Chapter 3 

My marriage to Isaac started because of my brother. 

He and Isaac were college friends, and after graduation, they started a small business together. The two of them worked hard and the company quickly became successful. In just a few years. It went public. 

But their joy was short–lived. On their way to a business meeting, they got into a car accident. My brother used his body to shield Isanc. 

In the end, Isaac survived. My brother didn’t. [] 

Our parents passed away early, so my brother and I grew up relying on each other. 

Knowing that I secretly loved Isaac, my brother entrusted me to him before he died, hoping Isaac would marry me. 

Isaac, grateful for my brother’s sacrifice, agreed immediately. Only then did my brother close his eyes in peace. 

The White family knew Isaac survived because my brother saved him, so no one objected to the marriage. 

Everyone who knew the story said my brother traded his life for my future wealth and prosperity. 

But no one knew that it took Isaac ten proposals before I accepted. 

The first nine times, I clung to his collar, crying and screaming for him to bring my brother back, to return the only family I had left in the world. 

The tenth time, Isaac told me it was my brother’s dying wish for me to marry him, and if I didn’t agree, It would be a waste of my brother’s effort. Reluctantly, I agreed, unwilling to disappoint my brother. 

After we got married, Isaac treated me well. 

Everything in my life was perfect–food, clothes, housing–and in public, he gave me the respect fitting of Mrs. White. 

But I could never reach his heart. [] 

Between us, it was polite and respectful, but not affectionate. 

On the day our daughter was born, I sensed a kind of relief in him. [] 

In a daze, I heard his voice: 

“I owe you a loved one, and today I give you one in return. From now on, we’re even.” [] 

I thought I had misheard him. 

Maybe Isaac didn’t love me, but he respected me. 

Or so I thought until I realized I was wrong. 

What he respected was never me. 

It was my brother’s life. I 

I foolishly believed that the birth of our daughter would be the start of Isaac opening his heart to me. 

But after she was born, he found an excuse to move into the guest room. [ 

He never set foot in our bedroom again. [] 

[] 

On our daughter’s one–month birthday, I overheard him on the phone with Mary, his voice carrying a hint of drunkenness: [] 

“There won’t be any more children. What I owed her, I’ve repaid. I won’t touch her again…” 

” 

At that moment, I finally understood that what I thought I heard before wasn’t a mistake. 

It was the celebration of a man feeling relieved. [] 

I wanted a divorce. 

But when I looked at my daughter’s innocent little face, I compromised. [ 

I wanted to give her a complete family. 

I even humbly hoped that if I tried hard enough, I might change Isaac’s mind. 

But I was wrong. 

This was a mistake of a marriage. 

It began with death. 

And it ended with death.]