“ENJOY YOUR WEDDING, WALES?” I WAS HIS DEAF, CRIPPLED FIANCÉE, UNTIL I HEARD HIM MOANING WITH HIS MISTRESS THROUGH MY DOOR, SO I…
There were only a few days left until the wedding, and my departure was also counting down.
The driver took me to Middleton Street and slowed down in front of two shopping malls. When I looked up, my field of vision was filled with words projected onto the electronic billboards on both buildings.
Marry me, Joey.
“Typical Wales. Joey is so lucky to be loved by him.”
“I wonder how much this cost.”
“I heard Joey is deaf. That’s why Mr. Price proposed to her this way.”
“I also heard he didn’t just rent these two billboards. He rented every billboard in Anosia for the whole month, playing their wedding proposal video for everyone to see.”
“So romantic.”
While everyone was envious of the way Wales treated me, I could only let out a bitter laugh. I quietly rolled up the car window and told the driver to continue. A week ago, I would have been just as excited as the passersby. I used to have my driver bring me here at this time every day to watch the proposal video Wales had prepared for me.
Wales and I grew up together, and he had declared his intentions to marry me since we were children. After we grew up, he left the country to boost his career. When he returned, he was already the CEO of Price Corporation. Meanwhile, I was still an ordinary woman with a complicated family background.
My father was a violent man who hit my mother until she couldn’t take it anymore and ran away. My stepmother didn’t like me, and after my younger sister was born, I practically became the maid of the family. I used to think of myself as a damsel in distress while Wales was my knight in shining armor.
“Wales, when are you coming back? I miss you so much.”
Finally, I waited for him.
“Joey, I’m back. I’m here to marry you. From today on, you don’t have to do any of this anymore. I’m going to make you the happiest woman in the world.”
I covered my mouth, overwhelmed with emotion. “I remember. I’ve been waiting for you to come back.”
A month ago, my best friend returned to Anosia. She brought me to a doctor who was famous overseas.
“Doctor, can my ears be cured? And what about my legs? Can I stand up again?”
“Of course. Your eardrums are only damaged. It’s not permanent. They can be healed. As for your legs, the issue is that the bones weren’t set correctly during the first surgery. You only need another operation and then the bones can be realigned into the correct position.”
“Really? That’s all it is?”
“Yes. Your condition is not very serious.”
Joy mixed with surprise filled my heart. I didn’t pay much attention because I really wanted to recover. I had dreamed more times than I can count of hearing Wales say “Good morning, sweetheart” to me with my own two ears. It would be such a sweet and wonderful feeling.
But the first thing I heard when I woke up the next morning after regaining my hearing was the unmistakable sounds of Wales and Anna as they moaned sweet nothings to each other from the room next to mine.
“Baby, you’re so beautiful. You’re so sexy. I want to drown in this moment forever.”
“Really? Who’s prettier, me or Joey?”
“You, of course. How could Joey compare to you, darling? Tell me you love me.”
“I love you.”
Pain radiated from my heart, forcing me to hunch over as I hugged myself tightly. Wales’s earlier answer echoed in my mind. Even after we got married, he would continue his clandestine relationship with Anna. To keep everything under wraps, he was willing to sacrifice my well-being and keep me as an invalid forever.
Although the winter gales were biting and burrowed deep down into my bones, the stinging cold also kept my mind clear. I had loved Wales so deeply once that I had been willing to die for him.
However, my love for him had shriveled up. I was going to prove to him through my actions that his web of lies would eventually be exposed. I was going to show him that I would never tolerate being lied to.
That night, I had only been lying on the bed for a while before a pair of strong arms wrapped around me from behind. I was so startled by the sudden touch that I started to thrash around. However, the person behind me tightened his hold on me. It was Wales, and he reeked of alcohol and perfume that made my nose sting.
I had smelled this scent on Anna before, and it made my stomach churn.
“Tomorrow I’ll take you to see our new home. I bought it specially for you. It’s already decorated.”
He leaned in to kiss me, but I turned my head away. When he noticed my cold reaction, his expression became confused. He signed, “What’s wrong?”
Wales was acting so cautiously at that moment. Gone was the imposing air that usually surrounded him when he was moving about in the outside world. If I had not heard how he wanted to keep me a cripple with my own two ears, my heart would have melted at his careful behavior.
