The day I got into a car accident, my best friend Sienna insisted I use it to test my boyfriend. "Just say you have amnesia. See how he reacts." Unable to argue with her, I nodded. When Julian Vance rushed into the hospital room, looking anxious, I pretended not to know him. "Who are you?" The next second, Sienna linked her arm with his. "Silly, this is my boyfriend. Don't you recognize him?" Her hand trembled slightly, staring at Julian with eyes full of expectation. Julian froze for a moment, then held her hand. He whispered: "Yes, I am Sienna's boyfriend." I looked at them for a while. Suddenly laughed out loud: "Should I congratulate you then?" Hearing this, Julian's face sank instead. Chapter 1 I didn't understand. What was he unhappy about? And I didn't care to think. Staring at their intertwined arms, my mind went blank. One was my best friend of fifteen years. Hearing I was hit by a car, she ran so hard she broke her heel. The other was my boyfriend of seven years, whom I was about to marry. A 2000-mile distance, a 3-hour flight, he arrived in 3 hours. Were they pranking me together? But today isn't April Fools'. Just as this thought popped up, Sienna stood on her toes and kissed the corner of Julian's lips lightly. "Julian, I told you Hazel would bless us." "You were worried for nothing, refusing to tell her." She turned to me, smiling brightly. "Hazel, you will, right?" I felt like an invisible hand was choking my throat. I couldn't speak. No cameras in the corner. No one recording my clown-like frozen face. This wasn't a prank show. I couldn't help looking at Julian. He turned his head slightly, avoiding my gaze. Eyelashes fluttering rapidly, locking away the truth I wanted to know. Just last night, he looked at me with those same eyes on video call, as if I was the only one in his world. "Hazel, I'll fly back tomorrow night and take you home." "This time, no matter how my parents object, I will marry you." He came back early. But the promise seemed void. I pinched my palm hard, forcing a smile. "When did you... get together?" Throat dry, I whispered: "How... how did I not know?" Sienna smiled sweetly. Just as she was about to speak, I interrupted softly: "Don't let her do all the talking. I want to hear what your boyfriend says." I stared at Julian, nails digging a bloody mark into my palm. Dull pain. He pursed his lips unconsciously: "Start of the year." The tone was the gentleness engraved in my bones. That hand I could recognize with my eyes closed was holding someone else. "We met on a blind date, felt a connection, so we got together." I froze. The Vance family is a famous academic dynasty. Both parents are professors at Ivy League schools. Me? My father is in prison, mother remarried years ago. At the beginning of the year, Julian's mother threatened suicide to force him to go on blind dates. I had insomnia all night and proposed breaking up. Wishing him happiness. Julian stood downstairs in the rain all day. He hugged me, trembling all over. "Hazel, I only want you. Let's not break up, please?" I touched his face, unable to distinguish between tears and rain. So, it was all fake? "Hazel." Sienna interrupted my thoughts. "Actually, Julian and I are a better match, aren't we?" Right. Sienna's parents are also professors. A perfect match for the Vances. She smiled. "It doesn't matter if you forgot the past due to amnesia. Now, it's your turn to bless me." My heart suffocated. I remembered the summer after high school graduation. I excitedly ran to tell Sienna that Julian and I were dating. She widened her eyes, dropping her water glass. Crash. Glass shattered everywhere. "How? Julian rejected even the Prom Queen. How could he..." I was too anxious pulling her away from the shards. Forgot to think deeply about the complex emotions in her eyes. Time changes things. We swapped roles. I drank some water, swallowing the bitterness in my throat. As if swallowing those sharp shards from years ago. Just as I was about to speak, the doctor pushed the door open. Chapter 2 "The patient's leg bone is severely displaced and needs surgery. Who is the next of kin?" "Me." Julian's instinctive answer froze the room. Sienna gritted her teeth: "Julian, did you hear wrong?" She squeezed out a smile: "The doctor asked for family. You aren't." "Need a signature? Give it to me." She glanced at me: "Her father is in jail, mother ran away