“I will get engaged to her first and then find a way to cancel the engagement later. I will still marry you. You will always be my only wife.”

Looking at his confident and condescending look, I suddenly felt relieved.

It turned out that the person I had loved for eight years was nothing more than that.

“Fine then. Let's break up, Darrel. I won't marry you.”

He did not seem to expect that the word break up would come out of my mouth and his face was full of contempt.

“You won’t marry me? You’ve been begging me to marry you for eight years. Besides, you’re almost thirty years old. If you don’t marry me, what will you do?”

His words hit me like a slap, leaving me stunned and momentarily speechless. I never imagined that Darrel, who always carried himself with such elegance, could say something so cruel.

It was then I realized, eight years together had given him ample time to learn exactly how to wound me, how to strike at my most vulnerable points.

Noticing my silence, perhaps he realized his mistake. He sighed softly, his tone shifting to one of feigned remorse. “I’m sorry, Sylvia. I lost my temper. 

“Please be patient with me. I’m just helping Ashley manage her wedding with Seth first. After that, I promise, we’ll get married in a month. I’ll give you the grandest wedding you deserve.”

But as I looked at him, all I could feel was disgust. The man before me was utterly shameless.

Ashley first and then me? Was he hoping to keep both worlds intact, his so-called sincere love with Ashley and the convenience of my thoughtfulness and devotion?

The thought made me sick. Darrel’s promises, once a source of comfort, at that time felt like nothing more than empty lies meant to trap me in his selfish web.

I remembered the day when the three of us had a barbeque together.

While Darrel was helping us prepare the sauce, Ashley completely lost the coquettishness she had when facing him and looked at me provocatively.

“Sylvia, even if you are the apple of everyone's eye, so what? Darrel only cares about me.”

After saying that, she took the coal that had been cooling aside for a long time onto her hands.

Then she covered his hands and screamed loudly with pain on his face. “Sister, don't be angry, I will never see Darrel again?”

When Darrel heard the shouting, an unprecedented panic appeared on his face.

He hurriedly helped the weak-looking Ashley into the car and headed to the hospital.

Before leaving, he did not forget to glare at me fiercely.

“Sylvia, I didn't expect you to be so vicious that you can't even tolerate your own sister?”

What he did not see was that my hands were also burned red by the splashing coal.

A week later, Darrel came to my house and the first thing he did was to ask my parents to agree to his engagement with Ashley.

Suddenly his question startled me. “Sylvia, what are you daydreaming about?” 

I collected my surging thoughts and looked at him coldly. “You should prepare well for your engagement party with Ashley.” 

Since I had resolved not to love him anymore, there was no reason to prolong the inevitable.

My calm indifference and bothered attitude seemed to catch Darrel off guard, leaving him momentarily dazed. 

As I walked away, his expression grew complicated, but I did not look back. 

Instead, I hailed a taxi and went straight home, letting the distance between us grow both physically and emotionally.

The next day, I went to the city’s most prestigious jewelry store. 

After Darrel’s proposal, I had spent hours carefully choosing a set of jewelry that perfectly suited my style and personality. 

If I was not going to marry him, I decided I would at least reclaim what was mine.

But the store owner’s hesitant expression unsettled me. 

“Ms. Lynch,” he began awkwardly, “your set of jewelry was picked up a few days ago by Mr. Gonzalez. I assumed he was collecting it for you.”

A sharp pang hit my chest.

It was as if not enough for him to take my love and my patience, the jewelry I had chosen with so much care, meant to symbolize the life we were supposed to build together, was gone too.

All for Ashley.

It was just an engagement, yet Darrel had given her the jewelry he knew was my favorite.

In that moment, I realized that my place in his heart was not even a fraction of hers.

My best friend who was hanging out with me was so angry that she pulled me up and prepared to go find Darrel to settle the score.

“Darrel is such a bastard, he is such a bully! Sylvia, don't be sad, I will go with you to tear that couple apart.”

But I held her back calmly. “Forget it, I don't want this kind of trash anymore.”

Then, I returned home in disappointment.

As soon as I entered the door, I saw a middle-aged woman with heavy makeup chatting with my mother excitedly.

Sitting next to him was a man who looked to be in his forties, with a somewhat vulgar look in his eyes and sparse hair.

Although I was extremely depressed, I still had to greet her, “Hello, Auntie.”

Then I whispered to my parents, “Dad, Mom, who are these two?”