I wanted to come clean and tell him that I didn’t want to marry him anymore. After all, he was the one who cheated on me first. He was the one who was enjoying the affections of another, extinguishing any hopes or expectations I once harbored for the wedding. What right did he have to accuse me of not wanting to marry him anymore?
But I decided it wasn’t yet time to expose his betrayal. At the end of the day, Wales was an extraordinarily powerful man. If I showed my hand to him too early, there was a chance that I wouldn’t be able to leave Anosia alive.
Under his watchful gaze, I sighed quietly and typed out the lie I hoped would set me free. “I couldn’t handle the noisy reception.”
I nodded softly, but I didn’t have any expectations for the house.
The next morning, I saw what the new house looked like. Every sharp corner in the house had been rounded off to prevent me from accidentally bumping into them while sitting in my wheelchair. All the tables, chairs, and countertops were lower than most furniture on the market. All designed to make it easier for me to use them from my wheelchair.
Wales had planned everything perfectly, all based on the condition of me being in a wheelchair. Clearly, he had never considered the possibility of me standing up again.
“Do you like it, darling?”
I looked around the room. I couldn’t deny that this house perfectly matched the dream home I had pictured in the past. “You installed floor-to-ceiling windows.”
“Yes. You said you like them. You also said you wanted to stand by the window and admire the tulips in the yard.”
As he spoke, my eyes unconsciously drifted towards the window. I met Wales’s gaze and saw how his eyes were filled to the brim with love. I smiled dutifully and asked, “Will your love for me last forever?”
I don’t know why I asked. Maybe I was hoping for something—some flicker of the man I once knew.
Wales rushed to sign back as if he was afraid I would misunderstand if he’d taken his time to respond. “Of course. Forever and always.”
I turned my head away, not wanting to look at his traitorous face. He had already betrayed our promise, and yet he could still lie to my face so easily.
Suddenly, on that huge floor-to-ceiling window, I saw a faint handprint. A woman’s handprint. The handprint didn’t belong to Wales. And since this was my first time here, it certainly wasn’t mine either.
The sound of a ringing phone cut Wales’s passionate confession short. He picked up the phone while shooting me a smile. A flash of desire flickered in his eyes as he murmured, “Don’t rush me. I’ll be there soon to spoil you, my bunny.”
Wales hung up the phone and gave me an apologetic smile. “Joey, something very urgent came up at the company. I have to go handle it.”
After Wales left, I took one last look at the house. As the driver chauffeured me away, I thought to myself that I wouldn’t be able to watch the tulips in the yard blossom. My plan was to leave on the day of the wedding while my corpse took my place on the altar. Naturally, I wouldn’t move into this house after that. What the house ended up looking like after the renovations would have nothing to do with me.
When I returned home, the house was empty. I stood up and walked around to exercise my legs. It had been too long since I used them, so my movements were still stiff.
My phone chimed, notifying me I had received a message. Someone had sent me a photo.
“Who are you?” I replied.
The reply came immediately. A photo of Anna and Wales pressed against the floor-to-ceiling windows of the new house. The position they were in left little to the imagination. A voice recording popped up in the chat in the next few seconds.
When I tapped the play button, the sounds of a man and a woman moaning together reverberated around the room, along with the sounds of skin slapping against skin rhythmically.
“Mr. Price,” Anna moaned. “Isn’t this house newly renovated? We’re going to get the window dirty.”
“Aren’t you the one who had the designer install these floor-to-ceiling windows? You wanted me to press you against the window and do it. Besides, we already tried it last time, and you were moaning with excitement. Come on, baby. Let’s try it again today.”
The recording cut off there. It didn’t take long before a new message popped up. She deliberately used that smug tone to provoke me, triumphantly showing off every angle of her and Wales’s lovemaking. I bet she was picturing me frantically pacing around in frustration because I couldn’t hear anything.
I thought I had gotten over my love for Wales, but the tears started pouring from my eyes uncontrollably after I was forced to face reality head on. My heart squeezed painfully. Wales had said earlier that he wanted to live with me forever in that house. But before I could even move in, he had already brought his lover there to leave their mark and show off his dominance.
