02
Aeura.
Private club.
Finn sat expressionless in a booth, smoking.
Surrounded by blue–grey smoke, his face was dark and gloomy, eyes fixed intently on the phone on the table.
In the half month since Mia ran away from their wedding, he had called her countless times from different numbers.
Her phone was always switched off.
He reached for the phone, habitually dialing that number etched in his memory.
The cold mechanical voice sounded again. “The number you have dialed is switched off.”
Finn violently threw the phone.
It smashed against a wine bottle. The bottle shattered, sending shards flying, and leaving a long gash across the back of his hand.
Blood immediately poured out.
The private room erupted in chaos.
A friend beside him sucked in a cold breath, carefully speaking up. “Finn, is your hand okay? Don’t be too angry. Mia is just throwing a tantrum. She’ll
come back to you after a while.”
Someone chimed in, “That’s right, women just like to act up. Once she cools down, everything will be fine.”
“You can’t blame Mia for being upset. Bringing that woman to make a scene at the wedding was a bit much…”
Finn stood there, letting the blood drip from his hand onto the floor. His face was dark with rage, but his tone held a strange hint of grievance. “She ran away from the wedding, and I even broke up with Daisy. What more does she want from me?”
The previously noisy crowd gradually fell silent.
Everyone looked at Finn with a glimmer of understanding in their eyes.
“Finn, have you… fallen in love with Mia?”
Finn jumped as if bitten by a snake, letting out a cold laugh. “What nonsense are you talking? How could I possibly fall in love with a boring woman
like Mia?”
With that, he grabbed his coat and stormed out, his retreating figure betraying the awkwardness of someone whose true feelings had been exposed.
Finn returned to their marital home.
12:52 PM
The wedding decorations had all been personally arranged by Mia.
When he looked at their wedding photo by the bedside, his anger intensified.
Finn grabbed a pillow and hurled it at the smiling woman in the photo.
“You looked so happy to marry me, how could you heartlessly run away?”
He not only smashed the photo but wrecked the entire room.
Even so, he still felt the pressure in his chest hadn’t eased.
Half a month had passed, and Mia still hadn’t come back to apologize. He wouldn’t be blamed for being merciless now.
He thought, “When she came back begging, she couldn’t say I was deliberately making things difficult for her.”
I was looking at a wedding dress design competition on my phone when Ethan hugged me from behind.
and
- d. Will ahead wards
He rested his chin on my neck, slowly nuzzling, his voice sounding by my ear. “If you want to participate, go ahead and sign up!”
I widened my eyes in surprise. “You agree to me signing up?”
I had always dreamed of becoming a wedding dress designer, wanting brides to wear my designs as they walked towards happiness.
But no one had ever supported me.
Since childhood, my parents had only educated me on how to be a qualified wife in a wealthy family.
I was more like a commodity to be sold than their daughter.
After getting engaged to Finn, I had also told him about my dream.
He had sneered mockingly, “Don’t have such unrealistic dreams. If the wife of Foster Group’s CEO goes out to work, people will think Foster Group going bankrupt. I can’t lose face like that.”
They only cared about their own face and interests.
No one cared about my dreams.
In their eyes, I was the golden signboard of the Morgan Family, the future wife of Foster Group’s CEO.
They all forgot that I had another identity.
Mia Morgan.
Simply a woman named Mia Morgan, with her own dreams and pursuits.
But now, Ethan embraced me, encouraging me to chase my dreams.
I leaned into his embrace, my heart swelling painfully, like a sail filled taut by the wind. “Ethan, won’t you feel that I’m embarrassing you?”
Ethan tightened his arms around me, turning me to face him. He lifted my chin and kissed me gently. “Mia, remember, to me, you are Mia first, and
then my woman.”
- me.
His kiss was full of tenderness as if he understood all those dark, helpless parts of my past.
Ethan helped me open the webpage, smiling as he watched me fill out the registration form.
He accompanied me through every street and alley, traversing every corner of the city, just to find the materials I wanted.
He patiently helped me compare fabrics, eagerly participating in my dream.
When I was too absorbed in sketching designs to pay attention to him, he didn’t complain. Instead, he personally cooked meals and made soup for
He was the only son of the Rivers family, the untouchable and ascetic golden boy of Harbor’s elite group. He had always been the center of attention; a single word from him and others would do these things for him. He never needed to do anything himself.
