My Boyfriend Proposed to a Dead Woman

Everyone knew my boyfriend worked twenty-hour shooting days just to marry me.

Even when he had no time to eat and coughed up blood on set, he'd just rinse his mouth and get back on the wire rigging.

The day he won Best Actor, he finally felt he could give me the happiness I deserved.

I stood there in my wedding dress, eyes red under the spotlight, reaching my hand toward him.

He paused.

Then turned and slipped the diamond ring onto the hand of his girlfriend from five years ago.

The same ex-girlfriend he'd sworn five years ago he'd never contact again.

"Sorry. All these years, I wasn't actually doing this for you. I let you misunderstand. My apologies."

He shielded her as they left the venue.

His friend laughed mockingly:

"Sorry, Lydia. Actually, they've been together this whole five years. You seemed pretty into Holden, so we didn't want to embarrass you by mentioning it."

I stood frozen in place.

My best friend screamed over the phone:

"What are you standing there for! Chase him down! Slap him!"

I didn't dare chase after them.

Because his ex-girlfriend had died five years ago.

Everyone knew Holden Pierce was going to propose to me.

Even I could see it coming.

So I'd put on my wedding dress early.

But now my wedding dress looked utterly ridiculous, captured in full by the entertainment reporters' cameras.

I didn't move.

I just stared in shock as Holden shielded Hannah in his arms, protecting her eyes from the camera flashes.

My mouth opened, but no words came out.

Though the girl wore a mask, her figure, her silhouette, the way she walkedall of it was identical to Hannah, who had died long ago!

Holden didn't know about Hannah's death.

Back then, he'd just sworn an oath never to see Hannah again.

He'd even deleted all her contact information right in front of me.

At first I'd been wary.

But soon I let my guard down.

Hannah's body had been found in a storm drain.

She'd cut ties with her parents long ago.

No family to claim her.

In the end, I was the one who paid for the young woman's burial.

I never told Holden.

After all, she was his first love, and he was at a critical point in his career.

I was afraid it would affect his state of mind.

I'd watched them lower her into the ground with my own eyes.

So who was this girl?!

"Oh my, she still hasn't reacted? Did the shock make her brain-dead?"

"Serves her right! That's what you get for clinging to Holden! Bet you didn't see this comingour man never even liked you!"

"Love it!"

My manager Sharon rushed out and dragged my dazed self into the car.

"Are you stupid? Just standing there letting everyone watch you humiliate yourself!"

"No, Sharon..."

"Don't talk. Look at the trending topicswe're being destroyed!"

I quickly opened the list.

The top item read: [Holden Pierce: Never dated her, she's been obsessively pursuing me]

"Her" meant me.

After Holden left the venue, he released a statement.

Though Holden and I were boyfriend and girlfriend, the company never allowed us to acknowledge it publicly for the sake of our careers.

All these years, countless people had accused me of being shameless, of endlessly chasing after their idol.

Back then, Holden had held me close:

"When your man wins Best Actor, I'll propose to you right there in public. Let's see who dares stop us then!"

But now his statement clearly declared:

[I have no private relationship with Miss Lydia. Throughout my career, I've only ever worked to marry my first love, Miss Hannah.]

The attached photo showed him kneeling on one knee, slipping the ring onto Hannah's finger.

To keep Hannah from being affected, he'd deliberately blurred out her face.

A message popped up from his friend:

[Sorry, Lydia. They actually never broke up. We knew you really liked Holden, so we kept giving you face and didn't say anything.]

[They're already engaged. You should stop pursuing him.]

Sharon snorted coldly:

"Now they're telling you to stop pursuing him? Wasn't it him who fell for you at first sight and pursued you relentlessly? You didn't even want to date him at first! These menthey ruin you, then blame you for it!"

I said nothing.

My mind kept repeating:

"They actually never broke up."

For five years, had Holden been in contact with a dead woman?

"With things like this between you two, I'll cancel that variety show you were both supposed to do."

"Don't cancel it!"

I stopped Sharon.

Sharon looked at me in surprise. "Don't tell me... you still have feelings for him?"