I assumed he renovated the house according to my wishes, when in reality he had done so for the sake of his lover.
I suppressed the immense pain in my heart by breathing in deeply. When I lifted my hand to wipe my tears away, I felt something cold brush across my cheek. It was my engagement ring. A two-karat diamond set on a platinum band. From the day Wales put this ring on my finger, I had never taken it off.
I remember it was after a candlelit dinner. I found this ring inside a piece of chocolate cake.
“Oh my god. Did you give this to me?”
“Of course. Who else would be so eager to marry you?”
I had once believed it was a great honor for me to marry Wales. But that happiness was gone now, leaving nothing but ashes.
I took the ring off and threw it into the trash.
From the corner of my eyes, I noticed our wedding photo, which had been hung up on the wall. In the photo, we were gazing at each other lovingly.
“We’re taking a picture and you keep making me laugh. It makes me look so silly.”
“How could that be, Joey? You don’t know how beautiful you look today. You’re even prettier when you smile. I love seeing you smile.”
I grabbed a pair of scissors and cut myself out of the photo. After ripping that part of myself to pieces, I flushed everything down the toilet. While throwing away those things, I also threw away all these years of love I had for Wales.
The business banquet was extremely boring. As always, after Wales wheeled me to the table, he disappeared. From where I sat a distance away, I saw how he grabbed Anna and dragged her into the restroom.
I received another voice recording soon after. It was filled with the sounds of Wales and Anna’s moans in the restroom.
“Mr. Price, your fiancée is outside. It won’t be good if she catches us.”
“My fiancée may be outside, but my treasure is pinned under me right now.”
Wales and Anna exited the restroom soon after with visibly rumpled clothes. Wales joined a group of business partners and engaged them in conversation while Anna approached me with a wine glass propped in her hand. After standing before me for a few moments, she made sure I wouldn’t miss the love bite on her collarbone. Her fingers flew across her phone screen as she typed out a message.
I looked away and ignored her while quietly saving the evidence she had sent. I also sent out an order to have someone visit the house to install surveillance cameras.
“I’m tired. I want to go home.”
But Wales didn’t seem willing to leave. Hearing this, he frowned. Just then, Anna walked over. “Let me take Joey out. I’d like to get some fresh air too.”
Anna had just wheeled me to the middle of the road when a car started speeding toward us. She quickly stepped back in the hope of allowing the car to collide with my wheelchair, sending me sprawling to the ground. The skin on my shoulder split open as it was dragged across the rough tarmac—a gash that was several inches long.
The car sped away as Anna walked in front of me. “Useless.”
She stuck her fingers into my bleeding shoulder and wiped the blood onto her own face and legs. Satisfied, she lay down beside me. I was in too much pain to think.
Soon after the accident, Wales ran to our side. Anna and I were both lying on the ground. Yet Wales only focused on Anna. He stared in horror at the blood on Anna’s body. Without the slightest hesitation, Wales scooped her up and rushed to his car.
He didn’t spare a single glance at me, although I was the one who was lying on the ground and in so much pain that my complexion had turned ghostly white. Anna’s head was resting against his shoulder, and she shot me a grin.
I was eventually sent to the hospital by the driver. After being dragged across the road, my shoulder and face were both injured. It would take some time for them to fully heal. The hospital room was empty. I lay alone on the sick bed with no one by my side.
“Where are your family members? Someone should stay with you overnight.”
“I don’t have any family.”
Wales should have been my family, but at that moment, he was probably by Anna’s side.
When I opened TikTok, I came across a picture of Anna’s finger that was wrapped in a Band-Aid. The attached caption read: “Thank God you’re okay. I swear I’ll never let you get hurt again.”
I had no more tears left in me from how much I had been crying the last few days. While Wales was busy worrying about the possibility of Anna’s tiny scratch on her finger leaving a scar, he completely forgot about his bride—the one he was going to marry in a few days—whose face had nearly been permanently scarred.
On the day of my departure, the death-faking service’s car with a fake license plate was already waiting at the entrance of the house. I handed them a USB drive that had Wales and Anna’s videos and voice recordings on it, reminding them to play the recordings during the wedding.