long ago." "I should be her oldest friend. I'll sign." Actually, not just the oldest, but the best. Since I chased away the bullies blocking her with a broom, we were inseparable. Fifteen years. We shared homework answers, cried and laughed over the same movies. Shared door codes, clothes in the closet, and family matters I never told anyone else. I had no defenses against her. Didn't expect to share the same man today. I found it ridiculously funny and reached out to the doctor: "No need. I can sign myself." The consent form passed Sienna's hand. Her face didn't look good. "Doctor." Julian suddenly spoke. "Is her amnesia curable?" My hand holding the pen stiffened. "The patient has a concussion..." Before the doctor could finish a sentence. Sienna cried out in pain: "Ouch—" Julian's attention was instantly hooked. "What's wrong?" He bent down to look at Sienna's broken heel, frowning. "Slippery in the rain. Don't wear heels next time." The concern was so familiar. He picked Sienna up and placed her on a nearby chair. Squatting down, he gently took off her shoe, wiping the mud spots off her foot with a wet wipe. I scribbled my signature, pretending my soaked clothes from falling didn't exist. Only the leg pain was impossible to ignore. Sienna shook the man's arm coquettishly. "Go buy me a pair of shoes, okay?" "Mn." Julian stood up, glanced at me lightly, and turned to leave. The doctor closed the door. The air was so quiet only the rain outside could be heard. "Hazel." Sienna spoke, tearing the last shred of peace. "Don't blame me." "Julian deserves better. I have the right to fight for what I want." I didn't speak. The rain was too quiet. Couldn't cover the pain of the wound. Sienna wasn't done. She counted one by one. "The bag you wanted him to bring from Paris isn't out of stock. It's in my closet." "His phone password and wallpaper changed from your photo not to look professional, but because I asked." "Last month on your grandma's death anniversary, Julian wasn't on a business trip. He was with me at a concert." "And the house the Vances are looking at. It's not for you." Every sentence was a nail hammered into my heart. She didn't let me go. She touched her belly gently. "I'm pregnant." "Julian wanted to find a good time to tell you. I think today is perfect." I was nailed to the spot. During the breakup scare at the beginning of the year, I lost a child. Just because Julian said one sentence. "Hazel, it's not the right time." Rain tick-tocked. My tears surged. I blurted out: "Shut up! Get out!" I raised my hand, pressing my leg hard. Too painful. Chapter 3 The moment the anesthesia kicked in, I felt cold all over. Blacking out, I remembered the day I found out I was pregnant. I spent 3 hours cooking a feast, hiding the test result in a gift box. The celebration cake candles flickered. Julian was silent for a long time. He rubbed the back of my hand, saying deeply: "Hazel, I hope our child can be born in a blessed environment." And in my phone, there was still the message from his mother yesterday, calling me shameless. In his family's eyes, I was mud by the roadside. Should stay far away from him. Tears fell instantly. I asked tremblingly: "Julian Vance, when you confessed at 18, promising to give me a very, very good home, does it not count anymore?" He lowered his head, refusing to look at me, only saying: "Hazel, I have difficulties too." Later, I went onto the operating table alone. It seemed to be raining then too. I just felt heavy all over. A wetness that wouldn't go away. When I woke up, the ward was quiet. Replying to work messages, I saw Sienna's Instagram post. A small box in flowers, containing a ring with a Pigeon Blood Ruby. The style I mentioned wanting to Julian when we were young and naive. I liked the post. 5 minutes later, Julian sent a message. [Hazel, is the surgery done? What did the doctor say?] [About your amnesia, is recovery possible?] I replied: [You are Sienna's boyfriend. My business is none of your concern.] Before he replied, I blocked both of them. Raised by Grandma, when I met them, I thought fate pitied me and gave me gifts. It was a dream. Now I should wake up. The nurse asked me: "Miss, where is your family?" "Don't hide the surgery from them. If you were my daughter, I'd be heartbroken knowing this." I smiled: "I have no family." "Not a single one left." I closed my eyes, hiding the