The white dress hung silently on its golden hanger, immaculate, hand-embroidered with silver threads and tiny pearls. Yejin looked at it as if it were a lace cage— the perfect symbol of a shattered illusion. Everything was ready: the flowers, the music, the guests… everything except love.
Today was supposed to be her wedding day.
But something in her chest kept pounding, an ominous drumbeat wearing her cousin Minji's face. Minji— the beloved TV star, the nation's darling, the perfect daughter in her uncle and aunt's eyes, the woman everyone believed to be kind, virtuous… untouchable. Yejin knew better. She had seen behind that angelic smile since they were children. But never had she imagined that Jisoo, her fiancé, the man she'd shared five years with, would be foolish enough to cross that forbidden line.
There were two hours left until the ceremony.
"I'm going to find Jisoo," she told her maid of honor, who just nodded absentmindedly, fussing with her hair in front of the mirror.
The hotel corridors were quiet— too quiet. When she reached the suite Jisoo was given, she knocked gently. Once. Twice. No answer. The knot in her stomach coiled tighter.
The door was ajar.
What she found inside was a scene from her worst nightmares: Jisoo, his back turned, leaning over Minji, who giggled in that syrupy voice she always faked. He kissed her neck, his hand sliding up her thigh. Her bridesmaid dress was slipping off her shoulder.
"Jisoo…?" Yejin's voice came out a hollow whisper.
They both turned. Minji didn't flinch. She smiled— as if this moment had been part of her plan all along.
Jisoo, however, cursed under his breath.
"What are you doing here so early?"
"What…? What am I doing? It's my wedding, Jisoo!"
He scoffed, dragging a hand through his hair, not even pretending to look remorseful.
"There's not going to be a wedding anymore. I can't keep pretending."
Yejin felt the floor crack open beneath her feet. Her world, her love, her future— all crumbling in an instant.
"Pretending…?"
"I never loved you, Yejin," he said, his voice dripping with rehearsed cruelty. "I only agreed because of your uncle and aunt— so I could get closer to Minji. Did you really think someone like me could ever love someone like you?"
Minji laughed. That laugh. Like a blade across raw skin.
"Poor thing. Always so naive. Did you really think they kept you around for anything but pity? You don't even have parents, Yejin."
"Stop it!" she screamed, her voice cracking.
But it was too late.
Their shouting had drawn hotel staff. Moments later, one of the wedding videographers burst in, camera rolling. He captured everything— the betrayal, the laughter, the slipping dress, Minji's venom whispered like poison.
And just like that, the scandal spread like wildfire.
Yejin ran. She ran until her feet burned and her tears blinded her path. She ended up on one of the building's terraces, alone, while down below, guests began whispering, pulling out their phones, flooding social media with her humiliation.
A wedding turned into a public execution.
---
Her aunt and uncle glared at her from across the desk. She said nothing. She couldn't. She was numb.
"How do you plan to pay for this?" her aunt— Minji's mother— snapped. "Do you have any idea how much this wedding cost?"
"It wasn't my fault…"
"You've humiliated us in front of everyone!"
"Me? It was Jisoo who—"
"Enough!" her uncle barked. "What's done is done. Now, you'll do as we say."
Yejin lifted her head. A faint spark of dignity flickered behind her tears.
"What… what do you want me to do?"
"You're going to marry Kang Sangwoo."
Silence.
"Who?"
"A wealthy CEO. He owns a thriving company, has connections abroad. But he's in a wheelchair. Your marriage will be symbolic— a way to erase this disgrace and secure a future for all of us."
"And why me?"
"Because no one else wants you now. Do you really think anyone will marry a woman rejected on her wedding day? Please." Her aunt scoffed, eyes dripping with scorn. "You're a burden, Yejin. Now you'll help carry that burden yourself."
"And Minji? She won't pay for any of this?"
"She'll marry Jisoo," her uncle said coldly. "And you'll go to the cripple."
---
Yejin met Kang Sangwoo two days later, in a private room of an upscale hospital.
He sat by the window in his wheelchair. His face was sharp, elegant, like a statue carved from marble. But his eyes… his eyes were winter itself. She didn't know what to say at first.
He broke the silence.
"So, you're the ruined niece who needs a husband to mop up the scandal."
Yejin pressed her lips together.
"And you're the crippled millionaire who needs a wife so people don't forget he exists."
Sangwoo smiled. Just the ghost of a smirk on his lips.
"Good. This should be an interesting marriage."
Neither of them spoke of it then, but Jisoo… was his nephew. A nephew he had always despised for his arrogance and lack of honor.
But fate—twisted as ever— had chosen to entangle Yejin's and Sangwoo's lives like characters in a cruel story.
She, the woman betrayed.
He, the man imprisoned by his own body.
Both forced to bind themselves together… under the same bleeding wound.
And so, it all began.