My Wedding, Her Lie

I remained silent.

Olivia grew anxious.

"Martin, has something happened?"

"If you can't come to surprise me, that's fine too. I've checked the wedding venue, and it's exactly what I wanted. I'm sure you'll love it too!"

She was still so considerate, even magnanimous about me standing her up for the proposal.

"I'm at home. As long as you like it, that's enough."

Olivia paused for a moment before trying to comfort me.

"Alright, I'll come home to accompany you soon."

She didn't ask why I had stood her up or why I hadn't given her a ring yet.

It was not because she loved me enough to tolerate my whims, but because she had already received the proposal and ring from the man she truly loved at her dream wedding.

I was merely her backup plan.

When Olivia entered the house, I had just stepped out of the bathroom.

Seeing David behind her, I frowned instinctively.

"Why did you bring him here?"

Was she really that eager to humiliate me by bringing him here?

Olivia awkwardly flashed a playful smile and teased.

"Martin, I ran into David downstairs and found out he lives in the same neighborhood as us. When he heard you were back, he insisted on coming up to apologize..."

I coldly watched her put on her act.

"Martin, my father and I were out of line back then. I'm here to apologize on his behalf. Can you forgive us?"

Suppressing my anger, I asked Olivia, my voice trembling.

"So, do you think I should forgive them?"

The pain of a ruptured eardrum, the numbness from being whipped until I lost all feeling in my legs, and the agony of seeing my father's belongings burned to ashes...

I wasn't pathetic enough to ask her why she had fallen in love with David.

That would make me seem spineless.

Olivia's guilt vanished as I stubbornly waited for her answer.

"Martin, David was just a mischievous child back then. He didn't know any better. He's felt guilty for years and has already apologized to you. Why hold on to the past?"

The physical and emotional abuse that dragged me into an abyss was now referred to as the past.

Refusing to forgive David was now called being petty.

Back then, it was she who had dialed 911 and stayed with me at the hospital. She knew better than anyone how much I despised my stepfather and stepbrother.

But she still fell in love with David, standing firmly against me.

Olivia reached out, trying to clasp my hand, forcing me to make peace with David.

I swatted her hand away, seething.

"Olivia, what right do you have to ask me to forgive them?"

Behind my mother's back, they had abused me, manipulated my mother into hating me, and after my mother passed away, they didn't even give her a proper funeral...

Olivia stared at her reddened hand, her temper flaring but barely held back.

"Martin, I'm doing this for your sake. You have no family left. At least David and his father are like half-families to you. Why cling to the past and make yourself miserable?"

"We should look ahead, shouldn't we?"

Olivia's words were sincere, but the familiar impatience on her pretty face betrayed her.

Gone were the concern and care I had once known.

I could almost hear my shattered heart crumble into dust.

It hurt so much that I could hardly speak.

And the smug, provocative gleam in David's reddened eyes was exactly as I remembered.

"Martin, it's alright if you can't forgive me. But I will continue to repent and feel guilty until you acknowledge me as family."

"Get out!"