On the day my CEO boyfriend, Benjamin West, and I go register our marriage, his manipulative female assistant, Chelsea Miller, suddenly hands over her own completed application to the clerk first.

Just like that, the marriage certificate that is supposed to belong to me and Benjamin becomes one hers and his instead.

Taken aback, I anxiously ask what is going on.

But Chelsea suddenly drops to her knees dramatically and cries in despair, "Giselle, this is all my fault! My child needs a local address to enroll in school. If it hadn't been for that, I would never have resorted to a fake marriage with Benjamin."

She even sobs inconsolably and threatens to smash her head against the wall so as to make it up to me with her death.

Benjamin is usually clear-headed and can easily distinguish right from wrong. But this time, not only does he not defend me, but he even slaps me in public!

He fumes, "Chelsea is a single mother. She's only doing this for her child. Do you really have to be so petty? It's just a marriage certificate. Once her child gets into school, I will divorce her. Can't we register our marriage a little later? Is it necessary to back her into a corner?"

"Hurry up and apologize to Chelsea. Then, give half of your salary to her as compensation. If you cooperate, I can lend you the marriage certificate for Chelsea and me so you can take some photos and show off in the family group chat. Otherwise, forget about marrying me."

I laugh humorlessly. "Then let's not register our marriage at all."

Not only do I no longer want the marriage certificate, but I also don't want him anymore.

At my words, my boyfriend, Benjamin West, froze for a moment, clearly not expecting his threat to fail this time. As if he had realized something, he let out a cold snort after a while.

"Giselle, this is just another one of your little games, isn't it? Playing hard to get? Why are you so petty?" he berated me.

"Chelsea's already struggling enough raising a child while trying to make it in a big city. What's wrong with me helping her out as her boss? We can register our marriage anytime.

"But if Chelsea registers too late, her child won't be able to enroll in kindergarten. If that ruins the kid's future, will you take responsibility for it?

"If you're this cold-hearted, how do you expect me to feel safe marrying you? Or making you the mother of my future children?"

Listening to his self-righteous speech, I rubbed my cheek, still numb and throbbing from the slap. Yet inside, I felt calmer than ever before.

Maybe it was because things like this had happened far too many times already that I had grown numb to it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced at Chelsea Miller, the assistant who had just claimed she would smash her head against the wall to apologize to me. I almost laughed.

She moved more slowly than a snail, and her forehead barely even tapped the wall. Forget knocking herself unconscious—she probably couldn't even crack jelly with that force.

The act was painfully fake, yet Benjamin believed every second of it.

This time, I didn't swallow my anger like I always had. Instead, I shot back coldly, "She stole my fiance, and I'm supposed to be not upset? Should I smile and thank her for it as well?"

Chelsea's eyes instantly reddened, and she made another show of throwing herself toward the wall. "Benny, this is all my fault. I'll just die to make up for everything!"

Benjamin quickly stopped her, his face full of concern. Then, he turned to me and snapped, "Are you done, Giselle? Apologize to Chelsea, then give her half your salary as compensation! You owe her that!"

He had always favored Chelsea. The slightest thing upset her, and he would force me to apologize and make amends to her.

Once, she filled out the wrong contract figures, causing the company to lose millions. Even then, he made me take the blame for her.

I used to love him, so I compromised time after time. Now, I didn't want to give in anymore.

"I didn't do anything wrong, so why should I apologize?" I argued. "If anything, she's the one who should be apologizing to me."

Benjamin's visage darkened. "Giselle, you—"

Before he could explode, I turned and walked away without looking back. By the time I stepped out of the city hall, the sky was already dark.

Watching the couples passing by on the streets, I felt a dull ache spread through my chest.

In hindsight, everything screamed irony.

Benjamin and I had been together for six years, yet we still hadn't gotten married. At first, he said marriage would hurt his career prospects, that we needed to focus on building his business first.

To help him succeed, I gave up my stable, high-paying job without hesitation and followed him to the city to start a company from scratch.

I drank myself sick at endless business dinners and networking events, and in the end, I helped him secure a comfortable position as CEO.

However, once his career stabilized, he suddenly claimed he needed to "test my sincerity". He said he would only agree to marry me if I passed all 50 premarital tests Chelsea had set up.

So, under the excuse of testing me, Chelsea made me collect 9,999 handwritten blessings from strangers. When I arrived at the office, she would deliberately dump ice water over my head.

She even put laxatives in my drink, so I ended up having explosive diarrhea during business meetings and humiliating myself in public.

That wasn't all.

Whenever Benjamin and I went on dates, she would constantly find excuses to pull him away, claiming it was another test for me. For his sake, I endured it all.

Then, yesterday, right after I finished a design proposal I had spent an entire year working on, Chelsea demanded that I hand it over to her, saying it was the final test.

When I hesitated, she immediately twisted it into proof that I didn't truly love Benjamin. In the end, I gave it to her. Only then did he finally agree to register our marriage.

I was so excited that night that I couldn't sleep at all. Early the next morning, I rushed to the city hall.

Our marriage certificate was practically within reach. Then, Chelsea suddenly appeared and registered the marriage with Benjamin instead.

I had only questioned them with a few words, but he immediately defended her and accused me of having a filthy mind, saying I saw something dirty in everything.

