My Fiancé Bet My Life as a Joke

On the eve of our engagement party, my fiancé, Andrew Graham, dies. According to the police, his car crashed through the guardrail and plunged into the river. The only thing they managed to find was a bloodstained watch. The Graham family pins all the blame on me. "If Andrew hadn't gone out to buy you a ring, would he have gotten into this accident?" "You're nothing but a jinx! As if it weren't bad enough that you cursed your parents to death, but now, you've even cursed your fiancé!" Andrew's best female friend, Katherine Yangley, has tears spilling down her cheeks as she plays the last voice recording he made. "Don't end your life for me. Live on well." I kneel before his coffin, hugging his watch, for three whole days. On the fourth morning, I drink some industrial herbicide, put on his favorite white dress, and head to the river alone. "Andrew, I'm coming to you." I have barely started to climb over the guardrail when cheers abruptly come from beneath the bridge. Katherine rushes over to me while clapping her hands gleefully. She is laughing so hard that tears roll down her face. "I won! I knew that she would come! Andrew, she actually believed it! She was genuinely going to jump into the river to end her life so that she could be reunited with you!" The crowd parts to reveal Andrew, who walks over with a bouquet of roses. His white shirt is so pristine that it's almost blinding to look at. He focuses his attention on Katherine first, saying in an indulgent tone, "Are you finally satisfied? No more kicking up a fuss in the future, okay?" Latching onto his arm, Katherine asks smugly, "Well, I contributed a lot by helping you test her true feelings for you, didn't I?" "Yes, you did," Andrew answers with a smile. "You like that wedding ring I picked out, right? Then as a reward, you can wear it for one week." Only then does he hand me the bouquet of roses. "Are you surprised? Kathy was just feeling rather upset that you snatched me away from her, so I decided to go along with her this once and let her have her fun. You don't mind, do you? Now that it's been proven that you truly love me, we can get married." Realization dawns on me. The car accident, the voice recording—all of that is fake. It's all simply part of a terrible prank Katherine thought up to satisfy her vindictiveness. As for Andrew, he did nothing but stand by while she put my life on the line. Agonizing pain shoots through me from my stomach. I shake my head. "Forget it. I can't go back anymore." Chapter 1 My fiancé, Andrew Graham, stiffened, his smile faltering. "What do you mean, you can't go back anymore?" Another wave of cramping pain surged through me, originating from my stomach. I held the guardrail for support as the coppery taste of blood welled up in my throat and into my mouth. "It's exactly what it means." Katherine Yangley, Andrew's best female friend, cocked her head. "You're not actually angry, are you? I just wanted to see how much you loved Andrew. As it turns out, you love him so much that you would even die for him. Literally." She burst into laughter when she finished speaking. Their friends were quick to join in, jeering. "Come on, Nat. Can't you take a joke?" "For the sake of this test, Andrew was in the water for half an hour, you know!" "Kathy stayed up for two entire nights just to work on that plan! You should be thanking her." I turned to look at Andrew. "You were hiding beneath the bridge all along?" "In a diving suit. I was perfectly safe." His answer was flippant. In the past three days, his mother, Patricia Holden, had cried so much that she fainted before his coffin. His father, Mark Graham, had smashed my parents' memorial portraits. They had pinned all the blame on me, accusing me of being a jinx and cursing Andrew to an early death. I had knelt before Andrew's coffin, praying fervently for all those hours. Yet, as it turned out, he had been in a nearby hotel all along, watching this happen through the surveillance camera as he waited to see when I would have a mental breakdown. "I was on my knees, praying for you for three days." Andrew dropped his gaze to the blood crusting my knees. "That's in the past now. After we go back home, I'll have someone tend to your wounds." Suddenly, Katherine clutched her ankle. "Andrew, I think I ran a little too quickly just now and sprained my ankle." Andrew immediately abandoned the roses and crouched before her. "Can you walk?" "It hurts a little." "I'm taking you to the hospital." With that, he turned his back to me and held out a hand to Katherine. As she climbed onto his back, she looked over her shoulder and winked at me. It was also then that I noticed that she was wearing the wedding ring. "Andrew Graham." Andrew whipped his head around and snapped impatiently, "What now?" "Your mother left that ring specifically for her future daughter-in-law." Andrew simply glanced at the ring before retorting, "I'm just lending it to Kathy for a few days. It's not like that'll kill you. Besides, she helped me gauge your true feelings, so she deserves a reward." Yesterday, Patricia had worn this same ring when she slapped me seven times. She had cursed me out for causing her son's death and