"Didn't he say I've been the one pursuing him all along? Then let the whole country see who's been pursuing who!"

And while I was at it, I wanted to ask about Hannahwhat exactly was going on?

I still chose to participate in the variety show.

Holden was somewhat surprised.

He smiled coldly:

"What, still can't let go?"

I didn't answer.

The host stirred up drama:

"I heard that for the past five years, Miss Lydia has been the one hyping up your relationship with Mr. Pierce. May I ask, did you not know Mr. Pierce had someone he liked?"

"I knew."

The comments section exploded:

[I knew it! Lydia's cheap to the bone! Knowing he had someone, still throwing herself at him! Taking advantage of the fact that his civilian girlfriend has no voice in this! What a bitch!]

[Though I don't like Holden's civilian girlfriend either, I hate Lydia even more! I support the civilian girlfriend!]

"Who said I was the one throwing myself at him?"

I looked up.

The next second, the big screen suddenly displayed screenshot after screenshot of chat records.

The comments froze for a moment.

Because everyone could see that in the beginning, it was Holden who pursued me.

Holden's breathing hitched.

The comments gradually started flowing again:

[Wait... why is Holden being so clingy with her? Isn't Holden supposed to be our aloof male god?]

[Oh my god, Holden called her baby! Holden, you stoic person using such sweet talk! Do you know how devastating that is!]

[Is that the point! The point is your Holden was two-timing!]

"Why are you showing this stuff!"

Holden gritted his teeth.

I laughed coldly:

"Someone can spread rumors that I've been obsessively pursuing you all these years, but I can't make our chat records public?"

I pointed to the message he'd sent recently:

"'If I win Best Actor this time, will you marry me?' Look, Holden, those are your words. You were the one who proposed to me!"

Holden's face went pale.

The comments went wild:

[This isn't what I expected. From this perspective, it's clearly Holden who deceived Lydia!]

[Though I'm a Lydia hater, wasn't this basically a proposal from Holden!]

[Then what does it mean to publicly give the ring to someone else? Either way, deceiving someone's feelings isn't right, is it?]

"Excuse me."

A familiar voice rang out.

My back went cold.

A girl slowly walked out from backstage.

"Please don't believe these chat records."

This voice... it was Hannah's... exactly the same!

A slender silhouette stood at the front of the stage.

Hannah removed her mask.

In that moment, the entire venue gasped.

She was stunning.

Completely beyond civilian-level beauty.

I too stood frozen.

Not from being dazzled.

I'd seen Hannah's beauty before.

But I was shocked that she looked exactly the same as beforethe same beauty.

Hannah wasn't dead?

Then who was the person I'd watched being buried five years ago...

"Sorry, Lydia."

The friend who joined Holden on the variety show laughed:

"Actually, those chat records of yoursI was the one chatting, pretending to be Holden."

"What?!"

Holden's friend Ethan scratched his head:

"You kept pursuing Holden before, and Holden was afraid that if he rejected you, you'd drag everyone down together, which would be bad for everyone's careers. So he opened an alternate account and had me chat with you instead."

[It was like this all along hahaha! Lydia must be dumbfounded haha!]

So... all these years, Holden had been enjoying our physical intimacy offline, then having someone else handle me online?

Ethan leaned down, speaking in a voice only we could hear:

"It was just for fun. Don't take it seriously. You can't break them up. I deliberately sent that proposal message hoping you'd finally know your place."

Break them up?

Ha. When had I ever tried to break them up?

When I found out Holden had a white moonlight, I wanted to break up.

He was the one who swore he'd never see her again.

After that, his behavior was good.

That's why I stayed until today.

I looked at Holden with red eyes:

"Are you lying to me?"

"Lydia, he's not lying to you."

It was Hannah who spoke.

"Because I have Pierce's real chat records right here."

As she spoke, the big screen displayed a messaging interface.

The chat background was a photo of Holden and Hannah together.

My chat records with Holden spanned five years.

Theirs spanned fifteen years.

The comments scrolled frantically:

[This feels right! When chatting with Hannah, Holden is aloof yet doting.]

