Chapter 1
The moment I saw the tattered couple’s notebook carelessly tossed onto my desk, I knew Rachel had also come back. For the past ten years in our previous life, we had leaned on each other and worked hard together. I pulled all-nighters to build my startup, while she stayed in our tiny apartment making hangover soup to keep me going. Two kids from a small town, constantly encouraging each other. After ten years of perseverance and countless nights of drinking until I got ulcers, we finally put down roots in a big city, with a decent income and a fully paid-off house. Back then, standing in front of my own company building and holding Rachel’s hand, I felt overwhelmed with emotion. Without her support, I wouldn’t have made it this far. At that point, I finally felt confident enough to propose and start planning our wedding. To make up for all the years she had stood by me, I secretly prepared a $200,000 engagement ring and a fully paid house as a surprise. Everything seemed to be heading in the right direction. I even started fantasizing about having a child after we got married. It didn’t matter if she didn’t like doing housework or taking care of kids. In the past, when I didn’t have money, I had to take care of her myself. But now that things were better, I could hire not just one, but two nannies to take care of her and the baby. But fate seemed to be playing a cruel joke on me. The night before our wedding, Rachel said she wanted to have drinks with some friends for her bachelorette party. I agreed, of course, and promised to pick her up at midnight. But when I drove to the bar, I found her sobbing in a private room, bitterly regretting her life choices. She said she regretted more than once giving up her high school crush for a boring guy like me. “I was too young back then, too afraid to confess to the guy I liked because I didn’t want to ruin my reputation as a good student,” she cried. “But look what happened? This boring, studious boyfriend ended up wasting my most precious ten years!” “He tricked me into studying hard for three years, and then tricked me for another ten years, saying he’d give me a good life.” “Now I’m thirty, and no other man would want me. I have no choice but to marry him.” “You guys might envy me for finally getting my happy ending, but have you ever thought about how I’ve wasted my entire life with someone I don’t even love?!” I stood frozen at the doorway, my blood running cold. For the past ten years, even though I couldn’t give her a more luxurious life, I had given her all my salary and bonuses, and taken care of all the housework. Whether it was her freeloading parents or anything she wanted, I always tried my best to fulfill her wishes. She told me she wanted a unique wedding. I wanted to give her the grand wedding of her dreams once we were more financially stable, but in her eyes, I was just deliberately holding her back. Just as I was reeling from the shock, a girl passing by couldn’t resist the drama and posted a video online: “After seeing this, would you still choose to give up true love and marry a boring guy? Look at this poor man standing outside like a loyal dog while his drunk fiancée rants inside.” In an instant, we became a trending topic online. Everyone sympathized with Rachel and criticized me for ruining her youth. Some people even made memes out of my expression, calling me “the most pathetic simp of the new era.” Ten years of devotion, and I was left with nothing. My so-called friends who saw the post pretended to care while actually mocking me: “Are you still going through with the wedding? What if the bride runs away?” “Wow, you really outdid yourself, man. Trapping your high school crush for ten years? Are you some kind of yandere or what? Hahaha!” I became the target of everyone’s ridicule and mockery. But Rachel only panicked for a moment when she first found out about the video. Then she became righteously indignant. “It’s all your fault anyway. Even strangers online think you’ve held me back. Everything is your fault.” I leaned back on the sofa, looking at her tiredly. “We’re only legally married, we haven’t had the ceremony yet.” “In that case, let’s forget about the wedding and just get divorced.” Hearing this, Rachel suddenly started screaming. “I’ve wasted ten years on you! If we divorce now, I’ll lose half of everything! No way!” “If you want to dump me, you better pay up first!” I looked at the woman I had loved for ten years in disbelief, immediately getting up to find our marriage certificate. I can’t believe I misjudged her so badly! But just as I turned to look for the documents, Rachel, seeing that I was determined to divorce her, somehow crept up behind me. In a moment of madness, she pulled out a sharp knife from somewhere and stabbed it into my body. “How dare you even mention divorce when I’ve put up with you for so long?” “Only if you die can I have both money and freedom!” Her face was twisted with malice as she spoke the last words I heard before falling into darkness.