“Agree to what?” Geff suddenly pushed the hospital room door open.

I did not know how much he had heard, so I quickly hung up the phone in panic.

His eyes went to where I hid my phone, then he coldly looked away.

Seeing him like this, I suddenly felt my actions were silly. After all, why would he care?

“The doctor said you need to walk more during recovery. Get ready. I will send someone to pick you up later.”

I stared at him in a daze for a few seconds. But very soon, the little hope in my heart was crushed again because I saw Elise in the car.

She was sitting in the front passenger seat, smiling warmly and waving at me.

She looked completely different from the cruel face she showed when I woke up.

Geff’s calm voice came from the side. “You should thank Elise. She said she felt lonely and wanted you to keep her company…”

His sharp gaze fell on me. “Otherwise, I would never give you another chance to get close to her.”

Elise gently tapped the man’s arm and pretended to be upset. “Geff, did I not tell you? That whole thing was because Tyara was too scared. She did not mean it. Do not be so harsh to her.”

Geff’s voice softened at once. “Alright, alright, my fault, my darling. I was just afraid she might hurt you again.”

“With you here, no one can hurt me.”

I stood there, biting my lower lip hard. Watching how close they were, it felt like my heart was suddenly emptied.

It was as if an ice spike had gone through me — cold and painful.

In ten years of marriage, I had tried to be close to him before. But every time, he would say, “Tyara, as Mrs. Sincle, you should be proper and dignified. You should know manners, not act like a bar girl who cannot control herself when she sees a man.”

That sentence made me sad for a long time. But in the end, I convinced myself that maybe he just needed a proper wife who would support him and help him.

Now I saw Elise clinging to him like a spoiled little cat, and Geff calling her “my darling,” with love clearly shining in his eyes.

So even someone as proud and distant as Geff would lower his head for a woman he truly loved.

I did not know how I ended up sitting in the back seat of the car. By the time I came back to my senses, I was already in a wedding dress shop.

Elise looked like a child, marveling at how beautiful every wedding dress was.

Geff followed behind her, answering her again and again without any impatience.

That scene made it look like they were a real engaged couple, and I was just an unimportant outsider.

“Tyara!”

Elise did not want me to disappear like that.

She ran to me with a bright smile. “Tyara, what kind of wedding dress did you wear when you married Geff? Was it pretty?”

She looked so innocent, but every word felt like a needle stabbing into my heart.

“She never wore a wedding dress.”

I looked up at Geff in shock. The careless look on his face made my heart sink even colder. That was true.

When I first asked Geff to go see wedding dresses with me and full of hope, he pushed me away. “Tyara, the company is growing. I want to put all the money into the business. We already registered the marriage, so we can have the wedding later.”

With that one word “later,” he delayed it for ten years.

Elise pretended to be surprised, her face full of apology. “I am sorry, Tyara. I did not know…”

Geff quickly comforted the woman in his arms in a gentle voice. “It has nothing to do with you. If she really wants a wedding, I will give her one.”

I could not help letting out a cold laugh. So that was what he called “giving.”

I looked at the loving couple in front of me and smiled lightly. There was no warmth in my eyes, but in a corner no one could see, my hands were trembling.

After a moment, I looked into Geff’s eyes and slowly said, “No need. It is a waste of money.”

Geff rarely frowned and narrowed his eyes a little.

“Tyara, come choose with me then. Geff must want to see what his wife looks like in a wedding dress, right?”

I was about to refuse, when a man carrying a design book walked over. I recognized him as Geff’s good friend, Logan Avery.

He did not see me sitting there and went straight to Geff. “Finally! It wasn’t easy, but you actually brought Mrs. Sincle along?”

My heart jumped hard. Even though I had been married to Geff for ten years, his friends always called me “Miss Varch”, not Mrs. Sincle. He told me it was out of respect.

I looked past Logan’s shoulder and met Geff’s eyes, wanting an explanation. But he quietly looked away. “Yeah. Let her choose.”

Elise took the design book and glanced at me. Then she smiled and sat down to look through it. Just like that, I was treated as if I did not exist.

Logan secretly poked Geff’s arm, a teasing look in his eyes. “I did not expect this. You even got Miss Varch pregnant?”

Geff was silent for a moment, then took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. “Why talk about her? Elise’s baby is the real one.”

Logan stopped him from lighting the cigarette. “Do not smoke here. Do you want to ruin all my wedding dresses?”

Then he looked at Elise who was choosing dresses. “Hey, back then when you fought with your first love and married Tyara out of anger, we even bet on whether it was real. The others trusted you so much, and you actually went through with it. It made me lose 1,5 thousand dollars for nothing.”

