My two-year aid mission to Alsatan ended, and my wedding date was scheduled for next month.
After performing quarantine, I returned home without informing anyone, to give my fiancé a surprise.
Hundreds of wedding planning books were piled on the table. To my surprise, he was the groom, but I was not the bride.
I ran to find him, but upon entering the hospital, I witnessed my boyfriend, the vice president of the hospital, proposing to someone else.
"Neil Francis, will you marry me? There will be a grand wedding for us next month!"
Doctors, nurses and patients throughout the hospital applauded and screamed.
Seeing his affectionate and expectant gaze, I, who was exhausted and standing in the corner, dared not take another step forward.
Since I was not the one he chose, I wouldn't appear in the wedding ceremony.
But after I ran away from the marriage, he looked for me like crazy...
——
The proposal scene decorated with roses was mixed with the smell of hospital disinfectant, but it didn't make people uncomfortable.
Barry knelt on one knee, just like he had proposed to me two years ago.
However, the person standing opposite him was no longer me.
"Neil, marry me, okay?"
Neil covered her lips with excitement, and her other hand was stretched out tremblingly.
The next moment, a sparkling diamond ring was put on her hand.
The two hugged each other tightly and kissed passionately. Even though the people around them were cheering, their kissing sounds were clearly heard by me.
I couldn't help but stroke the engagement ring that Barry gave me before I left.
He once said that if I wore the ring he carved, I would be his wife forever.
As a result, the ring was so small.
Later, he made a red rope in person and sent it to me across the ocean, so that I could wear the ring as a necklace.
Maybe because the red rope became weak after the passage of years, it broke when I pulled it hard.
Without the rope to hold the ring in place, it instantly fell and rolled to Barry's feet.
He glanced at the ring at his feet, picked it up, and threw it into the trash can.
It was like throwing away my ten years of deep affection for him.
After successfully proposing, Barry gave a nurse a hint, and the latter began to distribute wedding candies and gifts to everyone present.
With the blessing of all the people, the two walked past me holding hands.
I held the gift in my hand and hurriedly pulled up my mask.
"Barry, isn't the wedding prepared for Mia?"
"Is she worthy of my elaborately prepared grand wedding? After working in a place where the condition is hard for two years, she must be ugly when coming back. Every time she video chats with me, I have no desire to answer it, for fear that I will vomit!"
"Barry, if Mia comes back and finds out that I'm the bride, will she scold me?"
He scratched Neil's nose lovingly.
"Since you're my wife, I don't think anyone would dare to scold you.
"Why not let Mia be your bridesmaid? She loves me so much, so she will definitely agree!"
"Are you willing to hurt her like this?"
"Letting her be your bridesmaid is enough for her. No matter what, I'm still her family member."
The two kissed each other in front of me as if no one was around.
Barry didn't realize the person wearing the mask was me all along, just like he didn't recognize the ring.
Feeling awkward, I went home and took my luggage.
Arriving at the hotel, I called Steve, the captain of the medical team.
"Steve, I will continue to assist Alsatan."
He was delighted yet puzzled. "Aren't you going back to the country to get married? Does your husband allow you to continue to suffer abroad?"
I gently scratched the red rash on my body caused by allergies. It was itchy, and my heart ached.
"I won't get married... I will just focus on being a doctor and saving lives from now on!"
Steve, who treated me kindly, immediately noticed something was wrong with me.
"You are welcome to come back and contribute to the medical field. Once you become busy, you have no time to think about anything else.
"Honestly, you're the only one without a family member visiting you in the past two years. Even if Barry is very busy, he should come here once. If not, it means that he no longer loves you.
"If he doesn't love you, why not abandon him?"
If it weren't for the hundreds of wedding planning books and the grand proposal, I would tell Steve that Barry loved me deeply, as I did in the past with full confidence.
For two whole years, I constantly told Barry about my longing for him and begged him to come visit me, just like a fool.
I found it ridiculous after finding the wedding planning books.
On the way to the hospital, I once kept convincing myself that he only took good care of Neil because she was my young sister.
While seeing him propose to Neil, I could no longer deceive myself.
I had imagined countless times that Barry might fall in love with someone else during the two years of a long-distance relationship.
But unexpectedly, he would fall in love with my sister, seven years younger than me, and would humiliate me by letting me be a bridesmaid to please her.
It took me half an hour to warm up in the shower.
Barry called me at this time.
"Mia, I heard that you returned to the country. Have you arrived home?"
Chapter 2I remained silent.
Barry was anxious. "Mia, are you already at home?"