I also handed my phone to them to deliver to Wales along with my corpse during the wedding. I had left a recording of my last words on the device. I wanted Wales to know that before my death, I had heard every single word they had let slip while they were flirting outside my room. I wanted him to wallow in his regret and guilt for the rest of his life.
The helper nodded and handed me a new ID and a plane ticket.
“Understood, Miss Michelle. We will destroy all traces of your departure. We wish you good luck as you begin your new life.”
I put on a pair of sunglasses and got into the car which would drive me to the airport. As Wales grew smaller and smaller behind me, I realized I was truly bidding farewell to my past. The crippled Joey Heartha was dead. I was walking into a new phase of my life as Ella Michelle.
On the day of the wedding, Wales rose early from bed. Jealousy flashed in Anna’s eyes when she watched him put on a tie in front of the mirror. She hugged him from behind and left a lipstick mark behind his ear when he wasn’t paying attention.
Wales chuckled as he turned around to caress her face.
“Be good. Once I’m back from my honeymoon, I’ll take you on a holiday by the beach for a week.”
When Wales was on the way to the wedding venue, he turned on his phone and noticed that I hadn’t sent him any messages. Eventually, he realized that the last message in our chat was the one he sent me two days ago. Wales felt a little panicked. However, he was already nearing the venue. He assumed he would see me soon, and he hadn’t forgotten about the surprise I had promised to give him.
When he arrived, Wales didn’t notice my presence immediately.
“Where’s the bride? Where’s my wife, Joey?”
“The bride is preparing for the first outfit of the wedding.”
Wales was relieved, and an expression of anticipation appeared on his face. He seemed to be imagining what I would look like in my wedding dress—excited with a hint of nervousness mixed in.
The wedding officially started at twelve p.m. As the groom, Wales cradled a bouquet in his arms and stood in the middle of the stage while he waited for his bride to make her appearance. He had invited many big shots to attend the wedding, and they too waited expectantly for my arrival.
Wales had also invited many journalists to report on the wedding. There was even a livestream set up. After all, the famous Wales Price was getting married in what would be the wedding of the century. Over ten thousand viewers had tuned into the livestream to watch the wedding.
The wedding march blared from the speakers. Everyone turned to look at the entrance.
Five minutes passed. The song came to an end, but the doors remained closed.
The guests began to whisper among themselves while comments flooded the livestream screen.
“Is his disabled wife too embarrassed to come out?”
“This shows how important it is to choose the right partner. She’s an ordinary woman, yet she’s late to such an important occasion.”
“Has something happened?”
Everyone waited with a hint of excitement for what would happen next. Only Wales was truly panicking. The anxiety he had suppressed earlier began to grow rapidly. He whipped his head around to try to catch a glimpse of me. He even wanted to run down the altar to search for me personally.
“Where’s the person in charge here? Isn’t my bride ready yet?”
He forced himself to shrug casually, as if talking to himself or reassuring the others. “As a gentleman, one should wait patiently for the bride to finish her makeup and appear like a princess. I’m willing to wait even if the wedding has already started.”
Just then, the host walked up to the altar holding a microphone. “Distinguished guests and today’s groom, I apologize for keeping everyone waiting. I am here to unveil the surprise the bride has prepared for the groom. Please direct your attention to the big screen.”
Hearing the host’s words, Wales’s anxious expression calmed down. He smiled dutifully at the guests, looking very much like a man deeply in love with his wife.
However, his smile was wiped from his face in the next second.
The screen was still dark, but the obscene sounds of moaning began to echo around the room. The guests exchanged bewildered looks with one another while parents quickly covered the ears of the children who were present.
Everyone assumed that the host had played the wrong recording. But Wales knew better. He could tell that the people moaning in the recording were none other than him and Anna.
An image appeared on the screen, displaying two figures locked in a passionate embrace atop the kitchen island. The image then switched to the same two figures messing around on the couch in the living room and also in front of a set of floor-to-ceiling windows.
The erotic videos were also broadcast to the viewers who were tuned into the livestream. People started pouring into the stream, the viewer count climbing from ten thousand to over one hundred thousand in a matter of seconds.
Wales was the first to regain his senses. He roared at the host.
“Turn it off! Turn it off right now!”
The host rushed over to the computer to turn off the video. However, no matter what he did, he couldn’t stop the recording from playing.
“What’s going on? Why can’t I turn it off?”