Geff gave a cold laugh. “Who told you to bet?”

He talked about me and Elise so casually with his close friend. I looked at him, the sadness in my heart would not go away.

After we got our marriage certificate, I wanted to talk to him about the wedding, but he left me at the City Hall.

Logan handed me an envelope and told me Geff was very busy, so he probably had no time to hold a wedding. The few friends who came today to witness the registration treated it as attending a wedding banquet, so they gave me the money as a “gift.”

I listened quietly, my hands trembling behind my back where no one could see. At some point, my eyes filled with tears. So that so-called “wedding gift money” was actually the punishment Logan and the others paid because they lost a bet.

I once naively believed that at least in the beginning, Geff loved me, and that his friends were also decent people. I never expected everything to be a game from the start, and I was the biggest joke in that game.

The next moment, Elise’s voice cut into the conversation. She smiled and held up the design book, pointing to a page. “Do you still have this one? I like this dress.”

Logan walked over and bent down. When he saw the design, he froze a little.

Elise noticed something was wrong. “What?”

“This…” Logan scratched his head and hesitated before speaking. “This was designed by Miss Varch…”

Suddenly I remembered, in the second year of my marriage, I secretly went to Logan and asked him to teach me how to draw designs. Then I personally drew a wedding dress design, and beside it was a suit I designed for Geff.

Every size was measured carefully.

I secretly took his old custom made suits and measured them one by one. But Geff never talked about having a wedding, so the design was slowly forgotten.

I looked at the now yellowed paper, my heart hurting so much I could not breathe.

Geff’s face changed slightly — something very rare.

“But this wedding dress was mistaken by my assistant as my new design, so it was made. If you want to try it, I can go get it for you…” As Logan spoke, he turned around and finally saw someone sitting behind him.

When he saw who it was, his eyes widened in shock and he opened his mouth. “Miss… Miss Varch?”

I looked at the man’s shocked face and gave him a calm smile. “Am I disturbing you?”

A guilty look flashed in Logan’s eyes. “I am sorry, Miss Varch. We made that dress without your permission…”

“It is fine. If Miss Heggart likes it, that is an honor for the dress. I can give the copyright of this design to you as a wedding gift.”

Elise froze for a moment. After understanding my words, she turned to look at Geff, her eyes full of joy and hope.

But this time, he did not look at her. I felt a burning gaze fixed on me.

Geff frowned and took a step toward me. “A wedding gift? Tyara, are you crazy? Even if you are jealous, there should be a limit!”

I looked at him in confusion. He called this jealousy?

“I think this is good. It is unique, and it is free. It saves money.”

Geff stared at me, as if he wanted to say more. Just then, the staff pushed the dress out.

The white silver fabric flowed like water. The hem was embroidered with silver patterns, and tiny diamonds were set on the dress like a shining galaxy. It was not loud or flashy like normal wedding dresses. Its simple mermaid shape was like a beautiful mermaid from the deep sea.

I looked at the dress and felt the heart I had when I designed it. That heart believed that a beautiful mermaid would grow legs for true love.

Elise’s voice broke the silence. She picked up the dress and happily held it in front of the mirror. “Wow, Logan, your staff is really careful. They even made it in my size.”

Looking at Elise’s back, my eyelashes trembled slightly. To be honest, I suddenly felt sorry for the woman I used to be. Everyone knew the truth, but I refused to believe it and willingly became a joke for ten years. The wedding dress I designed myself was secretly changed into another woman’s size.

A sharp pain spread from my heart through my whole body.

Elise suddenly came over and grabbed my hand, smiling sweetly at me. “Tyara, you are the designer of this dress. Why don't you help me put it on? I do not mean anything bad. I just think you understand this dress better…”

She pulled me into the fitting room. Then she gave me a jealous smile, and a cold feeling ran down my back.

“Tyara, do you really think one simple design can change Geff’s heart?” Elise looked at me with a twisted, ugly expression. “I am telling you, Geff only has me in his heart. Today he can come with me to try on wedding dresses just because I said so. Tomorrow he can make your name disappear from the marriage paper!”

I stepped back and said carefully, “I don’t care who is in his heart anymore. I will leave him.”

Elise laughed coldly. “Leave? Everyone knows you are just Geff’s loyal pet. You pretend not to care just to make him curious. You are really sneaky.”

As she spoke, she slowly walked toward me, the killing intent in her eyes growing stronger.

I moved back little by little until my back hit the window. My heart was beating wildly. “What are you doing?”

“What am I doing?” Elise glanced back, then showed me an innocent smile. “I am helping you face the truth.”

With that, Elise pushed me hard out of the window.

The next second, an overwhelming feeling of falling covered my whole body.