Synopsis
Avery was badly bullied all through high school. It left him feeling broken and full of self-doubt.
Years later, he’s slowly putting his life back together. But just as things start to get better, his father becomes seriously ill and needs a life-saving surgery.
Avery’s stepmother says there’s only one way to pay for it: an arranged marriage. At first, she planned to marry off her own daughter to a rich man from a powerful family. But when they find out the man is in a coma after a car accident, she changes her mind. She refuses to let her daughter marry someone who may never wake up. Instead, she forces Avery into it—tricking him, threatening him, and reminding him that this is the only way to save his father’s life.
Avery agrees, even though it breaks his heart. He goes through with the wedding without even seeing the groom’s face.
On the night of the wedding, in his new home, Avery notices something strange. The man lying unconscious looks oddly familiar. He finds some old photos in the house….
The man he just married is Ethan—his high school bully. The same person who made him feel worthless for years.
Old memories flood back, and Avery wants nothing more than to walk away. He calls his stepmother, ready to leave. But she gives him an awful choice: either divorce Ethan and let his father die, or stay married, save his father’s life, and gain wealth and power.
With no way out, Avery stays.
As time goes on, he watches Ethan’s quiet, sleeping face. And something feels off. The Ethan lying there doesn’t look like the cruel person Avery remembers. He wonders—was there more to Ethan than he ever knew?
He tells himself it doesn’t matter. Ethan got what he deserved. But one night, Avery trips and falls on top of him… and at that exact moment, Ethan wakes up.
After two years in a coma, Ethan opens his eyes—and finds out he’s married. To the same boy he used to bully.
Now Avery doesn’t know what to feel. The past still hurts, but he starts to see a different side of Ethan.
They were enemies. Strangers thrown together by fate.
But maybe… just maybe, they’re meant to be something more.

"What contract, Dahlia?" I asked slowly, my throat raw from crying, my hands trembling as I gripped the phone tighter.


There was a pause before her voice came back. 


"You can't just walk away, Avery. If you want to leave, then you have to pay back every single cent they've already spent on your father's treatment. And not in ten years—within a set period of time. Money I know, for a fact, you don't have."


I opened my mouth to argue, but nothing came out.


"Think about that, Avery. Fucking think about it before you let anger make your decisions for you," she continued, her tone cruelly steady. "Think about the ups and the downs. And right now, if we're being honest? There are no ups. Only downs."


My knees felt weak. I sat on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at the wall.


Chapter 16 - His Choice To Make