"That was a keepsake from my mother! What gives you the right to hand it over to your boy toy as a dowry!"

"Give it back! Right now! Bring it back to me this instant! Or I'm calling the police! I'll make sure you two hold your wedding behind bars!"

I was shaking with rage, every word barbed.

Sabina flinched, then fired right back:

"Watch your mouth! I already told you it's all an act! I'm just borrowing it! It's not like I'm keeping it! Besides, didn't you say it yourself? That you were giving it to me? Well, if it's mine, I can do whatever I want with it. You don't get a say!"

My voice went cold.

"That was my mother's heirloom bracelet, meant for her future daughter-in-law. You married someone else. You have no right to take it."

"Come on, I already told you it's a fake marriage..."

I couldn't stand to hear her voice for another second.

I hung up, walked out the door, hailed a cab, and gave the driver Eustace's address.

I grabbed Sabina's luggage on my way out.

On the ride over, my phone buzzed nonstop. Texts from Sabina.

"I got a little worked up just now. I said some things I shouldn't have. Stephen, I'm sorry."

"How about this—I'll return the bracelet tomorrow, but you have to come to the wedding and be Eustace's best man."

"Think about it. We were supposed to get married, and then I suddenly got my marriage license with Eustace instead. That's not a good look for him."

"If you show up as the best man tomorrow, nobody will think Eustace came between us. And if anyone asks about us, just cover for me... Tell them you cheated, that you fell for someone else, that you'd been wanting to break up with me for a while. Just don't drag Eustace into it."

I stared at her messages and started laughing. The sheer absurdity of it pulled the laughter right out of me.

But somewhere in the middle of laughing, tears had soaked the hem of my coat.

The driver glanced at me in the rearview mirror and silently held out a tissue.

I thanked him quietly, opened the car door, grabbed the suitcase, and stormed upstairs.

I went straight to Eustace's front door and hammered on it with everything I had.

The pounding echoed through the hallway like thunder.

Hurried footsteps scrambled inside, and the door swung open.

"Who the hell—it's the middle of the night!"

Sabina stood there in a pink apron, flour dusted across her forehead.

My eyes burned red in an instant.

Sabina and I had been together for ten years.

I'd watched her climb from a dirt-poor student to a respected professor.

The deepest scar she carried came from college, when she'd been working part-time in the campus dining hall to pay her tuition. A rich girl who was jealous of her had shown up with a posse, pinned her to the ground, and dumped leftover food all over her head.

"A kitchen rat like you thinks she can steal someone's boyfriend?"

After that, she despised cooking. Loathed it.

Even when we got engaged and I brought her home to meet my bedridden mother, all I asked was for her to help me carry the dishes out of the kitchen. She went stone-faced and slammed the door on her way out.

My dying mother was left sitting there, heartbroken on my behalf.

Even then, I forced a smile and made excuses for Sabina.

After that, I walked on eggshells around her even more carefully. I'd never cooked a day in my life, but I burned and blistered my hands until I learned, all so she'd never have to step foot in a kitchen.

And now it turned out her scar had already been healed by another man.

The moment Sabina saw me, she froze. Then, instinctively, guilt made her tug at the apron she was wearing.

"Stephen, what are you doing here..."

Eustace's face appeared behind her, eyes darting nervously toward me.

"...Stephen, man, what brings you here?"

He stepped in front of Sabina, jaw set, staring me down with a look of stubborn defiance.

"Mr. Fox, if you need to take your anger out on someone, just beat me to death. Professor Delgado only did this to help me..."

Sabina looked at him with aching tenderness, then turned on me with fury:

"Stephen, how can you be so heartless? Eustace was assaulted. His own family turned their backs on him. They were going to force him to drop out and go back to his village to marry some widow with kids. I was just shielding him from that. Can't you show a little compassion?"

"No!"

My voice trembled with rage:

"If he's pitiful, that's between his parents and the people who hurt him! He could've said no! He could've gone to the police! Why does MY marriage and MY happiness have to be the sacrifice?"

"Or maybe..."

My voice cracked, thick with tears:

"Maybe nothing ever happened to him at all. Maybe you two were just—"

The slap landed before I could finish the sentence.

Sabina stood with her hand still raised, her face twisted with anger:

"Don't you DARE talk about him like that! I already told you, Eustace and I only got married on paper! Why do you insist on assuming the worst about people?"

Our shouting drew neighbors from the floors above and below, crowding the hallway to watch.

Someone called out to Eustace and Sabina:

"Eustace, who is this guy? What's his deal with your wife?"

Eustace stammered, eyes darting:

"He's... he..."

The wounded, suggestive look on his face said everything his mouth didn't.

The neighbors' expressions shifted instantly. Disgust settled over their faces as they turned on me. One of them shoved me hard in the chest:

"They're about to get married and you're still harassing the man's wife? You look decent enough on the outside. Have some shame!"

"Yeah! Someone get a picture of him! Post it online!"

I laughed in disbelief. I grabbed my suitcase and slammed it down in front of them:

"Sabina, why don't you tell them who's REALLY chasing someone else's spouse!"

The suitcase bounced open on impact. Eustace let out a shriek and crouched down.