But he did it anyway.
When he brought a fork with cut fruit to my lips, I felt a sting in my nose.
I had rarely experienced such fervent love, as if I was being the apple of his eye.
“Ethan, thank you!”
I thought, “Thank you for loving me so much, for treasuring me, for letting me experience what it feels like to be cherished and protected.”
The fruit in my mouth tasted sweeter than ever before, so sweet it brought tears to my eyes.
I wasn’t usually an emotional person; I rarely cried.
At ten years old, when I realized the truth that my parents didn’t love me, I didn’t cry.
At eighteen, when I understood the fact that Finn didn’t love me, I didn’t cry.
At twenty–five, on my wedding day, when I received the steamy bedroom photo of my groom with another woman, I still didn’t cry.
But at this moment.
My eyes finally filled with uncontrollable moisture.
Ethan sighed softly, his warm hand stroking my hair, his tone gentle and compassionate. “If you want to cry, then cry. For the rest of our lives, I’ll never let you shed another tear.”
Though his voice wasn’t loud, it carried the weight of a solemn vow.
looked un meeting his onvy eves focused and loving
O
I looked up, meeting his onyx eyes, focused and loving.
As if everything else in the world had faded away, and in this vast universe, only I existed, completely occupying his entire field of vision.
I wiped away my tears and said softly, “Ethan, let’s stay together for the rest of our lives.”
Ethan smiled like a child, bright and radiant. “It would be my honor!”
I learned about the Morgan Family company crisis while browsing on my tablet.
The Foster Group had unexpectedly withdrawn their investment from the Morgan Family’s company, causing a break in the capital chain. If funds weren’t replenished quickly, the company would face bankruptcy.
This was Finn’s doing.
D
I could no longer avoid the situation.
Ethan cupped my face, smoothing
my furrowed brow with his hand, his tone carrying its usual steadiness. “Don’t worry, I’ll go back with you.”
TET
Listening to his strong, steady at, I felt a sense of security I had never experienced before.
I craved this feeling of having someone to rely on.
And I craved even more the beautiful times spent with him.
“Okay!”
For the first time, I, who had always been independent, learned to rely on someone else.
The next day, Ethan and I flew back to Aeura.
less, how dare you come back? Why didn’t you just die out
My father’s teacup came flying at me along with his reproach. “You caused such a big there?”
Ethan quickly stepped in front of me, the scalding tea splashing onto his back and steaming.
lifted his s
My eyes immediately reddened, and I lifted his shirt to check his injuries.
His face slightly flushed, but his eyes were full of mirth as he lowered his voice to whisper in for you to examine when we get back tonight.”
Before I could insist, he had already extended his hand. “Hello, Mr. Morgan. I’m Ethan Rivers.”
my ear, “I’m fine. If you’re worried, I’ll take off my clothes
When my father heard Ethan’s name, his eyes lit up, the anger on his face dissipating. His gaze swept back and forth between Ethan and me before he shook hands. “Hello, Mr. Rivers. I’m so sorry…”
“Mr. Morgan, I’ve come to discuss some business cooperation with you. Feel free to state any conditions you have.”
My father’s attention was immediately drawn away, unable to spare even a glance for me.
I lowered my head in embarrassment, my heart feeling as if it had sunk into icy water, painfully cold.
Ethan patted the back of my hand comfortingly. “Would you mind making me a cup of coffee?”
For the first time, he made a request to help me avoid further embarrassment, when he usually never let me do anything for him.
Not wanting to disappoint his kindness, I stood up and left my father’s office.
Outside, I met my mother, who had come after hearing the news.
The moment she saw me, reproachful words poured out. “Mia, you’ve really disappointed your father and me this time. How could you do something as willful as running away from your wedding? You need to go back and apologize to Finn quickly, so he doesn’t cut off cooperation with our family…”
My heart grew colder. I clenched my fists. “Mom, do you know that Finn…”
My mother impatiently interrupted me. “I know, isn’t it just the mistake that all men in the world make on their wedding day? Do you have to be so petty about it? Let him have his fun, and you just sit pretty in your position as the wife of Foster Group’s CEO.”
