Chapter 1

After my engagement to my childhood sweetheart Calvin, he secretly planned an overseas trip with Serena, the girl he had secretly loved for years.

The day before their departure, he was chatting with Serena and his buddies in the clubhouse of a golf course.

"Calvin, you just got engaged and now you're taking off with Serena. Aren't you worried Davina might find out?"

Calvin sneered, "I hired a guy to pose as her admirer. He'll keep her so busy she won't have time to look for me."

"And if something actually happens between them, it'll give me the perfect excuse to break off the engagement and be with Serena openly."

Standing outside the door, I trembled as his words reached my ears.

I turned to the handsome man behind me, who looked guilt-ridden, and said through my tears, "Then let's fulfill his wish and get married."

But as I was preparing for the wedding, Calvin fell to his knees before me in anguish, "Davina, I was wrong. Please don't marry him!"

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I look at the message from the wedding company,

Just as I'm hesitating whether to really change my marriage partner, Calvin returns with his suitcase.

As soon as he opens the door, he stands in the living room and impatiently shouts, "I'm starving to death!"

"Davina, come out and cook for me right now!"

Calvin's shout is particularly grating,

I frown as I hurriedly turn off my phone, then immediately go to the kitchen to quickly cook him a bowl of noodles.

But when I set the noodles in front of him, he doesn't even touch them, his eyes falling inquisitively on my face.

"While I was gone, did you meet anyone else?"

Hearing this, my heart trembles, and I immediately recall what he said in the private room at the bar.

My chest suddenly feels so tight I can barely breathe.

I know he's referring to Joaquin—the man he hired to pretend to pursue me.

Who might also become the groom at my wedding a month from now.

I pretend to be nonchalant, lifting my head to look directly into Calvin's eyes: "No."

Hearing this, a flicker of confusion passes through Calvin's eyes.

He gives me a long, hard look, muttering under his breath, "Could it be that guy took the money but didn't do the job?"

"Hm? What are you saying?"Calvin hastily changed the subject, trying to cover his unease. "It's nothing. This noodle dish is really delicious."

He quickly finished eating, wiped his mouth, and then matter-of-factly ordered me, "Hurry up and make some seafood porridge. I need to take it with me for dinner later."

Seeing me sitting motionless in my chair, he frowned, opened his suitcase, and tossed a palm-sized blue velvet jewelry box in front of me. "Here, this is a gift I bought for you while I was away."

"This thing is very expensive, so don't you dare lose it."

"Now can you go make the porridge?"

I opened the box to find a pair of rice-grain-sized diamond earrings inside.

Before I could even close the lid, Calvin impatiently yanked me up from the chair and shoved me towards the kitchen. "Hurry up and make it. I have to go out and take care of some business soon."

"If the other party gets impatient and decides not to sign the contract with me, the company's losses will be more than you can afford."

Ever since Calvin's company got on track, he's always used such words to intimidate me.

As I watched the shrimp meat bubbling in the pot, a sudden bitterness welled up in my heart.

Someone who's been allergic to seafood since childhood now actively asking for seafood porridge.

How laughable.When I handed him the thermos containing the seafood porridge, he complained, "Why so slow?" He then quickly opened the door and left, not even looking back as he departed again.

I looked at my scalded wrist and managed a bitter smile.

Just as I was about to search for the first aid kit, I unexpectedly saw an invoice on top of his open suitcase.

It was a receipt for a two-million-dollar diamond necklace.

The document clearly stated that the earrings I received were complimentary gifts.

As I stared at this receipt, I slowly clenched my fist, the bitterness in my heart growing more intense, so sour that I couldn't even feel the pain on my wrist anymore.

I opened my phone's social media feed, hoping to distract myself from the inner turmoil, when I unexpectedly saw a new post from Serena, who I'd recently added through a mutual friend.

She was holding a porcelain bowl of seafood porridge with one hand, beaming at the camera.

The diamond necklace around her neck was particularly eye-catching.

The caption read: [Food from my beloved tastes better than any delicacy in the world!]

I looked up at the engagement photo of Calvin and me hanging in the living room, and two streams of tears escaped my eyes.

Calvin, staying by your side is truly too painful.