said that I didn't deserve to become a part of the Graham family. Now, that ring was on Katherine's hand as she wiggled her fingers at me provocatively. "Aww, don't be so petty." "I'll personally slide the ring onto your finger on our wedding day," Andrew said. I leaned down to pick up the roses. The thorns stabbed deep into my palm, instantly causing blood to stain the white wrapping paper. Seeing that, Andrew frowned. "Could you not purposely ruin things like that? I had to wake up early to go to the flower shop and pick those out." He remembered that Katherine liked champagne roses, yet he had completely forgotten that I was allergic to rose pollen. Another gush of blood surged up my throat. "Andrew, what if I really do die here today?" A bubble of laughter burst from Katherine's lips. "You're not even over the guardrail. How could you possibly die?" Andrew laughed as well. "Don't bother trying to scare me by threatening me with your death. There are still three days until the wedding, so go back and take some time to calm down." With that, he headed toward the parking lot while carrying Katherine. The crowd left with them. Right before the car door was shut, Katherine popped her head out to say, "Your white dress is pretty nice. Lend it to me tomorrow for some photos, okay?" After the car had sped off, I crumpled to my knees beside the guardrail. Blood trickled from the corners of my mouth to drip onto my white dress. At that moment, my phone chimed with a message from Andrew. "Take a taxi back home yourself. Kathy's foot hurts, and there's no space in the car for you." Right before this message was the one he had sent me four days ago, before he had faked his death. "Nat, wait for me to come back and marry you, okay?" A stranger ran over to check on me, and before long, the wailing of an ambulance siren rang out. The paramedics were cutting away the sleeves of my dress when Andrew called me. Mustering what strength I had left, I accepted the call. Yet, it was Katherine's laughter that came over the line. "Andrew is making a doctor's appointment for me. Do you need him for something?" I opened my mouth, but that only allowed more blood to gush forth. After waiting for several seconds with no response from me, Katherine asked, "Natalia Sanders, don't tell me that you're pretending to be sick again? We didn't fall for your trick earlier, so now you've changed tactics, huh?" Then, she hung up. Before the ambulance doors were shut, someone asked me, "Do you have family we can contact?" I shut my eyes. "Not anymore." Chapter 2 When I woke up, it was already dark outside. The doctor asked how long it had been since I ingested the herbicide, but I couldn't move at all other than to blink. Seeing that, he turned to urge the nurse, "Keep trying to contact her family." The nurse checked my phone, but the only emergency contact I had was Andrew. The first time she called, nobody picked up. The second time, the call was rejected. On the third try, someone finally answered. "Who is this?" Andrew snapped, clearly angry. Next to him, Katherine asked which pair of heels would look nicer with the wedding dress. The nurse glanced at me. "This is Wellerham Hospital. Ms. Natalia Sanders is suffering from poisoning and is currently receiving emergency treatment. Please come over immediately." The other end of the line was silent for two seconds before Andrew scoffed and spoke again. "She put you up to this, didn't she? We don't have time to play around with you. It's only been two hours since she talked about calling off the wedding, yet she's already managed to find a hospital to go along with her act within that short time." The nurse had to fight to swallow her anger. "Ms. Sanders really needs her family with her now." "She wants to throw a tantrum, does she? Then she can deal with the consequences herself." Katherine leaned closer to the phone to say, "Miss, please don't blame Andrew for this. Nat was just telling us earlier at the river that she was going to die, only to now end up in the hospital with poisoning. Anyone would think that this was just a prank." When the nurse seemed like she was about to say something more, I raised a hand. She quickly put the phone to my ear. "Natalia Sanders," Andrew uttered icily, "Did you really think that this would work?" The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth, and it was all I could taste. "I'm not trying to deceive you. I poisoned myself." Andrew laughed. "Really? Then how can you still speak so clearly? Are you sure it wasn't a health supplement?" Derisive laughter erupted from several people on the other end of the line. All their friends were there, waiting to see how long I could keep up the act. "Send the address over." My heart skipped a beat at his words, but in the next second, he added, "I'll have my assistant send a bouquet over. Think of it as me going along with your test. Once you've had enough of this acting, come back home yourself." I stared up at the glaring white lights above me. "The day my mom passed away, you also told me to wait for you." The night my mother was cremated, Katherine had broken up with her boyfriend. At the time, Andrew had promised to keep me company for the rest