Simon and I loved each other.
I was the only daughter of the Burke family, pampered and cherished since childhood.
He was the beloved young master of the Smith family.
We were childhood sweethearts, a perfect match in every way.
Until later, when my father had an affair, I realized that the happy family life I had known was nothing but a joke.
The man who had once doted on me at home, and was known as the most devoted husband in our social circle,
had a mistress outside the family.
He even had a child who was just one year younger than me.
My mother went mad, unable to bear the betrayal.
One night, while I was asleep, she jumped from the rooftop.
The next morning, I woke up to find her cold body.
I was only seven years old.
Many people came to the funeral, offering fake sympathy, when in fact they had long been conspiring with my father.
I was the only one crying throughout the entire funeral.
Three days after the funeral, my father brought his mistress into our home.
I confronted him, asking why he did this when he and my mother had once been so in love, and he had promised to care for her for life.
But in no time, he could lavish affection on another woman.
He didn’t answer, just slapped me hard, saying, ‘I’ve hated you and your mother for a long time. I’ve been oppressed all my life-why should I cater to you?’
My mother came from wealth and power, while my father was just a poor boy.
He had no dignity in the social circle, and my mother’s love was nothing more than his act.
He hated my mother and hated me even more.
So, he locked me up with my mother’s corpse.
In the basement, with no light, no food.
I was terrified, panicked, having nightmares over and over, tortured until my mind nearly broke.
That’s when I developed claustrophobia.
In the end, I had no choice but to give in, kneeling to apologize to the mistress.
From then on, I lived a life worse than the maids of the Burke family.
I was humiliated in the social circle, until Simon appeared.
He stood in front of me, kicking away the ones who bullied me.
Fiercely warning them to stay away from me.
Then he turned to me, speaking gently, ‘Don’t cry anymore. From now on, I’ll protect you. I won’t let anyone hurt you again.’
But after what happened with my father, I was almost physically repulsed by men.
Simon didn’t get upset.
He walked me to and from school, never leaving my side, proving with his actions that he wasn’t joking.
And slowly, after him standing up for me time and time again, I began to fall for him.
Day after day, year after year.
Until my 25th birthday, when, despite the fact that I had nothing left, he proposed to me, offering me a safe haven.
Overcome with joy, I said without hesitation, ‘I do!’
His mother and mine were old acquaintances, and with the power of the Smith family, my father didn’t dare oppose the marriage.
The wedding went smoothly.
He planted fields upon fields of the sunflowers I loved.
In front of everyone, he vowed, ‘I will love you for the rest of my life.’
I was in tears.
But who could have imagined, just ten years later, everything had changed.
He had fallen in love with Hollie, the daughter of the mistress who had stolen my father and driven my mother to her death.”