplessly held the woman in his arms. "Celine, we're husband and wife. What's mine is yours. Once the baby is born, it'll belong to you and the baby. You can have whatever you want, do you understand?"

Then, he bent over to listen to the movement of the baby in her belly. "Are you going for a prenatal checkup today? Is the baby restless? How about I go with you?"

Celine remained silent, neither saying yes nor no.

Harry took it as her agreement and helped her get into the car. Throughout the journey, the atmosphere in the car was grim. Neither one of them spoke.

Harry tried to find a topic, but his phone suddenly rang.

"Harry, I'm back in the country, and I want to see you."

As they were sitting close together, Celine could hear Juniper Jenner's voice on the other end of the line. Her hand unconsciously clenched, and she soon saw Harry hang up.

"Celine, I have some work to take care of. Can you go to your prenatal checkup by yourself?"

Celine did not expose his lie and opened the car door.

Amidst the chilly wind, she hailed a cab, and memories flooded her mind as the street scenes fleeted outside the window.

Celine got into a car accident years ago. The driver fled the scene, and passersby dared not help her as they were afraid of getting into trouble. As she lay dying in a pool of blood, Harry, who was passing by, seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and picked her up.

That day, she fell in love at first sight with Harry, who was ten years older than her.

Fortunately, the mature and steady Harry was also fond of her.

After dating for a year, they got married.

Perhaps because of his age, he seemed to have unlimited patience. After they wed, they never argued, and he never missed a gift or anniversary. He always considered her feelings, except in bed.

She had no idea why he was still so energetic even at 32. Many nights, she would sob and cry, begging him to stop, but he would just smile and kiss her again and again. "My silly girl, I love you. That's why I'm like this. If we do more of this, my baby can give me a little baby."

Thus, she finally got pregnant in the third year.

Three days ago, Tobias suffered a sudden stroke. Celine rushed to his side, only to hear her father repeatedly mentioning Harry, asking when he would come. Tobias wanted to see his son-in-law.

Everyone knew he wanted to entrust Celine to Harry before he died, and everyone tried to contact Harry. Despite everyone's best efforts—Celine even almost crashed her phone from making so many calls—they could not get through to Harry.

Tobias passed away with regret and resentment.

Celine initially thought he was busy, but shortly after she finished handling Tobias' funeral arrangements, she received a photo from her best friend. She could not figure out why Harry would be embracing her aunt. Her mind was in turmoil, and she finally mustered the courage to enter Harry's study, where she was never allowed to enter.

The moment the door opened, she felt as if she had fallen into an ice pit. It was filled with things related to her aunt—a wall covered in photos, carefully preserved love letters, countless unsent gifts, and a thick ongoing love diary.

Through this diary, Celine learned everything.

He had only been in two relationships in his life. One was with her; the other was with her aunt, Juniper.

They were college sweethearts, and his relationship with her lasted a decade—passionate and intense. At the peak of their love, he accompanied her across Atolia, took her through the Amazine rainforest, and shared a passionate kiss beneath the golden sunrise on the snow-capped mountains.

At their lowest point, he smashed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of jewelry for her, abandoned his pride to travel abroad to win her back after their breakup, and even drowned his sorrows in alcohol until he suffered a stomach hemorrhage after learning she had started a new relationship.

All the joys and sorrows of his early life seemed to be closely related to Juniper.

The only reason he was with her was that he wanted a substitute who resembled Juniper after breaking up with her. Thus, he set his sights on her niece, Celine. After all, her face was strikingly similar to her aunt's!

Thus, he orchestrated a hit-and-run accident, making her fall for him at first sight. That was also why he slept with her day and night just to get her pregnant. However, he did not want a child like hers; he wanted a child who looked like Juniper.

The moment Celine learned the truth, she was struck dumb and utterly devastated.

His affection was fake, his love was fake, and even his sincerity was fake. He deceived her completely!

Although she was young, she knew one's heart had to be vacant before letting in someone new.

Besides, she was never a substitute for anyone. She was Celine Quest, the one and only Celine Quest.

However, he had been deceiving her from the very beginning, so she decided to deceive him in return. Celine deliberately did not tell him that he had signed a divorce agreement and an abortion form.

She was not a substitute for anyone, and she would not want a man who had no feelings for her...

Celine walked into the hospital and handed the abortion consent form to the attending physician. "Hello, I want to abort this child."