of the night, yet a phone call from her had immediately drawn him away. He had told me that he would only be gone for half an hour. I spent the entire night alone, and by morning, he still hadn't shown up. After a brief moment of silence, Andrew replied impatiently, "It's been so long since that happened. Why are you still holding a grudge over it?" Just then, Katherine called out, "Andrew, help me zip up the wedding dress." Following that, the rustling of fabric reached my ears, along with Andrew's low reminder for her to stop squirming. His careful demeanor was something I hadn't gotten even after begging for it for the past seven years. "I have no time to play around with you." Andrew had picked up his phone again. "Don't forget to attend the wedding in three days. If you dare be absent, then you can forget about me ever marrying you again in this lifetime." With that, he ended the call without waiting for a response. The doctor pushed open the door and entered. When the nurse read the report he was holding, her eyes instantly reddened. By this point, I couldn't even keep my hand up anymore, so the nurse had to help me hold the phone. My screen lit up as Andrew sent me a message. "Did you hear me?" Using the last bit of strength I had left, I typed out one word. "Okay." Since he had tricked me once, I would do the same to him. I agreed to attend the wedding, but I never said that I would attend it alive. Seconds later, the medical equipment beeped shrilly. My phone slipped from my slack fingers, the screen flashing with Andrew's response. "That's a good girl." Chapter 3 The day before the wedding, which was also the second day of my death, Andrew brought Katherine to our wedding suite. The instant Katherine stepped inside, she took down the engagement photo hung on the wall. "Let's hang it back up tomorrow. For now, we can use it to test Nat. I wonder if she'll be jealous when she notices that her photo is gone." Andrew grabbed a corner of the photo frame. "Careful. Don't drop it." Katherine pouted. "Yes, yes. I know you're worried about hurting her." Stuffing the photo into a cardboard box, she then moved to the closet and yanked the doors open. The dress I'd prepared to wear for the wedding toast hung inside alongside a red dress. Mom had personally sewn that red dress before she passed away. She'd been so ill at the time that she could barely hold a needle steady, leaving the stitching on the sleeves rather uneven. When I had tried it on for her, she had stroked my hand and said, "I'll wear this dress and walk you down the aisle on your wedding day." Unfortunately, she never got the chance. Katherine pulled out the red dress. "Ugh, how old. It's terrible luck to have old clothes in your wedding suite, you know." Andrew glanced at it before replying, "Natalia's mother left that for her. Put it back." Katherine's smile faded slightly. "I've been running myself ragged for you for an entire day, while she isn't even willing to come back and decorate your wedding suite. Now, you can't even bear to let me touch a lousy piece of clothing?" For a brief moment, Andrew was silent. "Hide it away somewhere for now so she won't see it." Only then did Katherine's smile return. Crumpling the red dress into a ball, she tossed it into the cardboard box. At the very bottom of that box lay the only family photo I had with my parents. Katherine had complained about how we were all wearing black in the photo, so she had insisted the staff take it away as well. Andrew stood off to one side, watching it all happen, but he never made a move to stop her. When the hospital called him, the wedding videography team had only just arrived. The team leader switched on his laptop. "Mr. Graham, this is the cinematic video that will be played at the wedding." He played the video, which showed what had happened a few days earlier. I was in my white dress, clutching a bloody watch as I climbed over the guardrail. In the next second, Andrew walked out of the crowd with a bouquet of roses. Off-screen, Katherine was laughing so hard that she was gasping for breath. "I won! She was genuinely going to jump into the river to end her life so that she could be reunited with you!" The video continued playing before it finally ended with a single remark. "The best kind of love is one that can withstand any tests thrown at it." Applause erupted throughout the house. Someone laughed and said, "Natalia is definitely going to be moved to tears." However, Andrew was staring at my face in the video. My hands were trembling as I held the guardrail to support myself. "Cut out that part at the end where she falls to her knees. It doesn't look good at a wedding." Katherine sat at my dressing table and tore open the wedding gift I'd prepared for Andrew. Inside was a photo album filled with memories from our seven years together. On the very first page was a bus ticket from our first time taking the bus together. After flipping a few pages, Katherine burst into laughter. "She actually kept all this crap?" Andrew snatched the album from her. "Don't touch that." Immediately, Katherine's eyes reddened pitifully. "I was just looking for material to put into the video. Why are you being so mean to