Sabina looked at his leg, at a red welt no bigger than a fingernail.

Her expression darkened in an instant:

"Stephen! Are you DONE? Eustace and I are legally married! So tell me, who's the one harassing someone else's spouse?"

I stared at her, stunned. A bitter laugh escaped my throat:

"Sabina. This is what you call a fake marriage? You got a marriage certificate and you're still calling it fake?"

She realized her slip the moment the words left her mouth. Guilt flickered across her face before she deflected:

"All this over a stupid bracelet? You came here to assault people over a bracelet?"

"Stephen, I never knew you were this cold. This selfish. This inhuman!"

My eyes went wide as Sabina stormed back into the apartment.

She came out holding the bracelet I treasured more than anything in this world.

And she hurled it at the ground.

"You want your bracelet so badly? Take your piece of junk and GET OUT!"

"No!" I lunged forward, hands outstretched, but I wasn't fast enough.

I watched the bracelet shatter against the floor.

My head snapped up. I looked at Sabina with something she had never seen in my eyes before.

Not love. Not patience. Not forgiveness.

Hatred.

Even through her rage, it shook her. For one brief moment, panic crossed her face.

But the next second, Eustace whimpered through his tears:

"Professor Delgado, my leg really hurts. Do you think it could be fractured?"

Sabina snapped back to attention immediately. She wrapped her arm around him and swept past me toward the stairs.

"Don't worry. I'm taking you to the hospital."

She moved fast, ruthless in her urgency, and slammed straight into me where I crouched on the floor.

I tumbled down the steep staircase and hit the landing hard.

Gasps erupted from the onlookers. My voice came out weak, calling after her.

Sabina never turned around.

Before my eyes closed, the last thing I saw was—

Only Eustace leaned against Sabina's shoulder, flashing me a smug grin.

In that moment, the sound of my heart shattering was as crisp as porcelain breaking against stone.

...

There was a time when Sabina had protected me the same way she now protected Eustace.

Back when those untouchable socialite princesses had cornered me, trying to force me to accept their confessions.

She hadn't hesitated. She'd charged out and planted herself in front of me, her thin frame squared against all of them, telling them to get lost.

She'd grabbed my wrist and pulled me through their circle, breaking us free.

Later, I found out those girls had held a grudge against her for it. They'd made her life miserable.

I tracked her down with red-rimmed eyes to apologize. She wiped her tears, then smiled.

"It's fine. I just couldn't stand watching my prince charming get pushed around like that."

The girl who once called me her prince charming. The girl who worried about me at every turn.

Now she could ignore my pain entirely for the sake of another man.

When exactly had Eustace wedged himself between us?

Maybe it started the day he became Sabina's graduate student.

She'd mention him in conversation, saying he reminded her of her younger self.

But the look in her eyes was pure adoration.

Or maybe it was that night he called Sabina, claiming some rich girl on campus had cornered him and was forcing him to date her.

Sabina, always so composed and rational, had lost her mind. She'd gone after the girl with her fists.

When I went to bail her out, I saw the bruises swelling across her cheek, and for the first time, I tasted bitterness.

She explained it to me:

"Stephen, when I heard what happened to him, I thought of how those girls used to corner you, and I just... snapped."

But...

When I'd been the one trapped in that exact situation, all she'd done was take my hand and walk me away.

...

By the time I woke up, I was already in the hospital.

The doctor told me with visible concern that it was a good thing I'd been brought in quickly. I'd hit the back of my head in the fall. There was bleeding in my brain. A little longer, and I might never have woken up.

I thanked him quietly, had my wounds treated, and left.

The moment I reached the ground floor of my building, several people with ugly expressions surrounded me.

"You're that scumbag from the internet, aren't you?"

"Looks decent enough on the outside, but rotten to the core. Heard you got jealous because a student was better than you, so you hired thugs to rough up a kid. Absolutely disgusting! You nearly ruined his entire life!"

They rushed me. Fists and feet came from every direction.

"You like hiring people to mess with others? Today we'll give you a taste of your own medicine! Strip him and dump him on the street so he knows what humiliation feels like!"

I screamed in desperation, stumbling backward, but they tore my clothes apart and left bruises twisted across my skin.

It wasn't until the building's security guard arrived and called the police that they scattered.

I knelt on the ground, trembling uncontrollably.

The guard stood over me, looking down with contempt.

"You had it coming. Who told you to be cruel enough to bully an innocent kid?"

My head snapped up, my voice shaking.

"What did you just say?"

The guard scoffed and walked away.

My head exploded with a deafening ring.

I scrambled for my phone and started scrolling.

Sure enough, I found a public statement Sabina had posted.

"I'm sorry to take up everyone's attention with this, but regarding the accusations that I coerced a male student, it was all a misunderstanding. My ex, Stephen Fox, hired thugs to attack my student out of jealousy, destroying his reputation so badly that his family is forcing him to drop out and go back to his hometown to marry a widow!"

"I took the blame and stepped forward to shield my ex because I was too soft-hearted, trying to protect both him and my student. But I never expected his attitude to be so vile. Not only did he refuse to show remorse, he escalated things further. So I've decided to reveal the truth."