The Runaway Bride's Awakening

I was tangled up with Arthur for seven years, only for him to fall in love with my adopted sister.

Exhausted, I finally gave up and decided to be with Liam, the man who had been relentlessly pursuing me.

Liam loved me to the bone. He got into fights for me, street raced for me, crawled up the steps of a holy mountain on his knees to pray for my health, and even won the world's only "Heart of the Ocean" necklace at auction just to give it to me.

But, seven days before our wedding, I overheard someone ask him:

"Liam, you don't even love Chloe. Why put on this fake act? Why sacrifice your whole life to marry her?"

Liam's face was hidden in the shadows. He toyed with the ring in his hand, his tone freezing cold:

"As long as I'm alive, I will never allow Chloe to hurt Mia."

Mia. The name of my adopted sister.

With a trembling hand, I answered the call from my professor and finally agreed to go abroad for further studies.

Later, I heard the wedding was a complete disaster. Arthur and Liam got into a vicious brawl, all just to find the whereabouts of the runaway bride.

When I stood outside the doors of that bar, it felt like all the air had been sucked from my lungs.

If I hadn't heard Liam say those words with my own two ears...

I would never have believed that his love for me was nothing but a massive, elaborate lie.

"But Liam, you've loved Mia silently for so long. Are you really content just being her secret knight in shining armor?"

"My feelings for Mia have nothing to do with her."

"You insisted on getting married on the exact same day as Arthur... is it because you're afraid Chloe will try to steal her sister's man?"

"Every time I look at Mia, my heart skips a beat. I'm terrified Chloe hasn't let go of her past with him either.

"She and Arthur were tangled up for years. Even though she gave me her first time and gave up her career for me, it's far from enough.

"The only way to truly protect Mia is to keep Chloe tied to my side forever, like a dog."

Not long ago, Liam rented an entire luxury cruise ship just to propose to me.

He knelt on the deck, kissed my hand, and cried uncontrollably.

He almost passed out from the overwhelming emotion.

I thought he loved me so deeply that he was overcome with gratitude that our five-year relationship was finally resulting in marriage.

I was wrong.

He was celebrating the fact that he had finally locked me in a cage, ensuring I could never hurt Mia ever again.

It's hard to describe exactly how I felt in that moment.

After what felt like an eternity, I clutched my agonizingly painful chest and stumbled out into the torrential rain.

Liam didn't get home until midnight.

Taking off his coat, he walked over to the bed and found me lying there, completely soaked, burning with a fever.

"Baby, when did you go out? Your fever is so high!"

I was shivering violently from the cold.

My jaw was clamped shut.

I couldn't make a single sound.

It was an acute stress reaction triggered by the shock of betrayal and deception.

Liam was terrified:

"Chloe, stop biting your lip so hard, it's bleeding."

Without hesitation, he shoved his index finger into my mouth, his face a mask of pure terror and concern.

The memory violently dragged me back to that year.

My parents, prioritizing Mia, had abandoned me in the mountains.

I fell off a cliff and almost lost my life.

Liam braved a torrential storm, kneeling and bowing every three steps, crawling all the way up a holy mountain just to pray for my recovery.

Seeing his forehead covered in bloody gashes, his knees scraped raw, and his severe limp...

I let go of the resentment I held toward my parents and Mia, and agreed to be with him.

But tonight, I heard Liam tell his friends:

"Back then, I crawled up that mountain step by step to show God my absolute sincerity, begging Him to heal Mia's heart condition.

"Chloe just got lucky and survived her fall."

I used every ounce of strength I possessed to viciously bite down on Liam's long, slender finger.

The thick, metallic taste of blood instantly filled my mouth.

Liam didn't pull away.

He acted as if he couldn't feel the pain, looking at me with frantic anxiety:

"Chloe, bite harder. Just please don't hurt yourself. I'd gladly lose a finger for you."

I still let go.

His blood was too filthy.

Liam rushed me to the hospital overnight.

He held my hand, staying by my bedside for the entire night.

How touching!

I heard the young nurses whispering to each other:

"Mr. Sterling loves his fiance so much! He hasn't closed his eyes all night just to take care of her."

In the eyes of the public, the heir to the Sterling empire was aloof, arrogant, and entirely uninterested in women.

Only I knew the truth.

He was worried.

