Chapter 4

It was also only then that I noticed Bowen had changed his WhatsApp status message. It used to be just one word. The word was "Waiting". When I asked him what it meant, he smiled and said he was waiting for my legs to heal. But now, his status read, "Time to return." Finally, I understood. "Waiting" had been for Helena to come back; "Time to return" meant she was supposed to come back now. After that, I placed his phone back on the nightstand and stepped out onto the balcony to make a call. I said, "Hello, I need to book a flight abroad for five days from today." Five days was enough to say goodbye to these five years of fake love. I returned to bed but did not sleep a wink. The next day at lunch, my phone lit up with a notification. Bowen glanced at it, and his face turned pale. "Darling, why are you applying to cancel a card?" he asked, his voice tense. I calmly turned off the screen and replied, "My bank card is about to expire, so I scheduled a replacement." He was about to say something, but his phone rang. After answering the call, he said urgently, "Darling, something came up at work. I need to handle it. I won't be able to have lunch with you." I nodded, and my parents followed him to the company, leaving me alone at home. Just as I was about to head out, an unknown number texted me. "Maisie, you heard everything at the hospital yesterday, didn't you?" It was obvious that the text was from Helena, and her messages kept coming. Helena: "Bowen and I have a son together." Helena: "When your own parents heard you were injured too badly to have kids, they chose to protect me instead. They pushed Bowen toward me so we could start a family." Helena: "Bowen and I are the real married couple, and you're just a pathetic joke. They even helped me start a company. The grand opening is in five days—bet they didn't tell you about that, huh?" Helena: "Honestly, I regret not running you over sooner. If I had, all of this would've been mine years ago." ... Each word felt like a knife to my heart. So, this was why my parents had chosen to protect her and why Bowen had been so willing to be with her. I took screenshots of the messages and found my marriage certificate with Bowen. In his nightstand, I also discovered the legal waivers he had signed. Clutching these, I went to see a lawyer. The lawyer, Fabian Smith, told me that chat records were not solid evidence and that legal waivers signed by family members still held legal weight. When I asked him to help draft divorce papers, he frowned and said our marriage certificate was fake. I felt like I had been struck by lightning, my heart sinking into an abyss. Helena had been right—I was just a fool, a clown in their twisted game. Fabian's eyes lit up as he explained that if the marriage was fake, Bowen's legal waivers were invalid, which could be considered fraud and obstruction of justice. Grateful, I begged Fabian to help me draft a lawsuit. After leaving the law firm, I took a cab to another hospital for a complete checkup. When the doctor told me my legs could still be saved, I burst into tears. He explained that the car accident had caused a blockage in my fallopian tubes, making it impossible for me to conceive, but surgery could fix it. As for my legs, since they had not worsened over the past five years, surgery could help me walk again. "Your family must have taken good care of you these past five years. Otherwise, your legs would have been beyond repair by now," the doctor said kindly. His words filled me with bitterness. Little did he know, my family had been the ones who did not want me to walk again. No, they were not my family anymore. As I left the hospital, I received another message from Helena. The photo showed her holding Levi, nestled in Bowen's arms, with my parents sitting on either side. The five of them were smiling brightly in a luxurious villa. Behind them, a calligraphy artwork Dad had made hung on the wall—"Family First".