In the third year of my marriage to my arch-nemesis, a new intern accidentally spilled water all over the marriage certificate he kept on his desk. Panicked, she rushed it to the city records office to get a replacement. But the clerk told her the certificate was a fake. I went back to the office to confront my husband, Liam. Only to find him pressing the intern against the door, kissing her. “I fought with her for five years,” he murmured, “but I’ve been secretly in love with you for ten.” “Our real marriage certificate? I have it locked away safely in a vault.” Even when the intern pushed me down the stairs and my head split open, Liam just stood there, watching coldly. He pulled the intern into his arms, shielding her from the sight. “Don’t look,” he whispered. “You can’t stand the sight of blood.” Later, due to a delay in treatment, I suffered a cognitive impairment. When I opened my eyes again, my memory was stuck in the year I hated him the most. 1 Two days after the surgery, Liam finally showed up. I was sitting up in my hospital bed, joking with a young nurse. The moment he walked in, my smile vanished. “What are you doing here?” Liam’s gaze lingered for a moment on the bandage on my forehead. He sneered. “Katey’s been worried sick about you for two days, and you’re just in here playing sick?” Before I could process his words, he strode forward and yanked on my IV line. The needle was ripped from my vein. I sucked in a sharp breath of pain. Blood spurted from the back of my hand, and the nurse next to me shrieked, rushing to apply pressure. When my senses returned, I slapped Liam hard across the face. “Did you die a violent death in a past life? Is that why you’re so full of rage?” I spat. “Are you blind? Can’t you see the damn gauze on the back of my head?” Back when we were new hires, Liam and I were at our worst. He called me rigid and boring; I said he was worse than a dog. Our greetings consisted of creative insults aimed at each other's parents. The slap snapped Liam’s head to the side. He stared at me, completely stunned. He was speechless, but I wasn’t finished. Once the bleeding stopped, I glared at him, ready to have security throw him out. But the nurse’s next words froze me in place. “Mr. Hayes, could you please sign here on the line for Ms. Sterling’s next of kin?” Before Liam could even react, I snatched the clipboard from her. “What are you talking about? What makes him my family?” I trailed off, my eyes fixed on the form. On the line labeled “Spouse,” his name was written in clear, block letters: LIAM HAYES. Liam saw my stunned expression and rubbed his temples. “I know you’re angry with Katey, but her mother is sick. Her dying wish is to see her daughter married.” He sighed. “Katey and I grew up together. I was the most logical choice. I’ll divorce her later.” My movements were stiff as I fumbled for my phone. The contact pinned to the top of my messages, labeled “Hubby,” had Liam’s unchanging profile picture. In our company’s group chat, the new intern, Katey, had just posted, her profile picture a matching half of a couple’s photo with Liam. 【Getting married next month, everyone’s invited to our wedding!】 The photo she attached was deleted a second later, but not before I took a screenshot. It was a wedding photo. Liam was looking at her with such tenderness in his eyes. The chat was exploding with shocked messages, but I couldn’t bring myself to read them. My own photo album didn’t have a single picture of me and Liam together. The doctor had told me the impact had caused some side effects. I had lost the last five years of my memory. I was still reeling from the fact that I was apparently married to my sworn enemy, and now I was staring at his wedding photos with someone else. Just then, a new message popped up. It was from my friend who works at the records office. “You asked me to look up Liam Hayes. He registered a marriage a year ago.” “The spouse’s name is Katey Evans.” “That fake certificate you brought in didn’t have an official seal. It’s not legally valid.” That last sentence felt like a knife twisting in my gut. My head throbbed, a chaotic mess of feelings I couldn’t place. A wave of residual emotion I didn’t understand washed over me, making my nose sting. My silence seemed like an admission to Liam. He frowned and reached for me. “You…” He looked at a loss for words. Of course. We had fought for so long, always at each other’s throats. The idea of me falling for him was utterly absurd. I let out a slow breath. When I looked up again, my face was calm. “Don’t you know office romances are against company policy?” 2 Our conversation was cut short by a call from Katey. Liam’s attempt to explain was derailed by the sound of her crying. He left with a hurried, “I’ll be back,” and never returned. I discharged myself from the hospital and packed my things alone. The young nurse couldn’t stand it, helping me while she complained. “He admits he’s your family but then disappears when you need him.” She was indignant, but I didn’t care. Luckily, I never changed my passwords, so my phone was still usable. I found my new address in my notes app and took a cab. As I was leaving my new apartment building, the man at the bakery on the corner called out, “The usual?” On a strange impulse, I nodded. A moment later, I was holding two buns. Cabbage filling. I hated cabbage. The second I walked into the office, a coworker sidled up to me. “Bringing Mr. Hayes his buns again?” Before he finished speaking, the bag was snatched from my hand. Katey’s face was beaming. “Oh, Sienna, these cabbage buns are my favorite!” Her cloyingly sweet tone made me frown. I snatched the bag