heat in them. A week later, I was discharged. Back to the so-called "home," I started packing. Struggling to stuff clothes into the suitcase, the door opened from outside. Laughter came in. Sienna and the Vance parents. Seeing me, Mrs. Vance raised her thin eyebrows. "Why are you here?" "Our Julian is getting married. How do you have the face to come?" I paused. Before, I didn't want Julian to be caught in the middle, so I endured. Now, there was no need. I turned cold: "I paid for this house. Why can't I come?" "Calculating carefully, you are the ones with no right." In the last year of college, Julian wanted to start his game company. His parents disagreed, cut off his living expenses, forcing him to study abroad for academia. I used the money I earned from modeling to support him and his startup team. Even this house, I paid a part. Now that Julian's startup succeeded and is about to IPO, I became the unpresentable little model in the Vance family's mouth. "So uneducated." Mr. Vance pointed at me. "How dare you speak to us like that? Apologize immediately!" I was about to retort. But I glimpsed a familiar figure in the elevator hall. The moment I recognized who it was, a chill rushed up my spine. Chapter 4 It was Jack. My biological father. He got addicted to gambling shortly after marrying my mother. After losing everything, he started stealing and robbing. When I was 5, he was sentenced for home invasion. Since then, the whole family fell apart. Thinking of him, I only remember the gossip and ridicule behind my back. And the "guilty" label stuck on me forever. Unlike the refined Vances, he wore an ill-fitting jacket with a loose collar. Not to mention his chicken-nest hair and stubble. When did he get out? And why did he find this place? Before I could think more. Sienna walked behind me in a few steps, turning my wheelchair. She whispered in my ear: "Hazel, look closely." "With a father like this, you should let Julian go." She couldn't hide the trace of jealousy in her eyes. I saw it. It happened before. Chatting in bed at night, she touched my hair, sighing. "Hazel, you're actually lucky." "Lower degree than me, but earning several times more." "You have such a good and excellent boyfriend..." I laughed at her silliness: "But your parents wait for you to come home every day. I don't have that." Now, she pushed me towards the door. Loudly: "Uncle Jack, Hazel is here." I gripped the wheelchair handles tightly, teeth chattering from cold. Muttering: "You called him. It was you." The person who knew my deepest pain used the privilege I gave her to stab me hard. Sienna chuckled: "So you know shame too." Jack turned around, black eyes lighting up. He rushed over: "Girl! Finally found you." "Heard you earn a lot now. Give me some, just 20,000. Dad can turn the tables immediately!" Speaking, he revealed two rows of uneven yellow teeth. Mr. Vance stepped back, frowning. Mrs. Vance fanned the air, pinching her nose: "So smelly." An invisible slap on my face. Seeing I didn't speak, Jack reached for my pocket directly. "Where's the money? Give me money, quick..." The madness in his eyes almost swallowed me. Just then, the elevator opened. Julian saw this and rushed out. I looked up at him. Relying on him was a habit I hadn't quit yet. "Who are you? Stay away!" He pushed Jack. Roaring: "I'm calling security! Get out!" Jack was pushed down. He stood up angrily: "Little bastard!" His chest heaved violently, kicking out directly. "Julian!" Sienna screamed, he immediately blocked in front of her. Off guard, Jack kicked my wheelchair. I couldn't hold on, tipping over heavily. The world tilted violently. I saw security running over, saw Jack fleeing in panic. Julian seemed to just see me, walking over to help me up. Mrs. Vance grabbed him: "Julian, look clearly!" "This woman isn't one of us. Her family is this shameful!" Julian froze. He looked at me, didn't move a step. Disgust he didn't even bother to hide. I suddenly laughed out loud. "You think you are decent?" Propping up with my arms, I sat up slowly. The wound hurt too much. Tears fell uncontrollably. I wiped them gently. "A cheater, a homewrecker, and a pair of mean parents." My voice was icy: "You have no right to judge me." As soon as the words fell, Julian swayed in disbelief. His voice spiked: "You didn't lose your memory?!"
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