"I just arrived at the hotel."
Barry was obviously relieved and spoke to me softly, "Which hotel is it? I'll come find you."
He didn't ask me why I didn't go home.
It was just because he didn't dare let me go home and see those wedding planning books.
I opened the door to get the takeaway when Barry knocked on it.
As I noticed Neil behind him, my attitude became cold. "What's up?"
Meanwhile, I thought to myself frantically, "Has he loved Neil to the point of being inseparable from her?"
Barry rubbed his fingers guiltily.
"Mia, after knowing you have returned to the country, Neil asked me to bring her over to have dinner with you..."
I coldly watched him acting. "Won't she be upset if we have dinner together?"
"Mia, I was ignorant at a young age, and it caused you to have a miscarriage. Can you forgive me?"
Barry kept signaling me to nod with his eyes.
I raised my chin and asked him sadly, "You came here just to make me forgive her?"
Because I was the only survivor of the car accident, Neil was convinced that I killed our father and caused our mother to spend the rest of her life in a sanatorium.
Our family was ruined, and I also felt as heartbroken as her.
Unexpectedly, she deliberately drugged me, and it caused me to have a miscarriage and heavy bleeding, which almost killed me. What was worse, it was difficult for me to get pregnant in the future.
I didn't bother to ask Barry why he fell in love with Neil.
It would make me seem too lowly.
Barry didn't feel guilty anymore because of my silent protest.
"Mia, Neil was just a child back then. She didn't know that the medicine would cause you to have a miscarriage. She has felt guilty about it for many years and has already apologized to you. Why do you still have to dwell on the past?"
Back then, after drugging me and causing my miscarriage, she took away my cell phone and didn't allow me to call the ambulance.
Under such circumstances, how could I forgive her?
It was Barry who sent me to the hospital when I was unconscious. He knew better than anyone how painful losing a child would be.
However, he fell in love with Neil and abandoned me mercilessly.
Barry tried to grab my hand and shake hands with Neil to make peace.
I slapped his hand away and said in anger, "Barry, how can you ask me to forgive her?"
I spent all my salary supporting her education, did my best to satisfy her materially, and took care of her in every aspect of life, but she actually wanted me to die in the end.
Barry frowned and expressed his dissatisfaction.
"Mia, I'm doing this for your own good. Your mother's condition is unstable. If she passes away one day, Neil will be your only family. It's uncertain whether you can have a child in the future. Since she is your biological sister who was raised by you, you can't treat her like this.
"The past is gone, and the living are the most important, right?"
Barry was sincere, but his face already showed how impatient he was, which I was familiar with.
Meanwhile, I realized that he didn't care about me as usual.
I felt a dull pain in my heart, and it hurt so much that I could hardly speak.
The deep hatred in Neil's tearful eyes was exactly the same as in the past.
"Mia, it doesn't matter if you forgive me or not, but I will always feel guilty until you forgive me."
"Get out of here!"
Chapter 3I gripped the door handle tightly to stop myself from shaking.
Barry lost patience and questioned, "Mia, it's just a child, isn't it? Why do you hold a grudge against her for so many years?
"After we get married, we will have another child. Is that okay?"
He witnessed me lying unconscious in a pool of blood.
At that time, he held me in his arms, and we cried for the child who died prematurely.
He even suggested me not to care about Neil.
But now, he had already forgiven her and even fell for Neil, but he still lied to me, saying that we would have another child.
I experienced the pain and told Barry, "I will never forgive her unless she brings that child back to life!"
Barry was livid and clenched his fists, looking as if he could no longer endure it.
In the past, as he was about to educate the rebellious Neil for me, he also had the look of disappointment.
"Mia Francis! It's okay whether you forgive Neil, but you should apologize to her. I don't want others to think that my fiancée is a vicious woman who can't even tolerate her sister!
"As a doctor, you were pregnant but didn't pay attention to what you ate and drank. You didn't even know there was medicine in the water. How dare you say that you have no responsibility if the child is gone?
"She should not drug you because of her rebellion, but if you can't tolerate your sister, then you don't deserve to have children again!" He roared with red eyes.
I clearly caught the disgust that flashed across his face.
I couldn't believe the person, who swore to love me forever, changed his mind just because I had trouble getting pregnant.
He made use of my misfortune and pain to hurt me once again.
The man, who used to cry while seeing me depressed because of my child, would never hug and comfort me. "Mia, as long as I'm with you, it doesn't matter if we have children or not!"
