CHAPTER 1

“SINCE Percival and Heart have grown in knowledge and love of one another, and because they have agreed in their desire to go forward in life together, seeking an even richer, deepening relationship, and because they have pledged to meet sorrow and joy as one family, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride!” 

The crowd cheered for the newlywed couple as they had kissed. 

“Best wishes!”

“Wishing you a long and happy marriage.”

“I'm so happy for you, man!”

“Wishing you the fulfillment of every dream!”

Her grasp on her husband's arm has suddenly tightened. “I just wanted to let you know that I'm still pretty shocked by this and I still don't get it. Mr. Reddson, we need to talk, and we need to straighten things up! " she angrily whispers to her nonchalant husband.

“We will, Mrs. Reddson,” Percival said as he leans down to get a closer look at her face and to kiss her forehead before he speaks, “we will talk later, we'll discuss more after the wedding reception. For the time being, you should just smile and stay by my side like a good wife, all right?” 

Heart just look at her husband with an annoyed face and half-heartedly nodded her head, agreeing to her husband's suggestion.

‘This motherfucker irritates me to no end! He didn't even ask for my opinion and dragged me here to marry him! What the hell happened anyway?! Why am I in this dreadful situation?!’

In her troubled mind, a memory from an earlier event flashes.

HEART is sad that she went to her fiance's house to cry herself to sleep instead of her own. Her fiance was shot and killed a week ago, and when the news reached her ears, she couldn't believe what she was hearing: her fiance was shot in the head by an unknown person for an unknown reason, and the police were doing nothing to help them get the justice they deserved.

She arrived at his residence, but a bunch of scary-looking individuals approached her before she could enter the empty house.

“Are you Ms. Heart Salvacion?” one of the ominous-looking males inquired, his gaze fixed on her from head to toe as though evaluating and judging her appearance.

‘What is his problem? How did they know my name?’

“How did you know my name? Do I know you, Mister?” Heart asked, confusion is evident in her voice as she watched the male's actions with her eyes full of suspicion.

The male just nodded to his underlings and another male took a step forward to be closer to Heart, extending his arms so he could give the folder to her.

“Ms. Salvacion, please accept my apologies for the late introduction. My name is Reymart and I'm here to tell you that your fiance owes us a large sum of money that he took under your name. Does that ring a bell?” the man inquired, his arms crossed.

“W-What? What?! He took out a loan under my what?!” she asked, “are you serious?” she continued.

The man nodded his head and raise a brow. “It seems like you are unaware of your fiance's actions, the folder that my man gave to you contains all the documents and proof of all his transactions,” Reymart said.

Her palm began to sweat as her heart pounded faster and she hurriedly opened the folder. Every word in every document was carefully read by her. Her knees began to weaken when she finished reading the materials.

‘How much is it? A million dollars? That's far too large! What did he do with it?! Our wedding is coming in a month, and he asked me to cover half of the costs because he's broke, and now he's got a massive debt under my fucking name?!’ she thought as anger was beginning to cloud her thoughts.

“Please, tell me this is just a joke. One million dollars?! Is he insane?! Why would he even borrow that amount of money?! He even asked me to pay half of the expenses for our wedding next month!” Heart said, dumbfounded.

“That's unfortunate, Ms. Salvacion. Making you pay half of the expenses when he borrowed one million dollars. It must be hard but you have to pay for his debt because it's under your name and if you didn't or you tried doing anything funny, we will take legal actions.” The male stared at Heart, without emotions which makes her more frustrated.

“You let him take a huge amount of money under another person's name?! That's crazy! Why would you do that?!” she asked.

The male just shrugs at Heart's remark. “I don't know, I'm only doing my job, and my job is to inform you about the debt and now that we have already informed you, our business is done. All the information about our company and the contract is inside the folder, just contact us if you have any concerns. We will take our leave now,” the man said as he fix his suit, “and your fiance used your restaurant as the collateral." The group of males bowed and they started walking away.

Heart remained motionless in her place. She has no idea how to react, and she is unable to comprehend what has just occurred.

“One million dollars? What... Is he crazy?” she mumbled to herself, as she let out a shaky breath.

‘It's okay, it's okay, I should calm down and think about how am I going to solve this. First, I should go in and rest, I need it. I need the energy to think because if I don't I feel like I'm going to die.’

Heart took a deep breath and slowly open the door of her deceased fiance's house. Carefully and slowly walking, afraid that she will lose her balance since her strength left her body. 