Worried that if I couldn't attend the wedding as planned, it would introduce a variable into Mia's perfect happiness.

Seeing me wake up, Liam carefully fed me porridge, spoon by spoon.

His bitten finger was wrapped in thick layers of gauze.

Yet, his only concern was me:

"Chloe, I wish I could take this sickness from you. Please, get better quickly, for me. Can you do that?"

I swallowed the porridge expressionlessly.

Suddenly realizing that this would be our last breakfast together.

Countless sorrows fluttered wildly in my subconscious.

I wanted to scream, to tear things apart, to demand answers.

The old Liam used to stand just one step away, patiently waiting for me to even look at him.

He would go out in the middle of the night to buy my favorite spicy crawfish, beat up the thugs who bullied me, and bring me warm brown sugar water when I had my period.

Slowly but surely, I had fallen into the trap of his indulgent devotion.

Only to discover overnight...

That he was merely using the illusion of true love to lock me inside a prison of romance.

I finally broke down and cried.

Liam frantically pulled me into his embrace, wiping away my tears:

"Chloe, does it hurt a lot? I'll get the doctor."

He pulled out his phone.

A message popped up, and his face drastically changed.

"Chloe, there's an emergency at the company. Take your medicine and get some sleep. I'll be right back to stay with you."

Before I could even speak.

He pushed the door open and rushed out.

I stared quietly at my phone.

Mia had just posted a status: "My heart feels a little uncomfortable."

The background was a stark white hospital room.

Thinking of how Liam looked like his soul had left his body when he rushed out, a sharp pain pierced my heart.

My phone buzzed with a succession of provocative messages from Mia:

[Sister, Arthur managed to snatch your favorite wedding dress for me.]

[Mom and Dad managed to secure the church you wanted for your wedding for me instead.]

[And that "Heart of the Ocean" necklace up for auction? Guess if my dear brother-in-law will deliver it right into my hands?]

A woman's intuition is a strange thing.

When trapped in the maze of love, it seems to completely fail.

But the moment she wakes up, all the clues become glaringly obvious.

Over these past few years, the businesses of the Vance and Arthur's families had been completely surpassed by Liam, who had ridden the wave of the AI boom.

His progress was astronomical.

Yet, whenever something of mine was snatched away, Liam always feigned helplessness:

"That Arthur is too cunning. Don't worry, Chloe, I'll find you an even more beautiful wedding dress."

"Your parents are too biased. I will definitely convince them to attend our wedding."

With the power he wielded now, it wasn't that he couldn't compete.

It was clearly that he couldn't bear to see Mia sad.

The sky was a dull, hazy grey.

I walked toward the VIP hospital room.

When I was nine, I was kidnapped by our nanny and sold into a remote, mountainous region.

Three years later, I was rescued and brought home.

There wasn't a single patch of unbruised skin on my entire body.

When my mom saw me, she was so heartbroken she wanted to rush forward and hug me.

But standing next to her was a new daughter she had adopted.

Mia was terrified by my scars, crying even harder than I was.

My mom panicked, hugged Mia tightly, and turned to say to me:

"Chloe, Mia's heart isn't very strong. The doctor said she can't be subjected to any shock. We're going to take her home first."

Arthur, who had rushed over to see me, gave me a quick glance and then left with them.

Only Mia looked back, giving me a triumphant, victorious smile.

I stood at the door of the hospital room.

My mom was feeding Mia an apple, saying affectionately:

"Mia, Chloe is just spoiled, that's why she insisted on having her wedding on the same day as yours."

My dad was furious:

"Don't worry. Your mother and I are only preparing a dowry for you, and we will only attend your wedding!"

Their toneso full of disgust for their biological daughter and fierce protectiveness over their adopted onemade my stomach churn. I felt like throwing up.

Mia tugged on Liam's sleeve:

"Sister is so willful. It must be so exhausting for you, Liam."

Suddenly, she clutched her chest in pain.

Liam's face instantly went pale:

"Mia, is your heart hurting? I'll find the best specialists abroad for you."

"It's nothing. I just had a dream last night... I dreamt that if I wore the 'Heart of the Ocean,' my illness would be cured."

He didn't hesitate for a second:

"Mia, if you like it, I'll get it for you immediately."

My parents looked at him with immense gratitude.