[Not even aloof! Look at that conversation on the 15thHolden was acting cute with her~]

[It took me zero seconds to ship this CP]

[Look at Lydia! Staring at the screen like she's brain-dead hahaha!]

[Serves her right! Always chasing after our Holden, even trying to claim our Holden was simping for her. Can we start requiring psychological evaluations before entering entertainment?]

[Exactly! We don't need these delusional fangirls!]

I truly did freeze in place.

Staring hard at the big screen.

April 11th of that year.

The day Hannah died.

At midnight that day, Hannah had sent her a message right on time:

[You there?]

My gaze slowly shifted from the screen to Hannah's face.

Too beautiful.

Beautiful to an unreasonable degree.

To a disturbing level...

"Lydia."

She had already approached: "Thank you."

"For what?"

She leaned closer, speaking in a voice only we could hear:

"Thank you for collecting my body..."

"Ah!"

I cried out and stepped back.

Hannah also showed a panicked expression.

She stumbled several steps, nearly falling.

Fortunately, Holden caught her steadily in his arms.

Her eyes reddened:

"Lydia, we were talking fine, why did you suddenly fall backward?"

"Holden, I didn't do anything, I really..."

She clutched Holden's sleeve, her eyes glistening.

Holden's voice softened:

"I know. Of course I know."

He shielded her behind him.

Glaring coldly at me:

"Lydia, don't use your dirty tricks on Hannah! Bullying a civilianis this your professional standard?"

The comments chimed in:

[I recorded it! I'm a witness! Hannah didn't push her at all!]

[That's right! Lydia fell backward on her own!]

[You think you're acting? Nobody here tolerates manipulative behavior!]

[Hilarious. She's at least a B-list actress, yet she uses these tactics on a civilian. No wonder Holden doesn't like her.]

Hannah hid behind Holden.

A mocking smile crossed her lips.

Gone in an instant.

My phone buzzed.

I swallowed hard.

It was my best friend Morgan.

"Excuse me, I need to take this call."

[Tsk tsk tsk! Is this the manipulator running away after being exposed?]

[Hahaha if it were me I'd find a hole to crawl into]

[Everyone check trending topic #1! Lydia's fake fall getting roasted, go laugh at her!]

I answered the call:

"Morgan?"

"Run."

Those two short words from Morgan sent a chill down my spine.

"What did you say?" I asked again, not wanting to believe it.

"Look at the message I sent you."

Morgan's message popped up.

One glance was all it took.

I immediately covered my screen.

The host patted my shoulder:

"Miss Lydia, are you unable to continue filming?"

I swallowed: "Of course not..."

"We understand."

The host smiled:

"After all, the real purpose of our variety show is for Mr. Pierce and Miss Hannah to make their relationship official. They're already promoting their wedding. We completely understand if you can't bear to watch."

"This is too much!"

Sharon slammed the table:

"You deliberately called Lydia here to be a prop for those two! I wondered why all today's guests were people Lydia and Holden knew! So you brought Lydia here specifically to humiliate her!"

The host's lips curled in a cold smile:

"Even so, didn't Miss Lydia come anyway? Doesn't that mean Miss Lydia chose to pursue him?"

"You"

I quickly stopped Sharon.

Holden had already walked over with Hannah.

He looked at me:

"It's fine. I won't mock your embarrassment. After all, I didn't come here to fight with you. I hope Hannah and I can receive your blessing. In three days, would you be willing to attend our wedding?"

[Hahaha dying! Holden with the killing blow!]

[Telling your simp 'will you attend my wedding'? Lydia's gonna cry herself to sleep tonight!]

I bit my lip.

He smirked: "If you don't want to, that's fine, I"

"I do!"

I held down Sharon, who wanted to curse them out.

Both Holden and Hannah froze.

I smiled:

"Don't worry. I'll definitely give you both a valuable gift."

Holden frowned.

"Then it's settled. See you in three days!"

With that, I didn't give them time to reactI pulled Sharon and left.

Never looked back at him once.

As I walked, I couldn't help but smirk

Holden, in three days, when you actually marry her, I hope you don't regret it.