Wales had made his way over to the computer as well. Seeing how there was no way to turn off the video, he yanked out the power source of the computer. But the video continued to loop on the screen—it had its own power source, and the cables were hidden under the ground.
Wales could only try his best to block the video by stretching his arms.
“How pitiful. Her fiancé used her deafness to sleep with another woman right next to her.”
The guests’ whispers grew louder.
Noticing how the power source for the screen was buried underground, Wales came to the conclusion that someone had meticulously planned everything in advance.
“You—how could you do this to me?”
He ordered his bodyguards to cut all the cables in the vicinity while he continued to look around anxiously for me. He was afraid I would find out the truth.
Wales had an inkling that I was the one who planned all of this, considering I told him that I had a surprise waiting for him during the wedding. But he quickly dismissed the idea. I was an invalid who was deaf and crippled.
Wales pulled out his phone and tried calling me. He could vaguely hear the ringing of my phone echoing from behind the entrance. My phone had a unique ringtone. It was my favorite song, and Wales had sung it to me when he proposed. Later on, I asked him to sing the song again so I could record it and use it as my ringtone. I never changed it afterward.
But it was too noisy in the hall. Other than the guests who were busy discussing the sudden turn of events among themselves, Wales was also surrounded by reporters who were tripping over themselves to make him the headline of the news.
“Mr. Price, please explain how intimate these videos came to be, will you?”
“Mr. Price, has it been proven you’re dating two women at once?”
Faced with the reporters’ barrage, Wales clutched his phone tightly, his knuckles turning white.
“Enough! I said quiet! Quiet!”
The hall fell completely silent. My ringtone echoed clearly through the space. Wales felt tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. He walked toward the entrance and threw the door open.
He had expected me to be there. But instead, his eyes fell upon my corpse, lying quietly in a crystal coffin, surrounded by tulips.
“Joey? Is this the surprise you had for me?”
He forced a smile. “It’s beautiful. Very pretty.”
But his voice was shaking. “Joey likes pranks. She said she had a surprise for me today. But clearly the effect isn’t ideal. But I like anything she prepares for me. You all see that there’s no problem between Joey and me. That video was forged.”
“Mr. Price,” the staff member said quietly, “your fiancée, Miss Heartha, committed suicide two days ago.”
Infuriated, Wales shoved the staff to the floor and shouted, “Not only did you ruin my wedding by broadcasting that video, but now you want to trick me into believing that my wife killed herself?”
The staff got back to his feet. He didn’t look the slightest bit angry and shot a small smile at Wales. “Not too long ago, you said.”
The choice to throw Wales’s words back at him made guilt build rapidly in his chest. The last time he spoke to me was indeed two days ago.
Wales recalled that he had chosen to carry Anna away while leaving me a bleeding mess on the road. In the last two days, even on the day of the wedding—at first, he didn’t want to believe it. He called my name softly.
“Joey, get up. I shouldn’t have gone two days without contacting you. Is this your punishment for me? It’s enough. I’ll admit I was wrong. Okay?”
Suddenly, his face was almost pressed against mine. After studying the facial features of the corpse and noticing the small mole at the corner of my eye, he had no choice but to accept the cruel reality.
Wales collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
“Joey… no.”
He whispered my name over and over. He suddenly let out a roar and rushed madly toward the coffin, but the staff member stopped him.
“This can’t be real. We agreed to get married today. You were fine the last time we parted. How did this happen? Why did you kill yourself?”
Wales grabbed the staff member by the collar, his eyes bloodshot. “It’s impossible. My wife was fine. She couldn’t have killed herself. There’s been a mistake. I’m calling the police!”
The staff member tried to calm him down. “Mr. Price, I can understand your grief, but if you call the police and they ask where you’ve been for the past two days, what will you say? Are you going to tell the police that you haven’t seen your fiancée in two days and that during those two days of your absence, you were sleeping with another woman?”
Wales suddenly fell silent. The video that had been played was seen by so many people. He had a lot of work to do for damage control. If the police got involved, they might even investigate more thoroughly. That would affect the company’s development.
The organizers began to usher the guests out of the hall, doing their best to block the view of the audience. The head bodyguard approached Wales and tried to pull him back up onto his feet, but Wales knocked his hands aside and lunged for the crystal coffin.
