Love or Let Die

For twenty-five years, I’d been working to win over Bryan Croft. And he’d finally proposed.
But on our wedding day, the one that got away came to crash it.
“Bryan, you won! I’m divorcing him. Please… don’t get married.”
I begged Bryan not to go, but he left me at the altar anyway.
A cold, mechanical voice echoed in my mind. [MISSION FAILED. MALE LEAD WILL BE ERASED.]
The next second, Bryan dropped dead in her arms.

1
Before the wedding, I had asked Bryan, half-joking, “If Lena showed up on our wedding day and asked you to leave with her, would you go?”
He’d run his fingers through my hair, a faint, unreadable smile on his lips. “Don’t worry, Viv. She won’t come.”
It sounded less like he was reassuring me and more like he was trying to convince himself.
I couldn’t let it go. “But what if she did?”
A flicker of hope, so fast I almost missed it, crossed his face before he smoothed it over with that gentle tone he always used to placate me.
“You silly girl. Stop letting your imagination run wild.”
He knew that all it took was a little softness from him, and I would surrender.
But not this time. I didn’t fall silent as he expected.
“Bryan, please. I’m begging you. No matter what happens at the ceremony, can we just… finish it? Can we please just get married?”
His brow furrowed in annoyance. “Vivian, have you had enough? Lena is married! She is not going to crash our wedding, do you understand?”

2
I didn’t want to be this desperate, but I wanted to live.
I was on a mission, you see. My first and only assignment: win over Bryan Croft and marry him.
The task itself wasn’t that difficult. It never required him to love me, only that he marry me before he turned thirty. To make sure I succeeded, I was sent here when he was just five years old.
Back then, Bryan wasn’t the titan of industry he would become. He was just the son of a housekeeper, living in the basement of the magnificent estate owned by Lena’s family. The System set me up with a similar identity—the daughter of another maid.
And so, I grew up with him. We navigated the awkward, beautiful maze of our youth together. We’d meet at 5 a.m. to study, pushing each other, cheering each other on. We wore the same fifteen-dollar sneakers and shared dollar hot dogs from street carts.
We were poor, but we were never ashamed.
We were each other’s backbone.
At twenty, we both got into one of the country's most prestigious universities with top scores. The day the acceptance letters came, we stood on the athletic field as the sun melted into the horizon. The warm, golden light bathed everything around us as Bryan, his face flushed, took my hand.
“Viv,” he’d whispered, “I’m so glad you exist in this world.”

3
Back then, I was glad, too. Glad that the boy I had to win over was this fearless, determined soul.
But then Lena returned from her studies abroad, and everything changed.
Her father donated a new wing to the university, and just like that, she was one of our classmates. She was a supernova—dazzling, wild, and free. She was the goddess in every guy’s dream.
But among her legion of admirers, one was conspicuously absent: Bryan Croft, the student body president.
So, from her very first day, Lena made it her mission to conquer him.
If Bryan was a block of ice, Lena was a wildfire, hell-bent on melting him down. He despised her at first, seeing her as nothing more than a spoiled heiress who had never known a day of real hardship. He told her, more than once, that I was the one he cared for, that we shared a bond that could never be broken.
But a princess like Lena doesn’t care about such things.
Like a stubborn bull, she slowly, relentlessly plowed her way into the fields of his heart.

4
Day after day, Lena whispered poison in his ear, insisting that what we had was just friendship.
“You and Vivian are just used to each other,” she’d say. “It’s the comfort of routine, not passion.”
“It’s a childhood bond, Bryan. True love is about desire, about wanting.”
“Holding her hand is probably like your left hand holding your right.”
I tried to fight it, but our years of quiet understanding had become a placid lake, too calm to create new waves. The more we tried to prove her wrong, the more it felt like we were proving her right. Still, neither of us wanted to admit it, to break the fragile surface.
Finally, Lena lost her patience.
At the university’s anniversary gala, she grabbed a boy who had just confessed his feelings for her and kissed him, right there in front of everyone.
That night, the volcano inside Bryan finally erupted. I saw him pin Lena against a wall in the shadows, savagely crushing his lips against hers.
Lena had finally gotten what she wanted.
And Bryan and I… we went back to being friends.

5
Later, Lena brought Bryan home to meet her family.
It was the first time I ever saw her father, a famously composed man, lose his temper. It was also the first time I saw the shadow of shame in Bryan’s eyes.
Her father’s opposition didn’t tear them apart; it only fanned the flames of their romance. He cut off Lena’s credit cards, but their love burned hotter.
Within a month, all the money Bryan had saved from years of part-time jobs was gone. He even borrowed from me several times and, for the first time since high school, asked his mother for nearly three thousand dollars. This was the boy who, alongside me, had been living off scholarships since we were teenagers.
Bryan’s mom called me, her voice trembling with worry, asking if he was in some kind of trouble. I had to lie, telling her he was launching a startup and needed capital.
But I knew the truth. All that drama, all that money… was for a Chanel bag Lena had set her heart on.
Their breakup, when it came, was ugly. Lena couldn’t understand why Bryan was so angry that she’d bought a pair of twelve-hundred-dollar heels. After all, she used to wear heels that cost nearly three thousand.
Bryan clenched his jaw and said nothing.
But I knew. He wasn’t breaking up with her because he’d stopped loving her. He was breaking up with her because he felt he didn’t deserve her.

