At the engagement party, my fiancé took my best friend Naomi’s hand and said he wanted to marry her.

Everyone was waiting to see me laugh, but Marty said he had been in love with me for a long time and wanted to marry me.

I was very hurt after having just experienced betrayal, so I agreed to Marty’s proposal.

After marriage, I focused on my family and obeyed Marty’s words.

But after he got drunk, I saw the message in their chat group.

[Marty, it’s Naomi’s birthday the day after tomorrow. Have you thought about how to deal with your family? You are amazing. You married Hazel for Naomi.]

Marty made a vomiting expression and replied: [If it weren’t for Naomi, how could I marry such a boring woman? Wait a few years, when Naomi’s career stabilizes, I will kick her out directly!’

The cruel truth hurt me.

***

Marty was drunk. When he came home, I put him on the sofa to make sobering soup.

His phone was vibrating wildly.

I looked at the screen of his mobile phone curiously and it happened to be a message from their chat group.

[Marty, it’s Naomi’s birthday the day after tomorrow. Don’t forget to send your family away.]

I looked at the screen with great curiosity, but the next message struck me like a thunderbolt.

[It’s really hard for you, marrying someone you don’t love and watching the woman you like marry someone else.]

I opened the screen of his mobile phone with trembling hands and looked through the chat records between Marty and his friends.

The messages completely shattered all my fantasies about this marriage.

It turned out that Marty proposed to me just to make me stop entangled with Naomi.

Looking at the photos of Naomi in his mobile phone album, I was completely desperate.

The perfect lover in my eyes was just a joke.

Marty moved beside me and I hurriedly put his phone down and pretended nothing happened.

“Naomi?”

I forced a bitter smile and swallowed my sadness.

The doorbell rang.

I went to open the door and saw Marty’s friend standing at the door.

Seeing that it was me who opened the door, he forced a far-fetched smile.

“Marty got drunk and left his design drawings with me. I’ll bring them to you.”

I took the drawings into the house and quietly opened them.

The drawings were for a new project that Marty had taken on recently. I was also a talented student in the Department of Architecture, so I could see the clues in the drawings at a glance.

All the buildings in the entire project were regular, forming a “Naomi” character.

I went to the study to find all of Marty’s design drawings. Tears blurred my vision. I couldn’t see what he was designing, but all the lines finally formed a character - Naomi.

No wonder, every time I wanted to make a design drawing, Marty refused with the excuse that he was busy with work. It turned out that he didn’t want me to disturb him from missing his lover.

Back then, my fiancé regretted his marriage at the engagement party, which made me embarrassed in public. It was Marty’s sudden appearance that pulled me out of the quagmire.

Now, it was time to end this absurd relationship.

I took out my mobile phone and called the foreign company that had invited me many times.

“Miss Hanson, have you made up your mind?”

“I’ve made up my mind!”

The next day, Marty kissed me as if nothing had happened.

I looked at him coldly and didn’t respond.

“What’s wrong with you, Hazel? Did you hear something from others?”

Marty quietly breathed a sigh of relief, took out a bracelet from his pocket and handed it to me.

“This is a gift for you, do you like it?”

Seeing that I still didn’t move, Marty planned to put the bracelet on himself.

Looking at the bracelet that couldn’t be put on anyway, Marty smiled awkwardly.

“Sorry, Hazel, I bought it too small.”

I forced an ugly smile. I remembered that Naomi had a slender wrist and this bracelet should not be favored by Naomi.

If Naomi didn’t dislike it, Marty wouldn’t have given it to me.

Marty came over and hugged me in his arms.

“Hazel, the day after tomorrow is Naomi’s award ceremony. After all, there will be business cooperation in the future. I want to go and see it, okay?”

Marty’s words made me a little confused. Wasn’t it a birthday?

How did it become an award ceremony?

I turned on my phone and saw the news.

In the National Architectural Design Competition, Naomi’s name was at the top of the list.

I nodded silently and said, “It just so happens that I’m going abroad the day after tomorrow.” Marty was still struggling to find an excuse to stop me from going, but when he heard what I said, he was relieved and visibly happy.

Then he frowned, as if he had thought of something. “What are you going abroad for?”

I took a deep breath and pretended to be relaxed. “I received a notice for an academic seminar abroad.”

Marty didn’t doubt anything and went out excitedly. He didn’t show up until the day I left. On the day of my departure, I found the address in the news, just thinking of it as putting an end to the three-year marriage.

The award ceremony was very lively and Naomi was talking to the guests in high spirits. She was wearing a black fishtail skirt and had delicate makeup on her face. My husband, Marty, was holding her arm at this moment, watching her chatting and laughing with a smile on his face.

