To My Childhood Sweetheart, See You Never

"Ms. Hall, these are the details of the feigned death service you booked with us. The date of death is set for the wedding, half a month from now. The cause of death will be suicide by drowning, and the deceased is yourself. Please confirm and sign here."

Wendy Hall nodded. Without hesitation, she signed her name at the bottom of the document.

The bustling street was alive with chatter and movement. As Wendy walked home alone, she glanced up, and there it was—the giant screen on a nearby building, looping a video of Grayson Bryce proposing to her.

In the video, the ever-composed Grayson trembling slightly as he knelt on one knee, holding out the ring. When her voice finally uttered, "I do," the tears he had held back spilled over, glistening trails tracing the joy on his face.

A beautiful moment. So beautiful, in fact, that two girls standing nearby watching clung to each other, moved to tears.

"Oh my god, Grayson loves Wendy so much!"

"Right? He's like the ultimate romantic. Did you hear they're childhood sweethearts? When he was seventeen, he couldn't wait to confess to her. By twenty, he had the world's most expensive pink diamond crafted into a crown for her, saying she'd always be his princess. At twenty-three, when she was in a car accident and the blood bank ran out of her rare type, he gave his own blood, almost draining himself to save her. And at twenty-six, he proposed to her live for the entire world to see. How could anyone be more devoted than him?"

The words blurred together, a clamor of admiration that Wendy didn't need to hear. She lowered her gaze, masking the faint smirk of self-mockery in her eyes.

Everyone envied her love story with Grayson. Everyone believed he was utterly, hopelessly in love with her.

No one would imagine that Grayson had secretly kept a minor internet celebrity hidden away in a luxurious apartment for three whole years.

The truth had struck her like a blade, cruel and unrelenting, when she discovered that his "late nights at the office" were, in fact, spent entwined with another woman. The first time she saw the incriminating photos—intimate and shameless—her chest had felt hollowed out, her heart carved open and left bleeding.

And yet, her mind drifted back to another memory. When she was fifteen, her parents had divorced in a storm of screaming and accusations, each fighting to abandon her. That was the day Grayson had pushed open the door, taken her hand, and said, "It doesn't matter they don't want you, I do."

From that moment on, he gave her his entire heart. He fought for her, breaking three ribs in a street fight. He remembered every detail of her life, even the dates of her monthly cycle. His social media was a shrine to her. Every friend of his knew him as the guy hopelessly in love with Wendy Hall.

When he slid the wedding ring