He pushed the coffin lid aside and reached for my face with quivering fingers. My skin was icy beneath his fingertips. He removed his tuxedo jacket and draped it over my body. The tears that streamed from his eyes dripped onto my face as he rubbed my face like someone possessed.
“How are you so cold, Joey? Here, wear my jacket and you won’t be so cold. Wake up, Joey. I’m taking you home. Have you forgotten that today’s our wedding day? How am I going to live without you from now on? Are you really that cruel to leave me all alone?”
The staff pressed my phone into Wales’s palm and said in a robotic tone, “This is Mrs. Heartha’s phone. She left a final message for you in it.”
When Wales checked the time of the recording, he noticed it was saved at ten p.m. from two days ago. He remembered ripping off the ribbon that was tied around Anna’s neck at the time. He clutched the phone tightly. The edges of the phone were almost digging into his palm. He didn’t dare to open it. He was afraid. A heavy, familiar fear was slowly rising from the depths of his heart, washing over him like a cold tide.
“I don’t want to watch it now.”
“Perhaps Miss Heartha has something to say to you. This is her last testament.”
Wales played the video I had left for him. I had recorded myself in the living room. The moment he saw me, tears streamed down Wales’s face again, and he couldn’t hold back any longer. He sobbed out loud.
“Wales. Once upon a time, you were my prince. You rescued me from the horrible living situation I was in and turned me into a princess. I want to thank you for letting me live in this wonderful dream for the last three years. I thought I would be able to stay forever as long as I had your love. But all dreams must come to an end one day. Your love for me burned so brightly but also so briefly.”
“I want to tell you a secret, Wales. The truth is I’ve already regained my hearing. I underwent surgery again for your sake.”
Wales was now sobbing uncontrollably, his face buried in his arms, his shoulders heaving with his sobs. Every word I said was like a knife stabbing into his heart.
But this wasn’t even the most painful part.
“I didn’t know that the first thing I would hear after regaining my hearing was the sounds of you and Anna going at it like rabbits in the room next to mine.”
“No…”
“Also, please tell Anna that she doesn’t have to send transcripts of all the audio recordings she sent to me of the two of you. I can hear what is happening without her help. There were times when I wanted to rush over to you to demand answers and hear your explanations, but I talked myself out of it in the end. I understand that there’s no such thing as eternal love in this world, so I want to thank you for allowing me to experience your love once upon a time. However, I don’t want your fake love.”
“Sorry, I’m going to leave now, but I wanted to give you and Anna my blessings. I hope that we’ll never meet again, whether it be in this life or the next one.”
Wales, with red and swollen eyes, stared blankly at some fixed point, muttering to himself, “She could hear everything.”
Wales nearly lost his mind after discovering that my hearing had been restored. He recalled everything that he had said in front of me and also how they had insulted me during the banquets we went to. He had stood by and let them say whatever they wanted without making a move to stop them.
He lifted his head. The media had been ushered out of the venue, but some of the guests and his friends had remained. Everyone was looking at him with contempt in their eyes. Some of the elders were even berating and pointing at him.
Wales suddenly realized how I must have felt when I was trapped in the wheelchair and could only endure the harsh words that were aimed at me without being able to defend myself.
“Joey!”
Wales looked up at the sky and screamed my name.
When he woke up again, Wales lay in a hospital bed, staring vacantly at the ceiling, his face completely expressionless. Anna was beside him, gently touching his arm.
“Darling, the doctor said you fainted from shock. I heard about Joey. That wasn’t your fault. Don’t blame yourself.”
Wales’s previously vacant eyes flickered with something. He turned his face to look at Anna. Gone was the tenderness of before, replaced by a trace of disgust.
“Did you send our recordings to Joey?”
Anna had never seen him like this. Fear crept into her heart. “I was just so in love with you. And besides, even if I sent them, she couldn’t hear them.”
“She could hear.”
Wales’s sudden roar of anger made Anna’s body jolt. Her water glass fell to the floor.
“What? She could hear? She regained her hearing?”
“Surprised, aren’t you? Everything we did, everything we said—she heard it all.”
With that, he suddenly jumped out of bed, lunged at Anna, and grabbed her by the throat.
