The Man I Married Would Rather Die Than Love Me Back novel Chapter 4

Alex noticed something was wrong.

He immediately nodded.

"Okay, just wait for me."

First, I had Alex check Ryan's private accounts.

Then I had him search for information on the dead woman of that portrait.

The waiting felt like being slowly cut by a knife.

Few minutes later, Alex approached with his laptop, his face grim.

Seeing his expression, I knew my suspicions were correct.

Indeed, after reviewing Ryan and the woman's social media, I trembled with laughter and tears.

The woman's name was Lauren Steele, indeed the daughter of Ryan's mentor.

But she was also Ryan's lover of seven years, his soon-to-be bride.

On Lauren's social media account were not only photos of her kissing Ryan lovingly but also numerous intimate relationship details.

Seeing Ryan in Lauren's photos, I finally understood how loveless and cold he had been toward me in our marriage.

On my birthday, Ryan would never appear.

His excuse was that his family didn't celebrate birthdays.

The real reason was that he had promised Lauren he would only celebrate one person's birthday in his life—hers.

On our wedding anniversary, Ryan would leave before dawn every year.

I always thought he was busy with work.

Only now did I realize that Ryan behaved this way because our wedding day was his ex-girlfriend's funeral day.

Every year on this day, he would visit her grave.

Then there were Ryan's strange habits.

He had to eat cucumber with every meal, even for breakfast.

I always thought he simply liked it.

But only now did I learn that Ryan ate cucumber because during Lauren's cancer treatment, he had accompanied her to a countryside vegetable garden.

They planted over a hundred vegetables, but only the cucumbers survived.

Lauren had once posted:

"Ryan, these cucumbers are like our love—eternally enduring. Even after I'm gone, as long as you eat cucumbers, I'll know from underground that you still love me."

Under Lauren's post were countless comments.

Everyone lamented Lauren's tragic fate.

Numerous people praised Lauren and Ryan's love.

Even on the day Ryan and I met for our arranged date, Lauren dragged her frail, emaciated body to accompany Ryan.

To ensure I would quickly fall in love with Ryan before her death, she even created a series of pursuit plans for him.

Ryan's confession to me was planned by Lauren.

Every date I had with Ryan was planned by Lauren.

Even the online conversations I had with Ryan were all Lauren pretending to be him.

No wonder the pre-marriage Ryan was so different from the post-marriage Ryan.

I had been in love with a puppet Lauren had custom-made for me.

My heart ached.

Alex, who was looking at the information with me, was red-eyed with anger.

He looked at me with grief-stricken eyes.

"Sophia, what are we going to do?"

I gave a desperate, bitter smile.

What could we do?

Since Ryan and Lauren loved each other so deeply, I would help them be together.

"Help me find the wedding planning staff. I'm going to turn this wedding venue into ‘a special funeral’ venue."