After I finished my mother’s funeral, it happened to be our third wedding anniversary.
Ronnie said he wanted to take me on a vacation to help me relax, back to the beach where we had our honeymoon.
These past few days, he stayed by my side day and night, just like when we first fell in love.
Ronnie held my hand gently, looking down to kiss my fingers.
“I’ve chartered a plane, Andrea. I hope you can move on. I hate seeing you this upset.”
His words sounded full of affection, but I could only laugh bitterly inside.
Why pretend to care when he had already fallen for someone else?
Before boarding the plane, I thought this would be our last trip together.
When we landed, Ronnie walked with me along the beach, smiling, “Andrea, remember? This is where I proposed to you.”
I nodded, my tone flat. “I remember. It’s just not the same as it used to be.”
His face stiffened, and his expression turned uneasy. “Different? What do you mean by that?”
A sharp pain stabbed at my heart. I wanted to ask him, when he knelt to propose, pretending to love me, had he ever meant it, even for moment?
a
Before I could speak, someone in a uniform called out to him.
“Mr. Douglas, your assistant said there’s an urgent email that needs your response.”
My gaze shifted to the woman wearing a baseball cap. Her strikingly beautiful face held an unmistakable hint of smugness.
I recognized her immediately. It was Judith. Ronnie pinned the chat with her at the top.
Ronnie frowned. “Can’t you see I’m with my wife? What could possibly be so urgent?”
Judith feigned nervousness, her voice trembling. “It’s critical. If it’s delayed any longer, it’ll be too late.”
He turned to me, squeezing my hand nervously. “Andrea, why don’t you wander around? I’ll handle this quickly!”
I responded lightly, “Alright. I’ll head back on my own later.”
As Ronnie walked away, I quietly followed him.
Under a banana tree, he caught up with Judith and pulled her into his arms.
“Judith, why did you have to be here? I’m only keeping my distance because I have no choice.”
Judith leaned into him her tone playful. “Ronnie, didn’t you promise to help me complete the fourth task? Don’t go back on your word!”
“Don’t show up in front of my wife again. I’ve arranged everything. Tomorrow, we’ll go skydiving.”
“Til do whatever you say. But right now, there’s something more urgent…”
He playfully tapped her nose, and they laughed as they headed into a secluded pavilion.
D
6:53 PM
<
I stood outside, listening to their laughter and whispers of lovemaking.
Though I had already decided to leave, my heart still ached bitterly.
I looked up, wiped away my tears, and told myself this would be the last time I cried for him.
When I was back at the hotel, his assistant avoided my gaze. “Mrs. Douglas, Mr. Douglas has been busy… Would you like to rest in your room
So, they all knew. Everyone but me.
I nodded indifferently. Whether Ronnie was truly busy or spending time with Judith didn’t matter anymore.
The next morning, Ronnie looked rushed and apologized. “Andrea, there’s another emergency at work. I need to attend a video call.”
“Go ahead,” I said, interrupted with a smile before he could finish.
Ronnie hesitated his smile awkward. “Why don’t you go snorkeling with the instructor? I’ll join you tonight.”
I looked at him quietly and let out a soft laugh.
I thought, “No more waiting. Never again.”
Ronnie seemed inexplicably uneasy. Even he didn’t notice it, but the feeling quickly vanished as he stood up and hurried out of the hotel.
While he and Judith went skydiving, I stood alone at the edge of the tallest cliff by the sea.
The wind carried the wild grass, leaving no trace behind.
The place was remote, but the security cameras would capture everything.
Staring at the abyss with the deep ocean below, I closed my eyes and leaped into it.
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Chapter 5
The icy seawater enveloped me in
an
instant, and I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me.
From the shore, I heard someone’s terrified scream.
“Someone jumped into the sea!”
I quickly swam to the prearranged depth, where a submarine was waiting for me. It carried me silently away from the shore, resurfacing on a
distant beach.
I dried myself off, my wet hair clinging to my shoulders, and looked back toward where I had come from. The view was too far now to make
anything out.
A staff member approached me respectfully and said, “Ms. Gardner, your island service is fully prepared. You can rest for a while. The private
jet will arrive shortly.
“Once you’re on the deserted island, no one will ever find you.”
By the time they realized I had disappeared and erased me from the system, there would no longer be Andrea Gardner in this world.
Ronnie should be happy now, living the life he wanted with Judith.
But that had nothing to do with me anymore,
“Is everything ready with the advertisement screens?” I asked.
“Yes, just as you instructed. Once your fake death is confirmed, the content in the file will play on the large advertisement screens in the main
squares.”
6:53
<
I nodded and glanced at my water–damaged phone. I tossed it into the sea along with our marriage certificate.
I thought, “Not just these things, him, too. I didn’t need him anymore.”
I met Ronnie when I was an exchange student in my junior year. He was the son of his father’s mistress and had always been inconspicuc and unrecognized.
I stayed up late with him, revising his plans and helping him build the company step by step until he earned his place in the family busine and was tacitly recognized as the heir.
Back then, living with him in a small apartment, it felt like we were the only two people in the world.
Every evening, Ronnie came home with a bouquet of fresh flowers and a smile.
“Andrea, I’ll work hard to give you the life you want. Wait for me.”
1 I never knew that all his drive and ambition, the spark in his eyes, had always been for another woman.
Now, this wrong beginning had finally found the right ending.
My thoughts drifted, and I remembered the school rooftop years ago, where drones lit up the sky with romantic patterns. His confession ev trended online.
Ronnie, his face flushed, held out a bouquet of white roses to me.
“Andrea, will you be my girlfriend?”
I laughed and said yes, dragging him to the sand to write with a stick, “Andrea loves Ronnie.”
Now, I picked up a dry branch and wrote carefully in the sand, “Andrea no longer loves Ronnie.”
Before boarding the private jet, I took one last look at the sea behind me.
The golden sunset painted the horizon in warm hues, and the waves kissed the shore, washing away my words over and over until no trace was left.
Years ago, it was on this very beach that Ronnie knelt on one knee and proposed to me.
“In this life, the next, and every life after that, you’ll always be my only one.”
A sharp pain suddenly gripped my chest, burning like a fire consuming everything in its path.
It turned every bit of love and sincerity I once held into ashes.
I thought, “Ronnie, in the next life and the one after that, let’s never meet again.”
Chapter 6
