John Johnston sneered. “So, if she wasn’t my
wife, it would be okay to kill her?”
“No, no, no. I didn’t mean that.”
John Johnston didn’t want to listen anymore.
He looked up, and several bodyguards
immediately covered his mouth and dragged
him out.
The assistant quickly came over with the
finger that had been found. “Mr. Johnston,
the finger has been found. The ambulance is
outside.”
He picked me up, looking at the banquet hall
like it was a pile of dead things. He said to
the assistant, “You stay and handle it. Let
everyone know the price of my wife’s finger.”
The doors of the banquet hall were closed,
and a row of bodyguards stood like a
mountain.
No one who came in today could leave in one
piece.
When I woke up, there was a loud argument
outside the door.
Then, the door was pushed open violently.
Jake, still wearing his wedding suit, rushed in,
dirty and disheveled.
He was holding a patched–up safety amulet,
looking at me with deep affection. “Evelyn,
I’ve recovered my memory. I remember
everything.”
“I’m sorry. It’s all my fault. I’ve made you
suffer so much. Don’t worry. I’m back. I’ll
never leave you again.”
My calm gaze lingered on his face for a
moment, finally landing on the safety amulet
in his hand.
That amulet was from five years ago, on the
day of the car accident, when he was on the
verge of death.
I walked and kowtowed, climbing nine
thousand steps, just to beg for a chance for
him to live.
I passed out on the mountain path, holding
the amulet, several times near death.
But he was “dead,” and the amulet was used
as a joke, torn into snowflakes in the video.
It was hard for him to find it and piece it back.
together.
Paper could be pieced back together.
But when the relationship was broken, it was
broken.
“Jake, stop acting.”
“I know you didn’t lose your memory.”
“I’ve known since the day of your fake death
five years ago.”
Jake’s gaze froze, changing from affection to
panic. He quickly tried to grab my hand.
But seeing the finger that had just been
reattached, he froze.
He tore at his hair helplessly, questioning in
despair. “So, you deliberately married Uncle
just to make me jealous, just to get revenge
on me, right?”
“I’m not you.” I looked him straight in the eye.
“I fell in love with him.”
Jake almost fled.
I thought I had made myself clear enough, but
a week later, when I was discharged from the
hospital, I saw him again at the hospital
entrance.
He seemed to have been waiting for a long
time. Seeing me, he rushed up excitedly, but
before he could even touch the hem of my
clothes, John Johnston kicked him away.
He staggered to his feet, glaring at John
Johnston with fiery eyes. “You despicable
man! You sent Evelyn the video from five
years ago. You did it on purpose!”
He cried out of control. “Evelyn, John
Johnston doesn’t really care about you. He’s
been plotting against you. You’ve been fooled
by him.”
I frowned slightly, walked towards him, and
slapped him hard in the face as hope rose in
his eyes.
“Does it matter who sent the video? Wasn’t
your fake death real? Wasn’t faking amnesia
real? Wasn’t messing around with Ashley
real? Wasn’t cutting off my finger real? Jake,
I’ll say it one last time. We ended five years
ago. The person I love now is John Johnston.
And the person I’ll love in the future is also
John Johnston. From now on, I’m your aunt.
Please watch your words and don’t make the
Johnston family a laughingstock.”
After saying that, I didn’t look at him again,
but instead squeezed John Johnston’s tight
hand reassuringly.
The man’s tense jaw relaxed instantly.
The next time I heard about Jake, it was two
months later.
He was paralyzed and would spend the rest
of his life in a wheelchair.
To seek an amulet that united us in marriage.
He walked the path I had once walked.
He climbed all nine thousand steps.
But on the way down, his steps were
unsteady, and he fell all the way down.
The mountain forest was quiet. By the time
he was found, it was too late for the best
treatment.
く
I heard that on the way to the hospital, he
was clutching the amulet so tightly that his
palm was bleeding.
He kept muttering, “My Evelyn is waiting for
- me. We said we’d never be apart.”
I didn’t care and didn’t have time to care.
Because I was taking a family photo.
When John Johnston was taking photos with
his arm around my waist, he said jealously,
“Are you feeling sorry for him?”
I chuckled. “I feel even more sorry for
someone who had a crush for seven years
and didn’t dare to say it.”
He looked away unnaturally, but his arm
tightened around me even more.
Seeing this, my daughter squeezed in
impatiently. “Mommy, Daddy, I want kisses
and hugs too.”
John Johnston smiled and hugged one on
each side.
Because the finished product was so good,
the people at the photo studio hoped that we
could leave one as a sign.
John Johnston, who was always low–key,
surprisingly agreed.
On the way back, I saw Ashley, who had lost
her hands and feet, curled up in the corner,
being beaten, through the speeding car
window.
She was shouting incoherently, “I’m Mrs.
Johnston. You trash aren’t worthy to shine my
shoes.”
I covered my daughter’s ears, and the man
next to me reached out and covered my ears.
Looking at his red ears, I couldn’t help but
think of the diary that I had accidentally
found.
“I fell in love with a girl. She was Jake’s
fiancée.”
“Jake cheated and faked his death to play
around for a few more years.”
“I knew my chance had come.”