She headed directly towards her fiance's room and she immediately walked towards the table beside his bed because a letter on the table caught her attention.

“Heart, I hope you see this and before you watch my video, I want to remind you that I love you,” she whispered, reading the note.

Heart noticed a USB next to the letter and took it, watching the video on her fiance's laptop. Her fiance's nervous face, smiling at the camera, was the first thing shown in the video.

“Hello, Heart! If you're watching this video then I guess I'm already gone. You must be hurt and heartbroken, I know this is not a good way and this is not the best time to say this but I want to tell you something. I am sorry for leaving you and I'm sorry for lying to you,

“I love you, I do but not in a romantic way. We've been together for seven years and we were happy but I always felt that something is missing. Every hug, every kiss, and every sweet word you gave me, I appreciate all of it but it's just not enough. I know this will break your heart even more but I want you to know about my secret, I want to tell you the truth. Heart, I'm... Gay and I cheated, I've been cheating on you for three years,

“I know what I did is wrong and I'm saying this not because I feel guilty, I'm saying this because I know I can't hide this forever. I want to ask for your forgiveness but I know it's impossible for you to forgive me and it's not going to be easy. You can hate me and curse me as much as you want and I won't do anything but accept all of it because I deserve that. I don't know what to say or to do anymore, I hurt you a lot and now I left another problem,

“I'm sorry, Heart. I needed money for Mark's treatment. I thought he will get better after the operation but he didn't. He... Died. You must be thinking how horrible I am because I borrowed money under your name to use it for my lover's treatment. I can not apologize enough, I am so sorry. Please, use these pieces of information to hate me so you will forget our love and my death won't affect you. I am so sorry, Heart. I'm sorry.”

Heart felt her heart stop as the video concluded. Her body trembled as she struggled to keep a tear from falling. As her strength faded, she tightened her grip on the table for support.

She took a step back and sat alongside her on the bed. “W-What did he say? He did w-what? H-He have what?” she whispered, her tears dripping down her cheeks.

Heart is at a loss on what to do; she feels deceived and devastated. Her boyfriend died, and she only recently discovered that he had taken out a large loan in her name so he could use it to pay for his lover's treatment.

He deceived her, he used her, he cheated on her, and betrayed her!

Heart bites her lip, trying so hard to stop herself from making any sound. “H-He cheated on me... He lied to me... H-He—” Heart's words were cut off when her tears suddenly falls, she failed to hold back her tears.

She looked around and saw their pictures in the picture frames. She weakly stood up and slowly walk towards the wall, touching it.

“W-Why did you do t-this to me?” she said as she gently stroked the frame, “WHY?! WHY?! WHY?!” she added, shouting before she threw the frame to the ground.

She knelt and hold her arms as she silently cried. “Why?! Why?! Why did you lie to me?! If you love me then why? If you think my love is not enough then why did you continue?! Why did you propose if you love someone else! Did you have fun playing and using me?!” she shouted, letting all her anger and sadness out.

Heart just knelt and cried for hours and she slowly stood up, walking. “I have to go, I can't stay here. It hurts, it hurts so much.”

She ran out of the house, not locking the door. She didn't look back because she knew that once she look back, all of their memories will come back

Heart is walking on the sidewalk at a slow pace, she's not in a good shape. Her thoughts are everywhere and she can not process even a single thing that's happening to her.

She just continues walking and walking not looking in front of her, she didn't even notice that she already bumped into a man.

Heart looked up and said, “I-I'm sorry, I'm not loo—” Heart wasn't able to finish her sentence when she suddenly passed out from exhaustion.

“PERCIVAL! What the fuck, man?! This will be your last night as a young, free, and single man! Why are you leaving so soon?! The party is just starting!” Rio called for his friend. 

Percival simply ignored his friend's appeals and continued walking; he was desperate to get out of this area. Even though it's only been ten minutes, a number of ladies have already attempted to seduce and hit on him.

Percival consented because he was getting married the next day and his friends invited him to his party, thinking it would be just him and the boys.

‘This bastard should stop pestering me, he kept on bothering me and pushing me to these women. They all smell disgusting, I feel like I'm going to throw up.’

A lot of men came here because women with thick makeup, tight dresses with miniskirts gathered here, hoping to catch a big fish, and he doesn't like it. Percival found their scents disgusting.

“Mr. Reddson, the car is already here and waiting for you outside. This way,” Kio said as he gestures for Percival to follow him.

