As we stood at the altar, about to exchange rings, my husband, Steve Turner, unexpectedly asked for a five-minute break. Confused, I watched as he turned around, knelt down on one knee, and faced his first love.

"Emily," he said gently, "I once promised you I’d propose to you in front of everyone. So, if there’s an afterlife, will you marry me?"

Tears filled Emily Wilson’s eyes as she nodded, crying, and threw herself into his arms. Then she looked at me and said, "Riley, I couldn’t marry Steve in this life, but please take good care of him for me."

I could hear the guests whispering around me, the tension building.

In front of me was my groom, kissing someone else. And all eyes were on me, waiting for the bride to fall apart.

Instead of breaking down, I calmly walked over to Emily, smiling as I placed the bridal bouquet in her hands. "Why wait for another life?" I said. "If you can't let go of this rotten cucumber, I'll give him to you now."

——

For ten years, I had bent over backward, trying to win the approval of Steve’s family. I thought that by marrying him and carrying his child, he would finally settle down. But this wedding wasn’t about love—it only happened because of the baby inside me.

And now, the man who should’ve made a lifelong promise to me was kissing someone else in front of everyone.

Even as I dug my nails into my palms, the pain in my heart was suffocating.

But suddenly, I realized I didn’t want to take it anymore.

Emily clutched her chest and collapsed into Steve’s arms after I spoke. Without hesitation, he picked her up and rushed her to the hospital.

Before leaving, he didn’t forget to turn back and call me "vicious" and "small-minded."

I realized that something that could’ve been settled in five minutes had turned into a huge mess, leaving everyone embarrassed. Neither my parents nor my in-laws could stop Steve, so all their anger was aimed at me instead.

My mother, feeling ashamed, cried and hit me, begging me to chase after Steve. My father just sighed coldly, telling me to take care of myself as he pulled her away.

My mother-in-law, who never truly accepted me, took this chance to insult me. She called me an "ignorant country girl" and told me that if I wanted to be part of their family, I needed to learn to swallow my pride and never embarrass my husband in public.

For the first time in ten years, I realized that no amount of effort or love could make them accept me. And at that moment, I no longer wanted to be part of the Turner family.

They left with the rest of the guests, telling me to go home and think about what I had done.

I stood at the hotel door, clutching the hem of my white wedding dress, watching everyone leave. Behind me, the hotel was silent and empty.

In front of me, a sudden rainstorm started, matching the turmoil inside me. After the Turner family and all the guests had left, my parents’ car pulled up. My mother rolled down the window, and seeing them, all my bottled-up emotions exploded. My lashes fluttered as tears streamed down my face, and I shouted, "Mom," my voice breaking.

I tried to open the car door, but before I could, I heard the lock click from inside. I stared at them, stunned.

With a disappointed look, my mother said, "I warned you not to go against me. Now you must listen to your in-laws, reflect on yourself, and find a way to win Steve back. You’re carrying their child, and Emily can’t change that."

"Mom, how can you say that..." I shouted, but my words were lost in the rain.

Without another word, my mother rolled up the window and drove off.

I bit my lip, watching the car’s taillights disappear. I couldn’t stop the tears from falling.

The wedding was held at a resort hotel situated halfway up the mountain. Unfortunately, there was no phone signal when I needed to call a taxi. A kind waiter saw me struggling and gave me an umbrella, his eyes full of sympathy. After I thanked him, I tried to balance the umbrella in one hand while holding my heavy wedding dress with the other. I made my way down the mountain with great effort, soaked by the rain and shivering from the cold. My heels were painfully rubbed raw and bloody.

When my phone finally picked up a signal, a wave of messages appeared instantly, all from Steve. Every message was filled with questions and accusations. Despite my earlier explanation that I considered Emily just like a sister, Steve still seemed to think I was targeting her.

I chose to ignore him. Just then, I received a video from an unfamiliar number. In the video, Steve was holding Emily’s hand tightly as he accompanied her to an examination. He kissed her fingertips and begged her with tearful eyes not to be in trouble.

I couldn’t help but remember when I was first diagnosed with pregnancy and had a fall in the bathroom due to low blood sugar. At that time, I broke my leg and was in severe pain. Terrified, I called him for support, but he responded harshly, saying he wasn’t a doctor and questioned why I was calling him. I ended up in the hospital for two weeks, and he never visited once.

Later, I found out that on the day I fell, Emily had cut her hand while cooking. The doctor had warned her that she might have a scar, which made her cry a lot. Steve ended up taking all his frustration and heartache out on me. I paused and let out a bitter laugh at myself.

I finally understood, though it was too late, and that’s why I’m in such a humiliating situation now. While I was in a taxi, Steve called me. After a loud outburst, he was out of breath and told me that Emily was so frightened she had a heart attack. He demanded that I come over and apologize to her immediately.