“I told you, I can spoil you. I can give you whatever you want. But don’t set your sights on something that doesn’t belong to you. Can’t you understand?”
Anna stared at the enraged man before her in terror. The pain of suffocation made her whole body spasm. She hadn’t expected that I had known about their affair all along, and that she had been acting like a clown, flaunting something that was never hers right in front of me.
“Wales, let go of me. I’m pregnant. I’m pregnant with our child.”
At those words, Wales’s white-knuckled grip suddenly loosened.
“What did you say? You’re pregnant?”
“Yes. My period is already ten days late. I think I’m probably pregnant. Don’t hurt me. You’ll frighten the baby.”
Wales released his hold entirely.
“Get it checked. If you really are pregnant, abort it. You can’t have it.”
This was something Anna had not anticipated. She looked at him in disbelief. “Why? This is our baby. Why can’t I have it? Joey is dead. We’re the ones who truly love each other. You should marry me and let me have our baby.”
With a sharp crack, Anna’s head snapped to the side as Wales slapped her hard, sending her tumbling from the chair. Wales looked down at Anna coldly. No trace of warmth in his eyes.
“I told you, don’t set your sights on something that isn’t yours. My wife can only be Joey. Even though she’s dead, I will never marry you. I will only have children with Joey, not with you. Got it?”
I was already in a new city and was working a job I enjoyed at a magazine company. I no longer had to worry about keeping up appearances as Wales’s partner.
My friend messaged me. “It seems he’s pretty satisfied with the surprise I gave him.”
“He’s more than satisfied. He was as frantic as a wild animal. He really seems to regret it. Joey, will you ever come back? What if you don’t adjust to living in a strange city?”
I turned off the video and sipped on a cocktail a handsome man had delivered to me earlier. When I saw my good friend waving at me, I walked towards her.
“I’m not going back. Joey is dead. The one who loved Wales was Joey, not me. My name now is Michelle.”
Wales organized my funeral with exceptional grandeur. Just like the wedding that never happened, many people were invited to attend. Those who came to pay their condolences gasped in surprise when they saw the scene of the funeral—because it looked more like a wedding than a funeral.
I was still lying in the coffin, but now wearing a pure white wedding dress, my body surrounded by tulips. Wales was also dressed in a suit, his hair neatly combed, a bow tie around his neck, and holding a bouquet of white roses in his hands. His face was still haggard, yet a smile lingered on it.
“Thank you all for coming to my wife’s funeral. But the wedding last time was not perfect. I need to make some amends.”
The people present looked at each other, completely baffled.
“Is he really going to marry a corpse?”
“He must be feeling guilty because his betrayal caused his wife’s death. But what’s the use? She’s already dead.”
“He looks very devoted, but the things he did are facts. I can’t unsee those photos I saw on the wedding day.”
Wales heard every word as people should. He didn’t get angry. He was now like a soulless shell, his eyes fixed on me lying in the coffin.
“Joey, you look beautiful today.”
With that, he bent down, placed the roses in my hands, and pressed a kiss on my forehead. Everyone present watched what was happening in astonishment.
Wales straightened up and took out an exquisite gift box from his chest. He opened it and held a sparkling diamond ring in his hand.
“Now it’s time for us to exchange rings.”
He slipped the diamond ring onto my already stiff ring finger, then placed the other ring on his own hand.
“All right. Now it’s time for me to kiss my bride.”
Just as he bent down to kiss me, his friend stopped him.
“You’ve lost your mind. Joey is already dead. What you need to do now is give her a proper burial.”
“No. I need to complete the wedding. This is what I promised her.”
“Really? Is that the only thing you promised her? Don’t forget what you said before. The impression you gave us is that you never loved Joey at all. That’s why you indulged Anna’s existence. Now your devotion and your remorse? Joey can’t see any of it anymore.”
His friend’s words struck Wales’s heart like heavy hammers. He was right. Everything he had done before had been hurting me. Joey.
Now that I was dead, he was acting so devoted again. It really was meaningless.
This incident greatly affected the reputation of Price Corporation. In a very short time, the company’s stock market value plummeted.
“Wales, do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused the company? You’re fired, Wales.”
“I know. I accept any punishment.”
