The night before my wedding, photos of me with another man had gone viral across the city.

As revenge, my fiancé brought eight bodyguards.

“I’ll give you fifteen thousand crowns,” he said. “Please them all.”

His hand tightened around my throat. “You’re such a whore—why don’t you just die?”

When I really did die, he lost his mind.

——

On the day of the Embernight Festival, my old classmates were having a reunion. I brought Ronan with me, hoping he’d have my back.

Yet still, I didn’t have the courage to go inside. So, I just waited quietly outside, watching.

Ronan’s breath steamed in the cold air.

“This is your class reunion? You hired me just to stand out here freezing?”

“I figured, if I collapsed, you could 'collect my body'.” I gave him a small smile.

Ronan stopped rubbing his hands together, staring at me in disbelief. “Huh? Collect your body? You’re joking, right?”

I nodded, still smiling to reassure him. “Yeah. Just a joke.”

He let out a long breath. “Gods, nearly scared me to death. Why'd you have to do that? On Embernight, no less.”

Shortly after, I saw him. The man whom I've waited for the night.

Damien Crestfall looked more confident than ever that night. Beside him was a petite woman clinging onto his arm. She smiled with innocence air around her.

Damien ruffled her hair in that tender, indulgent way I remembered too well.

I couldn’t take my eyes off him as they walked toward the parking lot, my vision stinging. I didn’t know if I’d ever see him again after this.

I exhaled slowly and told Ronan, “Let’s go home.”

As I was barely heading towards the exit, a voice called from behind, “Well, well… look who it is. Our cheating bride.”

I sighed. So much for staying unnoticed.

I lowered my head and continued started walking away. But the random man he wasn’t done.

“What’s up, Elara? You showed up but too scared to go in? Afraid our classmates will tear you apart?”

“I’m warning you, stay the hell away from my buddy! Filthy slut!” His voice rose sharply, drawing stares from my other classmates that began walking out the room.

Their angry, mocking stares burned into me.

“Aren't you Elara? Five years have passed and look at you now. Back then you were the dirty little tramp from those chat logs—what happened to you?”

A female classmate jabbed my arm. “What’s with the frail act? You look like you’d fall over if I pushed you.”

By then, Ronan stepped and warned them to back off. In truth, it had been so long since anyone had stood up for me.

Then I heard that familiar, clear voice I could pick out in any crowd.

The man who haunted my dreams was finally right beside me, yet I couldn’t bring myself to lift my head and meet his eyes.

Ronan was still arguing with them. “Look at you, ganging up on one woman, some real heroes, you all!”

I tugged on his sleeve and shook my head, silently telling him to drop it.

Damien looked me over, shadows darkening his gaze. “Elara. Is this the man you cheated with before our wedding?”

In truth, Ronan was just a caretaker I’d hired.

Damien’s lips curved into a cold, mocking smile. “Not much to look at,” he commented.

As they came closer, I finally recognized the woman on his arm. Cassia Thornwell. She was the woman who often sat next to me back in middle school.

She’d grown up alongside Damien—his childhood crush, to be exact.

Cassia gave me a slow once-over. “Dami, she’s… she’s the one you caught cheating before the wedding?”

Damien gave a noncommittal grunt.

I clung to Ronan’s sleeve like a dog with its tail between its legs and turned to flee.

Cassia grabbed me by the collar.

Smack!

Her slap landed on my cheek.

Suddenly, I stumbled and I lost my balance. Damien quickly caught me by the shoulders.

“Dami?” Cassia stared at him, her eyes rimmed red. “After everything she did to you, how can you—”

Damien's grip tightened, the pressure biting into my shoulders. Only when Cassia tugged at his sleeve did he abruptly let go.

Damien glanced down at me, the muscles around his eyes tightening, before turning to her. “Slap her and you’ll dirty your hand.”

“You think you can just slap people?” Ronan shot Cassia a sharp look and shoved Damien.

Damien caught his wrist. The air between them crackled with hostility.

“Ronan…”

A high-pitched ringing filled my ears, my vision tipping into dizziness.

Ronan twisted his arm free from Damien’s grip and caught me before I could collapse. Maybe it was my imagination, but I thought Damien had started to reach for me too.

Ronan walked me to the gates of my building, still fuming.

“Ela, why don't you just tell them the truth? You’re the victim here! Why keep silent?”

I smiled faintly. “I can’t.”

Damien had a new girlfriend now. So, if I told her the truth, wouldn't he dump his girl and come back to me?

We couldn’t go back.

I pressed the payment into Ronan’s hand. “Thank you.”

He shoved it back. “You can barely afford your hospital bills.”

When I stepped inside, Dot rolled over on her little wheels, meowing at my feet.

