The Road Back Buried in Snow

Joanna Cross's fiance, who had supposedly died seven years ago, suddenly came back.

When I went to find her, the two of them were discussing their wedding.

Adrian Shaw pointed at me, standing at the very back of the crowd, and asked, "Jo, who is he?"

Joanna answered without hesitation.

"Our wedding officiant."

I clutched my chest, faintly feeling my heart condition beginning to flare.

Before I could question her, the bodyguards escorted me out of the living room.

Inside, laughter filled the room. Outside, my hands and feet went cold, and the pain nearly tore me apart.

Two hours later, Joanna came out with a smile still on her face.

When she saw the state I was in, she panicked and immediately wrapped me tightly in her coat.

But the words she spoke were colder than ice.

"Adrian has forgotten everything except that I was his fiancee.

"The doctors said any stimulation could make him try to kill himself. The wedding is fake. It is only to make him happy. The person I love has always been you."

I could not hold on anymore and collapsed.

Joanna hurriedly helped me into the car, her voice shaking.

"Mason, don't be scared. The matching heart was prepared long ago. I won't let anything happen to you.

"I will take you to the best hospital right now."

But just as she helped me into the passenger seat, she ran into Adrian, whose eyes were full of tears.

"Jo, are you abandoning me?"

In a single second, Joanna made her choice.

She peeled my fingers away from her one by one, then shut the car door.

After that, Joanna never appeared again. Instead, she sent me a message.

[Your surgery was successful. That's wonderful!]

[Adrian cannot handle any stimulation. Can you disappear for three months? After that, we will spend the rest of our lives together.]

Her promises were so vivid.

But Joanna did not know the surgery had never succeeded.

Three months was too long.

I could not make it that far.

During those days, Joanna Cross, who almost never posted on social media, suddenly began flooding everyone's feed.

In the photos, she and Adrian Shaw appeared in pretty cafes, atmospheric streets, dessert shops, and craft studios.

The woman who was usually quiet and bad at expressing herself wrote captions so emotional they seemed to bleed.

[One hundred things couples must do. We did them before, but baby forgot, so I will do them all with him again. Getting him back is too precious. As long as it is his wish, even if I have to die, I will make it happen for him.]

Those were things I had always wanted to do with Joanna.

But every time I brought them up, she said I was childish. She mocked me for being a grown man who liked such girly nonsense. She said she was busy. Without exception, she turned me down.

So it had never been the activities she hated.

It had