6
Five years passed. The Sterling family’s empire began to show cracks, their great ship listing in treacherous waters. Meanwhile, Bryan’s startup, Horizon Tech, was becoming a rising star.
Whispers started that the Sterlings were looking for a strategic marriage to save their company. Bryan, full of renewed hope, went to them, only to be slapped down by reality once more.
Even a sinking ship like the Sterlings’ was still out of his league.
In the end, Lena married Sterling’s youngest son.
Bryan fell apart. He spent his nights lost in a drunken haze, a ghost haunting the city’s bars. I spent my days cleaning up the messes at his company and my nights dragging him home. Every time I saw him, his face flushed with alcohol, I was reminded of the boy on the athletic field, bathed in the sunset’s glow.
A bitter ache filled my heart.
Back then, he really was glad to have me, wasn’t he?

7
There were only two months left until Bryan’s thirtieth birthday.
I’d given up all hope of completing my mission. News had just broken that Lena and the Sterling heir were on the rocks and a divorce was imminent.
I’d already said my goodbyes to my mother, my bags packed for a trip around the world.
And then, Bryan got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.
After all those years of waiting, to finally have my wish granted… to say I wasn’t happy would be a lie.
But I couldn't tell if I was happy because I would finally get to live, or because I would finally be with him.
In the days leading up to the wedding, I asked him again and again if he was sure, if he truly wanted to marry me. Each time, his answer was a firm “yes.”
Only when I brought up Lena did he falter. He couldn’t even bring himself to lie.
But by then, I realized I didn’t care as much as I thought.
As long as the wedding happened, my mission would be complete.

8
Throughout the entire ceremony, my heart was in my throat, terrified that something would go wrong. Bryan was just as distracted, though his eyes held a flicker of anticipation, as if he were waiting for a different show to start.
And then, just as we were about to exchange rings, Lena appeared.
It was like watching a butcher’s cleaver, raised high for an eternity, finally fall. And strangely, a sense of relief washed over me.
“Bryan, you won!” she cried, her voice echoing through the silent hall. “I’m divorcing him. Please… don’t get married.”
For the sake of my own life, I made one last, desperate attempt. I clutched the sleeve of his tuxedo.
“Bryan, please, don’t go. Don’t you remember what you promised me?”
I was so close. So close to survival.
His face was a mask of apology, but he gently pried my fingers from his sleeve and walked toward his past, toward Lena.
“I’m sorry, Viv.”
“The truth is… this wedding was a gamble. Lena told me a divorced woman like her didn’t deserve me. So I thought… maybe if I was divorced too, she wouldn’t feel so insecure.”
“And you… you’re my best friend. I figured you were the only one who would help me with something like this.”
I stared coldly at the man I had spent twenty-five years of my life beside, and I found I had nothing left to say.
System, I thought, my voice flat, I’m abandoning the mission.
[Are you sure?]
I’m sure.
[MISSION FAILED. MALE LEAD WILL BE ERASED!]
What?
The System’s voice screeched in my mind, but before I could process it, Bryan’s eyes went vacant, and he collapsed into Lena’s arms.

9
Lena had no idea she was holding a dead man.
She wrapped her arms around him, preening like a victorious peacock. “Oh, Bryan,” she cooed, her voice triumphant. “I knew it. I knew if I came back, you’d be waiting for me.”
She tilted her head to kiss him, but her dark eyes locked onto mine over his shoulder, filled with contempt and provocation.
I knew she was savoring this moment. In her world, Bryan was her devoted dog, and I was his. For years, she had carried an air of effortless superiority around me.
But you’re kissing a corpse now, Lena.

10
At that moment, the single table of guests—Bryan’s hand-picked friends—erupted into whistles and applause. Someone even set off a party popper.
Bryan must have anticipated Lena crashing the wedding. To protect her reputation as a married woman, he had only invited his closest circle, the ones who knew every sordid detail of their affair.
As for me, I was so afraid something would go wrong, so terrified my mother might see me die on my wedding day, that I hadn’t invited her. The only guest on my side was my lawyer.
He was currently recording the whole “epic reunion” on his phone.
My original plan was that if the mission failed and I died, he would immediately leak the story to every major news outlet. I’d even written the headlines for them.
Jilted Bride Literally Dies of a Broken Heart as Groom Flees with Married Mistress.
I never imagined… that Bryan would be the one to die.