Struggling to keep the flimsy umbrella steady, I replied calmly, "I’m still at the hotel." As soon as I finished speaking, a flash of lightning lit up the dark sky, followed by a loud rumble of thunder.

Steve’s voice trembled with worry as he said, "It’s raining outside. They didn’t bring you back? Then I’m..." His sentence was cut off when Emily suddenly started crying and said, "Is Riley upset? It’s all my fault. Maybe I should have died abroad..."

Steve quickly began to comfort her in a gentle voice.

He turned to me, visibly angry, and said, "This is your fault. Why are you feeling wronged? It’s only been five minutes. If you had been more understanding earlier, I wouldn’t have left you behind..."

His words struck a nerve, and I cut him off with a defiant expression, saying, "Divorce. I won’t apologize to Emily. I’m not in the wrong—it’s you who are."

If they can’t let go of each other, then why is Steve coming to provoke me? He was the one who confessed his feelings to me first and promised to be with me for the rest of his life, which is why I chose him so firmly.

After ten years together, does their love still hold more value than mine? Overwhelmed by the thought, I hung up the phone and hastily called a taxi.

While I was in the car, Steve’s text message came through.

'Riley, you need to own up to your mistakes. I’ve indulged your flaws for a decade. Do you think anyone else would want you, especially after you trapped me by getting pregnant?'

I stared at the text message.

I thought that after what I experienced today, there would be no more sad things, but it turned out that there were.

I opened the car window and let the cold wind blow on my face. My chaotic heart gradually became clear.

I asked the driver to turn the car around and go directly to the hospital.

I walked into the hospital lobby, my wedding dress was covered in mud. A nurse saw me and quickly came over, asking if I needed help.

"I'm here for an abortion," I said, staying calm.

Her face showed surprise for a second, but then she looked at me with sympathy. She quietly led me to the third floor.

As I lay on the operating table, I listened to the baby’s heartbeat through the ultrasound. Even then, I decided to call Steve.

When the call connected, I heard Emily crying and apologizing to me. Before I could speak, Steve grabbed the phone. His voice was cold as he said, "Riley, it's too late to feel sorry now. You’ve made Emily suffer enough. Unless you come and beg for her forgiveness on your knees, I will never forgive you."

The words I wanted to say never left my lips. Instead, I turned to the doctor and said, "Please go ahead."

"The baby is very healthy. Are you sure you don’t want to discuss this with the father again?" the doctor asked.

"No, there's no need," I replied.

...

When I got home, everything in the house looked the same. Nothing had changed. It was clear Steve had been spending his time with Emily.

I opened Emily's social media account and saw her recent posts. She had shared a lot of new updates.

People were fawning over how the once untouchable Steve was now rolling up his sleeves, making soup out of love, drawing the envy of many.

I saved all the posts one by one, then turned off my phone.

After quickly packing a few things, I moved into a hotel. A hot bath helped warm up my cold, tired body.

I took a few days off from work to recover. Once I felt better, I returned to the office.

During this time, my mother kept calling, asking if I had made up with Steve. I told her I wasn’t going to be with him anymore. Her constant crying upset me, so I eventually stopped answering her calls.

When I arrived at the company, I noticed the strange looks of everyone. My colleague, Jessie Howard, pulled me aside to my desk, and that’s when I saw the headlines all over the websites—it had blown up everywhere.

She grabbed my hand with a mix of surprise and envy. "I can't believe I’ve been sitting next to a rich woman this whole time! I always thought Emily was the real lady of the Turner family, but it turns out it's you, Riley."

I gave an awkward smile and skimmed through the post.

Someone with bad intentions had taken photos of the wedding and shared them online. The headlines were full of drama, calling it a "bloody scandal of a wealthy family spoiling a mistress and ruining the wife."

Steve’s strange behavior at the wedding had caused a huge stir, even dragging the Turner family into the mess.

In the past, I would’ve rushed to help Steve clean up the scandal. But now, with the divorce in my mind, I couldn’t be bothered to care.

It was time to leave work.

For the first time, Steve was waiting for me outside the office. I tried to turn away and avoid him, but he caught up with me in just a few steps, pushing me into the car.

"Are you still mad? Don’t you get what’s more important—a wedding or someone’s life?" he said harshly.

"You’re not young anymore, yet you’re talking about divorce and running away. Isn’t that childish?"

Then he changed his tone. "Alright, haven’t you always wanted to go to that starry sky restaurant in the north of the city? I’ll take you there now."

He pulled out a gift box from the glove compartment and threw it at me. It opened, and a diamond ring rolled out.

It was clearly much more expensive than the one from the wedding day.

Steve gave me a look that said, "You should be happy now," and added, "Emily has a heart condition, so since she’s already wearing that ring, I let her keep it. This one costs way more, so stop worrying about it."

