On the way to pick up my wedding dress, my fiancé, Finn Sullivan, was kidnapped. He survived, but he forgot me. Every time marriage was mentioned, he would pass out. The doctor diagnosed it as a dissociative fugue, a second personality triggered by the trauma. Then, I found out I was pregnant. "The baby might be the key," the doctor suggested, "to unlocking the Finn who loves you." I clutched the ultrasound report, hope blooming in my chest, and went to find him. But instead, I heard him joking with his friends. "Damn, Finn, you're playing the long game. Faking a whole second personality just to dodge the wedding! What's next, a third and fourth?" "Nope! I love Elvira. This is the only time I'll ever lie to her. Once I sleep with ten more girls, I’m done." "Only ten? That’s not enough to unlock all the achievements, man. I say you keep this charade up for another year. Elvira would marry you even if you were a ghost." Finn’s voice turned cold as he scolded his friend. "I can't stand to see her upset for that long! Now hurry up and find me some girls. I want the freaky ones who are still technically virgins. One every three days. Nothing can delay my wedding to Elvira!" I shredded the ultrasound report with trembling hands and walked straight back to the clinic to schedule an abortion. 1 The doctor was surprised to see me back so soon, assuming I wasn't feeling well. When I told him I needed the procedure, he stared in disbelief. "Elvira, you both struggled so hard to conceive. If you terminate now, it might trigger your fiancé, make his condition worse!" A bitter smile twisted my lips. "If I told him the truth, that would probably kill him." After all, he was currently luxuriating in the pleasure of playing the field, convinced he was getting away with it. I couldn't wrap my head around it—the man who had begged me, tears in his eyes, to marry him, was now faking an illness just to cheat. The doctor couldn't dissuade me, but he insisted on calling Finn before I signed the consent forms. "Ms. Hayes, this isn't just your decision. Even if his illness makes him say he doesn't want the child right now, he needs to be here to sign for you, to be with you during the surgery. If there's a misunderstanding, it needs to be cleared up face-to-face…" I placed a gentle hand on my stomach. I didn't stop him. I had PCOS; pregnancy was a miracle for me. Finn hadn't cared about the risks; he'd even fought with his parents to marry me. If this child was leaving us, Finn deserved to be there to say goodbye. But as soon as the doctor explained the situation, Finn scoffed. "How much is Elvira Hayes paying you to stage this little drama? I told you, I don't know her, let alone want to marry her." "Tell her to stop trying to trap me with these games. Who knows if the kid is even mine?" The abrupt dial tone and the echo of his cruel laughter hung in the sterile silence of the operating room. I signed my own name and closed my eyes. When I woke up in recovery, my phone was lit up with notifications. All from Finn. [Whatever we were before, now I am me, and you are you. If you have the energy to hire actors to fool me, you should use it to move out of my house!] He was very thoughtful. He’d already rented me a fully furnished apartment in the same complex. He’d even paid the first month's rent. To avoid suspicion, he'd signed a one-year lease with the landlord. [Consider us even. You don't owe me for the rent.] I glanced at the blurred, bloody image on the ultrasound printout and replied calmly. [Okay. Thank you.] That rent money would be the last responsibility he ever took for this child. I stayed in the hospital for three days. He never contacted me again. But his social media was a constant stream of flashing lights and flowing alcohol. It was as if he was trying to reclaim all the wild youth he'd missed out on because of me. I knew he was posting it for me to see. I had another, burner account that followed him, and none of those posts were visible there. So I played my part. I "liked" every video. When I was checking out, I saw him and a doctor pushing a gurney down the hallway at a run. The moment he saw me, he quickly looked away, pretending I wasn't there. But I heard the ER doctor shouting orders. "Prep OR 1! We need O-negative blood, stat! Patient has a ruptured luteal cyst, massive hemorrhage!" "What? We're out of stock?" The doctor hung up and quickly relayed the situation to Finn. The man who had just ignored me stopped dead in his tracks and ran back towards me. "Elvira Hayes! If you donate blood for Lara, I'll overlook you stalking me!" I stared at him, dumbfounded. "I'm not stalking you…" "Enough! Save the excuses! This is life or death!" He grabbed my arm and dragged me toward the doctor. "She's O-negative. Take whatever you need!" I struggled, but his grip was like iron. I asked him, my voice dripping with cold irony, "I thought you didn't know me? How do you know I have a rare blood type?" I held his gaze, waiting for his answer. 2 Finn scratched his head, snapping impatiently, "Is this really the time to be asking questions? You keep saying we were in love for six years. Isn't it normal that in a crisis, I'd instinctively remember your blood type?" But I had just had an abortion. I was still spotting. How could I possibly donate blood? And even if I could, why should I help him clean up his mess? "I just had a miscarriage," I said flatly. "I can't donate. Find someone else." Finn’s face twisted in anger. "Elvira, you claim to love me, but when I ask you for a little blood, you refuse? You'd even lie about a miscarriage!" "I can't believe you'd just let someone die! No wonder I can't remember ever loving you!" He was right about one thing: if he had truly loved me, he wouldn't be faking amnesia to cheat on me. He would have seen how pale my face still was. He certainly wouldn't be forcing me to donate blood for his mistress. A monitor nearby started screaming. The ER doctor, wasting no more time, signaled for the gurney to be rushed to the OR. Finn tried to drag me to the blood bank, but I dug in my heels. Enraged, he swept me off my feet and threw me over his shoulder. "Elvira, willing or not, I'll owe you for this. Fine! I'll marry you on the original date!" All the fight drained out of me. He had once risked his life to