"It's our fault for spoiling Chloe too much in the past. She's always trying to steal Mia's things."

My heart felt numb beyond measure.

When someone doesn't love you, even your breathing is a sin.

What does twisting the truth even matter to them?

Mia sent me a photo.

She was wearing the blue sapphire "Heart of the Ocean" that Liam had supposedly won at auction for me.

I clenched my jaw tight, fighting desperately to stop the burning sting in my eyes from spreading.

Liam had told me:

"Chloe, there is only one of these necklaces in the entire world. It represents my unwavering, eternal love for you."

His blatant favoritism had once made me so intoxicated I couldn't extricate myself.

Only to wake up one morning and realize it had been a scam from the very beginning.

In the adult world, does everything just come down to who's the better actor?

I covered my mouth, swallowing the bitter taste of a broken heart.

When I lowered my hand, my face was wet with tears.

When my professor called, I almost dropped my phone.

I promised him:

"In seven days, I will book a flight and leave."

The hospital room door was violently pushed open.

A man's anxious voice rang out:

"Chloe, where are you going?"

Seeing who it was, the heart that had been in my throat finally relaxed.

It wasn't Liam.

I spoke coldly:

"Arthur, starting five years ago, you lost the right to ask about anything I do."

Silence consumed Arthur tonight.

His mother and my mother were best friends, and they had arranged our marriage when we were babies.

Growing up, I loved following behind my "big brother Arthur."

And he always took good care of me.

My first lipstick, my first pair of sparkly high heels, my first Chanel bagthey were all gifts from Arthur.

Growing up to be his bride became my most cherished dream.

But during the three years I was kidnapped.

My dad brought Mia home from outside.

She looked about thirty percent like me.

Arthur's disappointment, my mom's grief, my dad's overwhelming stress...

All of it was perfectly filled by this pitiful little orphan.

There was no place for me in that house anymore.

It took all my strength just to keep myself from drowning in the pain.

Arthur had been watching my face closely, and said indignantly:

"Liam actually gave the 'Heart of the Ocean' to Mia!

"Do you have any idea what that means?!"

Of course I did.

Where the heart longs to be, that is home.

Seeing my lack of reaction, Arthur simply couldn't believe it:

"Liam's heart isn't with you, and you still want to marry him?!"

He was incredibly agitated.

I suddenly felt utterly exhausted:

"Arthur, Liam isn't the first person to abandon me for Mia."

First it was my parents, then the fianc I had loved since childhood.

If I had to fight for every single one of them, could I even win?

Arthur's face turned deathly pale.

He himself didn't even know why he had come to tell me this.

Perhaps Mia's ecstatic joy upon receiving the necklace made him uncomfortable.

Perhaps the Sterling family's growing power, which made my father treat Liam with increasing reverence, gave him a sense of crisis.

But it was more likely that he had finally tasted what it felt like for me to be neglected.

Only then did he realize that the little girl who used to follow him everywhere had probably suffered a great deal.

For a moment, Arthur didn't know what to say.

When Liam saw Arthur sitting by my hospital bed, his face drastically changed:

"What are you two doing?"

Arthur clenched his fists, unwilling to speak.

I said flatly:

"He came to deliver the news that you gave the 'Heart of the Ocean' to Mia."

Arthur looked at me, his expression full of hurt.

He couldn't believe that the little girl who used to fiercely protect him was now stripping away the pride he refused to lower, laying it bare in front of his rival.

It made him feel like I truly, completely didn't care about him anymore.

Liam glared viciously at Arthur.

Once Arthur left, he hugged me tightly, explaining frantically:

"Chloe, it's not what you think!

"Mia is your sister, and your parents are really worried about her health.

"Her heart condition acted up, and she begged me to give her the 'Heart of the Ocean' as a talisman.

"It's exactly the same as when I crawled up the mountain to get that peace amulet for you."

I remained completely silent.

Liam started swearing and making promises:

"If you like it, I'll go to the auction house right now and buy you an even more expensive set of jewelry."

"Forget it. I didn't really like that kind of stuff anyway."

Sincerity mixed with shards of glass hurts even more.

Liam wasn't having it.

He ordered his secretary to keep a close eye on the auction houses, demanding they secure an even more brilliant ruby necklace.

He swore to make me the most dazzling presence at our wedding.

But, we had no future anymore.

What wedding?