Chapter 1

On the eve of our ninth wedding, my fiance, Jasper Preston, develops a split personality after saving me in a car accident. One personality loves me down to his very bones. The other, however, is hopelessly in love with his junior, Wendy Upton.

While I'm in a half-dreaming stupor, I hear the doctor sigh. "Mr. Preston's two personalities possess immense self-awareness. I'm afraid it'll be very difficult for them to merge. If Ms. Birch insists on marrying him, she must be willing to share her husband with another woman."

Sighs ripple through the room, but I remain exceptionally resolute. After all, he had risked his life to save me in that accident. How could I possibly give up on the man I love so easily?

However, the very next second, I hear another voice. "Jasper, you really outdid yourself this time. I can't believe you actually made up a split personality. Still, knowing Stella's temper, won't she drag you down to hell with her once she finds out the truth?"

Jasper scoffs, "She loves me so much that she'd give her life for me; she'd never hurt me. I have to teach her a lesson because she fired Wen."

My heart feels as though a blade has pierced straight through it. So, the disasters plaguing our weddings aren't coincidences. Everything—every single obstacle—has just been his twisted way of punishing me.

Since he's willing to go this far for Wendy, I no longer want this forced marriage.

Consequently, when I come to, and Jasper puts on his split-personality act, I simply look at his sworn rival, Mason Winslow, who is standing beside him. "Honey, who is he?" I ask calmly.

Chapter 1

A deathly silence settled over the hospital room.

Jasper Preston's expression instantly froze. He had probably envisioned a million different scenarios of how I'd take the news—shrieking, demanding answers, breaking down, or even throwing myself at him to tear him apart. Yet, he hadn't factored in the possibility that I would look at him like a total stranger and calmly take another man as my husband.

To make matters worse, that man happened to be Mason Winslow, his ultimate rival, whom he'd been warring with for the last ten years.

"What did you just call him?" Jasper's expression was so dark that it looked like a thunderstorm.

During the previous eight wedding postponements, even as the internet dragged me through the mud and mocked me relentlessly, he hadn't shown the slightest flicker of emotion.

Clutching Mason's arm, I sniveled, "Honey, he's scaring me..."

Mason looked down at his arm, which I was gripping tightly, an unreadable smile playing at the corners of his lips. As a notoriously loose-living playboy in the capital's elite circle and a close friend of my older brother, Sam Birch, it took him only a second to join the battlefield.

"Don't be afraid, darling. Mr. Preston, since you're still ill, you should be resting instead of coming here to throw a fit in front of my wife. Now, please leave."

Jasper clenched his jaw. His eyes locked onto my arm, which was looped through Mason's. "Do you have any idea what you're doing right now, Stella?"

I looked back at him, wide-eyed and innocent. "Who are you?"

Jasper stiffened, and his friends all wore equally awkward expressions. At that moment, the personality in control of him was likely still consumed by his unrequited love for his junior, Wendy Upton. How could he possibly remember who I was?

Seeing the colors on his face shift back and forth, I found it nothing short of hilarious. I had believed the man before me could be my ride or die for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, the person who was supposed to be my greatest ally became someone I shared a diagnosis with.

Since he was so determined to keep up the act, I decided I would play along and give him the performance of a lifetime.

Mason stepped forward, shielding me behind him. "My wife's timid, Mr. Preston. Stop scaring her!"

Gritting his teeth, Jasper turned to look at my attending physician, Dr. Keaton. "What's the meaning of this?"

Dr. Keaton walked up to me to examine me before adjusting his glasses. "The patient suffered a severe head injury. To protect itself, her subconscious could very well distort her memories or trigger cognitive distortion. Much like your split personality, she... might genuinely be mistaking Mr. Winslow for you right now."

Jasper's brows drew together as if he were gauging whether this was real or a setup.

Sensing the tension in the room, Dr. Keaton added, "That said, I can't draw any conclusions until she undergoes a full-body examination. I think that's enough for today's visit. Everyone, please head back and let the patient rest."

Mason gently stroked the top of my head. "Your brother found out about what happened to you. He's already bought the earliest ticket back and will arrive the day after tomorrow. If you need anything at all, let me know."

When he reached the door, he reminded the doctor, "Take good care of my wife. If any of you dare to upset her, I'll personally ensure that you vanish from the capital's medical community for good."

Mason and Sam had been through hell and back together. After their business took off, Sam took charge of the overseas operations, while Mason handled everything domestically.

Sam had entrusted Mason to look after me, but because of my relationship with Jasper, I had no choice but to keep my distance from Mason. Had I not been involved in this car accident, I could hardly imagine a day when the two of them would stand in the same room.

"You've been staring at the door this whole time. Are you really that reluctant to see him go?" Jasper's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

I turned and realized that he had been watching me.