With his love and tenderness, he helped me through the pain of losing my child, but at this time, he turned me down.
He actually cursed me to never have a child again for Neil.
I was trembling all over, wanting to lock the couple out of the door.
Barry quickly stopped me, only to find that my arms were covered with red rashes.
He immediately clapped his hands and kept me at arm's length, asking, "Do you have an allergy or a skin disease?"
After finishing speaking, he realized that it was exaggerated, and his face turned embarrassed.
"Forget it. We are a family after all. I won't force you to apologize, but you have to be very nice to Neil in the future."
I pointed to the door with a pale face. "Get lost! Go back to where you came from!"
Barry knew very well how disappointed I was at the moment. He wanted to come over and hug me, but he didn't dare to touch me.
Neil took a few steps back and suddenly shouted, "Mia, I can't revive your child, so I'll pay with my own life!"
She then ran towards the corridor window.
Barry immediately ignored me, ran over and hugged her tightly in his arms. "Neil, don't do anything stupid!"
The two hugged each other and cried on the ground, just like us who had lost our child in the past.
Closing the door, I pretended not to see it and slid down helplessly.
We had been in love for ten years but separated by a door now.
I took out my phone, booked myself a flight, and was about to leave on the wedding day.
There were only ten days left, which was enough time for me to deal with everything in the past.
Barry was right. The past was gone.
My father risked his life to save me, so I should live a brilliant life.
Chapter 4I returned all the wedding supplies I had bought myself.
I couldn't continue to stay in the city.
Lying in bed, I deleted the photos and videos saved on my phone.
The tens of thousands of love messages on social media that only Barry could see were deleted one by one.
Also, I cleared the chat history with one click.
There was nothing left in the photo album and chat interface, and I also felt empty in my heart.
After the deletion, I seemed not to like him anymore.
Ten years of love looked like a dream.
The next day, the phone woke me up.
"Mia, I've made an appointment for you. Please go to the dermatology department later."
"Okay."
Since he liked acting, I just needed to cooperate with him.
The test showed that I was allergic, and then he sat down next to me with a sigh of relief.
"It's the breakfast I made myself. After you finish eating, let's go try on wedding dresses. I forgot to tell you Neil is your bridesmaid."
It turned out that during the two years I had been away, Barry, who couldn't even cook instant noodles properly, knew how to cook.
The breakfast in the thermal box was exquisite, with good color and aroma, but I thought it was tasteless due to my bad mood.
"Neil's emotions have stabilized, so don't provoke her."
He leaned over, his eyes filled with lust.
I was so ashamed and angry that I slapped him in the face.
He covered his face in disbelief. "Mia, you returned to the country without telling me in advance or coming home, and now you won't even let me touch you?"
If I really was an ugly woman infected with a disease, he would think that I was not worthy of eating the food he cooked. At this time, he actually blamed me for not letting him touch me.
We looked at each other in silence.
All of a sudden, the ringing of his phone broke the ice, but I just felt bitter.
Once I wanted to use my voice as a navigation reminder for him, but he refused to agree.
Unexpectedly, he used Neil's laughter as his cell phone ringtone.
Feeling guilty, he looked at me several times and hesitated to speak.
"Mia, Neil has suddenly become sensible in the two years since you were away. She won't throw tantrums at you in the future."
He should know why she suddenly became sensible and stopped throwing tantrums.
As we stepped into the bridal shop, Neil ran straight into Barry's arms.
In the next second, she lowered his head immediately and apologized to me cautiously as if she had done something wrong.
"Mia, you're not jealous of me, are you?"
I smiled lightly and said sarcastically, "It can be seen that Barry takes good care of you."
Before, even though I harbored resentment towards Neil, I never forgot to ask Barry to take care of her when I went abroad.
I didn't expect that he would turn her into his wife.
As the shop owner brought out a wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses, Neil covered her mouth and exclaimed, "Barry, it's so beautiful!"
Naturally, a wedding dress inlaid with diamonds was beautiful.
"Mia, can I try on your wedding dress?"
Without waiting for my consent, Barry opened the fitting room and asked her to try on the wedding dress.
"Mia, why don't you try on the bridesmaid dress first?"
To avoid the embarrassment of staying alone with him, I walked into the fitting room.
When I came out, Barry focused on looking at Neil.
He was intoxicated and obsessed as if he were admiring a rare treasure.
His eyes could tell me whether he loved her.
Ten years ago, Barry looked at me with such affectionate gaze and confessed his love to me.
Seeing Neil looking like a goddess in her wedding dress, the shop owner immediately asked the photographer to take a photo of her and Barry.