11
Lena held her kiss for a long moment before she finally realized the cold, gray stillness of Bryan’s face.
A primal panic seized her, and she shoved him away.
With a sickening thud, Bryan’s body fell rigidly to the marble floor, the back of his head cracking against the hard surface. Blood began to pool around him, a spreading halo of crimson.
The System’s voice, cool and detached, returned.
[Well, now he's definitely dead.]
Just then, I saw it—a shimmering, translucent form slowly rising from his body. It was Bryan’s soul.
He stared in disbelief at the corpse on the floor… and then at Lena, who was now bent over, retching in horror.

12
Chaos erupted. Someone called an ambulance. Someone else started clumsy CPR.
I, still in my wedding dress, walked calmly to Bryan’s body and knelt beside it, a silent sentinel.
His ghost drifted near me. Seeing my dry eyes, his face contorted with anger.
“Vivian, I’m dying, and you can’t even shed a single tear?” he sneered. “So much for twenty-five years of friendship. It’s all so cheap… When I wake up, we’re done.”
I acted as if I couldn’t see or hear him, my expression a blank mask.
Meanwhile, after her bout of vomiting, Lena composed herself. Tears welled in her eyes, spilling down her cheeks in perfect, glistening trails. A picture of heartbreak.
Seeing her cry, Bryan’s ghostly expression softened. “Lena must be devastated,” he murmured. “How will she ever go on without me?”

13
A sharp ring cut through the air.
Lena fumbled for her phone, her hand trembling as she answered. A man’s commanding voice was faintly audible.
“I thought you wanted a divorce. I’m at the courthouse now…”
A flash of panic crossed Lena’s pale face. She took a few steps away from the scene.
Bryan’s ghost froze, instinctively reaching for her hand, only for his to pass right through.
Lena lowered her voice, the tears vanishing. “Sterling, I’m sorry! I don’t want a divorce anymore… I only said that to make you angry, to make you jealous.”
Hearing this, Bryan stared at the woman he had worshipped, his ghostly face a canvas of utter disbelief.
How could those words come from her mouth? It couldn’t be. She must have her reasons.
He desperately tried to grab her as she walked away, his form passing through hers again and again.
“Lena, please, don’t go! Look back at me… I’m dying…”
When he couldn’t stop her, he tried to follow, but an invisible barrier blocked his path.
Bryan’s soul was tethered to me.
All he could do was watch, helpless, as Lena fled the hotel.

14
The garden hotel Bryan had chosen was remote, and the ambulance took a full twenty minutes to arrive. As his body was loaded onto the gurney, his so-called friends all suddenly had “urgent business” to attend to and made their excuses.
“Hey, sis-in-law,” one of them said, the man Bryan considered his best friend. “Call me if you need anything at the hospital. We’re family, after all.”
I didn’t respond. He awkwardly shut the ambulance door.
On the way to the hospital, Bryan’s ghost was silent. Perhaps even he was shocked by the faithlessness of the friends who had once hung on his every word.
I closed my eyes and summoned the System.
System, why was Bryan the one who was erased?
[The name of this system is: Blame Others More, Reflect on Yourself Less.]
[You worked diligently for twenty-five years and failed to win him over. Clearly, the problem was with him. So, he got erased.]
I gritted my teeth. You couldn’t have told me that sooner?
The System scoffed. [You never asked.]
Your name really suits you.

15
At the hospital, after a flurry of activity, the doctors pronounced Bryan dead.
His soul was still frantically trying to re-enter his body, crying and screaming, a whirlwind of denial, before he finally, slowly, accepted the truth.
I took his body to the funeral home.
I sent out notices to a few close family and friends, informing them of the funeral the next day. Once everything was arranged, I called my mom.
“Mom, I’m going to visit Bryan’s mother today. Do you want to come with me?”
Her voice was laced with confusion. “But it’s only the 10th. Don’t you usually visit her on the 15th of every month?”
Hearing this, Bryan’s ghost flinched. “Viv… I didn’t know you visited my mom every month.”
I paused. “Mom, I have to tell you something. Please, prepare yourself… Bryan is dead.”

16
My mother and Bryan’s were best friends back when they worked as maids for the Sterlings. Bryan’s mom had always doted on me, and my mom had treated Bryan like her own son.
When we were little, classmates used to mock us for not having fathers. I remember smiling and telling him, “It’s okay, Bryan. We may not have dads, but we have two moms.”
As we grew closer, our mothers were overjoyed. In their minds, the four of us were already a family.
On the way to the nursing home, my mom couldn’t stop wiping her tears. Bryan’s soul sat in the back seat, his eyes red, lost in thought.

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