Gerry Stall had now attended the bachelor parties of his ex-girlfriends eight times. This time, he went all out—and left behind more than just memories. He planted a seed of love in the womb of the woman he had once loved the longest.

When I found out, I went straight to the hospital to pick up birth control and abortion pills, just like I had the previous seven times.

But as I reached the door of what was supposed to be our wedding suite, I saw her—his ex—standing there, tears spilling down her cheeks as she confronted him.

“Gerry, who do you choose? Me... or the two heartbeats inside me?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Gerry pulled her into his arms.

“I choose you. I choose our children.”

Then, right in front of me, he threw the pills—and the envelope of cash I was holding—into the trash. My ID card followed, landing on the lid with a dull thud.

“Niana is different,” he said. “She doesn’t need these.”

I stood frozen, stunned. “What are you talking about?”

“If the Stall Family elders hadn’t opposed Niana because of her complicated background, our first child would already be in kindergarten. But fate…”—his voice lowered—“cut its life short on a cold operating table.”

He turned back to me, eyes solemn. “So this time, I’ll protect her until this baby is born safely.”

Then he added, as if offering a consolation prize.

“Once the child is born, we’ll name you as the godmother. After the baby turns one, I’ll arrange for Niana to move abroad with the child.”

“And after that… we’ll register our marriage. I’ll give you the grand wedding you deserve. Will that be okay?”

I stared at him for a long moment. Then, I smiled.

“Sure. You arrange it. I have no objections.”

That very night, he moved Niana Grey into the wedding chamber that had been prepared for me.

I gathered my documents in silence and made a phone call—to his lifelong rival.

“…You once said that if I ever wanted to marry you, you’d say yes without hesitation. Does that offer still stand?”

His voice was steady and sure. “It still stands.”

——

Outside, rain beat softly against the balcony windows, as if washing away the bitterness that had built up in my chest.

“Then… can we get married three days from now?” I asked.

There was a pause. Then...

“Sure.”

“I’ll see you at the City Hall. Don’t forget to bring your ID.”

After the call, I took out a wet wipe and gently cleaned the smudges from my ID card.

Earlier today, Gerry had tossed it onto the trash can lid like it was meaningless. And in that moment, I realized—he never truly cared. Not about my feelings. Not about our supposed marriage.

He could delay it any time, using any excuse.

From his bachelor party... to the seven exes who got pregnant one after another… to me quietly cleaning up the messes each time… and now waiting for Niana to give birth?

I sighed, feeling a dull ache in my chest.

Eleven years. I had loved him for eleven years. I thought that today—finally—my secret crush that began at fifteen would have a beautiful ending. That Gerry and I would get our happy ending.

But instead...

A cold gust swept into the room, making my eyes sting. Tears blurred my vision.

The butler entered silently and placed the tablet in front of me. It was still on a video call.

Gerry’s face filled the screen, glowing with residual joy. The camera tilted slightly and I caught a glimpse of a delicate pink sleeve draped over his hand, his veins standing out beneath her soft skin.

I looked away, my throat tightening.

“What is it?”

His smile faded, his expression cooling as he turned the camera toward the floor.

A pile of items lay there—remnants of the life that was meant for me.

“Niana doesn’t like these things,” he said flatly. “I’m planning to get rid of them. Do you want them? If you do, I can have someone deliver them to your place.”

I quietly studied each item in the pile.

There was the hand-sculpted clay figure—crafted by Gerry himself at a luxury clay studio he’d taken me to for my birthday. It had been his surprise gift to me that year.

There was the silver-threaded, butterfly-tailed wedding gown—a showpiece from an elite overseas auction. Gerry had paid an exorbitant price for it. When it was airlifted home, I had never seen him smile so genuinely.

“You’ll look stunning in this dress at our wedding,” he’d said.

There were also the bright red double happiness characters we had cut out together… the balloons we tied with laughter… the matching bedding dolls we picked out with such care.

Once, these items had been precious memories. Now, they were tossed aside like garbage.

My heart sank—slowly, steadily—until it felt like it had hit rock bottom.

Before I could say a word, Niana appeared on the screen. She leaned playfully against Gerry, her voice light and teasing.

“So Gerry wasn’t lying. Sister Luna’s taste really is… unique. Who still uses these bright red decorations at weddings these days? They’re so outdated. The only thing remotely salvageable is that dress, but even that butterfly tail ruins it.”

Gerry chuckled and gently pinched her cheek, his eyes full of warmth.

“I’ll take you to the next auction. Whatever you like, just bid on it.”

“Yay! Gerry is the best!”

I bit down the rising ache in my chest and took a steadying breath. I couldn’t bear to watch them flirt a second longer.

“I don’t want any of those things,” I said flatly. “Do whatever you want with them.”

Then I added, my voice sharper than I’d ever used with him before.

“Also, Gerry, she’s two years older than me—same age as you. And she calls me ‘sister.’ Don’t you think that’s a little off?”

It was the first time I’d ever confronted him so directly. For a moment, he looked completely stunned.

But Niana reacted first, bursting into tears.

“I-I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m sorry… Sister Luna, I just wanted to get closer to you…”

I cut her off coldly.

“There’s no need for that. Now or in the future, there will never be any relationship between us.”

Her sobs grew louder, her delicate shoulders trembling.

