Love Was Never An Accident

Every time Anthony Slim and I tried to get our marriage license, something went wrong. For three years, we tried thirty times. And every single attempt ended in an accident. The first attempt ended with a vagrant that went berserk and stabbed me four times. I nearly died outside the city hall. The second attempt ended with a speeding motorcycle crushing the bones of my hand. The third attempt ended with a burning mall, and I was trapped inside for three whole hours. … Everyone told me to cancel the engagement, but I stubbornly refused to give up. And then the 31st attempt ended with me getting rushed into the ICU. A billboard that fell from up high crashed right into me. I was rushed into the ICU with a severe head injury. The doctors issued one critical notice after another. For two months, I hovered between life and death before barely pulling through. Then on the day of my discharge, I overheard Anthony talking to his best friend. "If you really love that underprivileged student and want this marriage canceled, you can just tell Melissa. Why set up all those accidents? She nearly died." Anthony did not answer for a long time. When he did, his voice was filled with gloom. "I don't have a choice. Her family saved my life ten years ago, and her parents died in the process. This marriage contract is repayment of that favor. "But I only love Lily. I won’t marry anyone but her.” I looked at the bruises and wounds that decorated every inch of my skin and let out a broken cry. All the accidents and near-death experiences I went through were the machinations of another man, not actual mishaps. If Anthony was feeling stuck, I was more than happy to make that choice for him. Chapter 1 The Marriage is Off "You're calling off the marriage?" Samantha, Anthony's mother, stared at me with disbelief. She was completely stunned. This engagement had dragged on for years, and she knew better than anyone how obsessed I had once been with her son. She still had no idea what her son had done, so Samantha tried to talk me out of it. "Maybe think it through, Melinda. Once you get that marriage license, I'll prepare the grandest wedding! You'll get what you deserve." I did not answer her. Instead, I played the voice recording I took before I left the hospital. The conversation killed whatever reason Samantha had to say. "Three years, thirty-one times. Every time we try to get a license, an accident happens, and he's behind every single one." I calmly placed all the surgery bills and critical condition notices in front of Samantha. "He thinks marriage is suffocating. Then, I'll let him walk away as a free man. Calling it off is better for both of us." The truth was making Samantha shake with rage. She looked at my battered body, and after a long silence, she finally nodded. "Before your parents… they hoped I would take care of you. And now… We owe you." I nearly sniffled, but I held my sadness down. When I left the house, Anthony's car was already parked by the road. He rolled his window down and looked at me calmly. He rolled down the window and looked at me calmly. His tone was so businesslike it almost sounded cold. "The city hall is still open. Let's get that license." I looked at the person in the passenger seat. Lily Chaucer was sitting there quietly, the corners of her eyes red, looking as pitiful as an abandoned puppy. The moment Anthony talked about the license, she shivered. Anthony got out of the car and stepped in front of me, blocking my view of her. He wanted to say something, and when he did, it was stiff. "I have feelings for Lily, but I won't neglect my duties. You won't have to worry about the marriage contract." Duties. That was how he saw this whole thing. I nearly suffocated, but I hung my head low and said quietly, "We can do it another day. It's been three years. What's a few more days?" Surprise flickered in Anthony's eyes. After all, I had always been the one desperate to get the license. Every time I recovered from an accident, the first thing I did was drag him back to the city hall. Chapter 2 Heartless Man I put some distance between us and was about to leave, but Lily jumped out of the car and ran straight at me. She pulled on my arm as hard as she could. "Anthony's a good person, and he's taken care of me for the last few years. Please be kind to him after you're married." I noticed the look in her eyes. It spoke of a woman who refused to admit defeat until it was dragged out of her. Every word she said disgusted me enough to make my stomach churn. I swung her hand away, but Lily used the momentum to slap herself hard. From where Anthony stood, it would seem like I was the one who slapped her. Anthony strode ahead and pulled Lily behind him. He nervously checked her swollen cheek, and when