"I'll move into the same ward with her then. Since we have similar conditions, we might as well be treated together."

Chapter 2

I didn't refuse. More accurately, I had no right to refuse.

After all, we were at a private hospital that Jasper funded. No one would dare cross him here.

It was similar to our relationship. He was the one who called all the shots.

For his sake, I had turned down a high-paying overseas position and chosen to stay at Preston Group to be his capable right-hand woman. I had given up my freedom, revolving my life around him and his company for 24/7. I had even hidden our eight postponed weddings from Sam, all because I wanted to be with him.

I used to believe that loving someone meant accommodating to their every whim. Little did I know my love had caused the scale between us to tip so drastically. Now, we had reached the point of no return.

Dizziness washed over me as I walked toward my hospital bed, causing me to lose my footing. However, before I could hit the ground, a strong arm caught me.

"Are you alright?" Concern flashed through his gaze.

My heart skipped a beat, but the very next second, his words sent me plunging right back to the bottom of the abyss. "Even if my other personality doesn't remember you, my body still does. Stella, I promise you, even if I have a split personality, it won't affect your position as the lady of the household."

I couldn't believe he was threatening me with the position of the lady of the Preston family. It was the one thing I had desired.

Unfortunately for him, I had no desire to share my man with another woman. So, whoever wanted that position could gladly have it.

"If you would just be honest with me and admit that you were acting earlier—"

I flung his hand away and cut him off coldly. "I'm a married woman, Mr. Preston. Please behave yourself. Besides, you have someone you love too, don't you?"

He was stumped. Before he could explain himself, there was a knock on the door.

Wendy had arrived. Noticing the bandages wrapped around my head, she asked tentatively, "Do you still remember me, Stella?"

Word had certainly reached her fast. Without a shadow of a doubt, one of Jasper's close friends, who had just left my ward, must've informed her.

Jasper had probably brought Wendy along to countless of their gatherings behind my back. I wondered if his friends had spent all these years viewing me, his fiancee, as some sort of clown.

I shook my head and asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm Wendy Upton. I used to be one of your subordinates." Then, she turned to look at Jasper affectionately. "I was also Jas' secretary for a while… but you fired me later on."

She sure knew how to flip the . Playing dumb, I inquired, "Why did I fire you?"

Wendy adopted a pitiful look. "I guess I depended on Jas a bit too much, so you had no choice but to do it."

I couldn't help but jeer inwardly.

After Wendy joined the company, I took her under my wing and mentored her because she was Jasper's junior. Unbeknownst to me, she had absolutely no interest in learning the ropes from me. If anything, she was far more interested in figuring out how to capture Jasper's attention.

The CEO, who was supposedly too busy to celebrate my birthday with me, had somehow found the time to review documents with his secretary on New Year's Eve. To add salt to the wound, Wendy's phone was connected to the Wi-Fi in the home Jasper and I had bought for our marriage before mine ever did.

I thought I was just being overly sensitive. I never realized that the warning signs had been staring me in the face all along.

I had lost count of how many times I'd quarreled with Jasper because of her. But every single time, he'd brushed me off perfunctorily. "Wendy's just my junior. You're being too sensitive. Ella, if you want to be my wife, you can't be so narrow-minded.

"Besides, you go out for business dinners and drink with men all the time. I've never said a thing about it, have I?"

It was inevitable to have dealings with members of the opposite sex in the business world. While I did have to attend my share of dinners, I had never once crossed the line.

Naively, I had thought he was only saying those things because he was jealous. So I had never held it against him.

But it all came to a head when a hundred-million-dollar project contract required his signature, and I couldn't get a hold of him no matter how many times I called him. While I was drowning in anxiety, my assistant stuttered as she told me that Jasper was at an amusement park, accompanying Wendy to watch the fireworks show.

Suppressing my anger, I called Wendy, only to hear her wishing upon the fireworks. "I hope Jas stays by my side forever."

Before I could even utter a single word, the line went dead. When I called back, she had already turned off her phone.

Meanwhile, our business partner waited endlessly for the contract. When it never arrived, he concluded that I had breached the terms of our agreement and was deliberately playing him for a fool. Hence, he blocked me on all platforms.

Over that single instance, Preston Group lost hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet, Jasper merely demoted Wendy as punishment and sent her to work under me. To maintain authority and fairness within the company, I fired her on the spot. It didn't cross my mind that he'd hold that against me and use the wedding I cared about most to humiliate me.

…

"I apologize for hurting you." I rose to my feet and slipped the emerald ring off my ring finger. "Here, consider this as my way of making amends."

Wendy gaped at me. "Stella, do you have any idea what this ring represents?"

Chapter 3

I felt a cold gaze settle on my back. Meeting Jasper's smoldering eyes, I feigned innocence and casually said, "It's just a ring. What's the big deal?"