She claimed that it could promote her own shop.
Barry glanced at me and suppressed the smile on his face.
"Mia, it'll be your turn after we finish filming."
"Okay."
Later, I sat on the sofa for nearly two hours.
Neil didn't take the initiative to suggest ending it until she was tired of filming.
Barry took off her high heels considerately, and as a germaphobe, he rubbed the soles of her feet without any disgust.
He was so familiar with it as if he had done it thousands of times.
However, he was still able to explain to me with a smile, "Mia, it's a good thing you weren't the one trying on the wedding dress, otherwise, you wouldn't be able to handle it!"
I responded, "Thank you for your hard work. Can I go now?"
Seeing the scene, I no longer felt heartache.
Neil's eyes suddenly turned red when she heard it.
"Mia, it's all my fault. I like the wedding dress so much. I'll take it off and give it back to you right now!
"No need. Since the wedding dress is tailor-made for you, then I'll give it to you if you like it.
"Also, it matches the diamond ring on your hand very well."
Barry glared at me and tried to comfort Neil, who was crying.
"Neil, when Mia said she was giving it to you, she really meant it. Please don't think too much about it.
"Mia, do you think what I said is right?"
Barry raised his voice and even tried to force me to coax her.
"Yes, I can give him to you even if you like Barry."
It was what I really thought.
"Mia, I knew you wouldn't forgive me and you don't like me. I'll die from sin now!"
Neil even forgot to take off her wedding dress but ran away crying.
No matter how much Barry shouted, she refused to stop.
Barry's warm and gentle face had turned cold.
"Mia, do you know that you look ugly now? She is your biological sister. Do you really want to force her to death?"
I couldn't help but be stunned. "What did I do wrong again?"
He was disgruntled, staring at Neil's back.
"I'll help you coax her, and you can pick out a diamond ring you like. Once you've chosen one, just swipe my card.
"Let's skip the proposal. As the vice president of the hospital, I can't imitate young people in being romantic.
"The shop owner took a lot of photos for me and Neil. I'll ask them to swap your headshot with Neil, so we don't have to take wedding photos again."
"Okay."
Barry, who had planned to explain, was shocked.
Looking at me for a few seconds, he hugged me gently.
"Mia, I will take you on a honeymoon after the wedding. I have planned everything."
It was a humiliation to me that he was being perfunctory about our honeymoon.
Among hundreds of wedding planning books and honeymoon travel plans, I was not the bride.
He anxiously glanced at Neil, who was almost out of sight, unbuttoned his suit and ran wildly on the street.
He rushed after his runaway bride at lightning speed.
After giving me the password to the wedding room, Barry didn't contact me for three days.
It was because he used the excuse of a meeting to accompany Neil on a trip to take wedding photos.
Meanwhile, he asked someone to swap my headshot with Neil's and photoshopped it into a wedding photo to appease me.
I decided to escape the marriage and continue my aid work in Alsatan, and it would take about two years to see my mother again.
Arriving at the sanatorium, I felt emotional.
It was because my mother, like Neil, blamed me for killing my father.
I sneaked out of the room, and the familiar laughter from inside hurt my heart, which should have been calm a long time ago.
"Barry, I hope you can take care of Neil now. You don't let her down!"
"Don't worry. Neil is my life, and I will never let her down forever!"
He made the same oath, but the person he was loyal to was no longer me.
I couldn't help but look towards the ward. My mother put Barry and Neil's hands together as if entrusting her beloved one to him.
"I can't go to your wedding. I wish you a long and happy marriage.
"If Mia dares to disrupt your wedding, I will die in public!"
I staggered away amid their hearty laughter.
After my father died, I had no home.
The day before the wedding, Barry came with a bouquet of roses and asked me why I didn't go home.
I took an allergy pill and asked him coldly, "Don't you refuse to be romantic like the youngsters?"
He was stunned for a moment and touched my head.
"We're getting married tomorrow, so it's necessary to be romantic!"
But unluckily, the one he liked was not me.
His sudden smile was not because of me.
It seemed that he was very happy to have me be the bridesmaid to bless them.
In just two years, he forgot that I was allergic to roses.
The next day, I took a walk around the wedding venue.
The huge poster made the traces of head replacement in the wedding photo more obvious.
I tore off the fake one, revealing his and Neil's beautiful wedding photo.
I threw the fake wedding photo into the trash can and headed straight to the airport.
As the flight attendant reminded me to turn off my phone, Barry and my mother called me non-stop.