he turned back to me, his eyes were filled with rage. "You act like you don't care about the license, and now you're hitting someone else to vent?" He led Lily away. Halfway there, he stopped and turned slightly toward me. His voice was cold. "If your parents saw the kind of woman you became, they'd be severely disappointed." I wanted to explain, but then I swallowed every single word. I was rooted to my spot, and the smoke the car whipped up blurred my vision. Eventually, the buzzing of my phone pulled my mind back to my body. "Ms. Ginger, your second brain scan is out. The results don't look good." After receiving the diagnosis from my attending physician, I sat on a roadside bench for a very long time. I had mid-to-late stage brain cancer. "It's not too late to get a procedure done." The doctor's words kept echoing in my ears. Ten years ago, my parents died in a tsunami while saving Anthony. Following their untimely demise was the bankruptcy of our family's company, Ginger Group. I only managed to grow up because Samantha took me in to repay her debt to my parents. My savings were not even enough for a single procedure. I deliberated over the matter and finally decided to go to Anthony's company. His office's door was wide open, and Lily was inside, fiddling with the flowers beside his desk. My footsteps stopped. I had dated Anthony for years, and I knew he hated flowers. But apparently, even his preferences could change when the gift came from Lily. Anthony saw me the moment he looked up. He sat straighter, and the warmth on his face faded almost instantly. "What are you doing here?" "Can I take a loan? I'll pay you back," I said honestly. After all, I still wanted to survive if I could. "Ms. Ginger, I heard you've been living with the Slims after your parents' deaths, and you rely on their money for your expenses. Asking for a loan is pushing it. Are you only marrying Anthony for his money?" Lily asked with displeasure. She looked at me with a silent challenge in her eyes. I ignored her ramblings, my eyes still on Anthony. He looked away and said coldly, "She's right. Figure it out yourself. Once we get married, I'll have repaid your parents." My clenched fists slowly loosened. That answer disappointed me. Beneath the desk, his fingers were intertwined with Lily's. The ring my parents left was still around his finger. "You don't have to wait that long," I said raspily. Anthony was bemused, but then he realized what I was talking about. "You're threatening me again? Is that the only trick you know? So what if your parents saved my life? Doesn't mean I owe you forever." His patience had run out, and he told the security guards to remove me from the building. Then, as if to prove a point, right after I was thrown out, he bought Lily an eighty-million-dollar cruise ship. Chapter 3 Freedom and Reluctance There was a caption in their story, and it read, "Sometimes love makes you forget about your duties." Everyone who left a comment told him to be brave and pursue his true love. Eighty million was enough to pay for all my treatments. I smiled bitterly, and my eyes slowly blurred. A moment later, tears fell onto my phone screen. At least, we were both free now. For nearly a whole month, Anthony did not contact me. He probably wanted to give all his time to Lily. The stories he barely posted now had new updates every single day. As if he had planned every moment down to the second, he checked off every item on their bucket list. The last story showed him in a suit, taking a set of wedding photos with Lily. He said he wanted to see the woman he loved in a wedding gown. The day after he posted that, Anthony called me. Raspily, he said, "Grab your ID and go to the city hall, Melissa." Then, he hung up before I could answer. For the first time in three years, he was the one asking for the license. I was about to text him my refusal when I suddenly remembered that I had not taken back the ring my father had given him. At the very least, it should not remain with him. And so, I went to the city hall. The things around here were the same as they were three years ago. I had walked this path countless times, and for the first time, no accidents happened. I had to wait outside the entrance for an hour before Anthony showed up. There were dark circles under his eyes, and the air around him smelled faintly of tobacco. We had dated long enough for me to know that he only smoked when he was in a bad mood. It had been a month since we met, and the sight of my current state stunned him. "What happened to you?" Because of the cancer, I had lost so much weight in a month that I looked almost unrecognizable. It was obvious that I looked hideous. He did not have to remind me. My silence made him frown. "You sure you want to look like this for