Chapter 2

I don't know how I left the hospital.

Crossing the street, I nearly got hit by a car. Both the driver and I were startled.

But my mind was a mess.

Liam and I had been together since high school, from awkward teenagers to getting married. Fifteen years, just like that, through countless summers and winters.

Everyone around us knew he was absolutely crazy about me.

Even in the second before the car crash, Liam had pushed me out of the vehicle, while he and the car plunged off the cliff.

And Chloe, she was the girl who saved him at the bottom of the cliff.

He lost his memory after the accident and Chloe took him in, caring for him for six months.

After six months, he finally regained all his memories and came back to me.

He was still so in love with me. The first time he saw me, he rushed forward, pulling me into a desperate embrace, his eyes red. "Stella, I thought I'd never see you again."

I was so grateful to Chloe for taking care of him during that time, I could have fallen to my knees.

I decided Liam should transfer half a million dollars to Chloe and buy her family a house in downtown Westwood as a thank you.

I had even asked Liam once.

"When you lost your memory, you were with Chloe, weren't you?"

Liam just gently held and kissed me. "That was all when I had amnesia. Now that my memory's back, my heart only beats for you."

I was skeptical at first.

Until one day, Liam sent Chloe's entire family overseas.

And he went to a tattoo parlor, getting 'Stella's Only' tattooed over his heart.

He's allergic to tattoo ink, and that night, he ran a high fever.

In his feverish daze, he clutched my hand, whispering, "I'm fine. I just want to make you feel secure. If I ever lose my memory again, seeing this tattoo will remind me that I have a wife, and her name is Stella Anderson, and I love her very, very much."

I cried uncontrollably and finally, completely believed him.

Whether it was a class reunion or a business dinner, Liam always brought me along.

His friends would always tease him, "Liam, you're so clingy. Can't be away from your wife for a second. You act like you want to keep her in your pocket!"

Liam would just grin, enjoying it. "You guys are just jealous I married such an amazing woman."

Three months ago, we started trying for a baby.

But one night, I suddenly had terrible stomach pain. Liam took me to the hospital and told me it was acute appendicitis, requiring surgery to remove my appendix.

I didn't doubt him. I watched Liam sign the consent form, and then I was wheeled into the operating room.

But it turned out they didn't remove my appendix at all. It was my uterus...

By the time I got home, night had fallen.

As I pushed the door open, I heard Liam on the phone.

"...Okay, I'll be over tonight to be with you and the baby."

"Don't worry, Stella's uterus has been removed. She won't ever get pregnant, so no one can threaten our child's position."

"I've given her my affection and the prestige of being Mrs. Anderson. You have to stay in the shadows, I know it's unfair to you."

"Once the baby is born, I'll arrange for a private adoption, so we can bring the baby into our home as our child."

"Don't worry, Stella is very kind; she'll take good care of the baby."

"She'll never know. Never."

I stood frozen outside the door, my body turning cold.

He hadn't forgotten Chloe at all.

He wanted to compensate Chloe, so he got her pregnant; and to make *me* feel secure, he set up this elaborate scheme to remove my uterus.

At first, I fantasized that the doctor made a mistake, or that there were people with the same names, a Liam Anderson and a Chloe Miller.

But fantasies are just fantasies; they're always shattered by reality.

Since our past affection was gone, I wasn't going to play this twisted game of his, where I'm the dutiful wife and she's his secret obsession.

I turned and left, hailing a cab...

At the Civil Registry Office, the clerk verified my ID.

"Miss Stella Anderson, are you sure you want to change your name to Cora?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"Reason for the name change?"

"I just don't like my old name anymore. I felt like changing it."

An adult changing their name doesn't need anyone's approval.

The clerk quickly processed it. "Your new name will be official in seven business days."

"Thank you."

I'd just left the Registry Office when I ran straight into Liam.

He grabbed me, looking frantic. "Stella, where did you go? Your phone was off! I was worried sick!"

Behind him, a group of police officers followed.

One of them even joked, "Well, your wife's found. You can relax now, right?"

Another officer spoke directly to me. "Your husband was genuinely worried about you. When you disappeared, he looked like he was losing his mind. The entire precinct was out looking for you. Good thing there's surveillance footage; we saw you at the Registry Office."

Liam asked me, "Stella, what were you doing at the Registry Office?"

I said calmly, "Nothing much. Just updating some information."

"The police pulled up surveillance footage earlier and saw you went to the hospital today. Are you feeling unwell?"

I looked up at this man who claimed to love me more than his own life.

Why was he so worried about me, yet still involved with Chloe?

Was it because she saved his life that he felt obligated to commit to her?

Or had he genuinely fallen for Chloe during those six months?

And now, even with his memory restored, his feelings for her lingered?

"Stella, why aren't you saying anything?"

I gently pushed him away, my voice flat. "No, I'm not unwell. I just had my blood type checked."

"Why would you get your blood type checked?"

"So I can donate blood easily in the future, if someone needs it."

A huge weight lifted off Liam's shoulders. "That's our Stella, always so kind, always thinking about donating blood and saving lives."

Back home, Liam seemed even more clingy.

While driving, he'd hold the steering wheel with his left hand, and my hand with his right.

It was the same at dinner; he'd rather clumsily use a fork with his left hand than let go of my hand.