Love's Deception

Three days before the wedding, I was curled up on the couch, scrolling through a real estate app, when a familiar photo suddenly flashed before my eyes. That was the wedding home Hugo Jones and I had shared. By the living room's floor-to-ceiling window stood the fiddle-leaf fig I had carefully chosen for my birthday last year. Its leaves stretched out, lush and vibrant—but the price tag beneath the photo stabbed my eyes like a blow—ten million, with a note glaringly marked "Urgent sale, cash preferred." I grabbed my mobile phone and nearly ran straight at Hugo. He was sprawled on the couch, engrossed in a mobile game, his fingers rapidly swiping the screen, occasionally shouting out. "Hugo Jones, look at this clearly! What's going on?" I slammed the mobile phone right in front of his eyes, my voice trembling beyond control. Hugo Jones paused for a moment, his eyes darting away as he spoke dismissively, "Stella, you must be mistaken. This has to be some prank by the realtor stealing photos to lure clients." "A prank?" I opened the screenshot of the transfer records I had long prepared and pressed closer to him, "Then explain why the house payment was transferred to Melody Scott's account." Melody Scott—the 'first love' he's always spoken of, his childhood sweetheart, supposedly fragile and sickly. Hugo Jones's face instantly drained of color. He snapped up from the sofa and grabbed my wrist with a grip so fierce it felt like he might crush my bones. "Stella, please, hear me out! Melody has cancer—terminal stage! That money was to save her life. I had no choice!" I yanked my hand free and took a step back, my heart twisting like it'd been pierced by ice. "So you hid this from me and sold the house we were supposed to get married in? That was our home—we picked it and decorated it together!" "I swear this is the last time!" Hugo dropped to his knees with a thud, eyes bloodshot, clutching the hem of my pants tightly. "Once Melody recovers, I'll make it up to you twice over. We'll buy an even bigger, more luxurious house, okay? Stella, for the sake of our three years together, please forgive me just this once!" Seeing his worn and tired face, memories of our past three years surged over me like a tide—those sweet moments softened my heart, and in the end, I nodded.