Chapter 2

It wasn't until Mrs. Shaw told me to enter into a business marriage that I learned the handsome young man Lily had always followed had been in a serious car accident. They said his leg would never fully heal, and he would limp for the rest of his life.

Lily cried and screamed that she would never marry a cripple.

So this mission fell to me.

I could have refused. But when I thought about that face, so handsome in the sunlight, which I hadn't seen in a year, I inexplicably agreed.

I was twenty years old that year, about to start my sophomore year. They had me take a leave of absence from school, and I got married at a young age.

When I went to see him, he flew into a rage, smashing a vase at my feet and shouting for Lily to come.

But Lily had already gone abroad to study with the black card they gave her.

The Shaw family's business depended on Pierce Holdings. Lily didn't want to marry a cripple, but they needed someone to stabilize the relationship between the Pierce and Shaw families, so they pushed me forward.

That was the first time Mrs. Shaw showed me any kindness. She cried about how difficult things were for the family, cried about how pitiful Lily was, cried about how Mr. Shaw's hair was already turning white.

I remained unmoved. I said, why say all this? If I wanted to marry him, it wasn't because of them---it was because of Holt himself.

During my freshman year, Holt was a senior---the famous campus heartthrob and big man on campus. The social media pages were filled with declarations of love for him, and countless daughters from prominent families tried to win his favor. But back then, the only person by his side was Lily.

Because of this, Lily became the object of everyone's admiration. She proudly talked about how special she was to Holt, how she occupied an unshakable place in his heart.

I appreciated good-looking people, but what I admired more was his academic achievement.

His obsession with and dedication to mathematics led him to publish many research papers. I'd read every one of them, and they'd even helped me solve several problems I'd been stuck on.

I was won over by his talent. Going from admiration to love wasn't difficult at all.

On our wedding day, Holt never smiled once, and I was so nervous I kept wiping the sweat from my hands.

I even nearly fell when Holt took my hand.

People around us laughed. I felt like something that didn't belong on stage. I vaguely heard people mention Lily, and Holt's face darkened even more.

I thought he must love Lily. Otherwise, how could he resent me so much?

In that instant, I regretted it---regretted my marriage, and regretted my secret crush.

That night, Holt was on top of me like he was venting his frustrations. But his leg wasn't very agile, and it hurt terribly, so I pushed him down, stopped him from moving, and sat on top of him instead, slowly taking him in. Before long, both our breathing grew heavy. Holt's face flushed red, and I lost myself in my own movements.

There wasn't much conflict in the Pierce household, and here I actually lived more freely than I had at the Shaw house.

I loved reading and still enjoyed delving into academic problems. Although I'd taken a leave of absence, I never stopped learning.

As for Holt, he went from not coming home for days at a time to eventually coming back on time every day.

Even when work was busy, he would send me messages telling me where he was.

I learned massage techniques from a physical therapist. I wondered if Holt's leg could slowly improve through massage.

Once I had the idea, I started doing it. The first time I shyly told Holt about my plan.

Later, I became skilled at massaging him. It took me half a year, and I even memorized all the pressure points on the human body.

Holt went from initially protesting to eventually accepting it, and even waited for me to massage him for half an hour every day. I felt like my hands were getting stronger.