But if he truly had no feelings for Chelsea, why didn't he help the other single parents in the company? Why was she the only one who received preferential treatment?

It took me a while, but I finally understood it. Benjamin's heart had long since drifted away from me. All those so-called tests were nothing more than excuses. He never wanted to marry me in the first place.

My stomach twisted with emptiness, and only then did I remember I hadn't eaten all day. I had skipped breakfast just to get to the city hall earlier and line up for our marriage registration, only to end up doing it for someone else.

What a joke.

I found a restaurant and had a meal. Right after I finished eating, I saw Benjamin post a photo of his marriage certificate with Chelsea on social media.

Our coworkers flooded the comments with congratulations and wishes. Of course, they didn't forget to mock me, too.

"So what if Giselle was the CEO's girlfriend? Look who became Mrs. West in the end."

"She's an old hag. Don't even compare her to a young beauty like Chelsea."

…

I knew Benjamin posted that just to provoke me, but this time, I only gave it a cold laugh and hit like.

Soon, my parents saw the post and called me. "Sweetheart, what's going on with Benjamin's post? Did he actually marry another woman?"

They had always worried about our marriage. All they wanted to see was Benjamin and I settled down.

Just as I was about to answer them, a message from Benjamin popped up.

"I made sure not to hide the post from your parents this time. They must be panicking by now, huh? If you apologize to Chelsea, I can explain to them that it was all a misunderstanding. Otherwise, deal with the consequences yourself."

There was a time when Benjamin respected all my decisions and never forced me to do anything.

Once, when we were having dinner at his parents' place, his mother insisted I eat eggs even though I was allergic to them. Benjamin got so furious that he flipped the table on the spot.

Now, to force me into apologizing to Chelsea, he was willing to use my parents against me. At one point, I had to accept that the man who once loved me more than anything was dead.

I ignored Benjamin. Instead, I replied to my parents, "Mom, Dad… Benjamin and I are over. I'll take your advice this time and come home for blind dates."

Mom and Dad had never approved of Benjamin in the first place, but I had insisted on staying with him, even leaving my hometown behind for him. Now, it seemed they had been right all along.

"Good! We'll start arranging blind dates for you right away!"

After hanging up, I bought a bus ticket for the next day, then took a cab home to pack my things. The moment I reached the door, I heard bursts of laughter coming from inside.

I pushed the door open and saw three pairs of shoes by the entrance—matching family shoes. Immediately, I recognized one pair as Benjamin's.

Chelsea had given them to him as a birthday present, though they were probably cheap street-stall sneakers that cost less than ten bucks.

The workmanship was terrible, and the material looked flimsy and cheap. Yet, Benjamin treasured them like gold. Meanwhile, the custom leather shoes I had bought him—worth thousands—had been left untouched until they gathered dust.

He had even criticized my taste, saying the shoes were embarrassing and impossible to wear outside. Back then, I had genuinely believed there was something wrong with my sense of style.

Foolish as I had been, I had even humbly asked Chelsea for advice on improving my taste. Looking back, I realized Benjamin simply hated anything I gave him.

I kicked the three pairs of shoes aside and walked into the house. The moment I looked up, I saw Chelsea lounging lazily on the couch in my nightgown, watching TV like she owned the place.

Her daughter, Sadie Miller, was running barefoot all over my white carpet.

Mom had stayed up night after night making that carpet for me, her eyes bloodshot from exhaustion. Now, it was covered in dirty black footprints from Sadie's feet.

What made my blood boil was seeing my carefully collected figurines scattered all over the floor. Several of them had their arms and legs snapped off.

Furious, I snatched one of the figurines back from Sadie's hands and questioned, "What are you people doing in my house?"

She lifted her chin stubbornly. "Daddy said we could!"

The next second, Benjamin came out of the kitchen after hearing the commotion. He never cooked, yet he was standing there holding a spatula, making dinner for Chelsea and Sadie.

"Sadie, what is it?" he called out lovingly. "Why are you calling for Daddy?"

He was just about to pull Sadie into his arms to comfort her when he finally noticed me and froze.

"Wow. I didn't know you're a dad now, Benjamin," I said.

Benjamin only froze for a split second before shrugging it off like it was nothing. "Sadie's never had a father's love growing up. Letting her call me 'Daddy' isn't going to kill anyone. Besides, why are you suddenly back?"

I almost laughed. "This is my home. Do I need a reason to be back? And more importantly, who gave you permission to bring them here?"

He looked justified in his actions. "Chelsea's place is too far from Sadie's kindergarten. The daily commute is just exhausting, and eventually, it'll affect her studies.

"Our place happens to be close to the kindergarten, so I brought them over. The place is big enough anyway. They can stay here until they find somewhere suitable."

"And what if they never find it?" I asked.

He looked at them with obvious affection in his eyes. "Then, they'll stay here. It's just cooking two more portions of food every day."

Previously, when I wanted my parents to stay with us for a while, Benjamin had flatly refused. He said he wasn't used to having outsiders in the house and that he was a light sleeper, emphasizing he didn't want to be disturbed.

Yet, he personally invited Chelsea and Sadie over to stay. It appeared that only my parents were the outsiders.

At that thought, my voice turned cold. "I don't agree to them staying here."

Benjamin's expression darkened instantly.