your license photo?" "We're not taking the license. I just want you to give me back my father's ring." I extended my hand. His eyes went wide, and he thought I was being unreasonable. A sneer escaped his lips, and he dragged me into the city hall. "Don't give me that. You think this marriage is set in stone? Fine, you win. Get the license and get the wedding over with ASAP," he said, already giving up the ghost. The staff member started the process right away. "Your details, please." Anthony took his ID out and handed it to the staff member. As he moved, part of the tattoo on his wrist was revealed. It was Lily's initials. The staff member had no idea what was really going on and tried to lighten the atmosphere. "Oh, you're so in love. Tattooing her name on your wrist? Must be a happy couple." Anthony paused for a moment and pulled his sleeve down awkwardly. His eyes shifted toward me, but I did not react. He mocked, "Didn't bring your ID in case you got into an accident?" I took a deep breath. "I've told you, we're not getting the license. Give the ring…" Anthony's phone suddenly rang sharply. The moment he answered, his best friend's anxious voice came through. "Anthony, Lily tried to kill herself at home with sleeping pills! She said Melissa made her do it…" Anthony shot up from his seat right away. Chapter 4 Attempted Murder Every ounce of sanity he had left was gone, and only fear was etched on his face. "How dare you, Melissa!" He glowered at me, his teeth clenched. That was the first time I saw him looking so enraged. He did not even give me a chance to explain. He only told his bodyguards to drag me over to Lily's place. Lily's house was a mess. The photos of her and Anthony had been smashed, their frames scattered across the floor. Lily lay on the bed, her face frighteningly pale, as if every bit of life had been drained from her. Anthony lost all strength in his legs, and he nearly had to crawl on all fours just to approach her. He held her hand tightly. With a trembling voice, he said, "It's me, Lily. I'm calling off the marriage. I'm not taking that license. Please, open your eyes. Look at me." The half-finished bottle of sleeping pills lay beside Lily's hand, and a suicide note written in blood sat beside that bottle. She blamed it all on me and filled the note with accusations that targeted me. Anthony's eyes nearly went ablaze with rage. He strode forward and gripped my throat tightly. Like a maniac, he demanded, "Why did you do that? I already agreed to the marriage. Why did you force Lily to take her own life? What did she do?" The hatred in his eyes stabbed me clean through my chest. It turned out this man had never trusted me. "I never made her take her life, nor did I want to marry you. I just want to take back the ring my father gave you," I answered stiffly. However, no matter what explanation I could come up with, he did not believe me. A loud crack tore through the air. Everything around me went black for a moment, and agony spread across my body. He had slapped me with all his might. His eyes were bloodshot, and he yanked the ring off his finger. Then he let it fall out of his hand. It smashed against the ground and shattered into little pieces. And just like that, the last piece of my father was gone. He looked at the pieces and sneered. "It's a cheap ring. Pick it up yourself." I stared at the broken ring as I shivered. "I never wanted your parents to save me! If I had known this contract would've tied me down so long, I'd rather die in that tsunami! They only died because they weren't lucky enough to get out! Why should I bear the consequences of their actions?" Every single syllable was filled with hatred. He was venting the resentment that had been bubbling for ten years. It turned out Lily's apparent suicide had robbed him of any capacity to think rationally. The look in his eyes grew colder with every passing moment, and he picked up the bottle of sleeping pills. He gave his bodyguards a look, and they broke my legs, making sure I could not move. "Are you mad, Anthony?" Anthony grabbed my chin and force-fed me the remaining sleeping pills. The pills nearly cut my windpipes open, and the pain nearly took away my ability to breathe. "If anything happens to her, I'm coming after you. She must've suffered, taking those pills. Now you'll share her pain." I tried to spit the pills out, but his bodyguards throttled me. Before long, I was suffocating and wheezing. As my consciousness faded away, he looked at me. "I'll make sure my mother cancels this marriage. I should've gone with Lily. I made a mistake." Tears slid down my cheek and hit the ground. They left me behind, convulsing on the ground. I was close to losing consciousness very soon. Anthony regretted his choice. Fortunately, I had made mine.