He had probably expected this outcome long ago. Without the prestigious title of CEO, Wales was nothing more than an ordinary man. He began to lock himself in his room all day, doing nothing but drinking.
Wales sat on the floor wearing clothes that hadn’t been changed for days. He was deeply drunk. Vaguely, he thought he heard me calling his name.
“Joey, is that you? You’re back. You’re not dead, are you, Joey?”
But it was just an illusion. When the illusion faded, the room was still empty. I was not there.
Wales went to visit my tombstone and poured out his heart to me. His voice was shaky and unpleasant, but he sang very earnestly.
“Joey, this is your favorite song. I used to sing it to you all the time. But then you couldn’t hear it anymore.”
When he got home, Wales started pacing around the room. He wandered aimlessly. He then took a bottle of liquor from the fridge and downed half of it in one go. That night, he got drunk again. He began to act out both of our parts.
“Wales, will you love me forever?”
“Of course. Even when we’re very, very old, I’ll still love you.”
“You lied to me. You lied that my ears would never hear again. You cheated on me with other women.”
“Joey, I love you. I love—”
Wales suddenly shouted loudly and fell to the ground, holding his head in both hands. He rummaged frantically through my wardrobe and drawers. He found our old wedding photos. He, in the wedding photo, had been turned into my sketch portrait. His figure no longer appeared in the wedding photos on the wall. Just as I had completely erased him from my heart.
He found my diary and walked over to the bed and sat down, reading it as reverently as if he were reading the Bible. My diary was filled with all my love for him. And tears streamed down his face the moment he read the words I wrote.
Today, Wales bought a slice of cake for me. It was the most delicious cake I had ever eaten.
Today, Wales wore the blue tie I bought for him. I swear blue ties were made for him. He’s the most handsome man in the world when he’s wearing one.
Today, Wales bought me a very beautiful necklace. He said I am the most beautiful woman in the world and deserve to wear the most beautiful necklace. He never holds back his praise for me, making me feel happy every single moment.
Wales is the prince sent by God to save me. My heart has already fallen deeply for him. I love him. Love him enough to give my life for him.
My love was hidden in every little daily occurrence. But ever since I got into the car accident, I stopped writing in my diary.
Wales flipped through my diary page by page, crying one moment and laughing the next. Wales only realized then how cruel he had treated me. But it was all too late.
Wales eventually discovered the full truth—that the car accident had been orchestrated by Barry Smith, his sworn business rival, with Anna’s help. She had been working with Barry all along.
Wales could not forgive himself for his foolishness. He thought of taking his own life to accompany me in death. But before he did that, he would make Barry and Anna pay for what they had done.
He went to the basement and grabbed a handgun.
Wales waited for Anna’s body to turn cold before he left the bedroom. He made his way over to the room I used to stay in. Wales had filled the room with tulips. It was the tulip blooming season, which created a spectacular sight as the flowers all bloomed in unison.
Wales sat among the flowers and pulled out the phone I had left him. He never allowed my number to be deactivated, so it was still active. He had sent countless messages to my number as if I were still alive. He would send one every day, despite knowing that he would never receive a reply.
This would be the last message that Wales sent me.
My darling Joey, please allow me to call you darling one last time. I owe you an apology. If there is an afterlife, I hope you’re living happily and joyfully as you wished. I hope we’ll never meet again.
Wales sent the message after he was done typing it. When he saw the screen of my phone light up, he aimed the gun at himself and pulled the trigger.
“Don’t leave me alone, Joey. I’m coming to see you.”
I stood by the window of my new apartment, looking out at the city skyline. The sun was setting, painting everything in shades of gold and rose. A glass of champagne was cool in my hand.
My phone buzzed with a notification—the assistant had sent a link to the latest report on the Price Corporation scandal.
I opened it, read it, and then closed it.
Wales had determined his own outcome with his actions—with how he betrayed me over and over again. The distance between us had grown too big to be overcome.
A knock sounded at my door. I opened it to find Henry, my new neighbor, holding a bottle of wine and smiling.
“Michelle, I was wondering if you’d like to join me for dinner?”
I smiled back. “I’d love to.”
Because this was what life was supposed to be like. A life that belonged to me and only me.
The crippled Joey Heartha was dead.
I was Ella Michelle now.
And I had never been more alive.