Chapter 2
Before I could come to my senses, another line quickly appeared in the diary,
“If you really are Adrian, then tell me, where am I standing in the graduation photo?”
I immediately replied, “You’re standing in front of Marcus.”
The diary went quiet again.
After waiting for a minute with no reply, I picked up the pen and wrote stroke by stroke with force.
“Lily, please leave my life.”
“Why? If you really are Adrian, don’t you know I like you?”
The last question mark was written with such force that it tore through the paper.
“Like? It’s because of your ‘like’ that the day after the graduation photo was taken, I was stabbed by people Marcus sent, leaving me unable to have children for life!!”
“And now at 30, you’re pregnant with his child.”
With each word I wrote, the memories of the past became clearer.
I had tried everything to forget these memories, but countless nights, I was awakened by these painful memories, unable to sleep.
It had become my inescapable nightmare.
13 years ago, Marcus begged Lily to stand in front of him, but she refused.
Lily firmly stood in front of me, saying not only now, but in the future when we take wedding photos, she would stand with me.
The girl’s passionate confession made my ears turn red.
But the next day, an enraged Marcus found a dozen thugs to corner me in an alley.
When Lily arrived after hearing the news, she saw me covered in blood and cried uncontrollably.
She carried me on her back, even though I was half a head taller than her, and stumbled frantically towards the hospital.
To save me, she donated half her blood, but although I survived, I suffered severe damage, permanently impairing my ability to have children.
Lily held me and cried her eyes out, swearing she would marry no one but me and never let me be hurt again.
But I never imagined that now she would cheat on me with Marcus, the mastermind behind my injury, and even get pregnant with his child.
“Lily, promise me, if you like me, leave my life.”
“As far away as possible! Can you do that?”
“I’m begging you!”
After waiting for a long time without a reply, I collapsed on the sofa with the diary, unknowingly falling asleep.
In my dream, I saw 17-year-old Lily running desperately in a dark alley.
Her face was panicked and anxious.
A strong wind blew a flower pot off the balcony, jolting me awake to see that night had fallen outside.
30-year-old Lily hadn’t returned all night, not even a phone call or a text message.
But Marcus’s social media was updated every ten minutes, a total of 30 posts.
The first one was Lily putting the family heirloom around his neck.
The second was Lily and him flipping through a dictionary, choosing a name for the baby.
The third was him lying on Lily’s belly, happily listening to the baby’s movements.
……
Each post had likes and blessings from friends in the comments.
“Congratulations to Lily for finally becoming a mother.”
“I told you Lily wouldn’t stay faithful to Adrian, but you didn’t believe me.”
“How could Adrian ever be good enough for our Lily? Marcus and our Lily are truly a perfect match, made for each other.”
Lily had liked every post.
Perhaps deep down, she felt the same way.
Exiting the social media app, I lay on the sofa feeling dizzy and drowsy.
In my dream, 17-year-old Lily finally ran out of the alley.
What met her eyes was me being pinned down and beaten by a group of thugs, with 17-year-old Marcus pulling out a knife, about to stab me.
“Adrian!”
The next second, Lily’s eyes turned red, and she rushed forward like a madwoman.
Her thin body trembled uncontrollably, but she still picked up a brick from the roadside with all her might and started smashing the lead thug’s head again and again.
The other thugs swarmed her, stabbing her dozens of times.
Lily paid no attention, tightly gripping the blood-stained brick, using her last ounce of strength to smash the lead thug’s head open, screaming at the others with a ferocious expression.
“Come on if you’re not afraid to die!”
Those thugs were intimidated by her do-or-die attitude and fled in panic.
Only when their figures had completely disappeared into the alley did Lily collapse powerlessly in front of me, shaking uncontrollably.
When our eyes met, she smiled proudly, “Adrian, I told you I’d give my life for you, now do you believe me?”
“Lily! I don’t need this!”
“Leave me!”
I shouted her name in anger, instantly waking up, tears already overflowing.
Looking at myself in the mirror, with bulging veins and goosebumps all over my body, I didn’t know if it was from fear or cold.
Looking down at the diary in my arms, I felt my mind was in a fog, unable to distinguish if this was a dream or a memory.
Pulling up my shirt, I suddenly froze, quickly feeling my lower abdomen with my hand.