"My family's been pushing hard for me to marry. I dropped you hints, plenty of them. You haven't forgotten that, have you?"

"Aisha, I, Jude Henson, have never abased myself like this for any woman!"

"So everything happening right now, you brought it on yourself!"

Each word came out low and furious, ringing through the hospital lobby.

Jude shut his eyes and breathed in deep, over and over, working to cool the anger down.

When he opened them again, most of the fire had drained out.

A faint sneer had taken its place at the corner of his mouth.

"Aisha, I know about the wedding dress your mother sent you."

"Since you've already decided to marry me, I can make an allowance for it."

"On one condition. You wait until Blanche and I are divorced."

"As for when that divorce happens, that depends on how you behave."

He finished, took a call from Blanche, then turned and walked off.

I stayed where I was, one hand carefully cradling the gauzy skirt of the gown, and wiped my eyes dry.

Then I dialed my father.

"Papa, the matchmaking gathering at Summer Ranch in three days. I want to go."

"Jude Henson. I'm not marrying him anymore."

After booking a flight back to the northern highlands, I took off the gown, stitched it carefully back together, and folded it neatly into my suitcase.

Jude pushed the door open and saw me packing.

He froze for a few seconds, then spoke without much interest.

"I know dresses like that are something you people start preparing as girls. But this is New York, not the highlands."

"If you want to marry me, you wear a white wedding gown."

As he said it, he loosened his tie, pulled out his phone, and held it up in front of me.

A full screen of white gowns, every style there was.

"Blanche and I are having our wedding. In three days."

"These are the ones she passed over. You can pick something from them."

"Once she and I divorce, you'll get to wear it."

His words still came wrapped in barbs.

I listened in silence and said nothing.

A few seconds later he set the phone down and spoke coldly.

"Blanche's mother had a real fright today. Go to the hospital and apologize to her."

"That's the first step. Show me you're sincere—"

"I won't."

"What did you say?!"

Stunned that I'd refused, Jude's voice climbed several notches.

"Aisha, do you still want to marry me or not?!"

"Now! Right now! Come with me and apologize!"

His face was tight with temper as he gripped my wrist hard.

"Aisha, I'm giving you one last chance. Are you going to apologize or not?!"

"Jude. I'm not going."

"Not now, and not ever."

I looked him straight in the eye and said every word of it.

His grip on my hand clamped down all at once.

"Aisha, you're coming with me whether you want to or not!"

He dragged me the whole way, and he'd just hauled me to the door when Blanche came rushing in.

"Jude, I've been so worried."

"My mother's not doing well..."

She wrapped herself around him, sobbing softly.

I stood off to the side and watched. Then Blanche suddenly lifted her head.

"Aisha, have your parents send over a few more bags of wild medicinal herbs!"

"This time, I won't make Jude give away the slot for fixing your mother's leg."

Her words slid past my ear.

I went rigid, a few seconds of pure disbelief.

"Jude, is what Blanche said true?"

"You gave away my mother's treatment slot on purpose?"

"Do you have any idea? Because she missed that treatment, her leg is crippled for the rest of her life?!"

He kept shouting, and I fought with everything in me to keep my body from shaking.

Jude's voice came light and careless.

"Your mother had it coming anyway."

"Digging up that much wild medicinal herb, wrecking the ecosystem. That's what she gets."

What she gets?

Those words burrowed straight into my heart like the snow-worms back home, the kind that drink your blood and eat you alive.

The pain stopped my breath.

My mother was born in the northern highlands. She loved every blade of grass, every tree there, more than anyone.

If it hadn't been for Jude's mother, who deliberately made things hard for me and demanded I find those herbs for her.

How could my mother ever have dug them up, knowing it was against the law?

If it hadn't been for me, for the so-called happiness Jude and I were supposed to have.

How could my mother have fallen on that slope and broken her leg?

"Aisha, are you even listening to me?!"

"Tell your father and mother to dig up a few more bags of those herbs and send them over!"

"It's not like your parents know the law anyway. A couple of backward criminals!"

Blanche's sneering voice cut into my ear. I raised my hand and slapped her across the face.

The next second, Jude caught my wrist and flung it back hard.

I lost my footing and slammed my head against the sharp corner of the cabinet by the entryway.

Everything went black. I felt something wet trickling from my forehead.

Hand pressed to the wound, I lifted my head slowly.

Jude's eyes froze. Without thinking, he bent to look for the first-aid kit.

A gentle, automatic comfort slipped out of his mouth.

"Aisha, don't be scared—"

But he came back to himself fast.

His brows drew tight.

"Aisha, hurting yourself doesn't work on me anymore."

"I'll say it again. You want to marry me? Then wait for my divorce!"

"You're only good enough to be my second wife."

Every word delivered, Jude hauled me up off the floor.

"Move! We're going to the hospital so you can apologize to Blanche's mother!"

I bit down on the pain and let myself be dragged out of the complex.

The strange stares of passersby followed me, and I struggled hard.

Then, out of nowhere, I heard someone mutter a jeer.

"That woman's the mistress!"

"She got slapped at the hospital today. I've even got it on video!"

The word mistress.

It stabbed clean through my heart. I opened my mouth to argue.

And then I heard Blanche talking to the people watching.

"You're not seeing things, she really is the mistress!"

"See the way she looks?"

"She's from the northern highlands. From now on, when you see those highland people, keep your distance!"

"Or one day you'll get cheated on and never see it coming!"

Blanche's words were thick with prejudice, planted to lead people on.

I shook all over with fury and rushed at her, slapping her across the face.

The blow stunned her, and she shoved me hard.

I was at the top of a full flight of stairs. I couldn't keep my balance, and in my panic I grabbed tight at the hem of Jude's shirt.

Jude stopped.

The next second, Blanche burst into tears and fainted to the floor.

Jude's body lurched a step forward.

My only hold was gone, and I went tumbling down the stairs.

Hands clamped over my head, I felt like my body was being pulled apart with the pain.

I don't know how long it lasted before I finally stopped rolling and lay still on the concrete.

When I woke again, I was lying in a hospital bed.

I braced myself up and walked out of the room, and heard a nurse shrieking with excitement.

"Dr. Henson and Dr. Delgado make such a perfect match!"

"Look, this is the livestream of their wedding. I'm so jealous of the coworkers who took the day off to go in person."

The nurse's words came into my ears one by one, and my phone suddenly rang.

"Aisha, are you awake?"

"If you're awake, come to the wedding. I have something to say to you."

Jude's voice carried through the noisy wedding music.

I looked at the plane ticket on my phone, three hours left before it boarded, and spoke calmly.

"Jude, do you know that once a girl from our northern highlands puts on her wedding gown, she has to marry within seven days?"

"I'm not waiting for your divorce anymore."

"What did you say?"

On the other end, I heard Jude go still and confused.

He thought I was joking.

He said it again.

"Aisha, what did you just say about marrying within seven days?"

I didn't answer him. I only said one more thing.

"Jude, I'm going back to the northern highlands to get married. I'll never set foot in New York again as long as I live."

"……"

At the lively wedding, Jude gripped his phone, his eyes full of disbelief.

The emcee's voice rose and rang beside him, and he didn't take in a word of it.

He called the inpatient ward in a panic.

"Aisha, she's still at the hospital, right?"

The nurse was still watching the wedding livestream, and the sudden call left her stunned.

"Aisha? That highland mistress?"

"She left over ten minutes ago—"

The nurse hadn't finished her sentence.

Jude tore down off the stage like a man gone mad.