I fiddled with the diamond ring in my hand, noticing the price tag of 999,999 was still attached. It seemed like a rushed purchase from a jewelry store.

In the past, when I was upset, he would cook for me, sit through movies with me to cheer me up, and spend the whole day helping me choose the perfect gift.

Now, he’s become just like his family—putting a price on my feelings and expecting me to accept it with a smile.

I put the ring back in the glove compartment and shook my head. "It’s too expensive. Let’s give it to Emily instead."

"And I’m not making a big deal about it. Since you and Emily can’t let go of each other, why don’t I just step aside and let her take the title of Mrs. Turner? We can get the divorce sorted out later."

Steve and I had already signed our marriage certificate before the wedding. Now, we needed to go through the process of separating and filing for divorce.

I also heard that at a dinner with Emily and some friends, someone asked him why someone like Steve would choose an ordinary woman like me.

He fed Emily peeled grapes and casually said, "I can’t say I love her, but Riley has been with me for ten years, and now she’s pregnant with my child. It would be sad not to marry her. But the title of Mrs. Turner belongs to someone else."

To him, our marriage feels like just a charity case and a pity. But for me, it has always been filled with love and sincerity, even when things got tough.

Now, I no longer love him, and the title of Mrs. Turner means very little to me. I thought he would appreciate my attempt to help him and Emily find happiness together.

Instead, he suddenly became furious, his eyes flashing with anger, and he slammed his hand hard on the steering wheel, making the car shake slightly.

"Riley! Do you really think it's funny to say these things? You’ve been trying to please my parents like a pet for all these years, bending over backward to make them happy, and you’ve done everything you could to get pregnant just to become Mrs. Turner. And now you have the nerve to ask for my help? Isn’t that completely absurd?"

"It’s just that the wedding didn’t go as planned. Can’t I at least try to make it up to you later? Besides, who can I blame for this situation? I had already agreed to marry you, but when I asked Emily to marry me, you insisted on acting like a shrew and making a scene."

He always insisted that I got pregnant on purpose. But he clearly told me he wanted his parents to recognize me and wanted to have a child with me. Now, after Emily returned, he regretted everything and placed all the blame on me.

In frustration, he pressed the horn sharply, the sound echoing in the car. If this had happened before, I would have cried and begged him to forgive me. But now, I didn’t feel like arguing at all.

Instead, I turned my head to look out at the scenery passing by outside the window, trying to find some peace in the moment.

After a long silence, as if he was expecting me to make a humble request for peace, he finally turned to look at me and called out, "Riley."

I closed my eyes and didn’t say a word. The navigation system kept announcing the road conditions, its monotone voice filling the silence. When there was just 0.2 kilometers left to our destination, his phone suddenly rang.

On the other end was Emily, crying and saying her heart was starting to feel uncomfortable again and asking if she was going to die. To be honest, I was tired of hearing this, even though she never seemed to tire of saying it.

Since returning to Canada, she had complained about her heart on every significant holiday. Anyone who wasn’t blind could see she was pretending, but sadly, Steve couldn’t see through it.

I decided to speak first, cutting through the tension. "Just drop me off at the intersection ahead."

Steve looked at me in surprise, clearly not expecting my response. "Aren’t you angry? Weren’t you just insisting on coming with me?"

I simply shook my head.

I used to dislike him being alone with Emily, so I suggested that I go with him to take care of her. At that time, he had jumped up and down, scolding me for being petty and dirty-minded, telling me that both Emily and I should learn to be simple and kind.

He pursed his lips, his phone still vibrating in his hand. The car quickly approached the intersection. I grabbed my bag and prepared to get out, but he suddenly grabbed my wrist, looking at me with a mix of emotions in his eyes.

"I'll go and check on her," he said softly. "I’ll come back later to take you to dinner. Don’t worry, the position of Mrs. Turner will definitely be yours. Just don’t be angry."

"Okay, I’m not angry," I replied, trying to sound casual as I attempted to push his hand away gently. I wanted to believe his words, but it all felt so hollow.

But he held my wrist tighter. "Riley, why are you so different from before? Why don’t you..."

"Not jealous anymore, right? What’s there to be jealous about? The girl thinks of you as her brother. Isn’t it normal for her to come to you first when she needs something? Now, go on," I replied, forcing a smile as I broke free from his grip and got out of the car.

I then took a taxi back to the hotel, enjoyed the buffet, and quickly fell asleep on the bed, feeling exhausted.

In that half-asleep state, Steve called me. He explained that Emily couldn’t be left alone right now and that he wouldn’t be able to take me to dinner, asking me not to wait for him.

"I’ve already eaten," I replied casually.

He fell silent for a moment, then gritted his teeth and asked, "Do you really have to do this?"

I simply said, "Hmm," and hung up the phone, drifting back into a deep sleep.

It wasn’t until the next day that I saw the text message he sent, warning me not to play with fire or risk getting burned.