back and handed it to my coworker. “These are for you,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “Just be careful not to get any of that fake sweetness on them.” He froze, but before he could react, Liam was there. He pulled a red-eyed Katey behind him and looked down at me. “Just because Katey and I have the same taste, you have to pick on her?” The other employees, who had been gathering to watch, fell silent at his words, their expressions shifting as they looked between the three of us. After all, the two main characters in this drama had become the office's hottest topic yesterday. My silence stretched on for too long. Someone was about to step in and defend me, but Katey’s sobs started first. Tears streamed down her face, a picture of perfect misery. “I didn’t know you started liking this flavor after I left,” she whimpered. “When I saw the familiar wrapper, I thought they were for me.” Liam shot me a warning look before gently wiping her tears away. My eyes were glued to the watch on his wrist. I had seen a matching one—a woman’s version—on the nightstand at home. By the time I tuned back in, Katey was delivering her final line. “If it bothers you, sister, I can apologize.” The saccharine act was so over the top it was almost impressive. I blinked. “Then apologize.” Katey choked on her next sob, the tears instantly drying up. I, on the other hand, felt a smile spread across my face. I pointed to my ID badge. “You’re an intern. Are you sure you want to make an enemy of a department manager?” I said, emphasizing the word “manager.” “I know you’ve got a big mouth, but you don’t have to use it to talk out of your ass.” According to company policy, Katey should have been fired for her affair with a manager. It was Liam who had taken the fall, accepting a demotion to protect her. I sighed. I couldn't understand his stupidity. Last night, I'd gone through every single one of our chat logs. We had been in a secret relationship for three years. He had never made us public. Seeing him protect Katey like this now filled me with a complex mix of emotions I couldn't name. But my expression remained neutral. I put on a pleasant face, picked up a box of his things, and handed it to him. “Time to move to your new desk, Liam.” 3 I had no intention of quitting. I wasn’t the one at fault, so why should I leave? But as I was leaving work, Liam stopped me. His expression was complicated. “Are you still angry?” he muttered. “I didn’t know you were being discharged today. I never meant for Katey to post the invitation in the group chat. It was an accident.” I glanced at him, my words sharper than I intended. “You’re so good at passing the buck, it’s a shame you’re not a chef.” I added, “Seriously, do you think I’m three? How 'accidental'.” It had been a while since I'd spoken with such venom. Liam was taken aback. He looked at me, then seemed to remember something. “How’s your injury?” The back of my head was still bandaged. I hesitated. I was about to tell him about the memory loss just to get him to leave me alone when Katey ran up and linked her arm through his. “You promised you’d have dinner with me. I’ve been waiting forever.” The distraction was obvious, but it worked. Liam’s attention shifted. He mumbled something about her not causing a scene, but his feet were already turning in her direction. Before he left, he tossed a small box at me. Inside was a necklace with a diamond the size of my pinky nail. I closed the lid as if it were burning my hand and started to go after him, but then I saw Katey turn her head. She casually revealed the massive diamond ring on her finger. “I’ve been wearing the ring you proposed with in front of my mom this whole time,” she said sweetly. “Mom says we should all go see her this weekend.” I instinctively looked down at my own ring finger. It was bare. I was still standing there long after their car had driven away. A coworker passed by. “Finally getting rid of that Katey girl,” she said. “She’s caused nothing but trouble.” I grunted in agreement, my eyes on the file in my hand. Katey had been assigned to Liam’s team as an intern. Now that he was demoted, his responsibilities had been transferred to me. The first thing I did was terminate her contract. I thought for a moment, then sent Katey a message. The reply was a picture: a hand with a diamond ring, holding a bouquet of roses, the cuff of a man’s suit just visible in the corner. I sent a question mark. A moment later, a new message from Katey appeared in the company group chat. “I don’t understand why some people feel the need to interfere in other people’s relationships.” “My last announcement was a warning. But some people just don’t get the hint.” A few people replied with popcorn emojis. I just scoffed. If she wasn’t going to listen to reason, then neither was I. I blocked Katey and removed her from the group chat. A moment later, my phone lit up with a message from Liam. “Why did you kick Katey out of the group? Can you stop throwing tantrums?” When I didn’t reply, he threatened, “Add her back. Don’t make me call you out in front of the whole company.” He was so sure I wouldn’t defy him over something so small. But I just typed back a few sentences. “Didn’t the doctor tell you, as my next of kin? I lost the last five years of my memory.” “Forget just insulting you to your faces. I'll carve it on your tombstones when you're dead.” “And don’t worry, you’ll be joining your dear Katey soon enough.” Then, I opened my family group chat, tagged my brother, and sent a message. 【Your sister’s in trouble at her own company. Get your ass over here, stat.】
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