Chapter 1

During a trip, I got seriously injured saving my husband and ended up in the hospital.

The doctor mixed up the charts. Without even bothering to verify it, my husband assumed I had completely lost my memory—and began fabricating our entire past.

We were childhood sweethearts. Yet he told me our marriage was merely a contract of convenience, that our ten-year agreement had expired, and that it was time to part ways.

When I walked through the front door of our home, he was baking a cake with Chloe, a low-income student we had sponsored. Their faces were covered in flour, smiling and flirting.

The moment he saw me, my husband, Christian, panicked. Shoving Chloe aside, he rushed toward me.

But the second he reached me, he seemed to remember I had "amnesia." The panic in his eyes instantly morphed into cool detachment. "Don't make a scene. There's no love between us. We've lived separate lives for the past ten years.

"Chloe is my actual girlfriend, the woman I truly love. You knew all of this before you lost your memory."

Dazed, I looked at Chloe.

She was one of the underprivileged students Christian and I had supported through college. After graduation, she joined his company.

Turns out, behind my back, they had gotten together.

Fighting back the suffocating agony in my chest, I asked quietly,

"Is that so?

"How long have you two been together?"

Christian was still hesitating, but Chloe blurted it out: "We've been together for three years."

She raised her left hand, gently wiping the flour and frosting from a diamond ring with a sweet smile. "Today happens to be our three-year anniversary. Christian just proposed to me. Nora, if you're free, you're welcome to come to our wedding."

My chest seized, the air crushed out of my lungs.

Three years.

And three years ago today was the exact day I had my miscarriage.

Back when we were teenagers, a rival family had tried to kidnap Christian off the street. I was severely injured saving him, leaving me with chronic health issues and a fragile body. Getting pregnant was a life-threatening risk for me.

Yet Christian desperately wanted a child. Both of us were only children, and our family businesses needed an heir, so I took the gamble and got pregnant for him.

He treated me like glass throughout the pregnancy. Just when it looked like the baby would arrive safely, tragedy struck.

Something went wrong with the fetus. I collapsed on the floor in a pool of blood, dialing Christian's number over and over again.

Before that night, no matter where he was or what he was doing, he always answered on the first ring. But that night, he vanished off the face of the earth.

By the time the ambulance rushed me to the hospital, the doctor said that if I had arrived just ten minutes earlier, my baby could have been saved.

When Christian finally rushed into the hospital room, he dropped to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably. He claimed he had been entertaining clients, had drank too much, and genuinely didn't hear his phone.

He swore he would never neglect me again, that he would never let me get hurt...

And now, that man who had supposedly loved me with his whole soul was standing before me, cold, distant, and completely unrecognizable.

A brutal realization pierced through my haze. The real reason I lost my baby that night was because he was with Chloe. That was why he ignored my calls.

It felt as if I had suddenly plummeted from a sweet, colorful dream into a pitch-black abyss.

I didn't know how to handle it. Devastated, my only instinct was to run. But as I turned to leave, Christian grabbed my wrist. "You just got discharged, and you're still pale as a ghost. Where do you think you're going instead of resting at home?"

I violently jerked my arm free. "You said our marriage was just business. You said we were putting on a show and that there was zero love between us. How can this place be my home?"

Christian looked away, averting his gaze. "Why wouldn't it be?

"Even without romantic love, we've lived together for ten years. There's at least friendship between us."

Friendship?

Every time we met, we hugged and kissed passionately.

Every time he traveled for business, we spent hours on FaceTime every single day.

He was my whole world, and the way he pampered me was the envy of everyone we knew.

Childhood sweethearts, ten years of marriage—and he reduced it all to a casual brush-off called "friendship"?

"Nora, you just recovered from your injuries and you've got amnesia. Don't rush to move out," Chloe chimed in, putting on an innocent, caring act as she took my hand. "I know your ten-year term with Christian is up, but our wedding still needs time to plan. It's totally fine if you stay a little longer."

The diamond ring on her finger caught the light, glinting so harshly it burned my eyes.

I laughed, though hot tears spilled down my cheeks.

"Even if there were a ten-year term, is it really up yet?

"Christian, besides being your anniversary with Chloe, today is also our tenth wedding anniversary, isn't it?"

Christian had started lying to me back in the hospital.

The moment he thought I had amnesia, he had excitedly called Chloe. I accidentally overheard words like "marriage" and "surprise."

Right then, I knew something was wrong.

Yet I refused to believe it. Christian loved me so much—how could he possibly betray me?

I told myself he was hiding something to give me a surprise, to give me an unforgettable anniversary.

So I waited and waited. But as the anniversary slipped away, he never called. Unable to bear it, I checked out of the hospital early and came home.

Only to find out that his lies had started three years ago.

"Nora, you... didn't you lose your memory?"

Christian froze, his entire body stiffening as his voice trembled with sheer panic. "How do you still remember our anniversary?"