Life was dark and misty, cold like the air after a quiet rainfall.
But everything changed when I married the man I had loved since I was fifteen.
For five long years, I loved him from the shadows—silently, hopelessly. I never had the courage to stand before him, never imagined I'd one day be able to hold his hand.
I watched him from afar, always by her side—the woman he loved.
She was beautiful, more radiant than the moon, and gentle like a flowing river.
I watched them like a ghost without a name.
It would be a lie to say I never wished he was mine.
But the greater truth is: more than anything, I wanted him to be happy.
And so I watched.
I learned the details of him like a student learning sacred scripture:
The way his slightly green eyes shimmered when he looked at someone he loved.
How his snow-pale skin would flush red—like ripe tomatoes—whenever he blushed.
How he tilted his tall frame when embarrassed.
How his refined hands looked when he gently handed coins to a little girl selling flowers on the street.
I came to know everything about him—without ever truly knowing him.
And never, in my quietest dreams, did I imagine that the bride standing before him one day would be me.
A plain woman.
With nothing remarkable—not my face, not my education, not even my background.
An orphan, raised by strangers. A shadow. A nobody.
And yet it was me who stood across from him at the altar.
It was me who slipped the wedding ring onto his delicate, graceful hand.
Lu Chang—the man I had loved silently for five years—had become my husband.
Even if our hearts weren't yet bound,
Even if his eyes still searched for someone else in the crowd,
I, Li Fang, was content.
Because at least the wedding rings had tied us together—even if only in name.