The day before my engagement with Joseph Field, he had a small gathering with friends.

I was busy with the engagement preparations, and he went alone after reporting to me.

I saw Joseph's post on Instagram, and it was indeed as he said, a gathering without ladies.

When I clicked on the live photo, I heard a faint female voice asking, "Are we going to the private cinema tonight, Joseph?"

After a video call with Joseph and carefully checking, I finally was no longer worried and was at ease.

But that night, I received a video of him having sex with his first love in the private cinema.

On the pure white round bed, Joseph couldn't help but call out the name of the girl beneath him.

"Holly, I have only loved you from the beginning to the end. Marrying her was just a temporary measure."

——

Watching the naked bodies of Joseph and Holly Paul in the video, I felt like my mind went blank.

He said it would be a gathering without girls. How could this be?

My fingertips kept trembling. I watched the video over and over again, confirming that the man in the video was undoubtedly Joseph.

My parents opened the door and walked in, and in a panic, as I tried to turn off my phone, I accidentally pressed the volume button, and Joseph's hoarse voice echoed in the room.

My mom looked at me suspiciously and asked, "Was it Joseph's voice? What's wrong with him? Why was there a girl's voice as well?"

Flustered, I threw my phone into a nearby sink and brushed her off, saying she must have misheard.

After seeing my parents off, I closed the door and hugged myself, quietly sobbing. We had been going out for five years and were about to get engaged, yet Joseph actually cheated on me.

Tomorrow was our engagement ceremony. Yet he couldn't wait to go to a private cinema with Holly the day before the engagement.

Wiping away my tears, I took out my spare phone and dialed Joseph's number.

The phone rang a few times and then was hung up. I persistently dialed again and again.

Finally, someone picked up. In the next second, I heard a girl's moans and gasps from the receiver.

Instantly, my heart broke into pieces, and a wave of pain spread from my chest to my whole body.

Before the call was connected, I had a last glimmer of hope that the video might be AI face-swapping, but now I really believed it.

I clicked on the map on my phone and searched for private cinemas near the hotel where Joseph had his gathering. Since I didn't catch them in bed, I felt there was room for maneuver.

It showed that there was a private cinema upstairs in the hotel, and the environment in the photos was similar to the one in the video. I picked up the car keys and rushed out.

Just as I arrived at the hotel, I received a friend request on WhatsApp, with a message saying, [Now that you've seen the video, be smart. I'm the only one Joseph has ever loved. You're just his fixed friend with benefits.]

After accepting the request, I clicked on the profile picture and watched carefully. The owner of this account should be Holly, Joseph's first love.

In the hotel elevator, I anxiously scrolled through Holly's Instagram and found out that four years ago, they were back together. He almost always accompanied her on every important holiday.

As I looked at the photos of them together and the various gifts he gave her, tears filled my eyes.

I felt sorry for Joseph's hard work. In the five years we had been together, I had never asked him to spend any holidays with me or to give me any gifts.

I remember two years ago, on the pedestrian street, I dragged Joseph shopping. A girl selling flowers stopped us and asked Joseph to buy me a bouquet of flowers. I looked at him with anticipation.

Joseph gently stroked my head and said, "Bianca, I know you don't like these things. We won't buy them then, OK?"

My expectations were dashed in an instant. I nodded obediently, looking dejected.

It turned out that Joseph could be romantic as long as he wanted to. He simply thought I was unworthy of his effort.

I leaned against the corner of the wall in the elevator, slowly sliding down. The closer the elevator got to the 18th floor, the more violent my heartbeat became.

What the hell am I supposed to do if it's really Joseph and Holly in the video?

As I walked out of the elevator, my legs were trembling, and I searched through each room one by one.

"Bianca, are you here to find Joseph? You've come to the wrong floor. Our private room is downstairs. Come on, I'll take you there."

Joseph's friend Michael Bird pulled me downstairs, looking at me in a panic.

His expression, full of guilt, convinced me even more that the person in the video was indeed Joseph, and Joseph was indeed on this floor.

"Are you sure he's downstairs? Are you not mistaken?" I stared into Michael's eyes and asked.

A trace of panic appeared on his face, and he hurriedly said, "Of course. He is downstairs, and he's drunk. I was just about to call you."

Despite Michael's pulling, I walked quickly to the room at the end of the corridor, which was the only room left I hadn't checked. He followed me nervously.

Through the door, I heard Joseph solemnly promise Holly, "She has had two abortions for me. I'm the only one who will marry her. Don't worry, even if we get married, I can still be with you. Baby, you are the only one in my heart."

I clenched my fists so hard that my fingernails deeply pierced into my flesh. I kicked open the door.

Joseph was calmly tidying his clothes, looking satisfied. When he turned around and saw me, a trace of panic flashed in his eyes, and he quickly pretended to be calm and said, "Bianca, why are you here? I missed your calls."

I pointed at the messy bed and the blushing Holly and asked him, "How do you explain this?"

Holly sat barefoot on the bed, looking at me provocatively.

Michael quickly came up to mediate and said, "Holly came after the dinner party. She got drunk, so Joseph sent her up here to rest. Don't think too much."

Joseph came forward and held my hand, saying, "Bianca, look at us. We have our clothes on. What could happen?"

Ignoring his obstruction, I approached and pulled apart Holly's half-covered clothes, pointing at the hickey on her neck and asking him, "Do I need to go into details?"