A middle-aged woman greeted me with a broad smile the moment she saw me. "Ah, this must be Sylvia. So nice, so pretty and so polite.

"I was your mother’s colleague when we were young. We were very close at work," she continued, her tone brimming with nostalgia. 

Then, her smile turned sly. "I heard Mr. Gonzalez rejected your marriage proposal, so I shamelessly brought my son along to see if we could help you find a good match."

The warmth on my mother’s face drained instantly. Her cheerful demeanor shifted to one of quiet tension.

"Where did you hear such baseless gossip?" she retorted sharply. "Sylvia isn’t in any rush to get married, so there’s no need for your concern."

The woman’s expression faltered, her mouth twitching with barely concealed disdain. "Oh, Mrs. Hudson, don’t be so proud of your daughter," she sneered. 

"When women reach a certain age, they should get married, tend to their husbands and raise children. That’s how it’s always been.

"And everyone knows by now that Sylvia was dumped by Darrel, the big-shot CEO. He’s marrying her sister Ashley instead. 

“It’s even all over the internet, how Sylvia dreamed of going from a pheasant to a phoenix, only to be humiliated by the real female lead."

As she spoke, she grabbed the arm of the man beside her, puffing up with pride.

"My son is a senior engineer at a big company, earning $50,000 a year. He’s an honest, upright man with no shady business. Sylvia, you won’t regret marrying him."

"Yes, yes! I’ll treat you well!" the greasy man next to her chimed in, nodding vigorously like a pecking chicken. 

His thick, ill-fitting black-framed glasses and oily demeanor made my stomach turn.

I kept my tone even but firm. "Sir, I have no plans to get married. Please leave."

The greasy man’s face contorted, his voice rising in indignation. "Ungrateful! You... you should be grateful I’m willing to marry you."

Before I could react, a fist collided with his face, sending his glasses shattering to the ground.

"It’s not your turn to humiliate Sylvia," a familiar voice growled, heavy with authority and anger.

I turned, stunned, to see Darrel standing there, his presence as commanding as ever.

He just stared coldly at the greasy man who fell to the ground. His cold aura did not allow anyone to challenge it.

“Sylvia is my wife. Put away your dirty thoughts and get out!”

“Mr. Gonzalez, please forgive me!”

The middle-aged woman hurriedly pulled the greasy man out of my house.

Then, Darrel turned around and stared at me with concern. “Sylvia, are you okay?”

That gentle look was just like before.

I actually still had a glimmer of hope that Darrel might still be the same Darrel as before. But the next second, he pulled me back to reality.

“Uncle, Aunt, Sylvia, Ashley and I will have our engagement party in ten days. I hope you can be there."

Originally, ten days later, Ashley was going to marry Seth.

My father frowned and asked.

“Darrel, if you said you want to get engaged to Ashley first, then what about Sylvia?”

Darrel answered confidently, as if I was still the toy that he could manipulate as he pleased.

“Uncle, I will find a way. There is still plenty of time for Sylvia and I to have our wedding.”

I took the invitation and spoke calmly, “We are all very busy at home recently, so we may not have time.”

Darrel was a little confused. “What are you doing?”

I answered frankly, “They are all busy with my wedding.”

Yes, in ten days, I would marry Seth, the rumored homosexual.

When Darrel heard thT, his expression immediately relaxed. He thought our whole family was still eagerly waiting for him to marry me.

But what he did not know was that I was already dead in my heart.

Marrying Seth would not only avoid embarrassing my parents, but also fulfill the marriage contract with the Charlie Family.

And if Seth was really a homosexual, I would be able to have a lot of peace and quiet.

Ten days later, Darrel and I became the bride and groom at the same time.

It was just that the person he was engaged to was Ashley and the person I was marrying was Seth.

I wore the most beautiful wedding dress, the most exquisite jewelry and got into a Rolls-Royce wedding car.

In the other car that passed by me, there was Darrel, who was full of vigor and happiness.

I heard that at his and Ashley's engagement party, his eyes were always searching for me.

When the ceremony was about to begin, he finally couldn't help but ask. “Why didn't Sylvia come?”

The assistant at the side spoke timidly, “Mr. Gonzalez, Miss Sylvia probably won't be here today.”

Darrel's face darkened, but his tone was still full of pride and disbelief. “What nonsense are you talking about? How could she not come when she loves me so much and is so sensible?”

The assistant answered again in a low voice, “Mr. Gonzalez, I just received the news. Miss Sylvia is getting married today. She is marrying Seth, the young master of the Charlie Family.”