How could I not know? The Prestons had built their fortune in the emerald and gemstone trade generations ago. It was a long-standing family tradition that the heir of the Preston family must carve a wedding ring from the family's own emerald and present it to his bride with his own hands.

Jasper had slipped that emerald ring onto my finger during our first wedding ceremony on the island. Unfortunately, a typhoon had struck that day, stranding all our guests. My first wedding was called off before it had truly begun.

Even the ring's size wasn't right. The band was too small, and I couldn't slide it on.

God knows where I had found the strength back then, but I had endured the pain and forced it onto my finger. Now that I had finally taken it off, I could see a deep, red indentation left on my knuckle.

In hindsight, perhaps that was the heavens' way of warning me. The man before me wasn't my Mr. Right.

I took Wendy's hand in mine. Her hand was incredibly soft, with no trace of the years she'd spent working in a chemistry lab. Mine, on the other hand, had long since developed thin calluses from years of gripping pens and preparing stomach-friendly meals for Jasper. No wonder he had held my hand less and less often over the years.

My gaze landed on the delicate silver braclet around her wrist, and I froze for a moment. I had seen it at an auction not long ago, and I had mentioned how much I liked it.

In the past, whenever I took a liking to a piece of jewelry, Jasper would tease me and tell me it didn't suit me. However, once we returned home, it would always appear in my bedroom, and he would personally put it on me.

Yet, that day, he had only glanced at it indifferently and said, "It doesn't suit you." And that had been truly the end of it.

To think I'd see it again, worn so casually on Wendy's wrist. As it turned out, the bracelet was never the problem. It was just that I was no longer the right person for him.

I slid the ring onto her finger. To my surprise, it was a perfect fit.

My heart felt as though it had been violently ripped in two. I belatedly realized that the person he had in mind when he was making me this ring was her.

Wendy was equally stunned. A sweet smile crept onto her face, yet she still said, "This is your and Jas' wedding ring, Stella. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to wear it."

I held her hand firmly. "Emeralds choose their owners. It has a stronger connection with you. Besides, I won't be tying the knot with Mr. Preston anymore. So, this is hardly a wedding ring."

Wendy studied me again. "Do you really not remember a single thing, Stella?"

I hummed softly. When I spun on my heel, I caught a glimpse of a line of letters engraved on the inner band of her bracelet.

"P&U." It stood for their last names—Preston and Upton. My breath hitched for a second.

Jasper was someone who loved going the extra mile for the people and things he cared about.

When we were in school, he would go out of his way to buy the same brand of gel pens I used. When we went on dates, he would meticulously choose restaurants whose names began with our initials. When I was volunteering to help local farmers, he had even pressed his foot down on the scale to add extra weight, just so the elderly man I was helping could finish selling everything sooner and go home early.

Somewhere along the way, the man who had gone out of his way to plan countless surprises for me and hold me so close to his heart had disappeared without a trace. And now, what little effort he still bothered to spend on me was entirely directed at making sure our wedding never happened.

I was so tired. It was simply too hard to be with him anymore.

"I'd like to get some rest now," I declared.

"Let's talk outside, Jas. We should let Stella rest."

Jasper took one look at me before following Wendy out.

…

I wasn't sure if I was still weak from the car accident or if I was just heartbroken, but my chest felt incredibly stifled. I went out to get some fresh air in the corridor, only to overhear Jasper's and Dr. Keaton's conversation.

"You're the one who orchestrated that car accident. Even though everything was within your control, Stella had no idea. She shielded you with her own body at that critical moment. Are you genuinely not moved at all?"

Jasper remained silent for what felt like an eternity. "...I didn't think she would actually jump in front of me."

"Stella has been nothing but good to you, Jasper. Wendy is carrying your child. If you are truly tired of Stella, why don't you just let her go? Why do you keep stringing her along?"

I felt as though I'd been struck by lightning. All these years, he had never once failed to use protection when we were together. Even though I had told him innumerable times how much I loved children, he always claimed that he wasn't ready to be a father yet.

Wendy, however, had conceived his child so effortlessly.

Jasper chuckled. "She's not the only one who was humiliated after those eight failed weddings; I was ridiculed just as much. I stayed by her side through all of it, so we're square.

"Stella has always wanted to become the lady of the Preston family. Wendy, on the other hand, loves me for who I am. I'll give Stella the title and Wendy my love. It's only fair."

"Aren't you afraid Stella will catch wind of the baby?"

"I won't let that happen."

Before I knew it, my face was soaked with tears. I couldn't listen to another word he said. I was completely done with him.

…

After returning to my ward, a fever began to consume me. In my dreams, a cool, gentle hand softly caressed my forehead.

I opened my eyes, only to find myself staring straight into Jasper's. "Stella, you didn't really lose your memory, did you?"

In a heartbeat, cold sweat slicked my palms.