Gerry pulled her into his arms, soothing her with soft pats on the back and gently wiping her tears away.

Then he turned back to the screen and glared at me.

“Niana did nothing wrong. You’re the one out of line, Luna. What’s gotten into you today? You’ve never been this difficult before.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“What do you mean you don’t want to be close to her? Niana’s child is supposed to recognize you as their godmother. She’s trying to be kind and you’re mocking her? That’s just arrogant.”

I gave a bitter smile.

He only ever saw me as someone who never made things difficult for others. He never once considered how many times others had made things difficult for me.

“Gerry, her child doesn’t need me as a godmother and she doesn’t need to be close to me. As for our wedding—there’s no need to reschedule it.”

The room fell deathly silent. On the other end, the comforting murmurs stopped abruptly.

Gerry’s face darkened. He stared at the screen and said one word—three times, each colder than the last.

“Good. Good. Good.”

Then the call cut off.

Moments later, a video notification popped up on my phone.

Hands trembling, I opened it.

My wedding dress—the once pure white, intricately embroidered gown—was engulfed in flames.

Gerry’s voice followed, his tone frigid.

“You really thought you were going to be Mrs. Stall, didn’t you? You forgot your place.”

“Luna, you’re just an orphan the Stall Family took in out of charity. What right do you have to speak to me like that?”

“If my mother and the other elders hadn’t schemed to drive Niana away, do you think you would’ve ever climbed your way up to become the future Mrs. Stall?”

“You only had to wait another ten months. Ten months and the title would’ve been yours. But you just had to ruin it all.”

“This wedding dress is your lesson,” Gerry said coldly. “Once you calm down and truly accept Niana, then we can talk about holding the ceremony.”

I ended the video and collapsed onto the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling.

The cold wind brushed past, drying the tears that clung stubbornly to the corners of my eyes.

For a moment, it felt like I was back in that freezing tunnel beneath the bridge—alone, abandoned, numb.

Gerry was right.

I was just an orphan picked up by Madam Stall.

To be more precise… she pulled me from a river.

I was ten. After enduring unspeakable abuse at the hands of the orphanage director, I’d run away, only to wander the streets—hungry, lost, shivering. People shoved me aside, hurled insults, looked at me like I was nothing. One night, desperate and hollow, I nearly ended it all.

But then… Madam Stall appeared. She brought me home, fed me, gave me a bed. She made sure I’d never have to beg for food again.

From then on, I lived like a ghost in the Stall household. I was tolerated, never embraced. Anyone could walk all over me—but not Gerry.

He was the only one who ever smiled at me.

When I was punished and denied dinner, he’d sneak out and buy me spicy crayfish. When I couldn’t afford school supplies, he’d split his allowance and hand me a full set of beautiful stationery—one he had chosen himself.

For my fifteenth birthday, he skipped his tutoring session and took me to a handmade clay studio. He used his entire year’s allowance to mold a figurine just for me.

Something that would never fade. Never crack. Never break.

“Our Luna,” he said that day, smiling at me with those eyes I could never forget, “when you grow up, if you could wear a wedding dress as beautiful as this one and marry me… that would be wonderful.”

Even now, I still remember the wild rhythm of my heart.

“I... I want that too,” I whispered.

My voice was soft—too soft. I don’t think he ever heard it.

A few months later, Madam Stall flew into an unexpected rage. Gerry was abruptly pulled from school and confined to the Stall Family’s ancestral hall for a month of reflection.

Worried, I went to visit him—only to learn he had brought Niana home behind everyone’s back.

“She’s the only bright spot in my boring life,” he told me, almost dreamily. “I miss her so much. It’s my fault. I was too impatient. Has Mother said when I’ll be let out?”

The pang in my chest was sharp—blinding. My mind reeled. The joy I’d once felt was gone in an instant.

I knelt beside him on the prayer mat, head bowed, suddenly too afraid to tell him the truth—that Madam Stall and the elders had already decided to groom me to be his future wife.

“He’s only seventeen, yet he was willing to risk breaking ties with his family for a girl his age,” Madam Stall had said. “He needs to learn a lesson.”

In Gerry’s eyes, Madam Stall was tyrannical and the elders were outdated and controlling. He resented their grip on his life, longed for independence.

And I? I was the tool they’d chosen. They didn’t need both of us under control—just one.

If they could secure me as the future Mrs. Stall, they believed Gerry wouldn’t dare cut ties completely once he inherited the family business.

Soon after, Niana was quietly sent away to study in another city. As expected, Gerry was released from the ancestral hall not long after.

But half a year later, he found out about the family’s plans—about me.

That day, he came to me in a fury.

And he slapped me.

Hard.

From that moment on, he hated me.

I couldn’t sleep that night. I tossed and turned, heart hollow, ears ringing from the sting of that slap.

The next morning, a call woke me.

Just one sentence.

“Come to the old mansion.”

I knew then—Madam Stall must have discovered Niana’s pregnancy.

I didn’t hesitate. I packed my things and took a taxi straight to the Stall Family’s ancestral home.

When I arrived, Madam Stall had already vented her fury.

The moment she saw me, her teacup came flying across the room.

It shattered at my feet.

“You’re useless girl!” she shouted. “After all these years and you still can’t hold onto a man’s heart? What good are you to the Stall Family?”