I’d found her half a month ago, when some man had kicked her until she screamed. I’d pretended to ask him for directions, just to give her a chance to drag herself away.

She’d only had the strength to move her front legs, but she’d still fled so fast the stairs behind her were streaked with blood.

Later, I’d taken her to the vet. Her hind legs couldn’t be saved; now she got two small wheels to support her.

I lifted my trouser leg. The skin where my prosthetic joined my calf was already red from standing too long.

Dot rubbed her head against it. I stroked her fur.

“We’re the same, you and I.”

A knock came at the door.

I lowered my pant leg and opened it—only to find Damien standing there, with seven or eight burly men in black suits and dark glasses behind him.

“That guy from earlier, is he the lowlife who ran off with you?” he asked.

“No.”

Damien blinked, then his expression hardened into pure loathing. “What, traded him for a new lover already?”

When I stayed silent, his mouth curled into a cold smile. He said, “Call him. Let him see exactly what you are.”

“He’s not here.”

He pushed past me and dropped onto the sofa. “Then I’ll wait.”

“Damien, coming into someone’s home uninvited is trespassing.” I wanted him gone.

He had a girlfriend now. What was he doing, sitting here in my flat at night?

“Elara, crawling from one bed to another, that’s whoring.”

The shadow in his face made my chest tighten painfully.

Fine. Let him sit.

I poured food into Dot’s dish. When I stood, it took effort.

Damien suddenly grabbed my arm, shoved me and I nearly fell. My back hit the wall and his hand closed around my throat.

“Elara, why the hell did you come back?!” His voice was low, but each word was bitten off in rage.

I could understand his reaction. If our positions were reversed, maybe I’d already be in the kitchen grabbing a knife.

“Because of you, I’ve become a laughingstock across the entire city!”

Damien's grip on my throat tightened, making it hard to breathe. A dull pain started throbbing in my head, the world spinning around me.

I didn’t move and let him hold me by the neck.

Strangely… the entire situation almost felt like a flicker of relief. I had never dared hope to be this close to him again.

Wasn’t this, in some twisted way, a win?

He finally let go, then slammed his fist into the wall so hard that his knuckles bled. “Elara, tell me—why did you do that to me? Was I ever cruel to you?”

Damien had always been the composed type, but now he looked broken. Because of me.

“I’m sorry,” I said, looking at him, wanting to etch his face into my memory, despite his eyes now holding a kind of disgust. Like I was some trash.

“You make me sick! Why did you come back? Why didn’t you just die? Why don't you just be gone?”

I'm sickening, right?

Good.

That way, Damien could live happily ever after with her woman.

Don’t worry, Damien. Soon, I’d give you exactly what you want—I’d be gone.

My eyes burned and my vision darkened. I slid down the corner of the wall, my body giving out.

Before I passed out, all those disgusting chat messages flashed before my eyes.

Damien... he actually believed I was the one sending those chats…

***

I woke up in a hospital.

Ronan sat at my bedside with worry written all over his face.

“Are you sick?”

From the other side of the room came a voice I knew all too well. I turned my head to see Damien standing there, staring at me coldly.

“Nothing serious,” I said.

“Must cost a lot to treat,” he replied.

“It’s manageable,” I said. Although in truth, I had no savings left for the expensive treatment that I needed.

“You’re good at juggling men, aren’t you? Please them well and I’ll give you a hundred thousand.”

Then he cleared his throat. “Come in.”

Eight bodyguards filed into the room, circling my bed, towering over me. In that moment, a flood of disgusting memories crashed over me. I shut my eyes as a sharp pain tore through my head.

Ronan shot to his feet and punched Damien.

At that, Damien staggered back two steps, spitting blood onto the floor.

He touched his cheek, pressed his tongue against it and let out a laugh.

“What’s wrong? Not interested? You could always be my mistress behind your husband’s back. You’re already good at it, aren’t you?”

“The day before the wedding you suddenly changed your mind. Fine, you didn’t want to marry me. But why humiliate me in front of everyone? Why make me the laughingstock of the entire internet?”

“Couldn’t we have ended things peacefully? Why send me photos of you tangled up with another man? Were you afraid I’d cling to you? Afraid I wouldn’t agree to break up?”

Damien's voice cracked, eyes reddening. “Elara, you can end this peacefully—apologize to me in public. Confess your shameless, slutty ways!”

Ronan’s shouted to the top of his lungs, “You’re the shameless one! Ela, she—”

His eyes were red too.

I reached for Ronan's wrist and shook my head.

At that, he turned his hand to hold mine and asked in a choked voice, “Ela, you’re such a good person. Why put up with all this? Is a man like him worth it?”