Holly looked at Joseph with teary eyes and said, "Joseph, who gives her the right to lay hands on me?"

Joseph slapped me hard on the cheek and shouted at me, "Why are you so paranoid? How dare you lay a hand on Holly? She came all the way here to attend our engagement banquet."

My cheek was burning with pain. I covered my face and asked him, "Am I paranoid? Or have you two been up to something disgraceful?"

I hurriedly stepped forward to search for evidence in the trash can. Holly stretched out her leg and tripped me, and I hit my head on the bathroom door handle, blood streaming down my forehead.

I grabbed the trash can next to me and hit Holly on the head. Several used condoms hung on her head, and some unknown liquid flowed down her face.

"Bianca, you've gone too far. Stop being so unreasonable!" Joseph grabbed my hand and pressed me against the wall. With a loud thud, the back of my head hit the wall hard, and it hurt.

Holly wiped off the fluid on her face and tearfully said to Joseph, "Joseph, I'm so scared. Can you take me away?"

Joseph gently wiped her clean, put his coat on her, and carried her out.

With her in his arms, he stood at the door and said, looking down at me, "Bianca, this is not over. If you don't apologize to Holly, the engagement tomorrow is off. Let's see who will end up being embarrassed."

Joseph knew my sore spot. As an unmarried woman at an advanced age, I had been with him for five years without being acknowledged by him as his girlfriend, and my relatives and friends were not happy about it. If the engagement ceremony was canceled out of the blue, their criticism would ruin me.

Watching Joseph's departing figure, I made up my mind. Even if I had to endure gossip and criticism, I would not go through with this engagement. I didn't want a relationship with stains.

Returning home with blood all over my face, I told my parents to inform our relatives and friends to cancel tomorrow's engagement banquet.

My mother carefully dressed my wound, and my father made phone calls one by one.

Suddenly, someone banged on the door heavily. It was Joseph's parents.

"We heard about what happened today. It's Bianca's fault. We haven't proposed to break off the engagement yet. How dare you cancel it?" Joseph's mother looked at me unhappily and sat on the sofa.

She pointed at me and kept scolding me, saying that I was jealous, that I was old and unattractive, and that I didn't treat Joseph with enough respect when we were out.

I showed her the video of Joseph messing around in the private cinema. She looked at me and said triumphantly, "It's because Joseph is so outstanding. You're not the only one who wants to be with him. This girl looks gentler and much more considerate than you."

"No wonder Joseph is so shameless. It turns out that shamelessness runs in your family!" I retorted.

My mother was so angry that she wanted to drive them away. Joseph's mother scolded me while walking out, and when she stood at the door, she even called me unwanted second-hand goods.

After kicking away Joseph's parents, I lay on the bed in the room and looked at the engagement items piled up in the room, tears streaming down my face.

Before I fell asleep, my phone rang, and I heard Joseph's furious voice on the other end of the line. He said, "Bianca, I'm downstairs at your place. Get your ass down here and go back with me to apologize to my mom!"

I didn't want to waste my time talking to him, so I hung up the phone. He shouted my name downstairs at the top of his lungs.

It was already late at night, and the neighbors around were awakened by his shouting. I had to get dressed and go downstairs.

Just as I walked downstairs, he opened the trunk and said to me with deep affection, "Bianca, I was wrong today. Nothing happened between me and Holly. Trust me." He even swore.

If it were in the past, I would have definitely cheered and been thrilled when I saw roses in the trunk. But now, I couldn't help feeling disgusted. I shook his hand pulling me away and said decisively, "You have feelings for Holly, right? Then marry her. I won't be in your way."

He quickly knelt down on one knee, took out a diamond ring, and said to me, "Baby, I really know I was wrong. It was just because I was drunk. I wasn't thinking. You're the only one I love. I was just playing with her. Trust me, I have completely cut ties with her."

Seeing that I was not moved at all, he stood up and said to me with a sinister look, "Bianca, I have already let go. Why can't you? Don't forget that I have those videos of yours. If you dare to cancel the engagement, I will post it."

He threatened me with a video of me being bullied, which shattered my last bit of feelings for him.

I met him in a counseling room. I went to counseling after being bullied, and he went to counseling after being dumped by his girlfriend, and then we gradually became familiar with each other.

I always thought that Joseph understood me and candidly revealed all the unbearable memories of my past to him. He said he felt sorry for me and wanted to know about my past. He watched all those videos of me being bullied.

I never imagined that these videos would now become a sharp knife for him to stab me with.

I bit my lip hard and said word by word, "How can you be so shameless? Can't we part on good terms? I beg you, please let me go."

He pinched my chin and said, "You messed with me first. You don't get to break up with me. Only I can break up with you. I'm not done playing you yet. If you don't show up at tomorrow's engagement banquet, I will post those videos. Let's see how you can endure the eyes of your colleagues."

After saying that, he pressed my head and deeply kissed my lips. I struggled hard, yet even biting his lip wouldn't help.

"Bianca, you can only be mine. You must show up at tomorrow's engagement banquet."

He pried my finger and put a diamond ring on it. Then he stuffed the roses in the car into my arms and then drove away.

I threw the withering roses into the trash can and made up my mind.

Since he insists on getting engaged, I will give him a big surprise tomorrow.