me?" Andrew stared at her for a moment before relenting and giving her back the album. "Take whatever you want." Katherine took out the bus ticket, cut it into the shape of a heart, then stuck it next to a photo of her and Andrew. At that moment, the hospital called Andrew again. After glancing at the number, Andrew hung up without any hesitation. "Is it that actress again?" Katherine asked. "Yeah." Andrew tapped into his chat window with me. The very last message we had exchanged was still that "Okay" I had sent him days ago. "She's already agreed to come to the wedding, so all this right now is just a means for her to make me back down first." Outside, the staff carried away the cardboard box. A corner of the red dress poked out of one box, trailing along the ground as they carried it away. Katherine leaned her head against Andrew's shoulder. "If she's still mad tomorrow, we'll just have to test her once again. Cancel the wedding right there with the guests present. See if she'll beg you then." Glancing at the empty spot on the wall where our photo had once hung, he replied, "Don't push her too far." "She can't bear to part with you." She put on my wedding veil. "Not even in death." Instead of refuting her words, Andrew sent me a message. "We've finished tidying up the wedding suite. Don't be late tomorrow." The message was successfully delivered. However, this time, nobody would be answering it. Chapter 4 I was absent on the day of the wedding. The first time Andrew called me was at nine in the morning. Nobody picked up. At ten in the morning, the wedding convoy stopped outside the hotel. Furious at being unable to find me, Patricia threw the bouquet on the table. "Who does she think she is? Andrew, I forbid you from going to pick her up. If you submit to her today, she'll walk all over the rest of us in the future!" Katherine was in the bridesmaid dress, still wearing my wedding ring. "Don't be mad, Mrs. Graham. Nat must be hiding somewhere nearby and waiting for Andrew to beg her." Meanwhile, Andrew stared at his phone. Upon seeing the last message between us, that "Okay" from me, fury ignited in him. "She promised to come. Have everyone wait." By 11:00 am, all the guests had arrived. By 11:30 am, the emcee was asking, for the third time, when the bride would arrive. Andrew sent me over a dozen messages. "Are you still throwing a tantrum? "I'll only wait till noon for you. "If you come over right now, I can pretend as though nothing ever happened." Finally, he ended with a voice message. "Natalia Sanders, I didn't press the issue when you used the hospital to trick me. I can also forgive you for being deliberately late. However, if you miss out on the wedding, then you can't blame me for not wanting you anymore." The moment he finished sending the voice message, Katherine clapped her hands. "Alright. Get ready, people! It's time for the second test!" Their friends leaped into action. They locked the doors to the wedding venue and changed the projector screen to display a message saying that the wedding had been cancelled. Then, they waited. They were waiting for me to rush inside in tears, to beg Andrew to marry me while the guests watched on. At exactly noon, the wedding march began to play. Still, no one was outside the doors. Andrew's expression grew increasingly dark. "She actually had the guts not to come." Katherine hooked her arm through his. "Then how about I take her place? It's just a rehearsal, anyway." She didn't even wait for his answer, already lifting the bottom of her dress and stepping onto the red carpet. The guests went along with it, calling out, "Katherine is the better match for Mr. Graham, after all!" "If Nat still doesn't come, her husband is going to be snatched away from her!" "Mr. Graham, give Katherine a kiss! Let's see if Nat can remain hidden after seeing that!" Andrew didn't push Katherine away. Instead, he kept his gaze fixed on the doors, as though he were waiting for me to suddenly barge inside. However, it ended up being two police officers who appeared on my behalf. Andrew recognized one of them as the person who had told me about his plunge into the river back then. Everyone fell silent, watching as the police officers approached Andrew. "Mr. Graham, Wellerham Hospital has been trying to contact you since the day before yesterday." Curling his fingers into fists, Andrew retorted, "She called the police too? Tell her that the wedding's already begun and that if she comes out now, I can still forgive her." Instead of saying anything, the police officer took out a transparent evidence bag containing a phone with a shattered screen. On the back of the phone case was a photo of me with Andrew. Seeing that, Andrew froze, the anger on his face fading. However, Katherine let out a laugh. "With that shattered screen, it really does look a lot like Nat's phone. Don't tell me she took a leaf out of Andrew's book and faked her death, just like we did with him?" "Where's Natalia?" Andrew's eyes seemed glued to the phone. "Have her come over herself." The police officer stared at him for several seconds before answering, "Ms. Sanders passed away the night before last despite emergency treatment. The time of death was 10:17 pm."