I suppressed the turmoil in my heart and walked toward them calmly. Marty saw a flash of panic on my face and then he returned to his usual gentle expression.

“Hazel, why are you here? Aren’t you on a flight today?”

I sneered and glanced at Naomi’s hand on his arm.

“What? Are you afraid of me seeing something shameful?”

Marty quickly pulled his arm back and said with some blame, “What do you mean by that! Naomi and I are just ordinary business partners!”

Naomi on the side hooked her lips provocatively and looked at me meaningfully.

The secretary ran over and told Marty that it was his turn to go on stage.

Marty patted my shoulder as if to comfort me, turned around and hurried to the stage.

I found a seat and sat down and Naomi followed and sat opposite me.

“Long time no see, Hazel! You actually followed Marty to find this place. Can you, a housewife, understand what he said? You’d better remember forever that only those I don’t want are worthy of your turn.”

Naomi seemed to touch her neck inadvertently and the necklace on it hurt my eyes a little.

That was the necklace I had been longing for, Marty knew it, but he had always refused it on the grounds that it was too expensive and flashy.

Now, it was worn on Naomi’s neck.

Naomi and I used to be very good friends, studying in the architecture department of the same university.

After my fiancé openly proposed to her, we completely fell out.

That period was the darkest moment of my life. Marty happened to appear at that time and said he wanted to marry me, giving me a ray of hope.

After marriage, I planned to continue studying architecture, but Marty suddenly stopped me.

“Hazel, architecture is too time-consuming, I don’t want you to be so tired. You can find a leisurely job, my salary is enough to support you.”

At that time, I was moved to tears and willingly gave up the design draft that I spent a year designing.

Now, Naomi had become a leader in the construction industry and I had become an idle housewife.

It seemed that Marty had been paving the way for her and the stepping stone was me.

The memories of the past made me a little suffocated. I didn’t want to look at Naomi’s face anymore, so I simply turned my eyes to the big screen.

On the big screen, there were the entries for this competition.

When I cast my eyes on the first-place work, my head hurt as if it was struck by lightning.

This design draft was the one I gave up that year.

I was struck by lightning and my heart seemed to miss a beat.

I was born in a poor family and it had always been my dream to design a Hope Primary School.

After getting married, Marty took away my design drawings on the pretext that he was afraid that I would be too tired.

After a year, how could my dream become Naomi’s work?

How did I win the grand prize for Naomi?

I looked at Marty in disbelief and stood up to question him, but heard Naomi’s screams.

“Ah!”

Before I could react, the red wine tower behind me fell toward me, spilling red wine all over me and breaking the wine glasses all over the floor.

Marty exclaimed, rushed down from the stage, pushed me away and went to help Naomi who had fallen to the ground.

“Naomi! Are you hurt?”

Marty was very strong and the fragments on the ground cut my hand and blood flowed out.

The guests and Marty next to me stared at me with anger.

“Call 120 quickly! How could she pull Miss Eland’s clothes and make her fall! Who invited her here? She has such a vicious mind!”

I ignored the pain in my hand and the cold eyes of the guests and looked at Marty in front of me with disappointment.

“Do you also think I did this?”

Marty ignored me, sent Naomi to the ambulance and turned back to slap me.

“Hazel, people around you are saying that you dragged Naomi down and you are still pretending to be wronged? I really don’t understand why I married you in the first place!”

My eyes were getting more and more sore, I held back my tears and asked the question I cared about the most.

“Marty, why is Naomi’s entry exactly the same as my original design?”

Marty looked at me and sneered, “What do you mean by yours? It’s not enough that you hurt Naomi and now you want to take the credit? We’ve been married for so long, how come I didn’t know you can design?”

The guests around seemed to have discussed it and echoed Marty.

I was not a fool. It was obvious that they were in collusion now. No matter what, I would be the only one who suffered.

I couldn’t help but smile bitterly and the last bit of affection I had for Marty was completely exhausted.

As if he was afraid that I would report Naomi, Marty softened his tone. “Okay, stop it. It was wrong of me to hit you just now. After all, there are too many guests here today. I’m afraid that this matter will spread and it will be bad for you. It will also affect the reputation of our company.”

Seeing that I still had a cold face, Marty came forward and hugged me and said softly with his chin against my head, “Okay, okay, are you on the plane tonight? Can I have dinner with you in the afternoon? I’ll take care of the venue.”

I didn’t want to continue to entangle with him, so I nodded.

I didn’t expect Marty to steal my design for Naomi.

That design drawing had always been my dream and Marty knew it.

With the purpose of saying goodbye, I came to the hotel address sent by Marty.

The view on the fifth floor was very good. I found a seat by the window and sat down, lowering my head and thinking about this ridiculous relationship.