save mine. I would consider this debt repaid. As I watched my dark red blood flow into the bag, my heart turned to ice, drop by drop. As soon as the bag was full, Finn sprinted off with the nurse towards the operating room. To his retreating back, I whispered, "Finn Sullivan, we're even." I walked out of the donation room, a wave of dizziness hitting me. My vision went black, and I collapsed. When I woke up, the doctor looked like he wanted to scold me, but it melted into a heavy sigh. "Take care of yourself. With your condition, you can't donate blood again for at least six months." I smiled and agreed. As the doctor left, I overheard a young nurse whispering to him. "Sir, why didn't you tell her we couldn't reach her emergency contact? What if she misunderstands…?" "She won't. That girl sees everything clearly. It's a shame she fell for the wrong man." I picked up my phone. The doctor had called Finn over a dozen times on my behalf. Not a single call was answered. Instead, he had texted me a furious message. [Elvira, can you stop being so dramatic? Know your place!] In that moment, I was relieved he hadn't answered. I couldn't imagine the vicious things he would have said to humiliate me. I didn't reply. I lay in bed for a full day before I had the strength to walk. The sun was shining outside. I went to the hospital's rooftop garden to get some air and unexpectedly ran into Finn's friends. They were all carrying elaborate fruit baskets and bouquets of flowers. I thought they were there for me and instinctively turned to leave. But they surrounded me, eyeing my hospital gown with amusement. "Well, well, well. Knew Finn was here with his girlfriend, so you decided to put on a little pity play, huh?" "It was just a little blood donation. Do you have to act like you're on death's door?" "Gotta say, the pale makeup looks very natural. Seamless. We always said you were manipulative, but Finn never believed us…" Finn's friends always thought I wasn't good enough for him. If he hadn't forced them to treat me like family, they never would have accepted me. Now, playing along with Finn's charade, they could finally unleash their true feelings. Finn came downstairs to meet them. He froze when he saw me, then his brow furrowed. "Elvira, seriously? I already promised we'd still have the wedding. Now you're paying doctors to help you fake an illness so you can spy on me? Is this fun for you?" "Do you have any idea how suffocating this is?" "I'm telling you right now, if you keep this up after we're married, we'll end up divorced anyway!" 3 "Don't bother," I said, my voice steady. "I don't need you to marry me." In our six years together, he had always been free. When he wanted to drink, I sat quietly beside him, never rushing him. If I wasn't appropriate for the occasion, I waited for his call to pick him up, then took care of him without complaint when he was drunk. When he wanted to take a trip with his friends, I booked the tickets and planned the itinerary. Even when he offered me his phone to check, I never did. I loved him, and I didn't want to repeat my mother's mistake—her suffocating control had driven my father to divorce. I thought I had maintained a healthy distance in our relationship. Before his "accident," we were inseparable, still in the honeymoon phase. But now, I understood. My love was suffocating him. Was that the real reason he was faking this illness, seeking a thrill? Our eyes met. I saw no trace of affection in his gaze. The accusations on the tip of my tongue died in my throat. Finn, unsettled by my stare, grabbed a bouquet of lilies from his friend and shoved it into my arms. "Fine. Don't play the victim after getting what you wanted. Take the flowers and go." He still thought I was the same girl who could be placated with a small gift. He didn't believe that the woman who swore she would marry no one but him could ever truly leave. I handed the flowers back to his friend. "These are for your girlfriend. It's not appropriate for me to take them." "I donated the blood willingly. You really don't have to sacrifice yourself by marrying me." A flicker of panic crossed Finn's face. Shouldn't Elvira be ecstatic? Why is she insisting I don't have to marry her? Is she actually mad this time? Anxiety flashed in his eyes. "Elvira, I…" His friends started coughing pointedly. He quickly corrected himself. "Elvira, I'm a man of my word." I just smiled. "You should go be with your girlfriend. I'm checking out now." My generosity seemed to unnerve him further. He felt something was very different about me today, but he couldn't pinpoint what. His friends, seeing his hesitation, slapped him on the back and dragged him away. "Come on, man, stop staring. Your Lara will get jealous! It's just the usual drama—first the pity play, now playing hard to get. Same old female tricks. You're too naive, easy to manipulate." "Seriously! Look what you did, man. You're not a teenager anymore. How did you manage to cause her to hemorrhage? Luckily, Lara's understanding and doesn't hold it against you, unlike some people who demand marriage just for donating a little blood…" Their words, intentionally loud enough for me to hear, didn't cause the expected pain. I just felt cold, a chill that settled deep in my marrow, a cold that even the bright sunlight couldn't warm. I watched them leave and then discharged myself. While Finn was away, I hired a cleaning service to help me pack. The woman looked at the beautifully decorated apartment, ready for newlyweds, and hesitated. "Miss, all this wedding stuff is brand new. Are you sure you want to throw it away?" "Yes," I said. "The groom died. We won't be needing it." She immediately apologized and consoled me. Afraid of triggering me, she started by packing away the wedding photos and dozens of photo albums first. In just half a day, the home I had so carefully decorated lost all its warmth and joy. A cold house for a cold heart. The cleaner looked at the dozen bags filled with symbols of our love, shaking her head with a sigh. "Miss, you have to look forward." I smiled and nodded. After she left, I made sure there was no trace of me left in the apartment. I deleted my fingerprints from the smart lock and pulled my suitcase out the door.
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