Kio is Percival's secretary and best friend. He is also the twin brother of that annoying bastard named Rio. 

Percival nodded and followed his friend, not looking back. They kept on walking until they got out of the horrible place, the polluted air mixed with women scents made him cover his nose.

“Here's a mask, Mr. Reddson.” Kio gave Percival a mask for him to wear.

“Let's go, I still have a lot of work to do. Why did I even bother coming here, what a waste of time.” 

Percival just continued to walk, but he suddenly stopped when a sweet scent invaded his sense. His eyes automatically scanned the place and it landed on a woman walking with her head facing the floor. 

“What a sweet scent,” he mumbled.

He just stood at his spot, unconsciously waiting for the woman. The woman slowly walks not looking on her way, her scent got stronger and stronger still sweet like a strawberry.

“Mr. Reddson?” Kio called for his boss, watching Percival stand there looking at the woman who is about to bump into him.

The girl bumps into Percival. The woman slowly look up, showing  Percival her gorgeous eyes that captivated him before she speak, “I-I'm sorry, I'm not loo—” The woman's voice that is music to his ears was stopped when she suddenly collapsed.

Percival caught her before she fall to the ground. He was enchanted by her alluring scent and angelic face.  Percival tucked her hair behind her ears as he picked her up, bridal style.

‘She's super light, like a feather and that scent... What a nice smell." 

Kio watched the jaw-dropping scene with his mouth open. He can not believe that he's seeing Percival touch a woman without frowning or vomiting.

“M-Mr. Reddson?” he asked, his voice full of shock and confusion.

Percival gently lays down the woman beside him before he looks back at his friend's way. “Look for this woman's wallet and run a background check on her. Call the woman who is supposed to pretend my wife, we don't need her anymore.”

“P-Pardon? What do you mean, Mr. Reddson?” 

Percival stroked the unconscious woman's face before he answered, “I will marry this woman.”

Kio despite being shocked just nodded and pulled out his phone, calling for someone.

Percival just sat there, staring at the woman sleeping face. “You smell sweet and not disgusting. This is weird but good,” Percival whispered to himself, caressing the woman's face then he signaled for the driver to go and that's what the driver did.

He stared at the sky outside, the moon and stars always caught his eyes. “What a beautiful sight,” he said.

His phone suddenly rang, making him turn his attention to his device. He reach for his phone and saw that Kio was calling him.

Percival look at the woman beside him for the last time before he answered Kio's call. “What?” he asked.

“Good evening, Mr. Reddson. I already called the woman and she asked why did you backed out or did you cancel the wedding because of your schedule. I didn't answer her questions and just paid her,” Kio started, “I asked a few friends to run a background check on the woman with you, Mr. Reddson. I used the identification card from her wallet and I managed to get her name and run a background check on her.”

“Who is she?” Percival asked his friend from the other line.

“Her name is Heart Salvacion, and she's twenty-eight years old. She's from Mariana City, she grew up in Salvacion Orphanage. She's a college graduate and she has a fiance and their wedding is next month but sadly, he died a week ago. She planned to open her restaurant but it was taken by the loansharks as collateral. Her fiance borrowed money under her name and used her restaurant as collateral. She used her saving for her fiance's burial and she has nothing now. She's now broke, single, and has a huge debt. She's dead now,” Kio explained.

“Talk about bad luck,” Percival muttered, “So unfortunate but I guess it's good news for me.”

Percival just sat at his car with his arms crossed as he look outside. The whole ride is quiet and calming, no one dared to speak until the woman woke up.

“W-Who are you?” a melodic voice asked.

Percival's head immediately turn to the woman, staring straight into her eyes before he examined her appearance.

Her hair is a mess but he found it attractive, her eyes swollen from crying but he found it captivating, her rosy cheeks, small nose, and red kissable lips.

What a gorgeous woman indeed.

“I am Percival Reddson,” he said, “your future husband.”

“W-What? What do you mean my future husband? I don't even know you!!” she exclaimed, not hiding her shock.

Percival just ignored her and look outside. 

‘Well, I guess her reaction is normal.’

The car stopped in front of a big mansion. Percival opened the door on his side and got out, extending his hands for the woman to reach.

“W-Wait, what am I doing here?” she asked, unconsciously reaching for Percival's hand as he helped her go out of the car.

Percival didn't answer her question and just knelt on his one knee as he pulled out a red velvet box. He looked up at her shocked face, staring at her beautiful eyes.

“Heart Salvacion, will you marry me?”