On a scorching summer day, inside a bungalow in the town of Veridia, a news report played on a television no one was watching.
“Vincent Westwood, heir to the Stenham City financial group, has been missing for several months.
Many speculate he may have already died in an accident…”
Maya Rivers sat with her back to the droning television, legs crossed on the sofa as she idly scrolled through her phone, trying to tune out her father’s incessant nagging.
“That boy from the Dawson family might be divorced, but he’s only seven years older than you, and his family is offering a bride price of eighty-eight thousand!
You’re going to meet him today, and you absolutely must get married this year!”
Maya played deaf and dumb, as she always did.
She ignored him, focusing on her phone as she complained to her best friend about her family’s insane pressure to get married.
Her silent treatment only infuriated Mr.
Rivers more.
He strode forward, snatched her phone, and slammed it to the ground.
“You’re twenty-six and still not married!
People are saying there’s something wrong with you, that you’re barren and that’s why nobody wants you!
You’ve brought nothing but shame to the Rivers family name!
And you still won’t listen when I talk to you!”
“Just look at Lana!
You two were in elementary school together, and her third kid is already four years old!”
Maya stared at the shattered remains of her phone on the floor.
Listening to her father’s humiliating tirade, she felt her anger boil over.
She shot to her feet, staring straight into her father’s crimson, furious eyes.
“Are you even my real dad?
Everyone in town knows that guy’s first wife divorced him because he beat her so badly she ended up in the hospital!
He’s even got two sons he’s raising!
If I married him, I’d either get beaten to death or worked to death being a stepmom!
You want him married off so badly, you marry him!
I would rather die!”
Being defied so openly threatened Mr.
Rivers’s masculine pride, inflaming his rage even further.
He slapped her hard across the face.
“You’re getting married this year whether you like it or not!
I’ll drag you to the marriage registry myself if I have to!”
Maya’s cheek burned with a fiery pain.
She was completely stunned by the slap.
Her loathing for men reached a new height.
It wasn’t that she was against marriage; she just hadn’t met anyone worthy of entrusting her life to.
She didn’t want to end up like her mother, married to a chauvinist pig but too cowardly to fight back.
Nor did she want to be like Lana, who married before twenty.
After having three daughters, she was scorned by her in-laws and pressured to produce a son, only to end up permanently infertile after too many miscarriages.
Whether her father was forcing this marriage for the sake of the Rivers family’s honor or to get his hands on the bride price for her high-school-aged brother’s future wife—everyone knew the real reason!
Thick hatred flared in Maya’s eyes.
She gritted her teeth.
“Fine!
You want a wedding?
I’ll get married!
Just don’t you dare regret this!”
She ran into the back room, emerging moments later with her ID and birth certificate in hand, and bolted past Mr.
Rivers and out the door.
The Rivers family had always favored sons over daughters, so Maya was never shown much affection growing up.
After high school, her parents tried to force her to get a job to support the family, but she ran away and borrowed money to put herself through college.
After graduation, she landed a respectable, high-paying job in the city, but her father showed up at her company and ruined it all.
Every time Maya found a new job after that, Mr.
Rivers would go to her workplace and cause a scene.
Left with no other choice, Maya finally compromised, returning to her small home county to open her own little shop.
Mr.
Rivers’s motive for all this was simple: his money-making daughter couldn’t be too far from home, or she’d be too difficult to control.
This upbringing had made her a bit extreme and fiercely independent.
Few people dared to provoke her.
‘It was the only way she could protect herself!’
Now, her mind clouded with rage, Maya had only one thought.
‘They want to force me to marry?
Fine!
I’ll get married!’
She walked down the street, scrutinizing every man she passed.
‘She would find the oldest, ugliest, poorest man she could.
That would really give her parents something to be proud of!’
But when she actually saw a few of the town’s old bachelors wandering the streets and met their greedy, lecherous eyes, she faltered.
The mere thought of marrying a man like that—the thought of him touching her—made her skin crawl.
“Miss…
I’m so hungry.” A filthy hand tugged at Maya’s sleeve.
Maya turned her head and jumped, startled.
A man, at least a head taller than her, was looking at her with a pitiful expression.
A woman passing by explained, “Maya, that’s the simpleton who showed up in town a few days ago.
He digs through trash cans all day and he’s absolutely filthy.
You’d best stay away from him.”
Maya sized up the man, who had silently lowered his head.
His face was caked with black grime, his clothes were torn and tattered, and he gave off a sour stench.
His arms and legs were covered in wounds.
But his eyes looked gentle and aggrieved, not aggressive at all.
The man mumbled softly, “They were the ones throwing rocks at me…
It hurt…”
Maya understood immediately.
The children must have been bullying him, and he had only fought back.
Judging by his injuries, the children’s parents had likely retaliated.
‘The simpleton’s features were actually quite handsome,’ she thought.
‘Much easier on the eyes than any of the old bachelors in town.’
An idea sparked in Maya’s mind, and a smile crept onto her face.
“You’re hungry?”
The simpleton nodded.
Maya said, “I’ll get you something to eat, but you have to help me with something first.
Can you do that?”
The man, who’d been starving for two days, nodded eagerly like an obedient puppy.
“Yes!”
Maya was very pleased.
“Come on.”
She bought him several bread rolls and a carton of milk, and felt a pang of sympathy as she watched him wolf them down.
‘Everyone in this world has their own cross to bear,’ she mused.
Once he was full, she bought him a set of clean clothes and took him to a local inn.
While he showered in the bathroom, she sat on the bed, tightly clutching her documents.
“Miss, I’m finished,” the man’s voice called out.
Maya looked up, and her eyes widened in astonishment.
He was even more handsome than she had imagined.
His features were as if carved from fine jade.
It wasn’t just his face; he was also tall and slender, with a leanly muscled torso and long, elegant fingers with distinct knuckles.
If not for the vacant look in his eyes, he would exude an intimidating, almost aristocratic, unapproachability.
As someone who had a soft spot for handsome faces, Maya felt a little more comfortable with her plan.
Water dripped from his soaking-wet hair.
He looked timidly at Maya and called out again, “Miss…”
Maya snapped back to reality and began her questions.
“Do you know your name?”
He blurted out, “Morgan!”
Maya frowned.
“Morgan…
‘So you remember your name.
You’re not a complete lost cause.
Where is your home?
Do you have any family?'”
Morgan scratched his head.
He thought for a long time before finally shaking his head no.
Maya grabbed a dry towel and started drying his hair for him.
“After you help me with my favor, I’ll help you find your family, all right?”
Morgan nodded eagerly.
Maya thought for a moment before laying it all out.
“From now on, your name is Morgan Carter, you’re twenty-seven, and you’re my husband.
My name is Maya, I’m twenty-six, and I own a small beauty shop in town.
I’m your wife.
Got it?”
Morgan murmured, “Wife…”
An hour later, Maya reappeared at the Rivers’ house, hand in hand with the now clean and neatly dressed Morgan.
SLAP.
Maya slammed two red marriage certificates down on the coffee table in front of her parents.